Bill Watkins, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Pinterest.In an era when online shopping often feels like navigating a labyrinth, Pinterest’s leaders are pioneering a new approach to social commerce.
The platform is perfecting its formula to boost consumer confidence, streamline discovery, spur inspiration, resonate with customer lifestyles, understand curation behaviour and spot trends rather than merely offering convenience and easing checkout processes.
In conversation with Campaign Middle East, Bill Watkins, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Pinterest, sheds light on how the platform is addressing concerns around cart abandonment, conversion lift, the sea of sameness and inventory management, while balancing near-term performance with long-term brand building.
‘Solve for confidence rather than convenience’
Kicking off the conversation, Watkins discusses why the time has come to rethink the customer journey with a specific focus on consumer confidence. He argues that the real challenge is not about removing obstacles but rather about empowering decision-making.
Watkins explains, “Shoppers are not abandoning carts because of checkout friction; they’re abandoning because they just are not ready to decide. People are suffering from what we call ‘FOBO’ – the fear of better options. In a world of infinite choice, consumers worry there’s something better out there if they keep looking.”
He adds, “The solution is not removing more barriers; it’s curation. We need to help shoppers narrow down options and build a clear picture of what they want.”
Recent research released by The Decision Lab corroborates this notion, with 75 per cent of shoppers surveyed stating that narrowing choices led to more confident decisions.
The shift in focus from checkout experiences to curation aims to alleviate decision paralysis and promote consumer confidence and certainty. Pinterest has proven this works through its Boards feature, where people curate collections of ideas they’re considering – like a visual shopping cart that builds over time.
Watkins says, “Products saved to Boards are twice as likely to be purchased because people have had time to feel confident about their choice through curation. Instead of throwing endless options at customers, Pinterest has become an AI-powered shopping assistant. Through visual search, personalised recommendations and smart curation, people can better understand what they love. When you solve for confidence rather than just convenience, you solve the real problem behind abandoned carts.”
However, Pinterest’s CRO also acknowledges the risks associated with over-curation, which creates filter bubbles, and discusses the power of relevant and evolved artificial intelligence (AI) tools to bypass algorithmic echo chambers.
Watkins says, “Our AI doesn’t just show people more of the same. It’s designed to actively expand taste. As more users engage more with personalised recommendations, AI gets smarter, which leads to better shopping. Think personalised recommendations for users and performance wins for advertisers.”
Pinterest’s AI guides users through the vast landscape of visual ideas, tailoring inspiration to their unique tastes. For instance, its Taste Graph, which uses more than 500 billion Pins to predict user desires, has grown 75 per cent over the past two years and serves as the foundation for its personalisation. This helps the platform understand not just what someone likes, but how their preferences evolve over time.
“Gen Z especially loves how we just get their aesthetics and vibes, by matching visual inspiration to concrete realisations,” Watkins adds, “That said, we also give people control. With features such as ‘see more or fewer’, users can steer our AI to serve inspiration that answers to them. The goal is not to eliminate choice, but to sequence it in a way that builds confidence rather than being overwhelming – showing sufficient options that people feel they’ve explored thoroughly without giving in to the endless scrolling.”
AI that serves human over ‘engagement at any cost’
In a world obsessed with monitoring success metrics, Watkins highlights leading indicators – metrics that matter – which reliably predict conversion lift.
“Saves are our strongest predictor,” he states, emphasising that products saved to Pinterest’s boards hold double the purchasing probability.
Pinterest’s Taste Graph predicts what users actually want to buy – not just what keeps them scrolling – because every save, search and curation action feeds into this system, creating strong predictive signals.
Watkins says, “Critically, we ignore the metrics other platforms obsess over –controversial content that drives negative engagement. The result? Users tell us ‘Pinterest just gets me’ because we’re learning from their intentional actions, their plans and aspirations, not their unconscious scrolling. That creates genuine conversion lift because we’re predicting real purchase intent, not manufactured addiction.”
“When your AI serves actual human needs instead of engagement at any cost, both user satisfaction and business outcomes improve. That’s sustainable growth,” he adds.Unlike other platforms, Pinterest consciously chooses to bypass negative engagement metrics, focusing instead on genuine interest and intent.
Visual discovery: ‘Be present when people are forming preferences’
With the increasing trend of product discovery through visual platforms, the time has come for companies to think strategically about their digital investments.
Recent research released by Adobe reveals that 39 per cent of Gen Z are now starting their searches on Pinterest instead of Google.
Watkins says, “We’re seeing a fundamental shift. With visual search becoming the primary discovery method, the upstream investments that will matter the most are understanding and participating in visual intent signals.”
He calls for a focus on four key areas, including getting product catalogues into visual discovery platforms, investing in lifestyle and contextual imagery, understanding curation behaviour, and keeping both eyes peeled for new trends.
Explaining each of these in detail, Watkins says, “This is not just about having products online. It’s about having them discoverable when someone searches with an image instead of words. Products saved to Pinterest’s boards are twice as likely to be purchased, but that happens when people can visualise how items fit into their actual lives. The brands seeing the biggest return on investment (ROI) are those that are creating diverse visual content that shows products in multiple real-world contexts.”
“When people save your products alongside other items, they’re essentially telling you how they see your brand fitting into their vision. That data is incredibly valuable for product development, positioning and future marketing. Also, the ROI comes from being present when people are forming preferences, not just when they’re ready to buy,” he adds.
Pinterest’s trends have proven to be more than 80 per cent accurate in predicting what’s next, according to recent reports.
Brands that can tap into these signals – understanding what aesthetics and product categories are emerging months before they peak – have the opportunity to build inventory, develop products and position marketing ahead of demand rather than chasing it.
While users around the world come to Pinterest for the same thing – to discover, find inspiration and shop – the core experience that the platform provides is universal. This manifests culturally through its AI tools.
Watkins says, “Our Taste Graph, which has grown 75 per cent over the past two years, learns from individual user behaviour, not broad assumptions. So whether someone in Dubai is exploring traditional Arabic calligraphy or modern minimalist home design, our AI serves them based on their actual saves and searches, which naturally reflect their cultural context. The scale is incredible. Our AI models generate more than 400 million predictions per second to personalise content. And we’re seeing fascinating regional patterns emerge.”
This is exemplified in Pinterest’s upcoming 2025 Fall Trends Report for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which shows ‘workplace design’ searches up 1,209 per cent, ‘grunge style’ up 94 per cent and ‘polka dots’ surging 895 per cent.
He adds, “Authenticity comes from the bottom up. We’re amplifying what people in each region genuinely love and want to try. That’s how you scale globally while staying locally relevant.
Collaboration and alignment between merchandising and media teams are also crucial to convert visual discovery into sales.
“The most successful brands create unified workflows where merchandising shoots products with media distribution in mind from the start, considering multiple contexts, diverse lifestyle settings and metadata optimised for visual search,” Watkins says, stressing the importance of cohesive efforts to maximise visual search potential.
“When merchandising sees that lifestyle imagery drives twice as many saves, and media sees that saved products are twice as likely to convert, you get natural alignment,” he adds. “The breakthrough is recognising that your product catalogue is not just inventory management. It’s the foundation of your visual discovery strategy. Brands uploading comprehensive catalogues with rich visual content see significantly better performance because AI can surface products in more relevant moments.”
Clearly, the time has come to stop treating visual discovery as different from commerce. Watkins calls for organisations to build integrated systems where merchandising and media teams optimise for the same outcome: Getting the right product in front of the right person with the right context at the right moment in their decision journey.
Guiding finance teams beyond near-term ROAS
Pinterest’s strategies also reveal the benefits of engaging consumers early in their shopping journey.
However, trouble arises in the tension between early inspiration and near-term return on ad spend (ROAS) expectations. Inspiring consumers earlier in the journey can lower costs and raise engagement in the long term, but finance teams often want to see near-term ROAS.
To address this concern, Watkins points to test designs, media mix modelling (MMM) adjustments that can credibly move budgets upstream.
“The most credible data point is that when customers see ads across Pinterest’s full funnel, including awareness, consideration and conversion objectives, we see that conversion rates are two times higher compared with single-objective campaigns. For test design, the framework that works is experimenting with multiple objectives while maintaining control groups focused on single objectives. You can measure the incremental lift from full-funnel approaches versus conversion-only spending,” Watkins says.
He adds, “The MMM adjustment that matters is linking upper-funnel brand-building to lower-funnel performance through holistic measurement. Instead of treating awareness spend as a cost centre, you’re measuring how early engagement compounds into higher conversion rates down the line.”
This is a credible argument for finance teams that need to realise that marketers are not looking to sacrifice near-term performance for long-term brand building.
On the contrary, Watkins says that this approach shows “that early-stage engagement actually improves immediate conversion performance. The customers you reach in discovery mode convert at higher rates when they’re ready to purchase because they’ve already built confidence through that multi-touch journey.”
He adds, “You’re also diversifying. You avoid overspending on lower funnel while building a sustainable pipeline of engaged prospects who convert more efficiently. Finance teams get comfortable with upstream investment when they can see that early engagement predicts and improves future performance.”
That said, there’s a danger of reaching a point of diminishing returns if brands over-index on a single funnel stage, Watkins warns.
“Spending heavily on upper-funnel awareness without consideration or conversion touchpoints creates a leaky bucket. People get inspired but have no path to purchase. Conversely, focusing only on lower-funnel conversion means competing for the same ready-to-buy customers as everyone else, driving up costs without building new demand. The sweet spot is achieving ‘funnel coverage’ and reaching customers across awareness, consideration, and conversion stages,” he adds.
As digital landscapes continue to evolve, platforms such as Pinterest continue to be a beacon of innovation and reliability. By prioritising curation and confidence over volume and convenience, Pinterest not only eases the shopping journey but also enriches it across the funnel, inviting consumers to explore a world tailored to their evolving tastes and aspirations – one saved Pin at a time.
