Pinterest Ads · Shopping, catalogs, Performance+

Pinterest Ads for brands whose buyers plan before they shop.

We run Pinterest Ads for jewelry, fashion and home brands: product catalogs turned into shopping ads, the Pinterest tag and Conversions API so sales are counted, and campaigns timed to when people plan. Pinterest reaches shoppers earlier than search, so we judge it on new customers and MER.

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Free Pinterest ads review

Tell us your catalog size and we will plan your Pinterest ads.

Three fields and you are done. We check your catalog and site, then send a Pinterest ads starter plan.

  • Catalog and site reviewed
  • Audience plan outlined
  • Creative direction for pins
Chat on WhatsApp Prefer to talk first? Send us your store URL on WhatsApp.

Your PDF report comes by email. If you want to discuss going ahead after reading it, we’ll set up a video meeting. We use your details only for this audit.

Fit

Who it’s for

  • Brands in visual categories: jewelry, fashion, accessories, home and gifts
  • Stores with a product catalog on Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce
  • Brands whose sales peak around seasons and gifting dates people plan for
  • Teams looking for a prospecting channel beside Meta with different costs

Not the right fit for products people buy on impulse with no planning, or for stores without tracking. We’d start with tracking if purchases aren’t counted yet.

Problems we fix

Why Pinterest Ads look like they don’t sell.

  • 01

    The tag isn’t counting purchases

    Without the Pinterest tag firing on checkout, or the Conversions API next to it, Pinterest can’t see sales and optimizes for clicks instead.

  • 02

    No catalog connected

    Shopping ads, collections and dynamic retargeting all depend on the catalog. Without it, campaigns run on a few hand-made Pins.

  • 03

    Judged like search

    Pinterest users are often planning, not buying today. Judged by a short click window, the channel looks weak even when it starts journeys that end in sales later.

  • 04

    Ads that look like ads

    Pins that look like banners get scrolled past. Pinterest rewards images that look like ideas: styled, vertical and useful.

  • 05

    Launched too late

    Pinterest users plan ahead. Campaigns that start the week before a holiday miss most of the planning.

  • 06

    Duplicate events

    Tag and Conversions API events sent without a shared event ID are counted twice, which inflates results and misleads bidding.

In 1:10 · animated

Before we change anything, we check five things.

A short animated walk-through of the first checks in our audit. No sound needed: everything is on screen, and the transcript is below.

What we check first in Pinterest Ads, an animated explainer of 1:10 with on-screen captions and controls to pause.

Read the transcript
  1. What we check first in Pinterest Ads Five checks before judging the channel.
  2. 1. Does Pinterest see purchases? Pinterest recommends the tag plus the Conversions API, with a shared event ID so the same purchase isn’t counted twice. (Example store. Source: Pinterest Business Help.)
  3. 2. Is the catalog connected? Shopping ads, collections and dynamic retargeting all depend on the catalog. (Example account.)
  4. 3. How long after the click do they buy? Pinterest users are often planning. Judged on a short window, the channel looks weak. (Example campaign, same month.)
  5. 4. Do the Pins look like ideas? Pins that look like banners get scrolled past. Styled, vertical, useful images earn the save and the click. (Example A/B pair.)
  6. 5. Does the campaign start early enough? Pinterest users plan ahead. Starting the week before a holiday misses most of the planning.
  7. Then we fix them, in that order. Want this checked on your Pinterest account? The free growth audit covers all five, in writing.

Our approach

Pinterest Ads built on the catalog and clean data.

Pinterest Ads for a store start with measurement. We install the Pinterest tag with checkout events and add the Conversions API next to it, with matching event IDs so the two don’t double count. Pinterest’s Event Quality Score shows how well that data is working, and we use it as a checklist.

Next is the catalog. Pinterest turns your product feed into product Pins once the store meets its merchant guidelines, as explained in getting started with retail catalogs. Shopify stores can connect through the Pinterest app; other platforms use a feed. We group products by category and margin so shopping ads can be split the same way as Google Shopping.

Campaigns then follow the planning calendar. We launch prospecting weeks before a season or gifting date, run dynamic retargeting for people who viewed products, and test Performance+ campaigns, Pinterest’s automated setup, against manual ones where the account has enough conversions.

Results are read over a longer window than search and judged with your other channels on MER. If creative is the bottleneck, our ad creative service makes vertical, styled images and short videos that look native to the feed.

Creative matters more here than on search. Pins that do well usually look like the content people save: vertical images, the product in a styled setting and short text that explains the idea. We brief creative for each product group, refresh it before saves and clicks fall, and reuse the strongest Pins as organic content so the account keeps working between campaigns.

Audiences come from three places: your customer lists, people who engaged with your Pins or visited your site, and interest and keyword targeting for new reach. Retargeting and customer lists stay in their own ad groups, and recent buyers are excluded from prospecting, so the account doesn’t keep paying to reach people who already ordered. Pinterest says over 600 million people come to it each month to find ideas and products. Speed is judged against Google’s Core Web Vitals thresholds: main content within 2.5 seconds, a response to input within 200 milliseconds and layout shift of 0.1 or less.

Pinterest Ads data setup: Pinterest tag and Conversions API with shared event IDs, plus the product catalog
Tag, Conversions API and catalog: the three things shopping ads depend on.

How we use AI here

How we use AI in Pinterest ads.

Pinterest’s Performance+ campaigns automate targeting and bidding. Our job is choosing where that helps and feeding it the right products and Pins.

  • Performance+ on purpose

    We test Pinterest’s automated campaigns against manual ones for your catalog, and keep whichever earns more per dollar.

  • Pin variants

    AI helps produce text overlays, sizes and seasonal backgrounds for real product photos, so each product has several Pins to test.

  • Search language

    We cluster Pinterest search terms and trends into themes and use them in Pin titles, boards and shopping ads copy.

Where it doesn’t help: Pinterest rewards original, inspiring images. AI variants support your photography; they don’t replace it.

What’s included

Deliverables, not promises.

  • Account and tracking audit

    Campaigns, audiences, creative, the Pinterest tag, Conversions API and Event Quality Score, checked against your store orders.

  • Pinterest tag and Conversions API

    Checkout events with values, deduplication by event ID, and match data checked.

  • Catalog connection

    Product feed connected, product groups by category and margin, and catalog errors fixed.

  • Shopping and retargeting campaigns

    Prospecting shopping ads, dynamic retargeting and collections, with budgets set from your margins.

  • Audience structure

    Customer lists, engaged audiences and site visitors for retargeting, interests and keywords for prospecting, recent buyers excluded.

  • Seasonal planning calendar

    Launch dates set weeks ahead of the moments your buyers plan for.

  • Creative direction

    Briefs for vertical, styled images and short videos that look like ideas, not banners.

  • Plain-English monthly report

    Spend, revenue, new customers and MER, what we changed and what’s next.

Pinterest campaign timing: prospecting weeks before a season, retargeting closer to the date
People plan on Pinterest before they buy, so campaigns start early.

How we run it

Four steps, in this order.

Tag first, catalog second, budget third. Typical timing: the audit within 2 workdays, setup and fixes in about a week, the first optimization cycle within 2 weeks, and the first monthly report after 30 days.

  1. Step 1

    Audit and tracking

    We check the account and install or repair the Pinterest tag and Conversions API, with deduplication.

  2. Step 2

    Connect the catalog

    Feed connected, product groups built by category and margin, errors cleared.

  3. Step 3

    Launch ahead of demand

    Prospecting and retargeting go live weeks before your season, with creative made for the feed.

  4. Step 4

    Scale on new customers

    Budget moves to product groups and audiences that bring new buyers at a cost your margins allow.

Four steps of our Pinterest Ads process, from tracking to scaling on new customers
Tag first, catalog second, budget third.

Pricing

Starting prices, in US dollars.

The audit is free. Paid work starts at these prices, and your exact cost is fixed in writing before any work begins.

  • Free audit

    Free no obligation

    Tell us your catalog size and we will plan your Pinterest ads.

    Get my free audit

  • Fixed scope

    Pinterest ads setup

    From $350 one-off

    Catalog connected and campaigns launched.

    • Catalog setup
    • Campaigns built
    • Tracking verified
    Start with the free audit

  • Monthly management

    From $350 monthly, plus ad spend

    Optimization and creative tests each month.

    • Weekly optimization
    • Pin creative tests
    • A monthly report
    Ask about this option

All prices are starting prices in US dollars. Custom work beyond these options is quoted after the audit.

By industry

What changes for your category.

  • Jewelry

    People save rings, earrings and gift ideas long before they buy. We run prospecting early for engagement season, Valentine’s Day and the holidays, and retarget product viewers patiently.

  • Fashion & apparel

    Outfits and styling ideas are core Pinterest content. We group the catalog by category and season, and brief styled, vertical creative for each drop.

  • Luxury & high-ticket

    High-ticket pieces suit inspiration boards and slow decisions. We use longer evaluation windows and keep retargeting running while buyers compare.

Sources

The documentation we work from.

Platform rules change. These are the official pages we check the work against, so you can check it too.

FAQ

Straight answers.

Can’t find yours? Ask on WhatsApp or by email and we’ll answer it.

Do Pinterest Ads work for e-commerce?

For visual categories where people plan purchases, such as jewelry, fashion, home and gifts, they can. Pinterest reaches shoppers earlier than search, so we judge it on new customers and MER over a longer window.

Do we need the Conversions API as well as the tag?

Pinterest supports using both, and we set up both. The tag records browser events and the Conversions API sends events from your server, which helps when browsers block the tag. Shared event IDs stop double counting.

How do shopping ads get our products?

From a catalog: your product feed connected to Pinterest, through the Shopify app or a feed URL. Pinterest turns the products into product Pins that can run as shopping ads.

When should seasonal campaigns start?

Earlier than on search. People save ideas weeks before they buy, so we start prospecting well ahead of the date and move budget to retargeting as it gets closer.

How long before Pinterest Ads show results?

Tracking and catalog setup take the first weeks. After launch, campaigns need time to learn, and because people plan ahead on Pinterest, part of the effect arrives later as direct, branded or search sales. We read results over a longer window and against MER, and agree the test length before we start.

What is Pinterest Performance+?

Pinterest’s automated campaign setup, with fewer inputs and automated bidding and targeting. We test it against manual campaigns once the account has enough conversions.

Can Pinterest Ads work alongside Meta and Google?

Yes, and that’s how we plan it. Pinterest reaches people while they plan, Meta while they scroll and Google when they search. We exclude recent buyers across channels where we can, and judge the mix on blended MER rather than letting each platform claim the same sale.

Who owns the Pinterest account and data?

You do. We work through access to your Pinterest business account, and the tag, catalog and data stay with your business.

Related guides

Read before you decide.

All Buying guides guides

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