How to Set Up the Pinterest Conversions API
Pinterest attribution windows are long and its tag is fragile. Here is how to send server events and read the results properly.
Pinterest is the platform where people save something in March and buy it in June. That is genuinely how the audience behaves, and it makes tracking harder than on channels with short consideration windows.
Pair long windows with a fragile browser tag and you get a channel that looks unprofitable in the reports and profitable in the bank account. The Conversions API is how you close that gap.
The tag first
Pinterest’s browser tag is called the Pinterest Tag. Install it once through GTM using the built in template, with your tag ID.
Then add your event tags: PageVisit, ViewCategory, AddToCart, Checkout, Signup, Lead. Pinterest has a defined set of event names and you should use them rather than inventing your own.
On Checkout, send value, currency, order quantity and the product IDs. Pinterest can use product level data for shopping campaigns and catalogue retargeting, and without it you are limited to broad targeting.
Why the API matters more here
Two reasons specific to Pinterest.
First, the audience is heavily mobile and heavily in app, so browser storage restrictions bite hard.
Second, the long consideration window means a browser cookie set at the moment of first interest has often expired by the time the purchase happens. Safari caps script set cookies at seven days. Pinterest users regularly take longer than that to decide.
Server side events with durable identifiers are how you keep the connection over weeks rather than days.
Setting up the Conversions API
In Pinterest Ads Manager, go to Conversions, then the Conversions API section.
Generate an access token. Store it as a credential, not in your codebase.
Note your advertiser ID and ad account ID.
Send events to the Pinterest conversions endpoint with the event name, timestamp, action source and user data.
Pinterest also supports integration through several partner platforms and through server side GTM, which is the easier route if you already run a container.
Matching data
Hashed email. SHA256, lowercase, trimmed. The primary matching key.
epik. Pinterest’s click identifier, appended to your landing page URL. Capture and store it.
_epik cookie. Pinterest’s browser identifier, readable on your own site.
Hashed phone, name, city and postcode. Supplementary but helpful.
IP address and user agent. Pass the original visitor’s, not your server’s.
As always, more identifiers means a better match rate, and the click ID is the strongest single one.
Deduplication
Send the same event_id from the tag and from the API for the same conversion. Pinterest deduplicates on that plus the event name.
Use your order ID. It is stable, unique, and available on both sides, which is exactly what you need.
Check after launch that your conversion count did not double. It is the most common post launch problem on every platform and Pinterest is no exception.
Attribution windows on Pinterest
Pinterest offers generous windows, up to thirty days for clicks and engagements, and you can adjust them.
Two thoughts on this.
A long window is arguably appropriate for the platform, because the behaviour genuinely is slow. Pinterest users save now and buy later, and a seven day window would systematically undercount real influence.
At the same time, a thirty day engagement window credits Pinterest for a lot of purchases it may not have caused. If Pinterest is a small share of your spend but reports a large share of your conversions, that is a signal to look harder.
The honest resolution is a holdout test rather than an attribution setting.
Catalogue and shopping
If you sell products, connect a catalogue. Pinterest shopping ads are a strong format and they need product data.
The same rule applies as on Meta: the product IDs in your events must match the IDs in your catalogue exactly. Mismatched formats mean retargeting has nothing to work with.
Check this first if shopping campaigns are underdelivering: the mechanics are the same as Meta catalog and dynamic ads tracking.
Verifying
Use the Pinterest tag helper extension to confirm browser events fire correctly.
Check the Conversions API section in Ads Manager for received events and match quality.
Place a test order and confirm one conversion, not two.
After a week, compare Pinterest reported conversions against your store’s own count of orders attributed to Pinterest.
What to expect
Reported conversions will rise once the API is live, because you are capturing what the browser missed.
Whether that makes Pinterest profitable is a separate question, and the only honest way to answer it is a geo holdout. Platform reported conversions on a long window channel will always look generous.
Need this built properly?
Long consideration windows make durable, server side identifiers more valuable, not less. I set up and repair tracking for ecommerce stores and lead generation businesses, so the numbers in your ad accounts match the money in your bank account.
Have a look at what I do, or book a call and we can go through your setup together.
