Pinterest is giving small businesses more ways to use artificial intelligence in their advertising strategy, as the platform expands its Performance+ ad suite with two new updates aimed at helping brands drive more sales and reach new customers.
The latest additions include Performance+ New Customer Acquisition, a feature designed to help advertisers find and prioritize new buyers, and one-click Performance+ Shopping campaigns for eligible Shopify merchants.
These updates show how Pinterest is continuing to position itself as a stronger advertising platform for small and medium-sized businesses, especially those looking for more automated ways to manage campaigns and improve results.
Pinterest Expands Its AI-Powered Performance+ Suite
Pinterest’s Performance+ tools use AI and automation to simplify campaign setup, targeting, bidding, and delivery. Instead of requiring businesses to manually adjust every part of an ad campaign, Performance+ is designed to help advertisers launch campaigns more efficiently while relying on Pinterest’s system to optimize performance.
With the new updates, Pinterest is focusing on two major goals for SMB advertisers: helping them reach more new customers and making it easier for Shopify sellers to launch shopping campaigns.
New Customer Acquisition Feature Targets First-Time Buyers
The new Performance+ New Customer Acquisition option gives advertisers more control over how they reach potential new customers.
Businesses can upload or define their existing customer base, allowing Pinterest’s system to better understand who has already purchased from or engaged with the brand. From there, advertisers can assign higher value to new customers through value rules, helping Pinterest prioritize people who are more likely to become first-time buyers.
This could be especially useful for small businesses that want to grow beyond their existing audience and attract new shoppers without needing a large marketing team.
Pinterest says the feature can help its system identify users with similar traits, interests, and purchase intent, making it easier for advertisers to reach people who may be more likely to convert.
According to Pinterest, early testing showed that Performance+ New Customer Acquisition drove a 64% average increase in new-customer conversions.
One-Click Performance+ Shopping Comes to Shopify Merchants
Pinterest is also making campaign setup easier for eligible Shopify merchants with new one-click Performance+ Shopping campaigns.
The update allows qualifying merchants to launch Pinterest shopping campaigns directly from Pinterest Ads Manager or through Pinterest’s Shopify integration. These campaigns come with recommended best practices enabled by default, helping businesses get started faster.
For many small businesses, setting up ad campaigns can be time-consuming, especially when they need to manage product feeds, budgets, targeting, and creative assets. Pinterest’s one-click shopping campaign templates aim to reduce that friction by giving merchants a faster path to launching ads.
Shopify sellers can still adjust key campaign settings, such as budget and duration, before going live.
Why This Matters for Small Businesses
Pinterest has long been a platform where users search for inspiration, products, ideas, and future purchases. That makes it a valuable discovery channel for brands, especially in categories like fashion, beauty, home decor, food, lifestyle, and ecommerce.
By adding more AI-powered campaign options, Pinterest is trying to make advertising more accessible to smaller businesses that may not have advanced media buying experience.
The new tools could help SMBs:
- Reach more first-time buyers
- Spend less time setting up campaigns
- Improve ad targeting through automation
- Launch shopping ads faster through Shopify
- Use Pinterest’s purchase-intent data more effectively
The updates also reflect a broader trend across social media platforms, where companies are using AI to simplify ad creation and optimization for businesses of all sizes.
Pinterest Looks to Grow Its Ad Business
The new Performance+ features come as Pinterest looks for more ways to grow its advertising business. Larger brands remain important. However, small and medium-sized businesses represent a major growth opportunity.
By making campaign creation easier, Pinterest may attract more SMB advertisers. These businesses want results-driven campaigns without complex ad management.
The Shopify integration is also important. It connects Pinterest more directly with ecommerce merchants. For Shopify sellers, faster campaign setup could make Pinterest more appealing as part of their social commerce strategy.
The Bigger Picture
Pinterest’s latest AI ad updates show how social media advertising is changing. It is becoming more automated, more performance-focused, and more connected to ecommerce platforms.
For small businesses, the biggest benefit may be simplicity. Merchants no longer need to build every campaign from scratch. Instead, they can use Pinterest’s AI tools to find customers, optimize delivery, and launch shopping ads faster.
As competition for ad budgets grows, Pinterest is leaning into AI and commerce automation. This could strengthen its position with SMB marketers.
Key Takeaway
Pinterest’s new AI ad tools help small businesses grow faster. They can find new customers and simplify campaign setup.
The tools include Performance+ New Customer Acquisition and one-click Shopify shopping campaigns. As a result, Pinterest is making its ad platform more accessible for ecommerce brands and SMB advertisers.
