E-commerce

Abandoned cart email:
A follow-up email sent to customers who added an item to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase

Alt text:
A brief, written description of an image with the primary purpose of assisting individuals who are visually impaired

BOPIS:
An acronym for “buy online, pick up in store”

Brand evangelists:
Customers who are so passionate about a product or service that they enthusiastically promote it to others

Branding:
To promote a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand

Brand voice:
The distinct personality a brand takes on in its communications

Brick-and-mortar:
A traditional retail store with a specific location where customers can come to shop

Call to action:
An instruction that tells the customer what to do next

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

Cart abandonment:
When a customer adds an item to their cart, but doesn’t complete the purchase

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

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

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 engagement:
The interactions and emotional connection between a customer and a brand

Customer relationship management (CRM) system:
Software that helps a business manage and monitor its interactions with existing and potential customers

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

Display campaign:
A Google Ads tool that allows businesses to place image advertisements across various websites

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

Dynamic remarketing:
A technique that allows a company to show previous visitors ads that contain products and services they viewed on the company’s site

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 point-of-sale (POS) system:
Software that allows a business to process payment transactions from customers 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

Editorial and technical requirements:
The quality standards set for ads, websites, and apps

Footer:
A navigation section at the bottom of a website

Forecasting:
The process of predicting the future demand for products

Fulfillment service:
A third-party company that prepares and ships orders from their fulfillment centers

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

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

Home page:
The main page of a website

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS):
A method of transferring information over the internet that protects the integrity and confidentiality of data between the user’s computer and the site

Landing page:
The first page a visitor encounters when they go to a website

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

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

Mobile-first design:
A web design approach that aims to create better experiences for users by designing specifically for mobile devices

Multichannel e-commerce:
The practice of listing a store’s products on multiple channels

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

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

Open-source:
Software that allows the user to access and edit the original source code

Order fulfillment:
All the steps that take place between receiving an order and delivering the order to the customer

On-season:
The period where customers are much more likely to buy products due to related weather variables or special events

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

Performance Planner:
A Google tool that allows an advertiser to forecast the impact of different spending scenarios and events during upcoming seasons

Personalization:
The practice of delivering a customized experience for each customer

Product recommendation engine:
Software that uses artificial intelligence to analyze customers’ data, learn which products might interest them, and display those products to the customer

Point of diminishing returns:
The point at which revenue-to-ad spend is at its highest

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

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

Return policy:
A document that describes, in detail, a business’s process and requirements for accepting returns

Responsive website:
A website that is designed to work on all types of devices, including computers, mobile phones, and tablets

Responsive website design:
A website that is designed to work on all types of devices, including computers, mobile phones, and tablets

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

Rewards program:
A marketing strategy designed to build customer loyalty by providing incentives for customers to continue shopping with the brand

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

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate:
A digital certificate that authenticates a website’s identity and enables an encrypted connection

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

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

Supply chain:
The flow of goods from the beginning stage of sourcing raw materials all the way to the finished product that is delivered to the customer

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

Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate:
(refer to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate)

User experience:
How a person—the user—feels about interacting with or experiencing a product

Video campaign:
A Google Ads tool that allows businesses to place video advertisements before, during, or after YouTube videos and in the search results

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