Ecommerce marketing has its own specialised business language, which is constantly evolving, meaning every time you think you’ve got your head around the lingo, a new term pops up to confuse you again.
At SwiftERM, we try to keep things as jargon-free as possible. However, we also know there’s no skirting around the fact that acronyms pop up all over the internet – and that using these abbreviations yourself can help limit the amount of time you have to spend writing order status updates or shipping notes.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the ecommerce abbreviations we see cropping up most often to help you get to grips with the must-know terms of the industry.
How many do you know already?
Web design
CTA = Call to action
A call to action (CTA) is a prompt on your website that tells your store’s visitors to take a specified action (such as a Buy Now button on a product page).
CX = Customer experience
In the ecommerce industry, customer experience (CX) is the perception your website’s visitors have of your company after engaging with it online. Improving the CX of your website can greatly increase your store’s conversion rate.
HTML = HyperText Markup Language
HTML is a standardised coding language for creating a webpage. Essentially, HTML tags act as the building blocks for all the content you see on your online store’s pages.
Alt text/alt tag = An image description in HTML
Alt text is a text description that can be added to an image’s HTML tag on a web page. When you use relevant keywords in this description, you can boost that web page’s position on search engine results pages.
RSS feed = Rich site summary feed
An RSS feed is a type of online feed that allows your customers to receive regular updates from your website or blog.
Web analytics
GA = Google Analytics
Google Analytics (GA) is a leading web analytics service that collects, tracks and reports data from your website (such as your traffic, best-performing pages and what your customers are searching for on your store). You can then use these advanced metrics and business insights to improve your website, attracting more potential customers and boosting your conversion rate.
MoM / QoQ / YoY = Month-over-month / Quarter-over-quarter / Year-over-year
These terms refer to the standard formula for measuring business growth. To calculate your ecommerce store’s month-over-month revenue growth for a single month, you need to take the difference between this month’s total revenue and last month’s total revenue, divide it by last month’s total and multiply it by 100 to convert it into a percentage. You can use this same formula to calculate your quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year revenue growth.
ROI = Return on investment
Your return on investment (ROI) is the ratio between your net profit and the cost of your investment into a project (such as a paid advertising campaign or a professional web design). Essentially, a high ROI means your investment has been well worth your time.
AOV = Average order value
Your average order value (AOV) measures the average total of every order placed on your ecommerce store over a defined period.
RPU = Revenue per user
Revenue per user (RPU) is a ratio used to express the amount of revenue your store generates on a per-user basis.
CLV = Customer Lifetime Value
Your customer lifetime value (CLV) is the amount any individual consumer is worth to you over their lifetime.
CR = Conversion rate
Your conversion rate is the number of visitors to your website who make a purchase compared to your total number of website visitors.
CTR = Click-through rate
A click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a specific link out of the total number of users who have viewed that page. CTRs are commonly measured to determine the success of online advertising and email campaigns.
KPI = Key performance indicator
Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure how effectively your team is achieving specific business objectives. Setting KPIs enables your team to make informed business decisions about the direction of all of your current projects. Some of the most common KPIs business owners track are their cash flow forecast, gross profit margin, funnel drop-off rate and revenue growth rate.
BR = Bounce rate
Your bounce rate (BR) is the percentage of visitors to your store who navigate away from your website after viewing only one page.
A/B testing = Split testing
Split testing is a method of conducting controlled, randomised experiments to improve a website metric (such as increasing your click-through rate or number of conversions).
Marketing
SEM = Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing is the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through both paid and unpaid efforts (meaning it encompasses both organic SEO and Paid Advertising practices).
SERP = Search engine results page
Search engine results pages (SERPs) are the pages displayed by search engines such as Google in response to a query by a searcher. The higher up on a search engine’s SERPs you are, the more likely your business is to be found by new potential customers.
SEO = Search engine optimisation
Search engine optimisation is the practice of increasing your website’s presence in search results organically through a variety of strategies, techniques and tactics.
CPC / PPC = Cost per click / pay per click
These two terms can be used interchangeably. Both refer to the price you have to pay for each user’s click in your pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaigns.
CPM = Cost per thousand impressions
A cost per thousand impressions (CPM) is the amount of money you must pay another website to showcase your advertisements per one thousand visitors who see them.
CPA = Cost per action
Cost per action (CPA) advertising is an online advertising pricing model where – rather than paying per click or impression – you pay only for a specified acquisition, such as a sale, click or form submission.
CRM = Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is the management of all of your company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. Commonly refers to software to manage this for you now.
CRO = Conversion rate optimisation
Conversion rate optimisation is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of your website visitors who make purchases on your store. By optimising your conversion rate, you can increase your turnover, acquire more customers and ultimately grow your business.
ROAS = Return on Ad Spend
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a marketing metric that measures the efficacy of a digital advertising campaign, helping your team evaluate which methods are working and how you can improve your future advertising efforts.
CAC = Customer acquisition cost
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) refers to the cost of convincing a customer to buy from your store. Your CAC can be calculated by simply dividing all the costs spent on acquiring more customers (your marketing expenses) by the number of customers you acquired in the period the money was spent.
ROS = Return on sales
Return on sales (ROS) is a ratio used to evaluate your company’s operational efficiency. This measure provides insight into how much profit you are earning per dollar (or pound) of sales.
ROR = Rate of return
A rate of return (RoR) is the net gain or loss of an investment over a specified period, expressed as a percentage of the investment’s initial cost. When calculating the rate of return, you are determining the percentage change from the beginning of the period until the end.
SMM = Social media marketing
Social media marketing (SMM) utilises social networking websites as a marketing tool. The goal of SMM is to produce content that your potential or existing customers will share with their social network to increase your brand’s exposure and broaden your customer reach.
LTV and CLV = Lifetime value and customer lifetime value
In ecommerce marketing, customer lifetime value (CLV) is a prediction of the net profit attributed to your company’s entire future relationship with a customer.
USP = Unique selling proposition
Your unique selling proposition (USP) is a feature or characteristic of your products or company that distinguishes it from others of a similar nature and makes it more appealing to consumers.
UTM = Urchin Tracking Monitor
UTM stands for Urchin Traffic Monitor and is a snippet of simple code that you can add to the end of a URL to track the performance of campaigns and content.
DTC = Direct To Customer
Direct-to-consumer (or D2C) companies manufacture and ship their products directly to buyers without relying on traditional stores or other middlemen.
QR code = Quick response barcode
A QR code is a machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone. QR codes are becoming widely used in many businesses’ marketing campaigns as a way of directing existing or potential customers to a specific landing page or their company website.
BOPIS = BUY ONLINE PICK UP IN STORE
BOPIS simply means buy online, pick up in-store. It’s become a popular retail strategy that allows customers to have the best of both worlds.
CPG = CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) are items used daily by average consumers that require routine replacement or replenishment, such as food, beverages, clothes, tobacco, makeup, and household products.
Supply chain & logistics
3PL = Third-party logistics
Third-party logistics (3PL) refers to your company’s use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of your distribution, warehousing and fulfilment services.
DDU = Delivered Duty Unpaid
Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDP) is an international trade term indicating that the seller is responsible for making a safe delivery of goods to a named destination, paying all transportation expenses and assuming all risks during transportation.
ERP = Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a process used by companies to integrate the main functional areas of their business processes into a unified system. An ERP software system can integrate planning, purchasing inventory, sales, marketing and more to streamline business processes, eliminate repetitive business tasks and reduce the need to manually enter information.
PCI compliance = the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data and reduce credit card fraud. If your ecommerce business handles branded credit cards from the major card schemes, then you must be PCI compliant by law.
Common business terms
B2B / B2C = Business to Business / Business to client
In the ecommerce industry, business-to-business (B2B) websites sell products to other businesses alone, while business-to-client (B2C) stores sell their products directly to consumers.
CPG = Consumer Packaged Goods
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) are items used daily by average consumers that require routine replacement or replenishment, such as food, beverages, clothes, tobacco, makeup, and household products..
POS = Point of sale
A point of sale (POS) transaction is the moment when a transaction is finalised between you and your customer.
API = Application programming interface
An application programming interface (API) is a set of tools, functions and procedures which allow software applications to communicate with one another. APIs are often used to allow companies to easily share their information. For example, Amazon.com recently released its API so that web developers could more easily access its product information.
AR = Augmented reality
In the ecommerce industry, augmented reality (AR) refers to technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, providing them with a more composite view of products as they shop online.
CMS = Content management system
Content management systems (CMS) are typically used for website content management on ecommerce stores, allowing store owners to control and manage their website’s content (including adding and editing text and images online) quickly and easily – without any technical training.
SaaS = Software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software and licensing delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SwiftERM is one popular example of a SaaS ecommerce platform.
UX = User Experience
User experience (UX) design is the process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users.
It’s time to walk the walk
Now you know how to talk the talk, it’s time to start putting your new ecommerce vocabulary knowledge to use – and to enjoy properly understanding what the experts are on about.
We hope you found the term you were looking for! (If we’ve missed any, let us know and we’ll add them).
