3 Ways to Increase Conversions on Pinterest

For many consumers, Pinterest is just another social network – the third largest just behind Facebook and Twitter. But for many businesses, Pinterest is an important aspect of their ecommerce strategy, driving consumers to their online store and generating sales. As sales via Pinterest can be a core component of a brand’s marketing ROI, it is critical that these brands and businesses continually optimize their Pinterest strategy to increase conversions and drive more sales. By using the tips below, brands will be better positioned to see those increases in conversions via Pinterest.

Use Rich Media

In May, Pinterest rolled out “Rich Pins” to make Pins more “useful” for Pinterest users. These Pins included product pins that incorporated pricing, availability, and where to buy the Pinned item. These Pins not only have additional information, but are inherently more engaging as they have information about the item in addition to a description and picture. As most marketers know, the more engaging content is, the more likely users will click on it – and the same holds true for content on Pinterest. Businesses on Pinterest should take advantage of the ability to add this extra meta data to Pins to provide extra context about the products your business sells. With Rich Pins, you can provide additional information to consumers, which will increase the likelihood they will take action on the Pin; e.g. click on it to visit the product’s page on your website. (To add rich Pins, visit Pinterest’s developer portal.)

Drop Your Prices

Once you have added Rich Pins to Pinterest, consider dropping your prices occasionally. Pinterest recently rolled out yet another new feature that alerts Pinterest users when an item they have Pinned has dropped in price. This means that for Pinterest users who are using Pinterest to curate items they might be interested in purchasing – but are hesitant because of the cost of the item – an alert of a drop in price could be the key to converting these users to actual customers. At the very least, the notification of the drop in price could drive these users back to your brand’s Pinterest page to explore other products, thereby returning users to your webpage for more information. This is also where a well-designed landing page with a clear CTA is critical to convert Pinterest users who are not ready to become customers to leads, such as via a contest or sweepstakes.

Drive personal pinning

In a recent article published in the Harvard Business Review, “How Pinterest Puts People in Stores”, Alexandra Samuel and David Sevitt surveyed 6,000 social media users to find the impact of Pinterest on purchasing. They found that while “60% of Pinterest purchases were discovered on Pinterest the vast majority were discovered through the boards or streams of regular human beings: 19% of purchases were discovered through a friend, and 24% through a stranger, compared to just 7% being discovered on a retailer’s Pinterest board.” This means that brands cannot rely on their Pinterest presence alone to drive sales. Instead, it is critical that your content is engaging and shareable so that Pinterest users can discover it in the feeds of other users they follow on Pinterest. Brands need to consider how to drive repinning when creating content to increase the reach of these Pins, which will assist in the number of conversions as well. (Rich Pins are a great way to create this type of content.) Alexandra suggests that brands can also help drive personal pinning by letting your customers know that their pinning is appreciated with tactics such as repinning and liking their Pins.

If your business or brand uses Pinterest, what methods have you used to increase your conversions? Share your tips and tricks in the comments.