People often describe Pinterest as “me time” without the tally of likes validating your productivity. You would never post a selfie to Pinterest, or comment on a news article. But Pinterest occupies a unique place at the intersection of personal and discovery, where people come to imagine and visualize the best version of themselves. It’s about yourself, not your selfie!

Pinterest is the home of inspiration, where people come to take action. Nine out of 10 people use Pinterest to get inspired about things to buy—eight of whom end up doing so. People come to Pinterest to plan for what could happen, not scroll through pictures of what already did. And that future-focused mindset is exactly what makes Pinterest so valuable as an advertising platform. People on Pinterest are ready to take action.

People on Pinterest are always planning for their next thing. And those things range from everyday interests like meal prep or handling picky eaters to seasonal holidays like Father’s Day and back-to-school, to major life milestones like a wedding or the arrival of a new baby. For advertisers, showing up at the final moment isn’t good enough. Pinterest offers a unique opportunity to show up early and meaningfully to shape inspired decisions around key moments.

Most people use Pinterest to decide on their next purchase and start their search early. When they’re browsing. When they’re still undecided on what they want. When they’re looking for inspiration to help guide them as they start to make their decisions. That’s why 97% of the top searches on Pinterest are non-branded. Read that again.
That means that people come looking for something in particular but not a brand in particular—yet. This means you have an incredible opportunity to introduce yourself at exactly the moment they are most open to discovering you. Before the competition. When people are considering what to do or buy next.

On Pinterest, there’s a natural alignment between what consumers are there to do (get ideas and inspiration) and what advertisers are there to do (enable them to act on that inspiration). So naturally, ads (branded content) are additive to the audience’s experience. They stand out because they fit in. And brands that connect with people on Pinterest are offering them the right solution, at the right time. That’s why it takes half as many impressions to convert someone on Pinterest as with other platforms.
Pinterest is a full-funnel solution. People don’t just come to see inspiring content, they come to act on it. Advertisers have the opportunity to share relevant content with Pinners at every stage of their journey—when they’re exploring possibilities, when they’re comparing a handful of options and when they’re ready to make a purchase. And these aren’t the one-off, transactional customers of Amazon or Google. People on Pinterest tend to buy more, more often. They put more items in their shopping carts. They’re bigger brand advocates. And they spend nearly 80% more in retail than people off Pinterest.

No matter how much shopping has changed, the powerful and critical role that inspiration plays in helping people to decide what to buy has stayed the same. In fact, 2 in 3 people say that the inspiration phase is influential in determining what to buy. And visual search and discovery are an important part of that consumer journey, connecting the dots between online research and offline buying—and vice versa. Nearly 9 in 10 weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase.