There are growing numbers of people who are beginning to understand how Pinterest can help them drive traffic to their ecommerce store.
They talk about how Pinterest offers the perfect combination of search (very much like Google), the power of clear visuals and the ability for others to share your Pins.
Yep, Pinterest is pretty dynamic, special, helpful and even fun at times - and it shows off products incredibly well.
Rich Product Pins Deliver Ecommerce Sales
Most people talk about the fact that Pinterest has made it easier than ever to automatically bring product information over from your store to your physical product pins.
It’s a match made in heaven, but how do you drive traffic to your ecommerce store using Pinterest?
Using Pinterest for your ecommerce store isn’t all that different from the typical ways of driving traffic to your site without a shop.
The one key addition is the use of ‘product pins’ and ‘rich pins’ which allow you add your ecommerce products to physical product pins.
These product pins allow you to select options, such as color, size, or quantity and link to the product page on your store right from Pinterest. Pinterest pulls the product description from your ecommerce site, so you need to use keyword-rich descriptions (which are good for your shop’s overall SEO too).
Pinterest Turns Searchers and Shoppers Into Buyers
Pinterest now has over 250 million users and many of them come to the site looking for new products to discover, ideas to research and more than a few are ready to buy. Take a look at some telling stats:
93% of Pinterest users are planning for purchase - today or in the future
67% of users say they have discovered a new brand or product using Pinterest
1 out of 2 users have made a purchase after seeing a promoted pin
Pinterest is the #2 source of all social media traffic to Shopify stores
70% of sales from Promoted Pins are from new customers
So it is great that Pinterest has made it easier than ever for someone searching Pinterest to go right to your ecommerce store.
This ability is wonderful if you are lucky enough to capture the interest of someone searching Pinterest with as strong desire to purchase.
And yes, a large percentage of people on Pinterest are indeed looking to find a solution to a problem.
So the odds are in your favor they will take that step if you can deliver exactly what they are looking for. That’s pretty cool when it happens - KA-CHING - you get money in the bank.
Pinterest + Ecommerce = Sales. What Comes Next?
There is a reality to this strategy some people are neglecting, which is most of the time people are simply looking, searching for ideas and comparing brands - not ready to purchase products right away.
They are also trying to determine the right price, who to trust, the best quality - which puts them at the top of your funnel.
Wait. Funnel, what funnel?? Right… exactly.
I’m talking about the funnel you should have (if you don’t) in place to capture leads. It’s especially important with Pinterest leads because they are on the site with a likely desire to purchase sooner or later.
Facebook can’t give you anything close to that level of purchase interest and its subsidiary, Instagram, is only slightly better.
Marketers and ecommerce businesses are missing an important point - and potential downstream profits - if they only look at driving a single purchase to their cart.
If you want the promised land, which is income while you sleep or surfing on the ocean with a Mai Tai waiting for you, then you want an evergreen funnel in place.
Use Pinterest As Your Powerful New Leads Engine
It takes a funnel developed with your ideal customer in mind to effectively grow your customer list and ongoing profits.
A key element of this is to treat your Pinterest marketing as the engine driving leads into your funnel.
Not something apart from your funnel, but a critical element OF YOUR FUNNEL.
Then you need to take your deep understanding of your customer - which is something you shouldn’t take lightly - and develop what people call a “freebie” or the more accurate phrase “lead magnet.”
You might lead them into your funnel offering a discount coupon, a product comparison chart, or some visual idea pages showing your products solving their problem when they click on your Pin.
By collecting their email at this point, you can reach out to them in various beneficial ways:
They might need more information about you personally
You can build trust by sharing testimonials from others who have purchased from you
You should always look to paint a picture of how their lives will be better with the product you are selling
A lot of the time, Pinterest users don’t know exactly what they want right away. They may want to explore ideas, research options, check prices, get inspired, kick the tires on similar options, etc.
There is nothing better than a thoughtful and value-filled short email series to build their confidence and get them ready to step up to the purchase.
Key Pinterest Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Ecommerce Store
In closing, here are some tips for driving traffic to your ecommerce site from Pinterest:
Blog about your products at least once a week if possible. Blogging creates fresh content that Pinterest (and Google) loves. Once you have a funnel in place, these blogs and product displays are golden to those who have opted in to your email sequence.
Show how they can use your product. Display it in a lifestyle post about how it is practical for your niche audience, or share a collection of items that group well together.
Maintain and curate an active Pinterest profile and optimize your account for clicks.
Curate boards and pins that are similar or related to your shop items. Use a scheduler like Tailwind to stay consistent.
For example, do you sell party decor? Have a party board where you pin your product images, examples of previous parties, as well as other helpful party planning ideas.
Pin your products to more than one board using Tailwind to spread out your pinning content.
Fill your Tailwind queue with your products as well as other related pins for a well-curated and inspiring feed!
Pinterest prioritizes accounts that are actively maintained. In fact, they prefer accounts that pin a few times a day versus ‘binge pinning’ once a week.
Set a reminder to live pin daily or use a scheduler like Tailwind to maintain a robust Pinterest account.
All of these ideas are at the heart of what makes Pinterest work.
Add to this by including a funnel to your ecommerce sales efforts to maximize the benefit Pinterest can deliver this week, next month and next year.
