Maximizing your dropshipping potential with Pinterest Ads in 2024

By okaybliss — ON Feb 17, 2024

Dropshipping has become an increasingly popular business model over the last few years. The basic idea behind dropshipping is that store owners sell products to customers without actually carrying inventory. Instead, when a store makes a sale, they purchase the item from a third party supplier who then ships it directly to the customer. This allows dropshippers to run lean ecommerce businesses with minimal upfront costs.

Pinterest ads have emerged as a powerful way for dropshipping business owners to reach potential new customers. With over 400 million monthly active users, Pinterest is a huge but targeted audience. Pinterest users generally have high buying intent, making them primed for your ads. Pinterest ads also tend to have higher engagement and lower costs per click compared to alternatives.

By combining dropshipping and Pinterest ads, ecommerce entrepreneurs have a huge opportunity in 2024 and beyond. In this article, we’ll explore tips and strategies for maximizing your dropshipping potential with Pinterest ads. We’ll cover everything from setting up your account to writing effective ad copy to driving traffic. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand, Pinterest ads can take your dropshipping business to the next level.

Benefits of Pinterest Ads for Dropshipping

Highly targeted audience

Pinterest’s user base is highly targeted for certain niches perfect for dropshipping. For example, around 60-80% of Pinterest’s users are female. This makes Pinterest a great platform for targeting products in traditionally female-dominated categories like fashion, beauty, home decor, recipes, and more.

Mostly female users

With over 70% of Pinterest’s audience identifying as female, Pinterest provides access to an engaged female demographic. This allows dropshippers to effectively promote products tailored to women’s interests and needs. The platform’s visual nature also appeals to female users looking for style inspiration.

Visually-focused platform

Unlike most social media, Pinterest is highly visual with the focus on sharing and discovering eye-catching pins. This makes it perfect for showcasing products. The visual nature of pins catches users’ attention and makes products stand out. You can create lifestyle pins that highlight your products uses and benefits instead of just the products alone.

Setting Up Your Pinterest Business Account

To start running ads on Pinterest, you’ll first need to convert your personal Pinterest account to a business account. This is easy to do directly within Pinterest.

Here are the steps to convert to a business account:

Go to your Pinterest profile and click the settings icon in the top right corner.
Select “Convert to business account.”
Enter your business name, website, and category.
Agree to the Pinterest business terms of service.

Once you have a business account, you’ll want to optimize your profile to increase visibility. Follow these tips:

Add a profile and cover image that represent your brand. Images with faces tend to perform better.
Fill out your bio with useful keywords and a compelling description of your business.
Link to your online store or other website so people can learn more about your brand.
Select the proper categories that relate to your products.
Enable rich pins to showcase your products visually.

By properly setting up your Pinterest business profile, you’ll increase your credibility and discoverability for when people come across your Pinterest ads. This helps maximize the results from your ad spend.

Creating Engaging Pins

Dropshippers know that high-quality, eye-catching images are key for success on Pinterest. When creating Pins, keep these best practices in mind:

Use original, high-resolution product photos. Avoid stock images or anything that looks generic. Showcase your products in an appealing, lifestyle setting when possible.
Optimize images for the Pinterest feed. Make them vertical and at least 1000×1500 pixels. Design them to stand out in the small space of a Pin.
Write short, catchy headlines of less than 150 characters. Ask a question, use imperative language, highlight benefits, or say something intriguing to capture attention.
In the description, focus on encouraging clicks with strong calls-to-action. For example, “Shop now and save 50% with code PIN50” or “Click to customize and buy this handbag.”
Link Pins directly to relevant product pages to boost on-site conversions. Don’t just link to your homepage.
Create Pins for multiple products. Pinterest users engage with a variety of eye-catching visual content as they browse feeds.
Test different image orientations, aspect ratios, layouts, text overlays, and more. Analyze performance data to optimize your Pins.
Promote product collections, new arrivals, sales, and more through Themes to tap into seasonal trends.

With compelling, original Pins that capture attention, you can maximize your reach and traffic from Pinterest Ads as a dropshipper.

Targeting Your Audience

One of the best advantages of Pinterest ads is the ability to precisely target your ideal customers based on their interests and behaviors on the platform. This is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of your dropshipping campaigns.

When setting up your ad targeting in Pinterest Ads Manager, make use of the detailed targeting options to laser-focus on your niche. Research what interests and topics your target audience cares about. For a women’s clothing store, you may target interests like fashion trends, specific clothing styles, beauty, and shopping. You can even target based on gender to reach women.

Look at popular Pin categories and themes related to your products. If you sell kitchenware, target interests like cooking, baking, home decor, and DIY projects. The more closely aligned the ad is with your audience’s passions, the better chance it has of resonating.

You can also target Pinterest users based on their behaviors on the platform. For example, target people who have searched for keywords or pins related to your products. Or target those who have visited specific websites or types of content. These signals indicate existing interest and intent, making them high-converting users to advertise to.

Take advantage of Pinterest’s wealth of data on their users’ interests and habits to connect with those most likely to convert for your dropshipping business. With smart audience targeting, you’ll maximize the value from your ad spend.

Writing Catchy Ad Copy

Your ad copy is one of the most important elements for getting clicks on your Pinterest ads. You want a copy that grabs attention and inspires action.

Some tips for writing effective Pinterest ad copy as a dropshipper:

Use short, catchy headlines. You have limited space, so keep your headlines under 30 characters to highlight your key selling point or product benefit.
Include a strong call-to-action (CTA). Tell people exactly what you want them to do – “Shop Now”, “Buy This”, etc. Clear CTAs help drive clicks.
Focus on benefits over features. Don’t just describe your product, explain how it solves problems or improves lives.
Use conversational language. Write your copy in a casual, approachable tone to connect with Pinners.
Add urgency when relevant. Limited-time offers or shipping deadlines can incentivize clicks.
Test different headlines. Try different angles in your copy to see what resonates most with your target audience.
Be creative and stand out. Use interesting ad copy to grab more attention as Pinners scroll through their feeds.

Effective copy promises relevance, inspires action, and compels Pinners to give your ads a click. Take the time to craft compelling copy to maximize the performance of your dropshipping campaigns.

Bidding and Budgeting

Setting the right bids and budget for your Pinterest ads campaign is crucial for success. With the right strategy, you’ll gain maximum exposure and return on your ad spend.

Smart Bidding Strategies

Pinterest offers two automated bidding strategies:

CPM bidding optimizes for clicks within your target CPM range. Pinterest will automatically adjust bids to try to get as many clicks as possible while staying close to your target CPM. This is a good option when you want consistent traffic while controlling costs.
oCPC bidding aims to get clicks from users more likely to take your desired action. Pinterest sets bids based on each ad’s expected conversion value. This works well if you have clear conversion goals.

Both options use machine learning behind the scenes to optimize bids. I recommend starting with CPM bidding as it’s simpler to implement. Monitor performance over the first few weeks, then switch to oCPC bidding once you have conversion data.

Recommended Daily Budget

When first starting out, set a daily budget that aligns with your goals, then make adjustments as needed. Here are some tips:

Start small – $5 to $10 per day. This lets you test the waters before investing more.
Consider your profit margins. If products average $20 profit, invest enough to get 5 sales a day as a starting point.
Watch performance over the first few weeks and tweak as needed. Increase budget if you’re happy with results.
For an aggressive growth approach, set your max daily budget and let Pinterest spend up to that when they see opportunities.
Budget peaks and valleys are normal. Keep enough room to increase budget without hitting daily caps.

Overall, approach Pinterest ads as an investment and give the algorithm time to optimize for results. Monitor closely and scale the budget in line with what works for your business.

Tracking and Optimization

Optimizing your Pinterest ads is crucial for maximizing your dropshipping potential. You need to closely track performance to see what’s working and double down on those efforts.

Set up tracking pixels and UTM parameters to monitor results from your Pinterest ads. This will allow you to view conversions, revenue, return on ad spend and other key metrics. Some important events to track include:

Clicks to your product pages or website
Add to carts
Purchases
Revenue

Conduct A/B split tests on elements like:

Headline and ad creative
Targeting parameters
Images and videos
Call-to-action
Landing page

Try different ad formats such as video, carousel, collection and standard image ads. Test placement and budgets to determine the optimal strategy.

Analyze the data to see which product pins, targets and creatives are performing best. Double down on the high converters and pare back on the low performers.

Continuously refine your keywords, interests and audiences to home in on those generating sales. Monitor ROI and tweak bids to maximize efficiency.

With ongoing optimization, you’ll be able to refine your Pinterest strategy to fully capitalize on its marketing potential for your dropshipping business.

Driving Traffic to Your Store

Driving traffic from your Pinterest ads to your online store is crucial for generating sales. However, sending traffic to your homepage may not convert visitors into buyers. Instead, focus on creating dedicated landing pages optimized for conversions.

Landing Page Best Practices

Make your store branding clear and consistent on the landing page. This builds trust with visitors.
Showcase the specific product promoted in your ad. Don’t make visitors search for it.
Use high-quality photos and videos of the product to mirror your ad creative.
Focus your copy on selling the key benefits of the product. Address customer pain points.
Reduce distractions by removing navigation menus and avoiding cross-selling initially.
Emphasize clear call-to-action buttons to add the product to their cart.
Personalize the experience when possible with dynamic elements like the visitor’s name.
Make the checkout process as short and simple as possible. Reduce form fields and require only essential info.

Retargeting

Use Facebook Pixel or Google tag manager to enable retargeting across ad platforms.
Create lookalike audiences of your top-converting landing page visitors for future ads.
Build email lists for future marketing like abandoned cart drip campaigns. Offer incentives for subscribers.
Remind users of products they showed interest in through dynamic retargeting ads.
Offer coupons or discounts to previous visitors in your retargeting ads as an incentive to complete their purchase.
Test retargeting with different creative, offers, and time delays post-visit to optimize results.

Summary and Final Tips

As we have seen throughout this guide, Pinterest ads can be a powerful tool for boosting your dropshipping business when used strategically. By creating eye-catching pins, precisely targeting your ideal audience, optimizing your ads over time, and driving traffic to your online store, you can gain new customers and increase revenue.

To summarize, here are some final tips to maximize your success with Pinterest ads for dropshipping:

Focus on high-quality lifestyle images and compelling text to create pins that stand out. Research trends and tailor your pins accordingly.
Leverage Pinterest’s wealth of audience data to target your ads. Refine based on interests, demographics, and past behavior on site.
A/B tests different headlines, captions, and calls to action to improve performance. Analyze data and double down on what converts.
Monitor cost per click, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS) and make adjustments to stay profitable. Set up tracking to gauge results.
Send traffic to dedicated landing pages that match your pins and encourage users to convert. Strong copy and clear calls to action are key.
Be patient. It takes time to learn what works for your business specifically. Continually optimize campaigns based on insights gained.

By starting with Pinterest’s highly engaged user base and leveraging the platform’s unique discovery-focused format, drop shippers have an opportunity to reach new audiences cost-effectively. Follow these tips and pay close attention to the data, and you will be well on your way to Pinterest ad success.