This is the 3rd article in our mini-series on Pinterest for Ecommerce Business.

Read the previous article here: Which Type Of Pinterest Ads Should I Use?

Right now you might feel unsure about whether or not Pinterest Ads are right for you. Or even if you can afford Pinterest ads or not. Is it a good use of funds and worth it to promote your eCommerce business? 

Well, for most of my clients, Pinterest Ads work very well for them in terms of return but, like anything, the key to it is set up and targeting. 

Pinterest advertising is proving an important element in most modern eCommerce business owners' digital marketing strategy.  The Pinterest world is huge and the site is constantly growing, getting on track for half a billion users and engagement with brands rising by 140% in the last year alone.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from clients is about Ad budget on Pinterest. 

• If you want to pay for advertising for a standard Pinterest campaign, how much can you expect to pay?
• What is the average cost?

Let’s take a look at this together and see what you can expect to pay for your eCommerce business in order to get a basic Ad campaign up and running on Pinterest.

How Much Does Pinterest Advertising Cost?

On average, and according to Pinterest a business can expect to pay anywhere from $1 - $6 for every thousand impressions that you get if you are trying to build awareness for your business through Pinterest.

There are a couple of campaign types worth mentioning here:

• With traffic campaigns, you only pay when someone clicks through to your site.
• With engagement campaigns, you pay when someone engages with your Pin through closeups, saves, or clicks.

So, if you want to drive traffic to your website, using the popular Traffic Ads campaign structure, it’ll cost you somewhere between 10c and $1.50 per click.

When it comes to boosting posts and your online engagement, you’ll also be paying roughly between 10 cents and $1.50 for each click / engagement.

Importantly, you get to decide how much you want to spend each day for each campaign. You’ll never spend more than the daily budget you set in Pinterest Ads Manager. This is good news for those who like to be firmly in control of their budgets! 

What is Cost Per Click (CPC)?

So, if we’re going to talk about advertising costs on Pinterest, we have to talk about how your advertising costs are measured and reported on - the cost per click (CPC).

CPC represents how much you are paying for each click through to your website. It's an average.  You monitor the CPC like a hawk!  You should always be aware of how much you are paying to get a "click". 

Advertising on Pinterest is competitive, like an auction. You have to submit a bid for your advert to acquire the advertising space for your business. The minimum bid for a CPC campaign on Pinterest at the time of writing is between 5 to 10 cents per click.

What Is A Good Click Through Rate (CTR) on Pinterest?

I like to recommend to my clients that they look to achieve at least 1% CTR on all their Pinterest Adverts running. 

Yes, sure, as you begin a new campaign there will be some test ads that don't meet this criteria early on. The lesson here is learn fast, close those poor performing ads off and only keep those ads running if they get over this 1% CTR hurdle. 

Important points to remember when paying for Pinterest Ads

• It is still possible to earn low-cost clicks, gather email signups, and achieve checkout conversions using Pinterest Ads
• We've found there is less competition with promoted pins on Pinterest than on other ad platforms
• From our experience, it will certainly boost your organic traffic
• The Pinterest system has been optimised to ensure you get the most clicks at the lowest cost.

How much should I bid on a Pinterest Advert?

I'd recommend at least 20 cents per click to get your first campaign moving, as a minimum.  Then get clear on what daily budget you feel comfortable with for this first campaign and set it. 

The amount you decide to spend on your Pinterest Adverts will depend on the size and scale of your business, your unique conversion rate for your product sales and of course how much you are willing to pay to acquire your customer in the first place. 

Always start small and increase over time as you begin to see what's working for you and what's not. Don't be afraid to test out different Pinterest Ad types as your confidence grows, and keep testing until you find a winning ad you want to keep! 

Automatic Bidding

Thankfully, if you don’t feel confident with the idea of coming up with your own bid price for your Pinterest Ad, then you can always try Pinterest's automatic bidding.  Automatic bidding is only available for traffic campaigns and is the default setting for advertisers running traffic campaigns. 

With automatic bidding Pinterest automatically adjusts your bids throughout the day, every single day, to get the most bang for your investment buck. 

This bidding type is the first stop for new Pinterest Ad users - where you let the system submit a bid for you, and for newbies it’s a much safer way to do things.

With automatic bidding, you don’t need to know anything about the advertising process, or how or what price to bid. You simply set your daily budget limit and let the system do the hard work for you.

It is worth noting that with an automatic bidding strategy costs per click can fluctuate alot, particularly at the beginning of a newly launched campaign. This is because Pinterest’s algorithm is actively searching for possible customers for you, trying to match up what you want in terms of target audience and how much you are willing to spend.

For example, if overall auction competition for Pinterest advertising space decreases, your advertising costs may go down, but if overall auction competition increases, costs for the same advertising space may go up.  This is particularly true during trading peaks like Black Friday and the Holiday season.  

Overview of Custom Bids

For more advanced Pinterest Ad users, if you want to expand your advertising strategy for yourself - explore custom bids. 

With a custom bid, you decide how much you think an interaction with your customer is worth, and then the system will generate advertisements and campaigns for you based on that specific goal.

You set the maximum amount to pay for each action (click or engagement) in each campaign. There are minimum bids, which vary by ad format and competition.  The important part is that you’re in control of the maximum bid.

This can be a good but it’s very dependent on you and your business being clearly able to understand the value of your engagements or the lifetime value of your customer.  Do you know how much are you willing to pay to acquire your customer?  Would that amount mean you are profitable over the lifetime of that customer?

If you don’t know this, then you might struggle with custom bidding and reaching a level of Return on Investment you are comfortable with.

Make It Happen In Your Business

The Cost of Pinterest Ads varies depending on your Ad objective (i.e. what you are trying to do / promote) and the level of competition actively buying advertising space at the same time you are. 

Which advertising approach and bidding method you select is up to you, but it mostly depends upon your level of expertise with Pinterest Ads. If you understand how the bidding process works, then custom bidding can be useful for controlling managing your Pinterest Ad costs. However, if not, automatic bidding is a more helpful way to get started for beginners.

Next Steps:

• If you would like our help in creating, managing and growing your Pinterest Ads account for your brand, please contact us to discuss our monthly eCommerce Growth Packages.
• Start with automatic bidding and a basic traffic campaign to get the hang of the Pinterest Ads Manager toolset and build up visits direct to your website.
• Always review your Ad analytics frequently to check performance and best use of your advertising budget.

Read The Next Article In This Mini-Series On Pinterest

How To Sell On Pinterest: Guide For Ecommerce Business Owners

Which Type Of Pinterest Ads Should I Use?