The next step: How to maximise your shopping results on Pinterest

Retailers face a new reality: digital ad performance is under more pressure than ever. Feeds are crowded, costs are rising, budgets are shrinking and teams are stretched.  What’s more, shoppers now ignore most ads unless they're ultra-relevant in the moment.  Simply showing up and hoping to secure the sale will no longer cut it.

Today, success means reaching shoppers much earlier—when inspiration strikes, not just when they’re ready to buy. Working smarter, not harder or spending more, is what gets results.

These three bidding strategies for your Pinterest shopping campaigns are designed to support your goals, ease pressure on your team and budget and help you maximise results.

Choose the right bidding strategy for your goals

Under the Catalogue Sales objective in Pinterest Ads Manager, you'll find three primary bidding strategies designed to align with your business goals:

1. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

2. Conversions (oCPM)

3. oCPC (Optimised Cost Per Click)

Each one serves a different purpose depending on the outcomes you're aiming for, whether that’s driving more value, generating more volume or boosting traffic. Here's how to leverage them effectively.

1. ROAS: Get the most value for your budget

Best for: Businesses optimising for high-value transactions and return on ad spend.

Choose ROAS bidding when:

• Your campaign KPI is ROAS.

• Your checkout values can vary greatly across transactions. (e.g. fashion, furniture, electronics).

• You’re set up to pass back checkout events with value data (sending purchase details from your site to Pinterest using the Pinterest tag or Conversions API).

ROAS bidding helps Pinterest deliver your ads to people most likely to convert with higher-value transactions. It’s ideal for brands with variable basket sizes who want to get the most value from their spend.

Pinterest Performance+ ROAS bidding builds on this by using machine learning to adjust bids in real time, prioritising transactions likely to have higher checkout values. It’s especially effective for retailers or any brand with variable order sizes, helping to increase total ROAS without a big rise in CPA.

And we’ve already seen the impact in action: advertisers in beta testing saw a median 10% higher ROAS when using Pinterest Performance+ ROAS bidding.¹

Note: You don’t need to use the Pinterest Performance+ campaign type to activate this. As long as you’re consistently passing back checkout value, you can enable it under Optimisation & Delivery in Ads Manager.

2. Conversions (oCPM): Drive more purchases for less

Best for: Brands looking to drive as many conversions as possible at a target cost.

Choose oCPM bidding when:

• Your campaign has a CPA or conversion volume KPI.

• You want to optimise ROAS, but your checkout value doesn’t vary much.

• Passing back checkout value isn’t possible.

oCPM bidding helps Pinterest deliver your ads to people most likely to convert. It’s great for when order values are consistent, or when value-based optimisation (like ROAS bidding) isn’t yet an option.

You can also run A/B tests between oCPM and ROAS to identify which strategy delivers stronger performance for your marketing goals.

3. oCPC: Drive clicks while staying flexible

Best for: Advertisers wanting to focus on driving clicks and maximising reach while controlling costs.

Use oCPC bidding when:

• Optimising for click-based KPIs such as CPC or CTR.

• You need a flexible campaign to support broader funnel strategies.

• You need a temporary solution during budget changes or transitions.

• You plan to run shopping ads on Pinterest without using the Pinterest tag or Conversions API on your site. oCPC lets you leverage your product feed and drive results without additional tracking or tagging.

oCPC helps you reach shoppers efficiently by delivering low-cost, high-quality clicks. It’s a strong fit for early-funnel strategies, creative testing or as a fallback when conversion tracking isn’t available or desired. While conversion or ROAS bidding often drive stronger average results, oCPC can provide real value—especially for advertisers who choose not to use site tracking or APIs.If you use last-click attribution, run A/B tests between CPC and conversion-based objectives to see what delivers best. 

Top tip: Combining oCPC and oCPM strategies can unlock even greater results. Pinterest data reveals that using both together in shopping campaigns can deliver a 55.3% higher median ROAS than oCPM alone.³

Put these strategies into action: Your next steps

The right bidding strategy helps you do more with less, no matter your goal.

• Define your core KPI: Are you focused on value (ROAS), volume (oCPM) or clicks (oCPC)?

• Choose the right bidding strategy or combine oCPC and oCPM for full-funnel impact.

• Set up your Pinterest tag or Conversions API and make sure you’re capturing key events.

• Test, learn and optimise: A/B test between oCPM and ROAS to see what delivers.

• Unlock even more with Pinterest Performance+ to help your budget go further.

Shoppers move fast and your campaigns should, too. Meet them in the moment. Head to Pinterest Ads Manager to get started.