Pinterest analytics: how to read it and pick your next Pin

What Pinterest Analytics reports

Pinterest Analytics shows how your Pins perform and who sees them. To open it you need a business account. The Overview page shows overall performance, performance over time, top boards and top Pins from the last 30 days, and you can change the date range to cover up to the past year and a half.

The numbers fall into three groups: how often your Pins were seen, what people did with them, and who those people are. The table lists each metric as Pinterest defines it, and what it usually means for a seller.

Outbound clicks are measured starting from the date the link is added, so a Pin that had its link added late will show fewer outbound clicks than it really earned over its life. Video metrics are only available when the video Pins, or video ads filter is selected.

How to open Pinterest Analytics

Analytics works on desktop and in the app. Some views, such as Conversion insights, need a computer.

1. Switch to a business account

   Pinterest Analytics needs a business account. A personal account can be converted from its settings, or you can create a separate one for the shop.

2. Open the Overview

   On desktop, log in, click the menu icon at the top left, and under Analytics select Overview. In the app, go to your profile, tap the chart icon and select Analytics.

3. Set the date range

   Pick a preset or custom start and end dates. Custom ranges go back the past year and a half. Turn on real-time estimates to add data from the last 48 hours.

4. Export what you need

   Click Export to save a snapshot of the selected data filters in a CSV file. Keeping a monthly export makes it easier to compare the same period over time.

Filters that change what the numbers mean

The same metric can tell a different story depending on the filter. Before you compare two numbers, check that both use the same filters and the same date range.

• Content type splits organic Pins from Paid and earned, which Pinterest describes as Pins promoted by you, including earned activity. Keep paid results out of the view when you judge what to pin organically.
• Device lets you pick Mobile, Desktop or Tablet. Pinterest's own example: if most of your impressions are on mobile, you can optimize your website for mobile.
• Source separates your own Pins from Other Pins, meaning Pins created or saved by others on Pinterest that come from your claimed website or account. Other Pins show which products shoppers save from your site on their own.
• Product group appears if your account has an active feed or catalog, and shows which groups of products earn attention.
• Pin format and ad format split results by image, video and other formats, so you can see which format works for your products.

Real-time numbers are estimates and subject to change, and real-time data is not available for audience metrics. Read recent days as a rough signal and wait for the data to settle before you decide.

Audience Insights: who is looking

Audience Insights sits under Analytics and covers the last 30 days. You can view your total audience, your engaged audience, or Pinterest's audience as a whole, and, on desktop, compare two of them side by side.

The demographics tab breaks your audience down by age, gender, location and device. The affinities tab lists the categories and interests your audience follows. Affinity is the strength of your audience's interest in a particular category compared to the corresponding Pinterest-wide audience, so a high affinity points to a topic your audience cares about more than the average Pinterest user.

For a seller, affinities are the most useful part. If your audience shows strong affinity for a topic close to what you make, that topic is a good subject for the next Pins, boards and product photos.

How to use Pinterest Analytics to pick what to pin next

Work through these in order once a month. Use a long enough date range that each Pin has had time to collect impressions.

1. Sort top Pins by outbound clicks

   Top Pins start sorted by most impressions. Change the sort to outbound clicks; you can also sort by engagements, Pin clicks, outbound clicks or saves. The Pins at the top are the ones sending people to your shop.

2. Check the rates, not only the totals

   A Pin with large reach collects more of everything. Compare outbound click rate and save rate so a small Pin that converts well is not hidden by a large one that does not.

3. Sort by saves to find ideas with a long life

   A save means someone kept the Pin to come back to later. Products and ideas with a high save rate are good candidates for new Pins with fresh photos.

4. Note Pins with reach but no action

   High impressions with few saves or clicks means Pinterest is showing the Pin but the image or title is not landing. Try a new photo, a clearer title or a different product angle before dropping the topic.

5. Make more of what works

   Pinterest's own advice for an item that drives traffic is to make sure it is in stock, feature it in more Pins, and save it to more boards. Pin it in new settings, sizes or colours, and to every board where it fits.

6. Check Other Pins from your site

   Switch Source to Other Pins. Products that shoppers save from your website without your help are demand you have not pinned yet.

Pin stats compared with the Analytics overview

Each Pin on your Created tab also has its own Pin stats page. It adds per-Pin numbers such as profile visits, which Pinterest defines as the number of people who visited your profile after viewing your Pin, and follows, defined as the number of followers gained from a particular Pin. It also lists the boards the Pin was saved to, but if a Pin was saved to a private board, you will not see the board details here.

Pinterest calculates Pin stats by aggregating the data for all Pins that share an image and if applicable, a URL. Because most Pin stats update in real time, they might look different from the data you see in Pinterest Analytics. When the two disagree, use the Analytics overview for decisions and Pin stats for a quick check after you publish.

Conversion insights: from Pin to sale

Outbound clicks show visits, not sales. Conversion insights, a report under Analytics, links Pins to actions on your site such as page visits, add to cart and checkout. It is available to all advertisers with healthy Pinterest tags, so it needs the Pinterest tag installed on your store, and you need to use your desktop to access Conversion insights.

If you have not chosen a conversion window in Ads Manager, the report uses 1-day view and 30-day click. It covers organic and paid performance in one dashboard, which helps when you run ads and pin organically at the same time.

Where Nation fits

Questions about Pinterest analytics