Pinterest Reportedly Adding Attribution Tools as Advertisers Seek Measurable Results

Pinterest is reportedly losing some advertising clients as brands look for measurable results.

With brands concerned about the direction of the economy and reducing costs, they are looking to direct their ad spend toward marketing channels to which they can better attribute sales, ModernRetail reported Friday (April 21), citing interviews with advertising agency executives.

Pinterest did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

One agency executive told ModernRetail they have seen previews of enhanced ad features that are in development at Pinterest but that, for now, the agency’s clients are looking elsewhere because of their need for immediate results.

Another said this is part of a broader slowdown in ad spending and a sharpening focus on advertising channels that can demonstrate concrete results, according to the report.

Other agency executives said the platform serves to create awareness and the results of advertising should be measured differently from platforms that are closer to the final sale, per the report.

Because Pinterest largely serves as a source of product discovery for consumers as they begin their shopping journey, it is difficult for brands to attribute the later sales to the platform, according to the report.

Pinterest has worked to address this challenge by creating a tool called API for Conversions last year and a dedicated sales team that works with companies to help them with their attributions in 2019, the report said.

During Pinterest’s most recent earnings call, CEO Bill Ready said the newly launched “conversion API” enables merchants to use conversion measurement tools.

Ready said the API had been found to boost attributed checkout conversions by an average of 28% and there was 14% improvement in the checkout cost per acquisition (CPA) metric.

The company is also beta testing a tool called Pinterest Premiere Spotlight that highlights retailers and brands and guides consumers to a purchase decision, according to the ModernRetail report.

It was reported April 12 that Pinterest is adjusting its retail strategy as ads become a key revenue source.

The platform is investing in computer vision, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to help personalize shopping and facilitate consumer behavior.

It’s also finding that shopping ad catalogs account for Pinterest’s fastest-growing revenue stream and that its use of mobile deep linking to transmit users straight to the checkout function on the merchant’s app helps reduce the number of clicks required.

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