Is Pinterest Really Generating Leads and Sales for You?

Pinterest is a huge traffic driver. No one disputes that. It’s fun, it’s visual and it can really help build brand recognition. It’s also a great driver of e-commerce traffic, with 70% of users reporting that they go to Pinterest looking for items to buy. But, is Pinterest bringing in sales for you? Is it possible to know?

Easy Ways to Tell if Pinterest is Generating Leads and Sales for Your Business

We’re all for keeping things simple. We use HubSpot for most of our online marketing, and the software makes it so simple to see where our leads and new customers come from.

Tracking Leads from Pinterest

If you’re not using HubSpot or other tracking system, you can still use Google Analytics (assuming you have it set up on your website) to track leads from Pinterest (or anywhere else). Here’s how:

1. Set up all contact forms and download submission forms to redirect to ”Thank You” pages after submission (this is good practice, anyway). Each form should have its own Thank You page so you can see which are performing best, anyway. Create a goal for each of these.
2. Create a Goal in Google Analytics by going to Admin>Goals>Create a Goal.
3. Choose Template>Revenue>Contact Us (or download, depending on what you’re tracking).
4. Name the Goal and choose Type>Destination.
5. In “Destination” enter the URL you recorded in step 1, above.
6. Leave value and funnel off.
7. Verify the goal to see how the last week would have looked if you’d been running the goal then, or just click “Create Goal.”

To see how many of your sales are coming from Pinterest:

1. Set up your PayPal or other payment system to return users to a given URL (usually a “thank you” page) after completing payment. Make sure to add “?utm_nooverride=1″ to the end of the Thank
2. You page URL, so you’ll record the original source of the sale (otherwise it’ll show up as PayPal). Record this URL.
3. Create a Goal in Google Analytics by going to Admin>Goals>Create a Goal.
4. Choose Template>Revenue>Place an Order.
5. Name the Goal and choose Type>Destination.
6. In “Destination” enter the URL you recorded in step 1, above.
7. Leave value and funnel off.
8. Verify the goal to see how the last week would have looked if you’d been running the goal then, or just click “Create Goal.”

Now, you will be able to see the source of any sales completed on your website by going to Conversions>Goal>Goal Flow in Google Analytics. You can look at the date of the sale completion compared with your orders placed on that date for a hint at how much revenue Pinterest is bringing in.

If you want to track exactly how many dollars are coming in from Pinterest sales, that’s a little more complicated. For a service company like ours, we’ll stick to HubSpot and simple Google Analytics. But, we’re happy to help you set yours up.

Leads and Sales Don’t Tell the Whole Story

It is helpful to know how many leads and sales are coming in from Pinterest, but that’s not the whole story. Social media is also helpful at building brand recognition, creating future demand (pin now and buy later in-store) and networking with other businesses. It might someday also evolve into an effective platform for customer service, as has Twitter. So, if you’re not seeing the leads and sales you want, don’t be too quick to give up – especially if you enjoy it.

One way to determine whether some of your new customers have been influenced to buy because of your social efforts is to ask if they are aware that you are on Pinterest, Facebook, or elsewhere. Not only will that help you find out if this was a factor in the buying decision, but if they are not connected with you, it gives you a chance to remind them to look you up! You can do this in-person, through customer service surveys, or through the order processing flow.