Are Pinterest Ads worth the investment for e-commerce brands?

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If you are reading this, congratulations! You have decided to branch out your e-commerce efforts to a new social media platform with a huge potential to scale your business. If you are wondering if Pinterest could be the one for you… let's find out.

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Pinterest is often referred to as a visual content discovery machine, a place where future customers go to get inspired about their next purchase, project, or idea. But one very important question remains: as a brand, is Pinterest Ads worth the hassle? It does have a unique audience and the format presents an interesting opportunity for advertising. So, let's go through the research and see whether advertising on Pinterest is worth the investment and how it compares to other platforms.

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The Case for Pinterest Ads in eCommerce

Unlike other social platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, Pinterest is very unique. People come to Pinterest with the intent to discover and plan. This makes it fertile ground for eCommerce brands wanting to show off their products and reach high-intent audiences. But is Pinterest any good for advertising? 

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Here's what the data suggests:

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• Pinterest says 90% of its weekly Pinners use the platform to make purchase decisions. This itself is indicative of the potential of the platform in relation to eCommerce.
• The average users are planning purchases weeks, and sometimes months, in advance, giving a longer time frame to influence their purchase decisions.
• The set-up and design of Pinterest is much handier and favourable for showing product catalogues.

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‍So, do Pinterest ads actually work? ‍

As we can see from the data, there is definitely space for growth on this exciting platform. It all depends on how well the campaign is run, but if done correctly, Pinterest can be a goldmine for conversions and brand discovery.

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How do Pinterest Ads actually work?

Before making any conclusions about whether Pinterest advertising is effective, it's necessary to understand how the ad system works on the platform.

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‍The table below breaks it down for us:‍

Pinterest operates its ad serving on a pay-per-click pricing model, which means you can get super granular with your goals, whether that's website traffic, conversions, or brand awareness. What's more unique, however, is the ability to target users based on tastes, keywords, and even specific life events like weddings or home renovations.

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Why Pinterest is so successful for e-commerce

Visual nature plays a huge role in Pinterest Ads for eCommerce. Unlike other platforms, the ads on Pinterest are less invasive because they flow with organic content instead of disrupting users.

People go on it to look for ideas and products, and ads come up as suggestions, not annoyingly. It is this kind of user mentality that makes Pinterest good for advertising, especially in the case of brands whose products are visually attractive, such as fashion, home decor, and beauty.

‍But does Pinterest advertising really work as well as others like Meta and Google? 

While it may lack in scale, it offers unique advantages in targeting users at the very top of the buying journey. These can serve as a better precursor to conversions later down the sales funnel.

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Factors That Influence Success

There are many factors that would actually prove to make Pinterest worth the investment. The most important bit of information to always keep in mind is that Pinterest is very visual. However, your ads can’t just be good to look at, there are many other elements to consider: 

• Creative Quality: Pinterest is highly visually heavy. Captivating, high-quality, and beautiful images and videos are what grasp the attention of users.
• Audience Targeting: Through targeting on Pinterest, you can reach out to users based on their interests, searching terms, and behaviours. Refined audience targeting could really make a big difference in results.
• Product Fit: Pinterest works well for those products that are generally beautiful to look at and that actually fit into categories displayed on Pinterest, such as fashion, home improvement, and food.
• Campaign Objectives: Clearly defined goals of traffic, leads, or sales will help in rightly measuring the success of campaigns.

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Real-World Effectiveness

How effective are Pinterest ads in driving real-world results? A number of studies and case examples prove that Pinterest ads can be very effective for desired outcomes. For example, businesses have reported:

• Higher average order value compared to other platforms.
• More brand awareness, especially among niche audiences.
• High engagement rates because of the intent within the platform.

‍For eCommerce brands, do Pinterest ads work as well as other options? Though results will vary, many advertisers find Pinterest to be a strong ROI driver, especially in terms of audience targeting at the planning and inspiration stages.

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Challenges and Considerations

While Pinterest is a very interesting channel, let's talk about some challenges that come along with the platform:

• Niche Audience: Pinterest has a smaller base of audiences in comparison to other platforms, like Facebook. It won't fit into every brand perfectly.
• Longer Conversion Cycle: Since the users here will mostly be in the planning phase, conversions could take a bit longer than on platforms with more immediate purchase intent.
• Learning Curve: Setting up effective campaigns takes time and experience to learn due to the uniqueness of Pinterest's features and user behaviour.

‍To answer whether Pinterest is good for advertising or not, you have to decide if your products align with the audience of the platform and if you can create catchable content or not.

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‍Success Tips

If you're considering running Pinterest ads for your eCommerce, here's how you could maximise your results:

‍Invest in Creative: The visual quotient must be high. If needed, use professional photography or graphic designing to make your 'pins' stand out.

‍Unlock through Keywords: More than any other platform, Pinterest is for targeting users via keywords of things that they are specifically searching for - be it products or ideas. For this, it can really be a powerhouse for eCommerce ads. 

‍Optimise Landing Pages: This means making them mobile-friendly and quick to load, with matching visuals from the ad. Test and Iterate: Like other advertising platforms, success on Pinterest only ensures continuous testing and optimisation.

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Thanks for reading this article. If you want to scale your business and achieve meaningful results, get in touch with us or book a consultation.

Strike Digital develops and delivers tailored paid media strategies that can provide businesses with tangible growth and an improvement in the revenue generated.

We'd love to hear from you and have an amazing day!