Pinterest stays upbeat about the future of online shopping amid recession forecasts that met consumers at the start of 2024. The visual inspiration platform has equipped its users ahead of time with the rollout of cutting-edge tools that will aid merchants amid financially trying times.
To help you optimize Pinterest for your brand or store, we have collected stats that can guide your marketing decisions and new features you can try for your upcoming campaigns.
8 Newest Pinterest Shopping Tools You Can Use in 2024
Refine your marketing campaign with Pinterest's new features:
1. Data clean room
Source: business.pinterest.com
Pinterest's "clean room" is the platform's solution to the upcoming cookie-less internet, allowing brands to secure their data and perform analytics safely.
Pinterest partnered with LiveRamp, which offers services that enable businesses to connect, control, unify, and activate customer data across different devices and channels, even offline. Companies can deepen audience understanding and access new measurement reports with LiveRamp's 600-plus integrations and advanced encryption technology.
This partnership will power Pinterest's "clean room," where the platform's business account holders can hold their first-party and Pinterest platform data. Advanced privacy controls will prevent Pinterest and its users from viewing each other's personally identifiable sales and campaign data.
Piloting this new Pinterest feature is Albertsons Media Collective. The marketing arm of the food and drug retailer will use the data clean room to measure its return on ad spend and other metrics for its winter healthy eating campaign.
Pinterest users must give their advertiser IDs to LiveRamp and upload files under 5GB. LiveRamp will then process and deliver conversion events to Pinterest in 1 to 3 days. You can view your conversion data 2 days later.
2. Pinterest TV Studio app
Source: apps.apple.com
Pinterest jumped on the live shopping bandwagon with its launch of Pinterest TV in the US in 2021 and Canada the following year. More than 900 creators and brands have gone live since this service began.
All pinners can view episodes on demand, engage through chat during the show, and revisit the episode later—whether or not they joined the live stream. However, creators have to undergo screening to qualify.
To further support users who will appear on Pinterest TV, the platform launched the Pinterest TV Studio app in 2022, available on Google Play and Apple Store. At the Creator’s Studio, you can preview your camera and video setup before going live by clicking the “Control Room” tab. You can also read and reply to viewers' comments in real time here. Pinterest says that due to the Control Room's advanced tools, it's advisable to use the feature via desktop, laptop, or large tablet.
Creators can promote and tag their products on Pinterest TV, allowing pinners to shop and buy on the host's online store or their partner retailer. Tools are also available for product drops, limited-time offers, and displays for remaining items in the inventory.
3. Pinterest Trends and Pinterest Predicts
Pinterest Trends Webpage
Source: trends.pinterest.com
Discover the top trending content in your selected region by going to the Pinterest Trends page, which you can also find under the “Analytics,” drop-down menu. When you input a keyword, the search bar will automatically generate sub-categories or subtopics you can choose from so you can make a more targeted search.
The search results can help you plan your content and pin descriptions to attract more Pinterest followers. It's also an effective tool for planning your promoted pins for seasonal offers. Moreover, the search results can provide ideas for a new product, catalog, or campaign.
The platform currently allows you to search for trends in the following locations:
- Argentina
- Australasia
- Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg)
- Brazil
- Canada
- Colombia
- Eastern Europe
- France
- Germanic countries
- Germany
- Great Britain & Ireland
- Hispanic LatAm
- Italy
- Mexico
- Nordic countries
- Spain
- Southern Europe
- United States
This Trends page has three sections:
1. Top trends in (your selected country) this month
This portion displays the most popular topics—and keywords—in your chosen region in the last 30 days if you don't enter a keyword in the search bar.
2. Discover trends in (your selected country)
Refine your search by selecting options under the “Filters” panel on the left side of the webpage:
- Trend type: Top monthly trends, Top year trends, Growing trends, and Seasonal trends
- End date: specific day and month by clicking the calendar
- Interests: This filter lists 24 topics. Examples include animals, architecture, art, electronics, events planning, finance, quotes, travel, wedding, and women's fashion.
- Keywords: a trend specific to the topic you selected. When you type more than one keyword, the table beside the "Filters," panel will show trends containing any of the keywords.
- Age: starts at "18-24" and includes "21+" for age restricted-ads
- Gender: male, female, and unspecified
The table beside this subhead will show how a keyword's popularity changed over the week, month, and year (denoted as a percent).
3. Growing trends your audience loves
Pinterest business account holders can view their followers’ top trends in the past 90 days. You can click a specific interest from the drop-down menu. The number below each trend indicates how many times your followers searhced for that "interest."
Pinterest Predicts
You can also get ideas from "Pinterest Predicts," an annual forecast of what trends will be popular in the year to come based on user data. Marketing experts expect Pinterest users to seriously note the contents of the 2024 edition, as eight of the ten trends predicted in the 2020 to 2022 editions became popular.
This year's version of the trends-forecasting feature has three filters. The platform added "Brand Values" to the "Audience" and "Categories" filters that appeared in Pinterest Predicts 2022.
Here are the sub-categories under each filter:
- Audience: boomers, Gen X, millennials, Gen Z
- Brand values: connection, creativity, inclusivity, self-improvement, sustainability
- Categories: beauty, well-being, fashion, celebrations, food and beverage, hobbies and interests, entertainment, financial services, home, parenting, and pets
Examples of the most dominant themes for 2023 include:
- Beauty - micro makeovers (bob hairdos and short French manicures), "skinification" or focus on scalp and hair care, and Gemini hair (bright colored dyes plus natural hues)
- Fashion - airy styles (lace, ruffles, tulle, and shimmer), body-baring silhouettes, romcom core (inspired by top romcoms of 2000), fringe outfits, and futuristic streetwear
- Home – “hipstoric” design (mix of hip or modern and historic or vintage), bedrooms with mushroom decor and fantasy art, home spa bathrooms, and water conservation (rain harvesting and other sustainable solutions)
- Celebration - “pool pawties” (parties) for pet dogs, rust or orange-themed weddings among millennial and Gen Z couples, milestone birthdays, and anniversaries among Gen Xers and boomers.
- Entertainment - rave parties and house music outfits
- Well-being - primal movement (exercises without equipment) to combat the negative effects of desk work, alternatives to talk therapy such as writing, art, and music journal prompts
- Financial services – saving money through gamification (budget and envelope challenges)
- Food and beverage - fancy low-alcohol drinks and creative cocktail presentations, sea-based vitamins, pastries made of wildflower ingredients
- Hobbies and interests - paper crafts (origami, quilling, and other paper art), new dating experiences (museum, bookstore, and aquarium trips)
- Parenting - the "fourth trimester" (post-natal period and parenthood), unisex names, gender flags
- Travel – Europe interrailing and other train tours
Researchers, designers, and strategists behind the 2023 report shortlisted 500,000 searches after sifting through billions of search entries since 2020. The outcome was a result of distilling 50 categories during Pinterest's Insights Making Week. Also, the platform teamed up with the NXT Labs focus group to review their process for bias, aiming to include all backgrounds and perspectives.
Pinterest's trendspotting continues after the team finishes the year’s report, keeping a scorecard throughout the year to see how each trend performs. Its team then incorporates lessons into their methodology to improve on the following year's edition.
A Black Swan study published by Pinterest in 2022 revealed that the trends predicted by the platform took off 20% faster and enjoyed monthly growth 20% longer than other trends.
4. Shopping API
Source: developers.pinterest.com
Pinterest's API or programming code for shopping gives you more control of your feeds. You can upload or delete single or multiple feeds, control scheduling, and get feed status, errors, and alerts. The API for shopping also has filters that let you create and manage product groups according to category, product type, price, and more. Updating a product's price and availability on a shoppable pin within and beyond the platform is also doable via the API. The platform says that using the API achieves a 97% accuracy of product prices and available stocks displayed on one’s Pinterest business account.
All these features make catalog updating faster, especially if you have a large inventory and need to make several updates within a day. The number of merchant catalog uploads rose 87% in 2022, year-on-year.
5. Idea Ads
Source: pinterest.com
Idea Ads are a Pinterest ad format based on full-screen, multi-page Idea Pins that feature images or videos or both with or without music. Some of the platform’s recommended storylines include showing a product hack, a step-by-step process, a day in the life, or holding a Q&A, a challenge, or a contest. 59% of Pinterest users say they're more likely to recall brands with Idea ads.
Meanwhile, creators can use Idea Pins to tag a brand with whom they have a sponsorship or paid partnership, indicated by the words "promoted by." When a creator tags the brand or advertiser, the business receives an email notification about this pin. The brand then agrees to promote the Idea Ad using the Branded Pin management tool, accessible from the paid partnership request email, a notification, or the Business Hub widget. Advertisers can use "Pin Preview" to check and test their Idea Ads with a paid partnership.
Because the business can also promote this ad, Pinterest allows the pin to scale beyond the creator's following. These collaborations reportedly increase brand awareness by 38%.
Meanwhile, Pinterest reported the following results for adopters of API for Conversions:
- 14% cost per action improvements for cost per impressions campaigns, compared to just using "Tags."
- 36% average rise in conversion volume when using both Conversion API and Tags
6. AR Try Ons for furniture and home decor
Source: newsroom.pinterest.com
Pinterest expects businesses to continue using augmented reality (AR) to improve their customers' shopping experiences. 2022 data shows that consumers were 5x more likely to buy items featured on AR-enabled Try On Pins.
The platform first applied the AR tool in 2021 for shoppable beauty pins featuring eyeshadow and lipstick products. Pinners can now get a feel of how furniture and home decor shown on Pins "fit" into their real-world spaces by using the Pinterest app and tapping "Try in your Space." The virtual product "settles" into the corner of a room after the pinner clicks "Tap to Place."
The pin also shows the product's description, price, and supplier. Users click the pin again to order on the retailer's website. Participating stores include CB2, Crate and Barrel, Walmart, West Elm, and Wayfair.
7. Video in catalog
Source: newsroom.pinterest.com
Uploading a product video in your catalog instead of a static image can improve how your Pinterest followers visualize the look and feel of your item from different angles. Merchants who have used video product pins reported a 158% rise in click-through rates, a 58% decline in cost per action, and a 42% dip in cost per click.
8. Shuffles app
Source: pinterest.com
Available by invite only in the second half of 2022, Shuffles—Pinterest's version of a collage-making tool—became accessible to the public around November. Shuffles can serve as modern mood boards where you can combine images (from Pinterest, those saved on your device, or stickers from the platform’s collection), GIFs, quotes, and captions within your collage.
The app is similar to the cutout tool of Apple’s Visual Lookup system, which lets you cut and lift your chosen object from its original scene and save or transfer it to a messaging app. In Shuffles, however, you can choose from the effects options to make your image pulse, shake, spin, swivel, and more.
The output is shareable on other social media. You can also combine another creator's collage with your own to form a new collage. Every element you add to the collage is clickable and takes you back to the original pin or website source, typically to Pinterest.
Get More Pinterest Marketing Ideas
Discover more tried and tested steps to maximize your Pinterest business account. Read our "Pin It and Win It: How to Use Pinterest for Business." Also, get a broader view of the platform's performance with our "34 Mind-blowing Pinterest Stats for 2024."
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the new tools introduced for Pinterest campaigns in 2024?
Pinterest has introduced eight new tools, including a Data Clean Room, Pinterest TV Studio app, Pinterest Trends and Predicts, Shopping API, Idea Ads, AR Try Ons, Video in Catalog, and the Shuffles app.
How does the Data Clean Room benefit advertisers?
The Data Clean Room allows brands to secure their data and perform analytics safely, enabling deeper audience understanding while maintaining privacy controls over personally identifiable information.
What is the Pinterest TV Studio app?
The Pinterest TV Studio app supports live shopping by allowing creators to host live episodes, engage with viewers, and provide on-demand content, enhancing the shopping experience on the platform.
What are Idea Ads and how do they work?
Idea Ads are a new ad format that allows advertisers to showcase their products in a more engaging and visually appealing way, aimed at driving user interaction and conversions.
What role does AI play in the new Pinterest tools?
AI is utilized to enhance personalization, automate ad campaigns, and improve performance metrics through tools like Intelligent Campaigns and Performance+.
How can the Shopping API improve e-commerce on Pinterest?
The Shopping API allows for seamless integration of product catalogs, making it easier for users to shop directly from pins and enhancing the overall shopping experience on the platform.
