Pinterest conversion tracking tells you which Pinterest ads are driving purchases, add-to-carts, and other valuable actions on your Shopify store. Without it, Pinterest campaigns run without optimisation data, and you cannot measure whether your ad spend is generating returns.
This guide covers the complete setup process from creating your Pinterest Tag to verifying conversions in Ads Manager.
Step 1: Create a Pinterest Business Account and Tag
If you do not already have one, go to business.pinterest.com and create a Pinterest Business Account. Log in to Pinterest Ads Manager (ads.pinterest.com). Go to Conversions → Pinterest Tag and click Create Pinterest Tag. Give it a name (e.g. your store name) and save. Pinterest will generate a Tag ID — you will need this for your Shopify setup.
Step 2: Install Pinterest Tag on Shopify
Install the official Pinterest Shopify app from the App Store. During setup, it will ask you to connect your Pinterest Business account and select your Tag. The app installs the base Pinterest Tag code across your entire storefront automatically and sets up the Conversions API connection for checkout tracking through Shopify’s Customer Events system.
If you prefer to install the Tag manually (via Google Tag Manager or direct code), go to Ads Manager → Pinterest Tag → View Tag Code and copy the base code. Add it inside the head tag on every page of your Shopify theme.
Step 3: Verify the Base Tag Is Firing
Install the Pinterest Tag Helper Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. Visit your Shopify store homepage and click the extension icon. It should show your Tag ID as “Active” and display the PageVisit event firing. If it shows “No tag found,” the base code is not installed correctly.
Step 4: Configure Conversion Events
In Pinterest Ads Manager, go to Conversions → Pinterest Tag → Edit Conversions. Here you define which events count as conversions for campaign reporting and optimisation.
For a Shopify ecommerce store, configure:
- Purchase: set this as your primary purchase conversion. Used for Shopping campaigns and purchase-optimised campaigns.
- Add to Cart: mid-funnel conversion event. Use for retargeting campaigns targeting cart abandoners.
- Checkout: a conversion signal between AddToCart and Purchase. Useful for stores with high checkout abandonment rates.
For each conversion, set a value (use variable value from the event, not a fixed value) and a conversion window. Pinterest supports attribution windows of 1, 7, 14, or 30 days for click-through and 1 or 7 days for view-through.
Step 5: Enable Enhanced Match
Enhanced Match passes hashed customer data (email, phone) with events. This significantly improves Pinterest’s ability to match your conversions back to Pinterest users, which improves attribution accuracy and audience modelling.
In the Pinterest Shopify app settings, enable Enhanced Match. For the best match rates, ensure your Shopify checkout captures customer email (which it always does) and that this email is being passed to the Pinterest Customer Events pixel.
Step 6: Create a Test Conversion
Complete a test purchase on your Shopify store. After the order confirmation page loads, wait 24 hours and then check Pinterest Ads Manager → Conversions → Event History.
You should see your test purchase listed with:
- Event type: Checkout or Purchase
- Source: Web (from the Pinterest Tag) and API (from the Conversions API)
- Value: the order amount
- Deduplication: if both Web and API fired, you should see them deduplicated into a single conversion count
Step 7: Associate Conversions with Campaigns
In Pinterest Ads Manager, when you create or edit a campaign, select the conversion event that campaign should optimise for. For a conversion campaign targeting purchases, select Purchase or Checkout as the conversion goal. Pinterest’s algorithm will then optimise your ad delivery toward users who are most likely to complete that event.
Pinterest Conversion Tracking Reporting
Once conversions are flowing, you can see them in Ads Manager at the campaign, ad group, and ad level. Key metrics to monitor:
- Total conversions (purchases)
- Conversion value (revenue)
- Cost per result (cost per purchase)
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Outbound clicks vs conversions (to calculate conversion rate from Pinterest traffic)
Get Your Pinterest Tracking Set Up Correctly
Pinterest conversion tracking is straightforward but the checkout step is the one most commonly broken, because it requires the Customer Events connection for the thank you page. If your test purchase shows in Shopify but not in Pinterest Event History, the Conversions API connection is not working.
Book your free Shopify tracking audit here and we will verify your Pinterest Tag setup and confirm purchases are being tracked correctly.