Pinterest Tag supports 9 standard events that cover different stages of the customer journey. For a Shopify ecommerce store running Pinterest ads, you do not need all of them — but getting the right 5 working correctly makes a significant difference to how well Pinterest can optimise your campaigns and serve your dynamic product ads.
The 5 Core Pinterest Events for Shopify Stores
1. PageVisit
Fires on every page view across your Shopify store. This is the baseline event that Pinterest uses to build website retargeting audiences and understand your site traffic patterns. Required for any Pinterest retargeting campaigns.
2. ProductPageVisit
Fires when a user views a product detail page. This is critical for Pinterest Shopping campaigns and dynamic product ads. When this event fires correctly with the product ID matching your Pinterest product catalog, Pinterest can serve dynamic ads showing the specific product a user viewed.
Required parameters: product_id (must match your catalog), value (product price), currency, line_items array.
3. AddToCart
Fires when a user adds a product to their shopping cart. Feeds into abandonment retargeting campaigns and provides a mid-funnel signal for Pinterest’s algorithm.
Required parameters: value, currency, line_items with product_id, product_name, product_price, product_quantity.
4. Checkout (InitiateCheckout)
Fires when a user starts the checkout process. Provides a high-intent signal between AddToCart and Purchase. Use this for a checkout abandonment retargeting audience if your Shopify checkout drop-off rate is high.
5. Purchase
The most important event for campaign optimisation. Fires when an order is confirmed on your Shopify thank you page. Used for purchase conversion campaigns, ROAS calculation, and building past-purchaser audiences.
Required parameters: order_id (for deduplication), value, currency, line_items with full product detail.
Additional Pinterest Events (Secondary Priority)
ViewCategory
Fires on collection pages (category views). Useful for category-level retargeting — targeting people who browsed your “women’s shoes” category but did not purchase with ads specifically for that category.
Search
Fires when a user performs a search on your Shopify store. Useful if you want to build audiences based on search intent or understand what your visitors are looking for. Not critical for most stores.
WatchVideo
Fires when a user watches a video on your site. Relevant for stores with video content on product pages or a content marketing strategy.
Lead
Fires when a user submits a lead form. Relevant for stores that use lead generation (e.g. collecting emails before directing to a purchase flow).
Why the Product ID Parameter Matters Most
For Pinterest Shopping campaigns and dynamic product ads, the product_id parameter in ProductPageVisit and AddToCart events must match the product IDs in your Pinterest Product Catalog. If the IDs do not match, Pinterest cannot serve dynamic ads showing the correct product to the right user.
Shopify product IDs can be formatted in different ways depending on your catalog feed. The most common mismatch: the catalog uses the Shopify product variant ID, but the tag sends the product ID (parent). Or vice versa. Check your catalog format and align your tag parameters to match.
How to Verify Events Are Sending the Right Parameters
In Pinterest Ads Manager, go to Conversions → Pinterest Tag → Diagnostics. This shows you recent events received and any parameter errors. Common diagnostics issues:
- Missing product_id in ProductPageVisit — breaks dynamic ads
- Currency missing from Purchase event — purchase value shows as zero
- line_items array empty in AddToCart — product-level data not captured
Get Your Pinterest Events Verified
Pinterest’s Diagnostics tool will show you which events have parameter errors, but it does not always make it obvious what the fix is. If you are seeing events in Pinterest but dynamic shopping ads are not serving, or if purchase value shows as zero, there is a parameter issue that needs investigation.
Book your free Shopify tracking audit here and we will check your full Pinterest Tag event configuration and catalog alignment.