Performance Marketing Glossary

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A

A/B test

An experiment that shows two versions of a page or ad to comparable groups of visitors at the same time and compares a single outcome, such as purchases. Reliable only with enough conversions in each version. See A/B testing with low traffic.

Add-to-cart rate

The share of sessions or product views in which a visitor adds something to the cart. It happens more often than purchases, so it is a useful faster-moving metric for testing product pages.

Advantage+ shopping campaigns

Meta's automated campaign type for online sales, which combines audiences, placements and creative into one campaign. Works best with good Conversions API data and caps on existing-customer spend.

Attribution window

The period after an ad click or view during which a conversion can be credited to that ad. Different platforms use different windows, which is one reason their numbers never match.

B

Blended ROAS (MER)

Total store revenue divided by total ad spend across every channel, also called marketing efficiency ratio. Because it comes from your store rather than any ad platform, it cannot double-count and is the best single check on whether paid media is working.

Break-even ROAS

The ROAS at which an order's contribution margin exactly pays for its ad cost. It equals one divided by contribution margin as a share of revenue. Calculate yours with the break-even ROAS calculator.

C

CAC (customer acquisition cost)

Total marketing cost divided by the number of new customers acquired. Separating new from returning customers is what makes it meaningful.

Cash on delivery (COD)

Payment collected when an order is delivered. Common in India and parts of the GCC; it increases refusals and returns, so reported purchases overstate real revenue.

ChatGPT Ads

Advertising inside ChatGPT, shown below answers to users on the Free and Go plans in live markets and bought through OpenAI Ads Manager. Ads are matched to conversations using context hints rather than keywords. See ChatGPT Ads consulting.

Consent mode

A Google framework that tells Google tags what each visitor has agreed to, so tags adjust their behaviour. Version 2 adds signals for ad personalisation and user data, and is expected for traffic from the EEA and UK.

Context hints

Descriptions an advertiser writes in ChatGPT Ads to explain which conversations, topics or needs their product is relevant to. They guide matching but are not exact-match keywords.

Contribution margin

Revenue minus the variable costs of each order: cost of goods, shipping, payment fees, returns and the ad spend to acquire it. The figure that decides whether growth is worth having.

Conversion action (primary / secondary)

In Google Ads, the definition of something you count as a conversion. Primary actions are used for bidding and the main Conversions column; secondary actions are recorded for observation only. Two primary purchase actions counting the same order is the commonest Google Ads tracking error.

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO)

The practice of increasing the share of visitors who take a desired action, through research, fixes and testing. See conversion rate optimisation.

Conversions API (CAPI)

A server-to-server connection that sends conversion events directly to an ad platform, alongside or instead of the browser pixel. Meta, OpenAI and others offer one; it recovers conversions the browser misses.

Cost per qualified lead

Ad spend divided by the number of leads that meet an agreed qualification standard. A better measure than cost per lead, which rewards cheap, poor-quality enquiries.

CPA (cost per acquisition)

Ad spend divided by conversions. Target CPA is a Smart Bidding strategy that aims for an average cost per conversion.

CPL (cost per lead)

Ad spend divided by leads. Useful for spotting cost problems, misleading on its own because it ignores lead quality.

Custom labels

Five free-form fields (custom_label_0 to custom_label_4) in a Google Merchant Center feed, used to group products by margin, season, bestseller status or price band for campaign structure and bidding.

D

D2C (direct to consumer)

Brands selling to customers through their own store rather than through retailers or marketplaces, so they own the customer relationship and the margin.

E

Enhanced conversions

A Google Ads feature that sends hashed first-party data, such as an email address, with conversions to improve matching where cookies are missing. Available for web purchases and for leads.

Event deduplication

Making sure a conversion reported by both the browser pixel and a server API is counted once, by giving both the same event ID. Without it, every conversion counts twice.

Event match quality

Meta's score for how well the customer information sent with server events can be matched to Meta accounts. Higher match quality means more conversions attributed and better optimisation.

G

GCLID

Google Click Identifier: a parameter added to landing-page URLs when auto-tagging is on, used to connect later conversions — including offline ones — to the original ad click.

GTIN

Global Trade Item Number: a product's barcode number (UPC, EAN, ISBN). Required in Merchant Center for products that have one; missing GTINs limit where products can show.

I

Incrementality

The sales an ad actually caused, as opposed to sales it was credited with that would have happened anyway. Measured with holdout and geo tests rather than platform reports.

M

Match types

Google Ads keyword settings — broad, phrase and exact — controlling how closely a search must match a keyword to trigger an ad.

Merchant Center

Google's platform for uploading and managing product data used by Shopping ads, Performance Max and free listings. See fixing disapproved products.

N

Negative keywords

Words or phrases that stop an ad from showing for searches containing them. The first defence against wasted spend.

O

oCPC

Optimised cost per click: a bidding model, used by ChatGPT Ads among others, where you pay per click but the system aims for a target cost per conversion.

Offline conversion import

Sending outcomes that happen outside the website — a qualified lead, a closed sale, an attended appointment — back to Google or Meta, so bidding optimises for real results. See HubSpot offline conversions.

oppref

The click identifier ChatGPT Ads add to landing-page URLs. The OpenAI pixel stores it in a first-party __oppref cookie for 30 days; server-side events must forward it to be attributed.

P

Performance Max

Google's campaign type that runs across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from one campaign, using your feed and assets. See Performance Max consulting.

POAS (profit on ad spend)

Gross profit from ad-driven sales divided by ad spend. A POAS above 1 means ads paid for themselves after product costs; it corrects ROAS for margin.

Product feed

The structured data file describing every product — title, price, availability, images, identifiers, attributes — that Shopping and Performance Max run on.

Q

Quality Score

Google's 1–10 diagnostic for a keyword, based on expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing-page experience. A diagnostic, not a target.

R

ROAS (return on ad spend)

Revenue attributed to ads divided by ad spend. A 4× ROAS means £4 of attributed revenue per £1 spent — before costs, so not the same as profit. See how to set a target ROAS from your margin.

RTO (return to origin)

An order shipped and returned undelivered, usually a refused cash-on-delivery order. A major hidden cost for Indian D2C brands.

S

Search terms report

The Google Ads report showing the actual searches that triggered your ads, as opposed to the keywords you bid on. The fastest way to find wasted spend.

Server-side tagging

Running tags in a server container you control, such as server-side Google Tag Manager, which receives events from the site and forwards them to platforms. Improves data control and resilience. See server-side tracking.

Smart Bidding

Google Ads' automated bid strategies — target CPA, target ROAS, maximise conversions or value — which set bids per auction using conversion data. Only as good as the conversions you feed it.

Standard Shopping

Google's original Shopping campaign type, with more manual control over products, bids and negative keywords than Performance Max.

Supplemental feed

An extra data source in Merchant Center that adds or overrides attributes in your main feed — such as improved titles or custom labels — without changing the store platform's export.

T

Target ROAS

A Smart Bidding strategy that aims for an average return on ad spend. It should be set from break-even ROAS and margin, not copied from last month's results.

W

White-label PPC

Paid media work delivered by a specialist under an agency's brand, inside the client's own accounts. See agency partnerships.