A/B testing: A method of testing where two versions of content with a single differing variable are compared to determine which yields better results
Applause rate: The number of approval actions—such as likes, mentions, Retweets, or favorites—that a post receives relative to the total number of followers
Average order value (AOV): The sum of individual order amounts divided by the number of orders
Best sellers report: A report in Google Merchant Center that provides information about the most popular brands and products used in Shopping ads and free listings
Big data: A field in analytics that systematically mines and extracts information from very large datasets for insights
BigQuery: Google’s cloud-based data warehouse solution
Brand advocacy: Measures the number of customers who promote a brand through word-of-mouth marketing or other methods
Brand awareness: How familiar people are with a particular business or product
Cart abandonment rate: The percentage of customers who add a product to their shopping cart and leave the site without completing their purchase
Click-to-open rate: The percentage of email recipients who clicked on one or more links in an email
Complaint rate: The percentage of complaints recipients send to mailbox providers about receiving an email
Conversion: The completion of an activity that contributes to the success of a business
Conversion rate: The percentage of users or website visitors who completed a desired action, such as clicking on a link in an email or purchasing a product
Conversion rate optimization: The process of increasing the percentage of users or website visitors who complete a desired action
Cost per acquisition (CPA): The average cost of acquiring a potential customer
Cross-selling: A sales technique used to encourage customers to spend more by purchasing a product that’s related to what they’re already buying
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The average cost of acquiring a paying customer
Customer lifetime value (LTV or CLV): The average revenue generated per customer over a certain period of time
Customer retention rate: The percentage of customers that a company retains over a certain period of time
Dead stock: Inventory that remains unsold for a long period of time and has little chance of selling in the future
Email bounce rate: The percentage of emails sent that could not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox
Google Analytics: A web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic
Heat map: A data visualization tool that demonstrates how visitors interact with a website
Impression: When a piece of content is displayed to a target audience
Key performance indicator (KPI): A measurement used to gauge how successful a business is in its effort to reach a business or marketing goal
Live View: A feature in Shopify that provides a real-time view of an e-commerce store’s activity as it happens
Macro conversion: A completed purchase transaction
Micro conversion: A completed response that indicates a user is moving toward a completed purchase transaction
Net profit margin: The percentage of revenue left over after expenses are paid
Net Promoter Score (NPS): A metric that measures brand advocacy by asking how loyal customers are to a company
Open rate: The percentage of users or customers who open an email
Potential reach: A metric that measures how many people have potentially seen a post
Product analytics: Monitoring and evaluating data to gain insights into how users interact with a product or service
Product conversion rate: The percentage of customers who purchase a product after viewing it
Product viability: The sales potential for a specific product
Python: A programming language used for data analysis and data visualization
Qualified traffic: Traffic made up of visitors who are likely to become customers
Quarter: A three-month time period based on a company’s financial calendar
Referral: Refers to how someone was guided to a website
Return on ad spend (ROAS): How much revenue is gained versus how much was spent
Return rate: The percentage of products sold that are returned by customers
Session recording: A rendering that captures a visitor’s actions as they navigate a website, including mouse movement, clicks, taps, and scrolling
SMART: A goal-setting method that can help define and measure the success of the goals of a campaign; Stands for “specific,” “measurable,” “attainable,” “realistic,” and “time-bound”
Structured query language (SQL): The standard language used to communicate with databases developed by different vendors and hosted on multiple platforms
Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of email recipients who unsubscribe from a send list after opening an email
Upselling: A sales technique used to encourage customers to spend more by upgrading to a more expensive product
Terms and their definitions from previous module(s)
C
Chatbot: A programmed system that responds to common customer questions
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey: A tool that measures how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectations
Customer service: The advice and support a company provides to its customers before, during, and after a purchase
D
Dynamic remarketing: A process that allows a company to show previous visitors ads that contain products and services they viewed on the company’s site
F
Featured snippet: A special box that displays information about a search in the results page
Frequently asked questions (FAQ): A section on a website that provides answers to the questions that customers might have regarding a business, their products or services, policies, processes, and more
L
Live chat: A customer service technology that allows customers to communicate in real time with a business representative
M
Multi-channel customer service: Refers to providing customer service across multiple channels
N
Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey: A single-question survey that asks respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend a company, product, or a service to a friend or colleague on a scale from zero to ten
P
Points model: A rewards program that offers customers a point equivalent for a determined monetary value spent over the course of several purchases
Post-purchase communication: Any direct interaction customers have with a brand after they make a purchase
R
Replenishment emails: Emails used to prompt customers to make a repeat purchase when the items they previously bought are about to run out
Rewards program: A marketing strategy designed to build customer loyalty by providing incentives for customers to continue shopping with the brand
S
Spend-based model: A rewards program that offers customers incentives based on an amount spent during a single purchase
Subscription model: A rewards program that requires customers to make a recurring payment in order to receive an exclusive incentive
T
Tier-based model: A rewards program that allows customers to graduate to new customer status levels based on the amount of money they spend with a company over time
U
Usability survey: A survey that assesses the customer’s satisfaction with a company’s website and identifies any problems the customer may experience along their shopping journey
Campaign: A plan of action for how a set of one or more ad groups that share a budget, location targeting, and other settings will be distributed online
Cost per acquisition (CPA): The average cost of acquiring a potential customer
Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): The amount a marketer pays for every 1,000 impressions an ad receives
Display campaign: A Google Ads tool that allows businesses to place image advertisements across various websites
Editorial and technical requirements: The quality standards set for ads, websites, and apps
Geographic segmentation: The grouping of customers with regards to their physical location
Google Ads: An online advertising platform where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users
Google Display Network: A group of websites, videos, and apps where Display ads can appear
Google Trends: A free Google tool that lets people explore what citizens around the world are searching for on Google
Law of diminishing returns: An economic principle stating that if investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment will eventually decrease if other variables remain constant
Off-season: The period where customers tend to take more time in making purchases, especially if it’s for a larger ticket item
Online advertising: A form of marketing which uses the internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers
On-season: The period where customers are much more likely to buy products due to related weather variables or special events
Performance Planner: A Google tool that allows an advertiser to forecast the impact of different spending scenarios and events during upcoming seasons
Point of diminishing returns: The point at which revenue-to-ad spend is at its highest
Prohibited content: The content that brands are not allowed to promote on the Google Network
Prohibited practices: The things brands can’t do if they want to advertise with Google
Restricted content: Content that can be advertised, but with limitations
Return on ad spend (ROAS): How much revenue is gained versus how much was spent
Revenue-per-click: The average revenue for each individual click on all of a company’s pay-per-click keywords and ads
Search campaign: Text ads that appear on search results when people search on Google for related products and services
Seasonality: The regular and predictable fluctuation of e-commerce traffic around special holidays, events, and weather on a quarterly or yearly basis
Shopping campaign: Product listings that appear on search results and the Google Shopping tab
Smart bidding: A subset of automated bid strategies that uses machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in every auction
Smart campaign: An automated campaign management tool within Google Ads that helps promote a business
Smart Shopping campaign: An advanced Shopping campaign that uses technology to optimize for more sales and reach Google shoppers across Google’s sites and networks
Video campaign: A Google Ads tool that allows businesses to place video advertisements before, during, or after YouTube videos and in the search results
Terms and their definitions from previous module(s)
A
Alt text: A brief, written description of an image with the primary purpose of assisting individuals who are visually impaired
B
BOPIS: An acronym for “buy online, pick up in store”
Brand voice: The distinct personality a brand takes on in its communications
Branding: To promote a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand
Brick-and-mortar: A traditional retail store with a specific location where customers can come to shop
C
Call to action: An instruction that tells the customer what to do next
Click-and-mortar: A type of retail store that sells online as well as in a brick-and-mortar store
Competition: The other sellers that exist already in the market
Contact page: A common webpage on websites that provides information for visitors to contact the organization or individual hosting the website
Conversion: The completion of an activity that contributes to the success of a business
Customer relationship management (CRM) system: Software that helps a business manage and monitor its interactions with existing and potential customers
D
Demand: How much consumers are willing and able to buy a certain product over a given period of time
Digital shopping cart: The virtual equivalent of a physical shopping cart
Domain: The core part of a website’s URL, or internet address
Dropshipping: A fulfillment method in which products are shipped from the supplier directly to the customer
E
E-commerce: The buying and selling of goods or services using the internet
E-commerce platform: A software application that allows businesses to sell products or services online
E-commerce store: A store that sells its products online
E-commerce strategy: A working plan to promote an online store and increase its sales
F
Footer: A navigation section at the bottom of a website
Forecasting: The process of predicting the future demand for products
G
Google Merchant Center: A tool advertisers use to upload their store and product data to Google and make it available for Shopping ads and other Google services
Google Trends: A free Google tool that lets people explore what citizens around the world are searching for on Google
H
Home page: The main page of a website
L
Landing page: The first page a visitor encounters when they go to a website
M
Market research: The process of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences
Market size: The total number of potential customers within a specific industry
Meta description: Text that provides search engines with a summary of what the page is about
Multichannel e-commerce: The practice of listing a store’s products on multiple channels
N
Navigation bar: A collection of links to other pages within a website
Net profit: The amount of money left over after expenses are paid
Net profit margin: The percentage of revenue left over after expenses are paid
O
Open-source: Software that allows the user to access and edit the original source code
P
Pain point: A specific problem faced by current or prospective customers while interacting with a site
Payment service provider: A secure way to process transactions online
Primary research: Research obtained first-hand
Privacy policy: A legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a business gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer’s data
Product description: The text on the product detail page of an e-commerce store that provides details and information to customers about the product
Product detail page (PDP): A page on an e-commerce site that provides information about a specific product
Product sourcing: How a business acquires the products they sell to customers
Product viability: The sales potential for a specific product
R
Responsive website: A website that is designed to work on all types of devices, including computers, mobile phones, and tablets
Return policy: A document that describes, in detail, a business’s process and requirements for accepting returns
S
Secondary research: Research done by others
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Web-based software available on a subscription basis
Stock keeping unit (SKU): A unique code that retailers use to identify a product
T
Target audience: The group of people most likely to purchase a company’s products
Terms of service: Legal agreements between a business and customers
Theme: A pre-built website template that creates the design and layout of an e-commerce store
Tone: How a brand’s voice is applied
Traffic: The number of visits that a website receives
W
Web accessibility: The practice of designing and developing a website or mobile app so that people with disabilities can use it
Webpage title: An element that provides both users and search engines with a page’s topic