INTRODUCTION
When used correctly, Pinterest can help drive traffic to your website, increase brand awareness and generate sales.
In fact, Pinterest reports that 67 percent of its users have discovered a new brand or product from business content on Pinterest. Additionally, 93 percent of Pinners use the platform to plan purchases.
Recently, the photo-sharing social media site made it even easier for brands to connect with shoppers by rolling out some new features to enhance the customer experience. Following are some tips on how to use Pinterest’s new shopping features for your department store, specialty store or independent shop.
ENABLE PINTEREST PRODUCT PINS
Product Rich Pins, or Product Pins, allow retailers to provide shoppers with relevant information about products by pulling the most up-to-date price, availability and product description directly from your website. They also include a link that will take the customer straight to the checkout page of your site, allowing them to purchase in just a few clicks.
These are similar to the old Buyable Pins as they make information about your product readily available, but they differ as Product Pins do not allow users to purchase the product directly from Pinterest. In preliminary testing, Product Pins resulted in 40 percent more clicks to product websites, which could greatly improve your sales funnel.
To use the Product Rich Pins feature, your store’s website must be set up for eCommerce. If you use Shopify, your site already has the appropriate metadata to enable Product Rich Pins. Otherwise, Pinterest supports Open Graph, Schema.org and oEmbed formats for marking up your pages. A complete guide for getting your website ready for Product Pins can be found in Pinterest’s Developers resources.
Remember to validate your Product Pins once everything is ready. To do this, choose any page on your site with the appropriate metadata (only one URL needed), copy/paste the URL into Pinterest’s validator tool and click “Validate.” If there are no issues, click “Apply now” to enable Product Rich Pins for your store. It can take up to 24 hours for Pinterest to process your application and activate Product Pins for your account.
If you are a home decor or style-related retailer, you also will benefit from Pinterest’s new “Shopping Recommendations” by using Product Pins. This feature displays related products beneath the original Pin, allowing shoppers to view similar items easily. If a shopper is looking for a dress, for instance, they will see recommendations for like-styles from a variety of brands as long as they are in stock. This gives you an advantage, as it can place your products in front of audiences who may not have found them otherwise.
USE PINTEREST’S ‘SHOP THE LOOK’ FEATURE
Until recently, Pinterest’s Shop the Look Pins were only available to large brands such as Target and Wayfair. Now the feature may be used by retailers of all sizes in the style and home sectors.
Shop the Look Pins take eCommerce to the next level by allowing you to create an engaging experience for potential customers. They should include a complete look or lifestyle, such as a model wearing multiple cohesive pieces or a room with various home decorations. Items available for purchase should then be tagged so shoppers can view them individually and click through to your website to check out.
To do this, select “Create Pin” and add your image, Pin title and description as usual. Then select the shopping tag symbol and click on the product you wish to tag. Add the product URL or affiliates link and select a product image that corresponds with the one included in the look. Continue this process for all products you wish to tag and click “Done” when you’re finished.
The Shop the Look feature works across mobile and the web, so shoppers can complete the purchase whenever and wherever they’re ready.