Recently, someone reached out in my free group with a great question. “I grew my Pinterest account organically, then went to Pinterest ads and scaled it even more. But with over 500 visits to my sales page, I didn’t make any money with paid ads. What’s going on?”
This is a great point, so we’re going to dive into it and break it down for you.
Watch Here: https://youtu.be/fgsA0q7zKmM
Listen Here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5kA2zemgSZ2ML4bunQmdeI?si=yk-lld4TQYOunFegq8lFww
Improving Pinterest Conversions…
The Power of Organic Growth
First off, it’s important to point out that this person grew her Pinterest account organically before running Pinterest ads. This is key! Pinterest ads are super affordable, but only if you have a well-functioning funnel and system set-up in place on the platform.
Since she’d spent a year doing this, she was able boost her impressions and get over 500 clicks on her pin! This is because Pinterest knew her audience and had a chance to figure out her business, set her into the algorithm.
If you jump straight into paid ads without the organic presence first, it takes time for Pinterest to figure out your audience, and this will cost you more money.
Traffic Without Sales: What Went Wrong?
So, while the ads brought in traffic, the sales didn’t follow. What happened?
Here’s the thing: these ads were directed to a sales page for a $37 offer. While Pinterest traffic is generally warmer than other social media platforms, it’s still cold traffic. In other words, these visitors don’t know, like, or trust you yet. So asking them to buy right away from a stranger isn’t the best strategy.
If the sales page was already converting at 30%, it might only see a 3% conversion rate with cold traffic from Pinterest. That’s normal! But, if this sales page wasn’t converting well before, running an ad to that page isn’t the best move until you’ve tested and optimized it.
What Can You Do?
So what can you do to improve Pinterest conversions with ad or no add? Here are a few options:
Enhance your sale page
Keep the Pinterest ad running to the sale page, but make the page longer and add more value at the beginning. Add helpful tips, or advice to build the know, like, and trust factor before you hit them with a sale. This will give visitors a better sense of who you are and why they should buy from you. Increasing your chance to make a sale.
Add an exit pop-up
If someone leaves without purchasing, offer them something else of value. This could be a link to free content (like a blog post or video), or even a link to a social media channel so they can start getting to know your business better.
Include a strong CTA
Add a clear “BUY NOW” call-to-action in your Pinterest image. While this may decrease your pin click-through rate, it can improve your conversion rate on the sales page. This is because people who click on the ad will be more likely to buy—since they already know they’re going to be sold to.
Redirect to a value page
Instead of sending your Pinterest ads directly to a sales page, consider sending them to a value-driven page first. Such as, a blog post, podcast, or video. This allows you to offer value upfront while still marketing your $37 offer throughout the content (when appliciable).
The Good News…
Here’s the bottom line: Pinterest is working! You’ve successfully driven traffic to your site, but if your conversion funnel isn’t optimized, that’s where the breakdown is happening—not on Pinterest.
Once you address the issue in your funnel, Pinterest will be a powerful tool for generating leads while you sleep and you’ll improve Pinterest conversions for paid or organic pins.
I have a mini class teaching you how to set a Pinterest funnel in place (the same one thats worked for me to bring in leads while I’m busy being a mom).
Action Step:
Even if you’re not running Pinterest ads, I want you to take action. Here’s a simple exercise for you:
- Go to your Pinterest Analytics and check out your top-performing pins over the last 6 months. In the Analytics Overview, click the “Date Range” option, select “Custom,” and choose the last six months (or slightly less).
- Scroll down to “Top Pins” and look at both engagement and outbound clicks.
- Identify the top-performing pins that are driving traffic to your site. Then, take a closer look at those pages.
For example, my two top-performing pins are about “How to Delete Pins” (which leads to my Facebook group) and “Hashtags on Pinterest.” For the idea pin, leading to my Free Facebook Group, I won’t do anything with except create more similar. But for the “Hashtags on Pinterest” post I can optimize these pages by adding lead sign-ups or promoting mini-courses.
You see what’s working for you, and adjust.
Any questions, be sure to head over to my Free Facebook group.
