Short definitions of the marketing metrics, methods and agentic marketing terms used on this site
Comparing two versions of a page/email/ad to determine which performs better
Example:
Testing red vs. blue button to see which drives more clicks
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Targeted approach treating individual accounts as markets of one
Example:
Creating custom campaigns for 20 high-value target accounts
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AI-powered autonomous marketing systems that make decisions and execute campaigns without human intervention
Example:
An AI agent automatically adjusts bids, creative, and targeting based on performance
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Autonomous software system that perceives environment, makes decisions, and takes actions to achieve goals
Example:
An AI agent that continuously optimizes ad spend allocation across channels
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Process of assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that led to a conversion
Example:
Understanding which channel deserves credit for a sale
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Methods for assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that contribute to conversions
Example:
First-touch credits awareness channel, last-touch credits conversion channel
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Marketing campaigns that run with minimal human intervention, adapting in real-time to performance data
Example:
A campaign that automatically adjusts targeting and messaging based on audience response
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Business-to-Business - Selling products/services to other businesses
Example:
LinkedIn ads; Sales outreach; Trade shows
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Design approach based on understanding and influencing human behavior and psychology
Example:
Using scarcity, social proof, and reciprocity to influence user decisions
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Strategy of prioritizing speed and market share over profitability during hypergrowth phases
Example:
Uber and Airbnb sacrificed profitability to dominate markets rapidly
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Percentage of target audience that recognizes or knows about brand
Example:
If 60% of target audience recognizes your brand, brand awareness is 60%
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Tendency of consumers to repeatedly purchase from same brand
Example:
Customers who consistently choose your brand over competitors
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How a brand is perceived in the minds of customers relative to competitors
Example:
Positioned as the performance marketing partner for ambitious brands
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Detailed profile of ideal customer including demographics, behaviors, goals, and pain points
Example:
Persona: Enterprise CMO, 40-50, managing $5M+ budget, focused on ROI
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Customer Acquisition Cost - Average cost to acquire one new customer
Example:
If you spend $1000 to acquire 10 customers, CAC is $100
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Clear instruction telling users what action to take
Example:
Book Your Free Audit or Start Your Free Trial
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Strategic allocation of budget across different marketing channels
Example:
Allocating 40% to paid search, 30% to social, 30% to email
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Percentage of customers who stop using a product/service during a given period
Example:
If 20% of customers leave each month, monthly churn is 20%
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Percentage of impressions that result in clicks
Example:
If 1000 people see ad and 50 click, CTR is 5%
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Evaluating competitors' strategies, strengths, and weaknesses
Example:
Analyzing competitor ad spend, messaging, and channel mix
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Creating and distributing valuable content to attract and engage target audience
Example:
Blog posts; whitepapers; case studies; webinars; podcasts
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Ongoing process of making incremental enhancements to products, processes, or services
Example:
Testing small changes weekly and implementing winners
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Series of stages customers progress through from awareness to purchase
Example:
Top of funnel (awareness) → Middle (consideration) → Bottom (decision)
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Percentage of visitors who complete a desired action (purchase, signup, etc.)
Example:
If 100 visitors result in 5 purchases, conversion rate is 5%
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Average cost to acquire one new customer
Example:
If you spend $10000 to acquire 100 customers, CPA is $100
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Average cost each time someone clicks on your ad
Example:
If you spend $1000 and get 100 clicks, CPC is $10
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Selling complementary product or service to existing customer
Example:
Offering related product to customer
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Overall experience a customer has with a brand across all touchpoints
Example:
Seamless, intuitive, personalized experience from first ad to post-purchase
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Complete path a customer takes from awareness to purchase to loyalty
Example:
Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Retention → Advocacy
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Dividing customers into groups based on shared characteristics or behaviors
Example:
Segmenting by purchase frequency, average order value, product preference
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Creating awareness and interest in products/services to drive qualified leads
Example:
Running campaigns to fill the top of the funnel
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Five-day structured process for solving problems and testing ideas through rapid prototyping and user feedback
Example:
Day 1: Map, Day 2: Sketch, Day 3: Decide, Day 4: Prototype, Day 5: Test
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Innovation that disrupts existing markets by introducing simpler, cheaper, or more convenient solutions
Example:
Netflix disrupted video rental; Airbnb disrupted hotels; Uber disrupted taxis
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Direct-to-Consumer - Selling directly to end customers without intermediaries
Example:
Brands like Glossier, Warby Parker, Allbirds
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Direct communication with customers via email to drive engagement and conversions
Example:
Newsletters; promotional emails; abandoned cart sequences; re-engagement campaigns
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Percentage of audience that interacts with content (likes, comments, shares, clicks)
Example:
If 10000 people see post and 500 interact, engagement rate is 5%
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Additional revenue generated from existing customers through upsells or cross-sells
Example:
Existing customer increasing spend from $100/month to $200/month
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Speed at which an organization can run experiments and learn from results
Example:
Running 100 experiments/month vs. 10 experiments/month
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Attribution model that assigns 100% credit to the first touchpoint in customer journey
Example:
If customer first sees ad on Facebook then converts, Facebook gets 100% credit
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Average number of times each person is exposed to marketing message
Example:
Average person sees ad 3 times
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Improving each stage of the customer journey to increase conversions
Example:
Identifying where 80% of users drop off and fixing it
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Applying game mechanics and dynamics to non-game contexts to increase engagement and motivation
Example:
Points, badges, leaderboards, progress bars to drive user actions
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Revenue minus cost of goods sold, expressed as percentage
Example:
If revenue is $100 and COGS is $30, gross margin is 70%
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Data-driven approach to accelerate business growth through experimentation
Example:
Testing 50 variations to find the winning funnel
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Process of creating automatic behaviors through repeated actions and reinforcement
Example:
Users checking app daily becomes automatic habit through consistent triggers and rewards
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User experience design based on the Hook Model: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, Investment
Example:
Notifications trigger action, variable rewards keep users engaged, investment increases switching costs
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Single instance of ad being displayed to user
Example:
One person seeing your ad once counts as one impression
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Process of creating new ideas, products, or services that deliver value to customers
Example:
Testing new messaging angles, channel combinations, or product features
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Composite metric measuring an organization's capacity for continuous improvement and adaptation
Example:
Score of 1-10 based on number of tests, speed of implementation, and success rate
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Standalone web page designed to drive a specific conversion action
Example:
A page offering a free audit with email capture form
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Attribution model that assigns 100% credit to the last touchpoint before conversion
Example:
If customer converts after clicking retargeting ad, retargeting gets 100% credit
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System for ranking leads based on likelihood to convert
Example:
Assigning points for email opens, website visits, demo requests
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Methodology emphasizing rapid experimentation, validated learning, and iterative product releases
Example:
Build MVP, test with customers, learn from feedback, iterate quickly
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Attribution model that distributes credit equally across all touchpoints in customer journey
Example:
If 5 touchpoints led to conversion, each gets 20% credit
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Lifetime Value - Total revenue a customer generates over their relationship with a brand
Example:
A customer with $500 LTV and $50 CAC has a 10:1 ratio
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Fundamental shift in market dynamics caused by new competitors or business models
Example:
Streaming disrupted cable TV; Cloud computing disrupted on-premise software
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Gathering information about target market, customers, and competitors
Example:
Understanding customer pain points, preferences, and buying behavior
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Using software to automate repetitive marketing tasks and personalize at scale
Example:
Automatically sending personalized emails based on user actions
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Lead that meets criteria indicating sales-readiness
Example:
A prospect who has engaged with content and fits ideal customer profile
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Minimum Viable Product - Simplest version of product with just enough features to satisfy early customers
Example:
Launching with core features only, gathering feedback, then adding features based on demand
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Metric measuring customer willingness to recommend brand to others
Example:
Score of 50+ indicates strong customer loyalty
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Gamification framework analyzing eight core drives of human motivation and behavior
Example:
Using achievement, ownership, social influence, and scarcity to drive engagement
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Seamless integration of marketing across multiple channels
Example:
Customer sees consistent messaging across email, social, paid search, website
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Advertising on search engines where advertisers bid on keywords
Example:
Google Ads; Bing Ads; keyword targeting
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Marketing approach focused on measurable results and ROI
Example:
Every campaign tracked to revenue impact
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Tailoring marketing messages and experiences to individual customer preferences
Example:
Showing different homepage content based on traffic source
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Growth framework focusing on five key metrics: Awareness, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral (AARRR)
Example:
Optimizing each stage from initial awareness through viral referrals
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Using machine learning to predict which touchpoints will drive future conversions
Example:
Predicting that a specific user segment will convert 3x better from email vs. paid search
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Net profit divided by revenue, expressed as percentage
Example:
If revenue is $100 and net profit is $20, profit margin is 20%
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Automated buying and optimization of digital ad inventory using algorithms
Example:
Automated ad buying across display, video, and native networks
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Quick creation of working models or mockups to test ideas and gather feedback
Example:
Creating clickable wireframes or landing page mockups in hours not weeks
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Total number of unique people exposed to marketing message
Example:
Campaign reaches 100000 unique people
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Continuously adjusting campaigns based on live performance data
Example:
Automatically pausing underperforming ad sets and scaling winners
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Showing ads to users who have previously visited your website
Example:
Showing ads to users who abandoned cart
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Strategies focused on keeping existing customers engaged and reducing churn
Example:
Email nurture sequences that increase repeat purchase rate
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Percentage of customers who continue using a product/service over a given period
Example:
If 80% of customers stay after 12 months, retention rate is 80%
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Return on Ad Spend - Revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising
Example:
A campaign with 5x ROAS generates $5 for every $1 spent
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Return on Investment - Profit generated relative to amount invested, expressed as percentage
Example:
If you invest $1000 and generate $5000 profit, ROI is 500%
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Software as a Service - Subscription-based software delivered via cloud
Example:
Slack; Notion; HubSpot
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Lead that sales team has determined is ready for direct outreach
Example:
A prospect who has expressed buying intent and has budget
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Search Engine Optimization - Optimizing website to rank higher in organic search results
Example:
Optimizing for performance marketing agency to rank #1
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Using social platforms to build audience, engage, and drive conversions
Example:
Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn; TikTok advertising and organic content
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Positioning as an expert and trusted authority in a specific domain
Example:
Publishing research; speaking at conferences; media appearances
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Attribution model that gives more credit to touchpoints closer to conversion
Example:
First touchpoint gets 10% credit, middle 20%, last touchpoint 70%
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Speed at which new campaigns, products, or features reach customers
Example:
Launching a new campaign in 48 hours vs. 2 weeks
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Any interaction between customer and brand
Example:
Ad impression; website visit; email; phone call; support interaction
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Financial metrics that show the profitability of individual customer transactions
Example:
Understanding if a $100 sale with $30 CAC is profitable
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Selling higher-value product or service to existing customer
Example:
Offering premium tier to existing customer
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Process of observing real users interacting with product or design to identify issues and opportunities
Example:
Watching 5-10 users interact with landing page to identify friction points
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Process of testing assumptions with real customers to confirm or refute hypotheses
Example:
Testing messaging with 100 prospects before launching full campaign
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Clear statement of tangible benefits customers receive from a product/service
Example:
Turn your marketing into a revenue machine
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