Whew! All of my videos, blogs, and posts have finally paid off! You’ve decided to run Pinterest Ads! I’m so excited for you! You are about to discover how profitable Pinterest Ads can be – even after your campaign has finished, and how much less stress there can be in your life without Facebook Ads. But now that you have everything set up and running, the big question on your mind might be are your Pinterest Ads working? If you prefer to get this information in video format, you can click to watch it here:
Are your Pinterest Ads working?
First, set aside any vanity metrics. Don’t worry about follows and unique monthly views. We will focus on the two most important things to check if you want to know if your Pinterest ads are working. And if not, how to course-correct and get them back on track in a hurry.
The second thing I want you to do, and this is important: Don’t touch your ads for at least 2 weeks! Let Pinterest gather data!
Okay so don’t necessarily wait two weeks to look at these. You will want to come back in a day or two to confirm your ads have been approved and that your budget is spending, but wait two weeks before making any changes.
I know this will be a challenge for many people, especially when our ad spend is tied to this number and we don’t see the performance we want immediately. But please trust me on this: let Pinterest do its work here for a moment (or 14 days).
Check your click-through-rate (CTR)
After the two-week mark has passed, you’ll want to go into your analytics and look at your click-through-rate, or CTR. This measures that your pins are attracting people to click on your pin and check out your offer.
AVERAGE: above .55%
GOOD: 1-1.5%
GREAT!: 1.5-2%
UNICORN AMAZING: OVER 2%
You’ll want to be above average, and obviously, if you get a result in the good, great, or unicorn amazing category – even better!
If the click-through rate is below .55, you’ll want to check your pins.
Analyzing your pins, if needed.
How many did you set up initially?
I recommend setting up four pins, and this allows you to compare the click-through rates on each pin and toggle off what isn’t working.
It is Pinterest’s best practice to leave at least two pins running. If those remaining two pins have CTRS above .55, you’re probably good, as they will go up over the next week once you turn off the pins that dragged the average down.
If you find the CTR is still low, this is the first plan of attack!
Next, you’ll want to try creating different pins because the goal is to attract people to click.
1. Is the title aspirational? Does it explain what problem you’ll solve, what they’ll get, or what life will be after they have bought your product?
2. Do the images go along with the headline and are clear and eye-catching? I like to have a button that looks like you can click on it with a clear call to action such as, “download now, buy now, learn more,” etc.
3. Make sure that the text is large and easy to read. I am currently running an ad now. The headline was clear and engaging, but the text on the image was small. I got an amazing CTR of over 3, but no one was signing up. You have to remember most people are on a cell phone. I think I was getting clicks because people wanted to see the small text – which was data. I enlarged the image on the pin and played with some of the titles, so we’ll see how that goes.
4. Make sure the pin and the landing page match. You’re intriguing someone to click for a reason. Does the landing page tease more about what they’ll get so you can get a sign up for your free thing, or does the product do what you said it would do?
After you have tweaked your images, let it rest and reset. Then check your data in another week.
Narrow down your tracking
Once the click-through-rate problem is solved, you’ll want to look at what you are tracking for. Are you getting opt-ins or purchases of your product?
1. Now, you’ll want to narrow down your targeting. This can be done at the ad group level. Check age, device, locations, and interests. Anything under that CTR of .55, you most likely will want to turn off unless it is getting conversions. This information will come from your analytics.
2. Refine your keywords. You’ll do this by going to the keywords tab and sorting by pin clicks. I then click the boxes of the underperforming keywords and then archive them.
3. Track is the page visits. This allows you to compare how many people are visiting your page vs. signing up. If people are visiting your page and not signing up and/or purchasing, this could mean there is a disconnect between the pin and the sales page.
4. Is your messaging consistent? Are you saying one thing on the pin vs. the sales page? Maybe you need to tweak your sales page? The title is compelling enough, or it could be your potential audience isn’t ready to buy yet.
Remember, Pinners are planners
The primary audience on Pinterest is planners, and they are usually a few months ahead of any holiday or event. This is why I recommend optimizing for sign-ups to a lead magnet. If you need ideas about what might be trending in your niche, Pinterest usually publishes a prediction and trend report annually.
The investment of ad money will get them to your page and onto your email list rather than going there and bouncing away, wasting your money!
Once you have permission to email them, follow up with a tripwire or your offer on the thank you page. Many email service providers enable you to create a redirect. This allows you to have two opportunities to market to your audience. One to get their email, and then if they don’t buy, you should have an email sequence set up so you can wow them with your offer, and then reoffer it to them something like “last chance to get this deal” (if it was marked down for a certain amount of time.)
Review of steps to see if your Pinterest Ads are working
The nature of Pinterest – and ads in general – is testing, testing, testing. It’s asking yourself, “Do you have the right audience, messaging, and product?” and if not, how can you adjust it to get better metrics?
- Once you set up your ads, check back in a day or two to confirm your ad has been approved and that your budget is spending.
- Best practices is to create at least two pins for your campaign; I recommend four to start so you can gather more data.
- Leave your ad alone for two weeks so that Pinterest may gather data about the audience who is clicking on your pins; you will need this to make the appropriate adjustments.
- Check your click-through rate; you’ll want to turn off any pins that aren’t performing at at least .55 percent.
- If you are underperforming, review your pin design for title, imaging, consistency in messaging, and a strong call to action.
- After your click-through rate seems to be performing at an average percentage, narrow down your tracking results by looking at your audience and keywords to refine your target audience and who is seeing your ads.
If you’re interested in running Pinterest Ads for your business, I can do them for you! Learn more here and set up a time to talk about your ad goals.
