Pinterest Ads for Shopify: How to Set Them Up and Make Them Pay

Who it is for

Shopify stores with visual, planned-for products

Time needed

An hour to set up, two weeks to learn

What you need

Pinterest business and advertiser accounts

Pinterest ads for Shopify behave differently from Meta or TikTok ads. People open Pinterest to collect ideas: a kitchen, a wedding, an outfit, a garden. Your ad appears as one of those ideas. That's a strength for stores whose products are part of a bigger plan, and a challenge for any store whose product pages assume the visitor is ready to buy today.

I approach this from the store side. I don't manage ad accounts. I make sure the pages ads send people to turn visits into orders, and with Pinterest that means pages built for browsing and saving as well as buying. This guide covers the setup through the Pinterest app, campaign choices, budgets, creative specs and the landing page work. Every Pinterest step and figure comes from Pinterest's Business Help Center and the Shopify App Store, as I checked them on 7 November 2026.

Is Pinterest a good fit for your store?

In my experience, Pinterest suits products people plan around. Use this as a guide, then test:

Before you start

Pinterest's help center lists a few requirements, and missing one is the most common reason setup stalls:

• A Pinterest business account and an advertiser account, with you as the account owner. Profiles with only Business Manager permissions can't connect a Shopify store.
• One store, one account. A Shopify store can connect to only one Pinterest business account at a time.
• Your country. The Pinterest app for Shopify isn't available everywhere. In some countries Pinterest says you may need to work with one of its advertising partners to create an ad account first.
• Desktop Chrome. Pinterest recommends doing the connection on a desktop Chrome browser.
• No manual tag. If you added the Pinterest tag by hand or through another app, remove it as part of step 1.

Step 1: Install the Pinterest app and remove old tags

1. Log in to your Shopify admin.
2. Find the app. Open the Pinterest app by Pinterest in the Shopify App Store. It's free to install. You pay only for the ads you buy.
3. Review the permissions and click Add app if you agree.
4. Follow the on-screen steps to connect your Pinterest business account and finish setup.

When it's done, Pinterest says four things happen: your website is claimed on Pinterest, the Pinterest tag and Conversions API are installed, your Shopify product feed is connected, and product Pins are generated from that feed. Depending on your location, you may also get an ad credit when you launch your first campaign.

Then remove any old Pinterest tag. A manually added tag and the app's tag together will double-count events. Pinterest's own instructions for removing old code cover three places:

• Base code. Go to Online Store > Themes, click the three dots next to your theme, choose Edit code and open theme.liquid. Remove the pintrk script above </head>.
• Checkout code. Older setups put a tracking script in the order status page scripts box under Settings > Checkout. Remove only the Pinterest part.
• Add to cart code. Look in your product template files for pintrk('track', 'addtocart') and delete it.

Also check Settings > Customer events for any custom pixel or third-party app sending Pinterest events.

Step 2: Check your catalog and product Pins

Your product Pins and shopping ads are built from Shopify product data, so weak data makes weak ads. Before you spend, check your best sellers:

• Images. Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio, 1000 x 1500 pixels, for standard image ads, and says taller Pins may be cut off in feeds. Square product shots work, but a vertical lifestyle image usually fills more of the screen.
• Titles. Up to 100 characters, but only the first 40 or so may show in feeds, depending on the device. Put the product type and key detail first: "Linen duvet cover, king, sage green".
• Descriptions. Up to 800 characters. Pinterest says descriptions don't show on ads in the home or search feed, but its system uses them to decide relevance. Write them for search: materials, use, style and room.
• Price and stock. These come from Shopify, so out-of-stock variants and wrong prices flow straight into your ads.

The Shopify App Store listing says the app keeps your catalog updated automatically, so fix product data in Shopify and let it sync rather than editing on Pinterest.

Step 3: Pick the objective and build the campaign

Pinterest simplified its campaign objectives. It replaced Conversions and Catalog sales with Leads and Sales, and says existing campaigns on the old objectives remain editable until April 30, 2027, after which they'll be archived.

Consideration and Sales can use your product catalog as the creative source, which is how you run shopping ads. One naming quirk: in Pinterest's event list, "Checkout" is a completed purchase, separate from "Initiate checkout". Make sure you optimize for the right one.

To build the campaign:

1. Open Ads Manager and start a new campaign. Depending on your account, it's under the menu at the top left, Create campaign, then a manual or custom campaign.
2. Choose the objective. For Consideration or Sales, pick the creative source: Product catalog for shopping ads, or Pins for standard ads.
3. Decide on Performance+. Pinterest Performance+ is a toggle at the start of Consideration, Leads and Sales campaigns. It bundles automated bidding, targeting and creative options, and only allows lifetime or flexible daily budgets.
4. Add the campaign details: name, status, budget and schedule.
5. Set up the ad group: targeting, optimization event and delivery. With a catalog, choose the product group and feed.
6. Pick your Pins and launch.

Step 4: Set a budget Pinterest can learn from

Pinterest is unusually specific about this, at least for Performance+:

• Leads and Sales campaigns perform best with 50 or more conversion events a week. Below that, Pinterest suggests starting with Consideration to build interest and on-site conversions.
• If you judge results on cost per action, the daily budget should be at least five times your cost per result goal.
• Increase budgets gradually, by 20–30% based on performance.
• Learning mode takes about two weeks on average. Pinterest advises not changing ads or budgets until the Learning indicator disappears.

If that's more than you can commit, follow Pinterest's own advice and start with Consideration, optimizing for clicks, while the store builds purchase volume. Note that with Performance+ daily budgets, Pinterest may spend up to 125% of the daily figure on one day, averaging out over the week from Sunday to Saturday.

Step 5: Make Pins that look like Pinterest

Ads that look like ordinary Pins tend to fit the feed. A few rules from Pinterest's specs, plus my own:

• Vertical images, 2:3. Lifestyle shots that show the product in a room, an outfit or a table setting.
• Short video. Pinterest recommends 6 to 15 seconds for video ads, in square or vertical formats.
• Plenty of ads. For Performance+, Pinterest recommends at least 10 ads per ad group, removing weak ones after learning and adding fresh ones.
• A clear text overlay. A few words that say what the idea is: "Small balcony garden ideas", not just your logo.

Step 6: Build landing pages for planners, and measure

This is where Pinterest campaigns are won or lost. Pinterest itself suggests testing different landing pages, product, category and homepage, and reviewing bounce rates. Here's what I look for:

1. Match the Pin. If the Pin shows a styled bedroom, link to a collection with those products, not one duvet. If it shows one product, link to that product and variant.
2. Show the full look. "Complete the look" sections and bundles suit shoppers furnishing a whole room or outfit. My guide to product bundles on Shopify shows the options.
3. Capture the not-yet buyers. Many Pinterest visitors are planning. An email signup with a useful reason, such as a style guide or back-in-stock alerts, keeps them for later.
4. Make it easy on a phone. Clear price, delivery times and returns near the add to cart button, and express checkout turned on. The Shopify mobile CRO checklist covers the details.

Measuring results. Pinterest reports conversions through its tag and Conversions API, which the app installs. Like every platform, it will credit sales differently from Shopify and GA4. Add UTM parameters to your ad URLs, such as utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=paid_social, so GA4 files the visits under Paid Social. My guide to tracking ad performance in GA4 covers the setup. Because many Pinterest visitors are still planning, judge campaigns over weeks, not days.

Common mistakes

• A manual tag left in the theme next to the app's tag.
• Square or horizontal images that look small in a vertical feed.
• Sales campaigns with too few conversions to learn, instead of starting with Consideration.
• Changing budgets during learning, which Pinterest says disrupts optimization.
• Linking inspiration Pins to the homepage. The planner wanted that room, not your whole store.
• Judging after a few days. Learning alone averages about two weeks.

Pinterest ads checklist

1. Accounts. Business account and advertiser account, with owner access.
2. App installed, website claimed, tag and Conversions API active.
3. Old tags removed from the theme, checkout scripts and custom pixels.
4. Catalog synced, with 2:3 images and clear titles on bestsellers.
5. Objective matched to your weekly conversions.
6. Budget at least five times your cost per result goal, or Consideration first.
7. At least 10 ads per Performance+ ad group.
8. Landing pages that match the Pin, with email capture and a fast mobile layout.

What to do next

Install the Pinterest app, remove any old tag and check how your top five products look as product Pins. Then pick the objective your conversion volume supports and give it two weeks before judging.

If Pinterest sends visitors who browse and leave, the fix is usually on the store. I'll review your landing pages for free and tell you what to change first. My CRO work starts from $500.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Connect your Shopify store to your account, Pinterest Business Help
2. Simplified objectives, Pinterest Business Help
3. Pinterest Performance+, Pinterest Business Help
4. Set up a campaign budget, Pinterest Business Help
5. Review ad specs, Pinterest Business Help
6. Pinterest, Shopify App Store

Related services and work

Written by Ashraf Siddik

I'm a Shopify developer and CRO specialist. I have built and improved Shopify stores since 2018, completed more than 1,000 projects, and hold a 4.96 average rating across 719 client reviews.

About me · Client reviews