Ever walked past a restaurant with a long line and thought to yourself: “The food must be good if people are waiting that long to get in.”

You assume that the food must be well worth the long waiting times. You might even make a mental note to try out the restaurant, or at least look it up when you have the time.

That’s social proof in action.

It’s a psychological phenomenon where as humans, we form opinions and perceptions based on the actions of other people. (And that’s despite how individual and original we like to claim we are.)

In this guide, we walk you through what social proof is, how to use it, and why it’s important to your sales and marketing strategy. We’ll also share plenty of real-life social proof examples to show how it can add fuel to your marketing engine.

What is social proof?

Social proof is the psychological phenomenon that happens when people assume that the actions of others are correct depending on the frequency of those actions. We tend to think they reflect the best behavior for a given situation.

There’s a social psychology component of normative social influence: We tend to conform to big group behavior for social acceptance—even if what they do doesn’t line up with what we think is correct behavior.

You can imagine how much more powerful this effect becomes when you add social media platforms to the mix—a place where almost everything is public and accessible with a few clicks.

Social scientist Robert Cialdini explains:

“In our research, we’ve found that in more collectivist, communal cultures, certain kinds of persuasive appeals are more successful. Social proof is very powerful. If a lot of your peers are doing something, that’s a more powerful impetus for you than for people in more individualistic cultures, where one looks inside the self and doesn’t use the group as the standard for deciding.”

Take Apple as a well-known example. When the brand releases a new product, you’re bound to see news coverage of people waiting in long lines, or even better, pitching tents outside stores to be the first to get their hands on the newest release.

If you didn’t know anything about the Apple iPhone and you saw that, it would be easy to think there must be something amazing about their products that you’re missing out on. At the very least, watching crowds of people go to great lengths to get their hands on new Apple releases captures your interest.

It’s scenarios like these that show the power social proof can have. As you notice other people engaging with a popular product, it instantly becomes more attractive.

The beauty of this, especially for marketers, is that with social proof, you don’t need a sales agent to try to convince you of how “good” a product is.

Instead, marketers can lean on an online marketing approach that capitalizes on consumers seeing positive opinions and making assumptions. In essence, that’s how social proof marketing works.

How social proof impacts sales

There’s no doubt that social proof works across various points of the customer journey. There’s data to back it up.

Customers reviews can increase trust

Scanning sites like TrustPilot and Yelp before buying something new? You’re not the only one.

Data shows that nine out of every 10 consumers read customer reviews before making a purchase. Not only that, a whopping 79% of consumers say they trust online reviews just as much as they trust a friend’s recommendation. Friend and family recommendations are also how 40% of consumers find new brands to follow.

Customer testimonials form an important part of the sales funnel. Reviews about a specific product can increase conversion rates by 270%. They’re what helped My Supplement Store increase conversions on product pages, as Brian Anderson explains:

“In order to help provide more trust with visitors to our site, we offer social proof on all our product pages. Whenever anyone visits a product page with at least one customer review, they see a small slider near the footer of their screen with the name of the reviewer and his review of the product.

This helps the customer to trust not only in the product, but our company. Since implementing this strategy our conversion rates have increased from 2.4% to 2.8% on our product pages with customer reviews.”

It’s not just product pages you should use to collect customer reviews, though. Potential shoppers look to review sites like TrustPilot, Yelp, and Google My Business to form decisions before purchasing--hopping from your site to those aggregators multiple times before converting.  

Peer social proof creates buy-in

If a peer came to you raving about how a new skincare product cured their acne, you’d be eager to try it, right?

You’re not the only one. Some 83% of consumers say recommendations from friends and family make them more likely to make a purchase—meaning a wave of new customers could be on the horizon if you’re encouraging happy customers to tell their friends.  

Ecommerce brands can use this peer social proof on all touchpoints throughout a website. Everything from the homepage to a checkout page can nudge customers towards making the next step.

User-generated content (UGC) increases familiarity

You can’t forget about the impact user-generated content can have on sales. Some 79% of people say this type of content highly impacts their purchasing decisions. It makes sense considering that 85% of users find UGC to be more persuasive than standard photos or videos.

That’s what jewelry brand Faruzo did by sending PR packages to TikTok and YouTube influencers for exposure through UGC. Aviad Faruzon, its founder, explains:

“One of my most effective social proof strategies was to send PR packages to renowned influencers on Instagram and TikTok. Nowadays, social media influencers are an extremely cost-effective yet beneficial way to increase sales because they have a wide number of followers.

This was a huge success because the influencers wore our jewelry pieces and reviewed them positively—which got all their followers onto my website! The traffic increased by about 15% through her post!”

Celebrity endorsements increase sales

How about celebrity endorsements? Well, the Nike Air Jordans, launched in 1984, has been one of the most successful celebrity endorsement campaigns in history. Jordan sales increased by 31% even throughout the pandemic.

It’s pretty safe to say betting on Michael Jordan to sell sneakers is one of the best financial decisions Nike has ever made.

This type of social proof usually happens outside of a brand’s eCommerce website. Its social media profile, press coverage, and sponsored influencer content play a big role in using a celebrity’s endorsement to build trust.

“We use social proof by posting lifestyle images with a mix of influencer and customer-created content on our Instagram page. Specifically, it's our goal to build social proof by showcasing every day and aspirational individuals using our products. This builds instant validation and becomes even easier for first-time customers to trust us.”

Jameson Rodgers, co-founder of CBDfx

The 6 types of social proof (with examples)

There are countless real-life examples of how valuable the many forms of social proof can be to a business. Knowing which social proof is best suited for your business might take some experimentation at first. But, as you’ve seen, the payoff can be massive.

Below are the six types of social proof you should be using, backed up with examples to show how (and why) they work.

Expert social proof

Trying to make a buying decision on something you’re unfamiliar with? Chances are you’ll trust the opinion of an expert more than anyone else. It’s easy to think that since they’re the expert, they probably know better than you.

1. Manuka Doctor

Manuka Honey wants you to know that Dr. Fred Pescatore likes and trusts the brand enough to put his name to it. With this social proof example, the well-known and respected expert takes the time to write a guest post authored with his name. It also includes a tip to help you strengthen your immune system—using products from the brand he’s endorsing.  

2. Sensodyne

Look to the toothpaste world for examples of social proof in action. It’s a competitive industry where the contents of the bottle are largely the same, no matter the packaging. Expert social proof is what helps toothpaste brands get their products off the shelves.

As you navigate to Sensodyne’s About page, you immediately see the “doctor’s recommended brand” stamp. There’s also a short paragraph on Sensodyne being the #1 recommended toothpaste by dentists.

It even includes the study (albeit in smaller text) that backs up their claims. In other words, they’ve managed to crowdsource the opinion of over 200 experts into one statistic. Genius.

3. Hiya Health

Hiya Health is an ecommerce brand selling children’s vitamins. The kids’ health space is a tough one to break into, with parents naturally wanting to confirm that the supplements they’re giving their children are safe.

The brand uses expert social proof on its website to do this, as its co-founder Darren Litt explains:

“When a consumer is at the conversion stage — where they are actively clicking through your website — you want to give them more reasons to say yes to a purchase, and credible yet relevant endorsements do bring down defenses.

One of our best social proof quotes comes from Kelly LeVeque as she is both a nutrition expert influencer and a mom (we have a picture of her with her son). This endorsement intersects a nutritionist who would recommend our product and a parent who would and does provide it to her child.”

Celebrity social proof

Plenty of brands use celebrity endorsement to increase sales, especially when they want to appeal to a specific target audience. It’s the backbone of influencer marketing as a means for attention.

4. Christy Dawn X Leighton Meeister

You likely know who Leighton Meester is before you even know what Christy Dawn is. That’s especially true if you’re Christy Dawn’s target audience: Younger women who've seen Meester star in Gossip Girl as one of the lead characters.

As an influencer marketing move, getting Leighton Meester to collaborate on a collection makes a lot of sense from a sales generation standpoint. The Gossip Girl star was known for her trendy outfits. A fashion retailer collaborating with her makes those “OMG I want those clothes!” more realistic.

5. Alo Yoga X Kendall Jenner

Athleisure is in. And so is Kendall Jenner—one of the most influential social media and reality stars of this decade. Pair the two together and you make for a powerful influencer marketing campaign for Alo Yoga.

If you’re a Kendall Jenner fan, you can easily navigate to Alo Yoga’s page to “shop the look.” It includes an actual image of Kendall Jenner wearing their products. If you see a fashion supermodel wearing clothes that don’t cost the earth, there’s a good chance you’ll click “add to basket”.

6. Gymshark ambassadors

Who better to sell you gym clothes than athletes themselves? For Gymshark’s ambassador program, yet another influencer marketing strategy, the brand enlists the help of several well-known public figures to show off and speak about the product.

Especially if you’re focusing on Instagram, Gymshark proves this can be an effective way to increase brand awareness—and see a significant increase in sales if executed correctly.

Reviews and testimonials

These days, brands are taking social proof to a completely new level. It isn’t only about celebrity endorsements. Now, with the help of social media, you’re making your customers the star expert.

7. SCULPT Activewear

Customer social proof ads are increasingly becoming the go-to strategy for many consumer brands, and SCULPT Activewear doesn’t stay behind.

The brand shows how to use customer social proof in its Facebook ad campaigns. Once you look up its Facebook ad history, you see they’re crafted with user-generated images and videos. “8,000+ happy customers'' gives you confidence in trying it for the first time. If other people like their products, surely you will.

8. Partake Foods

Just like you can sell clothing, Partake Foods uses social proof to sell cookies. The raving product reviews make you want to try them, even after just reading two or three. (Especially “You can’t just eat one” with seven upvotes by other fans of the cookies.)

What’s interesting about this example, though, is that it uses social proof directly on the product page. It goes to show that visitors still need one final nudge before converting—even if they arrived on the site off the back of a social proof marketing campaign in the first place.

9. Tofino Soap Company

Similarly, Tofino Soap Company shares positive reviews from happy users on its product page. There are over 22 five-star reviews as proof of how good its soap is.

Previous customers can even add images of their soap purchases as an added social proof feature that doesn’t only include words. Think of it as a built-in Yelp feature that helps influence customer decision-making.

10. Warby Parker

Warby Parker is one of the fastest-growing DTC brands of the century. Part of its catapult to a $3 billion valuation? Strategically placing a revolving rolodex of reviews right beside its “Try before you buy” call-to-action.

Potential customers also have the option to “see more reviews” if they aren’t quite convinced about its line of eyewear (but want to be).

11. Trustpilot

Looking up a brand on Trustpilot, a consumer review site, makes for a great example of “wisdom of the crowds” social proof in action. As you scroll down, you can see what “the crowd” is saying about the brand in question.

eCommerce retailer FramesDirect has a whopping 25k reviews on their TrustPilot page. And most of them are positive—easing any friction someone has about buying through their website.

12. Flourist

If it’s a bestseller, it must be because it’s a standout product, right? That’s the logic Flourist plays on with its ecommerce website. You’ll see a category page that lists the bakery “best sellers”—a collection of items that makes you think if other people love it, you will too.  

13. Kirrin Finch

Logically, the better star ratings a product has, the better it is.

Kirrin Finch plays on that notion by listing star reviews under each of its products. You’re able to see how many reviews make up the total. And, you can click on each review to read exactly what customers have to say about that specific product. Talk about making purchase decisions easier.

Fear of missing out social proof

The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a psychological phenomenon that causes 60% of people to make reactive purchases—usually within 24 hours.

Ecommerce brands can use FOMO as a type of social proof. Some 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer. Here’s how to induce the feeling of FOMO with evidence that other people have made the decision your new customer is about to make.

14. In The Style

In The Style uses group conformity psychology by adding “selling fast” and “over 100 sold!” stickers on their product images. It entices customers to buy popular products because their peers have—yet another effective way to use peer social proof as an inexpensive selling strategy.

15. Surely

Surely makes sure you know people all over the country are buying their beverage with a pop-up that appears every time someone buys their product. Knowing someone else has made the decision you’re about to make is much more comfortable.

Certifications and “featured in” badges

It’s not just experts that help ecommerce businesses build social proof. Certified products, or products that have been “featured in” high-trust and high-visibility places (like Vogue, CNN, or The New York Times), can gain from a boost in trust.

Not convinced? Data shows that 55% of consumers didn’t make a purchase because the website didn’t have a trust badge. Another 58% clicked the exit button because they didn’t recognize a logo.

Certifications are a form of social proof that drives sales. Let’s look at a few examples.

16. Well Before

Well Before does a great job of using “featured in” to gain credibility and trust for its products. In this case, it recruited the names of SFGate, Yahoo Finance, Newsweek, and the New York Post to help them make sales. Its product description also explains that the face mask is “FFP2 certified”.

Granted, if you’re going to use this social proof strategy to increase trust, you need to make sure to be featured in those high-profile publications first. Fake social proof is much worse than none at all.

17. Bailly

Fragrance brand Bailly has adopted a similar certification-style social proof strategy. It enlists the help of Elle, Flare, Into The Gloss, and Refinery29 to seem credible and worthy of purchase through its “as seen on” banner.

As you scroll down the mention of high-profile publications helps the new brand build credibility and trust. That’s true even if it's your first time coming across their website with no prior knowledge about the ecommerce business.

18. Tentree

Tentree is a Certified B Corp, meaning it meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance. The eCommerce brand uses that certification in its Facebook ads.

The retailer quotes one of its happy customers by using their quote in the ad creative. As you scroll through your feed, phrases like ”wonderful company” and “minimising your environmental impact” stand out.

The five-star reviews are just an added bonus in its social proof-driven advertising strategy.

19. Satya

Satya is a Certified Aboriginal Business based in Canada. This stamp of approval, albeit at the bottom of its website, lets people know that it’s a business worth supporting. This certification also implies that they have to go through a vetting process to be able to get such a certification, which increases transparency and trust.

It’s especially important for sales considering almost one in three consumers have stopped purchasing from brands because of ethical or sustainability-related concerns.

20. Kettle and Fire

Certified gluten-free, Whole30 approved, glyphosate residue-free? Kettle & Fire takes its certification approach seriously.  With stamps of approvals like these, you instantly create a new level of trust with potential customers who are highly health-conscious.

21. Caldera + Lab

Caldera + Lab is a sustainable ecommerce brand through and through. Its co-founder, Jared Pobre, explains, “Our brand grew out of a passion for clean living and a sustainable lifestyle. And our wellness messaging extends throughout our social media with content that invites customers to join us on our journey.”

“Through rigorous testing, we've earned our Certified B Corp, ECO CERT, and MADESAFE eco-certifications. These certifications serve as social proof to help our customers know they can trust our products.”

Referrals

Referrals are powerful. They’re inherently based on social proof because you’re incentivizing customers to share your product or service with their friends.

As we touched on earlier, a recommendation from a friend is one of the best ways to get introduced to a new pool of customers. Brands know this and use this as part of their social proof strategy. Here are a few brilliant examples.

22. A Box of Stories

A Box of Stories, a subscription box service in the UK, harnessed the power of referrals to reach new customers. How? By using word of mouth marketing software with its very first handful of loyal customers.

A Box of Stories knew that its product had the potential for more traction because of how appreciative existing customers were. Once the brand set up a referral system that gave customers and each of their referred friends $4 off their first and second purchase, it led to a referral rate of 7-8% in the very first month. Close to 5,000 customers joined through the referral program. We’d call that a success.

23. Christy Dawn

Referrals work great within the apparel industry too. Christy Dawn’s referral program, for example, generated a 26X ROI after starting a “give $30, get $30” campaign. With the use of social proof (a friend referring a friend), it becomes easier to find new customers with lower acquisition costs. The trust needed to make a new sale was already passed through the person recommending it.

24. Riff Raff & Co.

Riff Raff & Co sells a comforter-style sleep toy for babies and toddlers that helps them sleep better at night.

They have a unique referral program: Refer five friends and get a free sleep toy. While we usually recommend giving small rewards often, Riff Raff & Co found great success with this because they understood their customers—mothers—well. Through their referral program, they grew into a multi-million dollar business in just a few years. Almost one in every four customers came through a referral.

I always knew from my research when launching that a referral program was going to form a major part of our marketing. With much of our target market being mums, and me being a mum myself, I knew that the best people to promote our product were other mums - they are the ones they really trust.

Emma Kruger, CEO, Riff Raff & Co

Start using social proof today

There’s no doubt adding social proof to your landing pages, homepage, or even your social media marketing efforts is a powerful way to increase eCommerce sales.

If used correctly, social proof can be a powerful customer generation tool that convinces potential customers to take the next step in their purchasing journey. From review sites, social media, your website, and back again, using social proof at every touchpoint keeps them engaged.

The bottom line? Previous customer reviews, celebrity endorsements, and certifications give potential customers the trust they need to make a confident decision.

Since 2020, Nike has been fighting new competitors that have risen via word-of-mouth marketing, such as HOKA, Allbirds, On, and Brooks. 

While Nike certainly invests in ad campaigns to generate word-of-mouth, they may have overlooked some strategies used by smaller competitors. For instance, competitors have used referral programs to boost organic brand awareness.  Not implementing these strategies might be one of the major reasons why Nike’s stock price has plummeted this year.

Maybe what Nike needed was a solid customer referral program? To determine if a referral program could save Nike, we will examine the brand's current state, how it would benefit Nike and examples from its competitors. 

What is the current state of Nike?

During 2024, Nike's stock price decreased by 20%, and at its lowest, it fell by 30%.

‍

Plus, if you zoom out even further, the stock price has fallen around 100% from its all-time high, which was in December 2021.

Related to the plummeted stock price, Nike has also been in the news a lot lately. For example, Yahoo reported recently that Nike’s disappointing earnings resulted in a 17.8% single-day stock price drop.

Even according to Statista, Nike sales haven't increased from the previous year, which is unusual.

‍

Nike’s overall revenue increased by 10 percent in prior years but not in 2024. Something is definitely not going well for them.

In our opinion, a well-designed customer referral program could help Nike out of its current bind. Most of Nike's competitors have successful referral programs, so why wouldn't it work for them as well?

Does Nike have a customer referral program?

Nike doesn’t have its own customer referral program. It does have an affiliate program, but it is not easily accessible for most customers. To get in, you need to apply. 

‍

‍

In addition, Nike’s affiliate program doesn't reward both the affiliate and the potential customer, which makes it less appealing. With the current terms, only the affiliate gets a 15% commission for every new purchase.

Most successful referral/affiliate programs, like Puma's, use two-sided incentives. The advocate and customer get a certain percentage off the next purchase. This encourages customers to spread the word about the brand since both parties benefit.

‍

‍

Why would Nike benefit from a customer referral program?

As of now, Nike doesn't have a refer-a-friend program, and they're missing out on a huge opportunity to leverage word-of-mouth marketing.

Many of its main competitors use referral programs and other word-of-mouth marketing to gain an advantage.

Launching a referral program could bring many benefits to Nike, including:

1. Access to a new pool of customers

Unlike traditional marketing methods such as paid advertising and email marketing, all the revenue from referral programs is from new customers. Referral programs enable brands to tap into a new market, which consists of existing customers' friends and family.

Even though Nike is already popular and most people know it, referral programs could motivate existing customers to recommend it more to friends and family. In addition, Nielsen’s study found that 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know more than any other marketing message, which is ideal in this situation.

2. Low upfront investment with high revenue potential

The only real cost of starting a referral program is investing in referral program software, such as ReferralCandy. Plus, the global average referral rate is 2.35%, which means that most brands see a positive ROI on their referral programs.

This means that even if the referral program doesn’t turn out to be a success, there isn’t much to lose.

3. Amplified word-of-mouth marketing

Referral programs increase word-of-mouth marketing by motivating satisfied customers to share their positive experiences. This organic growth can lead to a broader customer base and increased brand awareness.

Nike competitors who run successful referral programs

Next, we’ll show examples from some of the main Nike competitors running successful referral programs. This demonstrates how referral programs are used by other big brands and how Nike could use them as well.

We’ll look into the referral programs and word-of-mouth strategies of On, Brooks, ASICS, Puma, and HOKA.

‍

1. On

On is a sportswear company that is relatively new compared to industry giants like Nike. On Running was launched in 2014 and has quickly gained popularity among runners. In 2023, On reported a 46.6% growth rate year over year, which is remarkable.

Some of On’s successes can be attributed to its referral program. On offers, a Give 10%, Get 10% off referral program, in which both advocates and referrals are rewarded. It is one of the simplest referral programs, yet one of the most powerful ones.

‍

2. Brooks

Brooks is an American company specializing in running shoes, apparel, and accessories. It is especially known for its high-quality running gear. In 2023, Brooks had a record year, selling 20+ million units and growing revenue by $1.2 billion. 

To achieve this, Brooks used various word-of-mouth marketing methods and also has a referral program. The referral program is available to Brooks Run Club members and members earn metres for their activities. The activities include checking in at Brooks events, referring friends to the company, etc.

Brooks’ referral program is unique, but it is something Nike could take inspiration from to increase its sales.

‍

3. ASICS

ASICS produces sportswear and is mainly known for its running shoes. In 2022, ASICS saw a record year, with revenue increasing by 14.2%. ASICS was profitable across all categories. 

One of ASICS’ ways to grow has been through referral programs, which they pay a lot of attention to. ASICS promises $10 off for the advocate and friend for purchases over $75.

‍

4. Puma

Despite many of the major companies, like Nike, taking a hit to their revenue, Puma increased sales in 2023. Puma’s revenue reached €8.6 billion in 2023, an increase of 6.6%. To increase sales, one of the strategies Puma uses is a referral program.

Puma’s referral program is simple: “Get 20% Off and Give a Friend 20% Off.” For such a well-known brand, Puma's discount is quite significant. Puma recognizes that offering a substantial discount for referrals will pay off in the long run.

‍

5. HOKA

HOKA doesn’t have its own referral program, but it does offer an affiliate program. Despite not having a referral program, HOKA uses many word-of-mouth strategies from which Nike could learn.

Hoka has seen 30% year-over-year net sales growth, demonstrating its success. One way HOKA accomplished this was by leveraging endorsements from runners who benefited from their shoes. In addition, Hoka built a strong community of people who naturally spread the word, reducing the need to continuously invest in marketing.

To summarize: Should Nike start a referral program?

We believe Nike could benefit from a referral program to increase sales through word-of-mouth. Nike already has a strong community, but it doesn't try to encourage existing customers to recommend its products to their friends and family.

Many of Nike’s competitors have simple referral programs, such as "Give 10%, Get 10%", where both the advocate and friend are rewarded.

Our question is: Why couldn't Nike offer something similar and benefit from it?

How do you start your own customer referral program?

As the previous examples showed, customer referral programs are a popular method of growing a brand's customer base. 

While these brands do not publish their referral programs' profit margins, they certainly benefit from them. In the end, why would anyone keep running a referral program that doesn't work?

If you want to start your own referral program, check out ReferralCandy. It includes all the key features you need to run a successful referral program, including:

• Referral templates
• Email marketing
• Analytics and reporting
• Automation capabilities
• Integrations with ecommerce platforms and marketing tools

If you want to see what ReferralCandy customers have accomplished, check out our case studies.

For example, BranchBasics used ReferralCandy to set up a referral program and generated over $1.5 million in referral sales. Toki Mats used ReferralCandy to generate an extra $500,000 in revenue through its affiliate program.

An easy step you can take? Sign up for ReferralCandy’s 14-day free trial today.

Pinterest is a social media platform affiliate marketers shouldn’t overlook. Unlike other platforms, Pinterest users often come with the intent to discover and purchase. They use the platform to plan for future projects, events, and purchases, which makes conversions more likely.

According to Pinterest's feed optimization playbook, 75% of weekly Pinterest users are always shopping, and another report found that 50% of Pinterest users view the platform as a shopping site.

When done right, the combination of high-intent users and a visually driven interface can yield excellent results. But how do you go about creating your Pinterest affiliate marketing plan? Below, we will show you the different steps involved in starting affiliate marketing on Pinterest. If this sounds interesting, keep on reading!

What is Pinterest affiliate marketing?

With Pinterest affiliate marketing, you have two options:

1. Promote your own products

If you have your own ecommerce brand and a network of affiliates, you can take advantage of Pinterest to let your affiliates promote your products there. You need to set up your own affiliate program for this. To do this, we’d suggest using ReferralCandy, which offers a 14-day free trial and all the necessary features for running a successful affiliate program.

2. Use Pinterest to drive traffic to third-party sites

Another option is to use Pinterest to drive traffic to third-party sites, such as Amazon or any ecommerce store that has an affiliate program. If this is what you want, the process involves creating your own Pinterest account, joining an affiliate program, and directing traffic to it.

Once someone makes a purchase through your affiliate URLs, you earn a commission on the sale. To drive traffic to third-party sites, you can either place direct affiliate links on Pinterest or have your own site, such as a blog, in which you explain the topic in more detail and then link to the third-party site.

How well does Pinterest affiliate marketing work?

In 2024, there are a bunch of affiliate marketers who are successful with Pinterest. That is even relatively easy to confirm by scrolling through Pinterest and looking into how many monthly views some of the sites doing affiliate marketing receive.

For example, a Pinterest creator called By Mable Grace is an affiliate marketer who receives over 800,000 monthly views on her Pinterest account.

All of her pins link to her website, where she reviews different Amazon products. Even at a 0.01% conversion rate and an average of $1 commission on every purchase, she would be making $8000 per month.

This is just one example, but there are a bunch of other users doing the exact same thing.

The reasons why Pinterest works so well for affiliate marketers include:

1. Pinterest has an active buyer base: According to Pinterest, their site has almost 500 million monthly active users, which is a large buyer base. The same report mentions that Pinterest's monthly active users increased by 11% year over year, indicating that the platform is more active than ever before.
2. Pinterest users are there to buy: As we shared before, over 50% of Pinterest users view the platform as a shopping site. Users plan future projects, events, and purchases on the platform, which increases conversions.
3. Pinterest is a search engine: Similar to Google, Pinterest is a search engine, and there are certain things you can do to make your pins rank well. The point we want to make is that it’s not based on luck, so anyone can succeed if they do the right things.
4. High-income buyers: One in three Pinterest users has an annual income of over $100,000, one of the highest among social media sites. Pinterest is also the number one social media destination for buying luxury products, which is great news for affiliate marketers who rely on commissions.
5. Ability to get free traffic: Posting on Pinterest doesn’t cost anything unless you use paid ads. This makes it ideal for affiliate marketers who want to get started with minimal investment.

What to know before starting Pinterest affiliate marketing?

Pinterest outlines in its community guidelines different things that affiliate marketers should be aware of before advertising products.

Down below, we’ve outlined the main rules you should be aware of:

1. Don’t create duplicate accounts. You should ideally only operate from one account on Pinterest. This rule doesn’t apply if you have multiple brands, for example in different niches, which is when you are allowed to create multiple accounts.
2. Post only original content. The content you post on your Pinterest account should be original and add unique value. Pinterest is pretty strict about this, and you can get into trouble if you republish someone else’s content from Pinterest or other platforms.
3. Be transparent about affiliate links. You should be transparent about the commercial nature of your content and the affiliate links. The Federal Trade Commission even requires you to disclose affiliate content as “sponsored or “affiliated.” To learn more about the topic, read our article on the FTC affiliate disclosure.‍
4. Don’t try to manipulate the Pinterest algorithm. Practices such as creating new accounts to pin your content to increase your rankings or creating affiliate pins in high volumes are highly prohibited.

In addition to the four guidelines above, we encourage you to review the Pinterest community guidelines, which outline other guidelines, such as spam and content safety guidelines.

How to start affiliate marketing on Pinterest?

Now that you’re more aware of the rules associated with Pinterest, we can move on to the steps required to take when affiliate marketing on Pinterest.

Let’s get started!

1. Create your Pinterest business account

The first thing you want to do is to create your Pinterest account. And not just any account, but a Pinterest business account.

The personal and business accounts on Pinterest are similar, but the business account provides you with additional features, such as performance tracking.

To create your business account, start by creating a personal account from Pinterest’s home page.

If you already have an account, you can just sign in! To create a business account, go to the “Account management” settings and click on “Convert account.” 

Once you do this, Pinterest will guide you through the process of setting up your business account!

2. Do niche research and choose your niche

Before you start creating pins for your Pinterest account, you should choose your niche. If you don’t already have a niche in mind you want to tap into, you need to do some niche research.

One tool you can use for this is Pinterest Trends, which shows all the recent trends on Pinterest. This is how the tool looks like:

You can select the top trends from different regions and countries, such as the US, Canada, Europe, Germanic countries, Australia, and more.

Once you select your region, you can refine the search further with filters such as trend type, age, gender, and interests.

To do further niche research, you can also use tools like Google Trends, which is a free trend research tool developed by Google.

Once you’ve done enough research on your niche, choose one that best fits your business needs. You should choose carefully since this will determine the affiliate programs you join and the type of content you create!

3. Join an affiliate network or create your own affiliate program

Depending on if you have your own ecommerce site or not, you need to either join affiliate networks or create your own affiliate program.

Let’s go through the process of each. If you want to join an existing affiliate program, almost all the biggest online retailers, such as Amazon have one. If you just Google “Amazon affiliate program,” you will find all the necessary information about it!

You can also join an affiliate program of smaller ecommerce companies, which may earn you more commissions. For example, you can check the top Shopify websites and then see the ones that have affiliate programs. Often, they mention it in their footer section, such as here Toki Mats does:

If you have your own ecommerce site and want to create an affiliate program for it, you can do that easily with ReferralCandy. It allows you to create affiliate links, set up landing pages, send referral emails, track results, and much more.

ReferralCandy customers, including Toki Mats, have generated over $500,000 in referral sales and achieved a 41x return on investment (ROI) through their affiliate program. That’s quite impressive if you ask us.

If you want to create an affiliate program similar to Toki Mat’s, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial with ReferralCandy!

4. Design your Pinterest profile

Making sure your Pinterest profile looks visually appealing and represents what you promote is essential.

Here is a prime example from a Pinterest account called By Mable Grace:

By Mable Grace does affiliate marketing and clearly outlines the purpose of the account (reviewing Amazon must-have products) in its profile description. The logo and the cover image are also clear and represent what they do.

If you have your own brand and a logo, add it as your profile photo. Create a graphic or take a high-quality product photo for your cover photo, and make sure your board covers are branded. A good example of how to do this is from Bev’s Pinterest profile.

Their profile photo is a high-resolution graphic of their logo, ensuring anyone who knows the brand will immediately recognize it. Plus, they’ve added a photo of their product with their signature bright colors that also help to show off a bit of their brand personality.

But they don’t stop there. They also have their board covers branded.

There are two ways to do this: Choose board covers that match your color scheme or upload branded graphics for your board covers. Bev has done the latter, helping to create a cohesive presence that stands out.

‍

Depending on if you have your own ecommerce site or are doing affiliate marketing for third-party sites, the type of design you should go for differs. The above examples can serve as great examples though!

5. Get inspiration for your pins

To generate more clicks and conversions, you need to invest in quality images. On Pinterest, there are different types of “successful pin formats” that are proven to work. 

These “successful pin formats” can be divided into:

• Informative pins
• Video pins
• Catalogs for shoppable pins
• Product in action pins
• Seasonally relevant pins

To understand each of these pins, let’s look into examples of them next!

Informative pins

People scroll through Pinterest to find ideas and learn ways to use products they’re interested in, so create content that helps them do just that.

Creating infographics like the ones below can be a great way to provide information on your products.

Take a look at this example from Ruggable. Creating a guide that helps potential customers know exactly what size rug will fit well in their bedroom is a great way to help them feel confident in making a purchase.

Here’s another example from The Sill. It includes three top indoor plant picks and their basic care tips, again instilling confidence and knowledge in someone getting ready to buy.

Both pins lead to product pages, making it easy to start shopping immediately. If you would do affiliate marketing, the links could be affiliate links.

Here is one more example from the DIY Lighthouse Pinterest account.

The above account creates and shares informative listicles about different products. For example, the “12 things every mom needs to see” list includes a link to a blog post that has 12 products with affiliate links. Every product includes information about how it can be used.

Informative pins are a great way to give your audience ideas about how they can use your product in their daily lives, whether it’s a piece of home decor, clothing, furniture, fitness or healthy living equipment, etc.

Videos pins

Most pins are static graphics, but you can also upload video pins to the platform as well. Incorporating this type of pin into your posting schedule is a great way to stand out in a user’s feed and grab their attention.

Videos allow you to show off even more of your product than you can in a single image.

Catalogs for shoppable pins

Want to really ramp up your Pinterest affiliate sales? 

Create a catalog that includes products, categorize them, and lead shoppers directly to your website’s product pages.

Here’s an example of Walker Edison’s Pinterest shop. They’ve broken products down into easy-to-navigate categories to make it easy for shoppers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Outside of catalogs, you can also showcase the products in clear and simple images, such as Smile Direct Club does on Pinterest.

While they’re an ecommerce site, this also works if you’re linking to third-party sites. When doing this, you should ensure that your images are unique.

Creating Pinterest catalogs and clear product sections helps your followers find your products much more easily and increases your social sales.

Product in action pins

Take stylized images that give Pinners an idea of how they can best use/wear your products in their own everyday lives.

This example from Chicwish shows an outfit made up of their products while also linking to their Pinterest catalog. This way, shoppers can buy products they see right in the image or find something similar that fits their tastes exactly.

Here’s another example from The Little Market. Styling kitchen storage solutions right inside a kitchen is a great way to show how useful the product can be.

Seasonally relevant pins

Staying relevant on Pinterest involves staying on top of the latest trends, which includes seasonally relevant content.

When the holidays are coming up, you want to create gift guides and holiday-specific products/content. When it’s warmer outside, share content related to summer activities.

Here’s a great example from superfood blend retailer Golde. Their Pinterest is filled with recipes that can be created with their products. But during the winter months, they switched to sharing popular seasonal recipes made with peppermint, cocoa, or apple cinnamon.

Pay attention to seasonal trends so you can incorporate them into your content. Oftentimes, even just changing up your color scheme to match the seasons can be enough to make an impact.

6. Design your pins

After you've gathered enough inspiration, you can design your own images! To do so, you can use tools such as Canva and Adobe Photoshop. For most people starting out, we recommend Canva since it’s free and simple to use.

Canva has templates made explicitly for Pinterest that you can use to get a headstart.

As an extra tip, you can also find YouTube tutorials on how to create visually appealing pins with Canva for Pinterest!

7. Publish your first Pinterest pin

Publishing your first Pinterest pin is easy. To do so, click on “Create” from the Pinterest home page.

Once you click this, Pinterest will guide you through the process of creating your first pin.

Once you’re adding information, you should also consider SEO implications. Pinterest is a visual search engine, so SEO optimization is important.

The Pinterest algorithm works by connecting relevant keywords with pins, so choose your title and description wisely. Pinterest themselves says in their blog article the following:

• “The text overlay on your pins affects how they show up in Pinterest search. It’s like SEO on Pinterest: If you pick the right keywords, you’ll reach more people.”

But also keep in mind that you shouldn’t do keyword stuffing since Pinterest is smart enough to see through that.

To use the correct keywords, you need to find out what your audience is searching for. You can use Pinterest Trends for this and even third-party tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Keyword Everywhere. 

When you create your first Pinterest pin, the section “Link” is where you can add your affiliate link.

8. Keep posting consistently

Once you have your pins designed, you should start posting them consistently to your Pinterest account. Like Pinterest mentions in their blog article, the more you create, the more chances you have to get discovered.

Most people who are successful with Pinterest affiliate marketing create multiple pins and do it for months without seeing any results first. 

9. Track the results

Using Pinterest Analytics, you can track the performance of your efforts posting on Pinterest. Keep in mind that Pinterest Analytics isn’t available if you don’t have a business account created.

If you plan on creating your own affiliate program with third-party tools, such as ReferralCandy, these tools also include analytics and reports for tracking the results!

7 useful Pinterest affiliate marketing tools

To get the most out of your Pinterest affiliate marketing strategy, it’s important to engage relevant helpful tools. 

These seven tools can help you track performance, create a consistent posting schedule, reach a bigger audience, design engaging pins, and more.

1. Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest Analytics is a built-in insights tool that helps you keep an eye on your pins’ performance. This will help you find information, such as pin engagement, impressions, and reach over a specific time period.

Track conversions, video analytics, and more. With Pinterest Analytics, it is possible to track the performance of all pins as well as pins from your website alone.

2. Pinterest Trends

If you’re looking for ideas of what to share on Pinterest, checking out Pinterest Trends (another free, built-in tool) is a great way to learn what people are searching for right now. If you’re wondering what kind of content would work best at the moment, Pinterest Trends can be highly beneficial.

As you plan your Pinterest content, check out recent trends to discover new ideas and to see if your business has anything relevant to publish. If so, that’s a great way to increase your reach and potentially generate more sales.

3. ReferralCandy

If you want to start your own affiliate or referral marketing program and advertise it on Pinterest, ReferralCandy is one of the best tools for that. It makes it easy to create referral links, referral landing pages, and emails inviting customers to join the affiliate program.

If you want to try out ReferralCandy, we offer a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You can sign up from here!

4. Canva

Canva is a DIY design tool with templates that can help you to design beautiful, engaging, and high-performing Pinterest graphics.

You can start from scratch or choose from their library of templates. Add in your brand colors and fonts to make sure your content is recognizable on the platform.

Canva’s Pinterest templates are optimal at 1000x1500px, which is also what Pinterest recommends. Utilize their stock photos and other design assets, or upload your own to grab your audience’s attention.

5. Tailwind

Tailwind is a Pinterest marketing app that helps you schedule and plan your content ahead of time. This makes it much more manageable to post content regularly so your audience consistently gets new content.

Tailwind’s tool also provides the ability to create your own designs for your Pinterest graphics, making it a one-stop shop for Pinterest management. Furthermore, you can optimize your posts and find the best hashtags to increase your reach.

6. PinGroupie

PinGroupie is a tool that helps brands find group boards to join on Pinterest. Group boards help you reach a wider audience with your content and products, but it’s important to find ones that are relevant to your brand and the pins you create.

PinGroupie also helps you pinpoint top Pinterest influencers, top pins, and top keywords that are being searched for, helping you be more strategic and reach a wider audience.

7. CapCut

CapCut is a free video editing tool that simplifies the process of creating ads for ecommerce products. It used to be just a tool for making simple videos, but nowadays, it’s a cost-effective tool for making even quite advanced edits. CapCut first started as a mobile app only, but nowadays, they also have a desktop app.

If you prefer to create your Pinterest videos in a video format, CapCut can be a helpful tool for that!

Get started with Pinterest for your ecommerce business

Pinterest can be an excellent tool for affiliate marketing when you implement the right steps.

Start being more strategic in the content you post and how you promote the products to see an increase in impressions, reach, engagement, and sales.

With these tips and tools, you should be able to start affiliate marketing on Pinterest and start earning commissions. If you have your own ecommerce brand and wish to grow it through Pinterest, you can also use our previous tips.

revamp your ecommerce social media strategy in order to successfully incorporate Pinterest and start ramping up your sales.

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, subscribe to our newsletter where we share our latest articles and helpful resources.