ADSSystem

Ecommerce and CRO glossary

In one line

136 terms from Ecommerce and CRO, each defined in a sentence or two, with a link to the calculator that works the number out where one exists.

A6
A/B Testing

Comparing two versions with a random split.

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Add-to-Cart Rate

Carts divided by product views. The first honest intent signal.

AOV Growth

Change in average order value over time. The growth input you do not have to buy.

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Attach Rate

How often an accessory or add-on sells with the main product.

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Average Basket Value

Revenue divided by orders, in retail language.

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Average Items Per Order

Units divided by orders. One of two levers behind order value.

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B5
Basket Affinity

Which products get bought together.

Basket Economics

How basket composition changes profitability, not just revenue.

Browse Funnel

The early stage where people look without intent to buy today.

Bundle Rate

The share of orders containing a bundle.

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Buyer Conversion Rate

Another name for the same measure.

C32
Cancellation Rate

Orders cancelled before fulfilment.

Cart Abandonment Rate

The share of carts never taken further. Normal is high, so track the trend rather than the level.

Cart Funnel

What happens between adding to cart and starting checkout.

Cart Optimization

Improving the step where people review before paying.

Cart-to-Checkout Rate

The share of carts that start checkout.

Category Economics

Profitability by category rather than product.

Category Margin

Margin across a product group. Usually where the real differences hide.

Checkout Abandonment Rate

The inverse of the above.

Checkout Completion Rate

The share of started checkouts that finish. Shipping cost surprises kill more sales here than anything else.

Checkout Funnel

The steps inside checkout. Every extra field costs completions.

Checkout Optimization

Removing friction between intent and payment.

Checkout Test

Testing steps and fields in the checkout. Test carefully, because a broken checkout costs real money.

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Checkout UX

How the checkout feels to use. Small friction here is expensive.

Click Map

A visual of where people click on a page.

Cohort Margin

The same after cost. Shows whether newer customers are worse than older ones.

Cohort Retention

How much of a cohort is still buying over time.

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Cohort Revenue

Revenue from a group defined by when they first bought.

Contraction Revenue

Money lost when existing customers downgrade.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Improving the share of visitors who buy, instead of buying more visitors.

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Countdown Timer

A visible deadline. Effective once, corrosive when it resets on refresh.

Coupon Redemption Rate

The share of issued codes actually used.

Creative Test

Testing the imagery or video.

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CRO

Short for conversion rate optimization.

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Cross-Sell Rate

How often a related product gets added.

Cross-Sell Revenue

Revenue from selling adjacent products.

CTA Test

Testing the action wording.

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Customer Frequency

How often a customer buys in a period.

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Customer Monetary Value

How much they have spent in total.

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Customer Reactivation Rate

The share of lapsed customers brought back.

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Customer Recency

How long since they last bought. The strongest single predictor of buying again.

Customer Retention Rate

The share of customers still active at the end of a period.

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Customer Segmentation

Splitting customers into groups worth treating differently.

D7
Days of Inventory on Hand

Inventory turnover expressed as days rather than a count. It answers how long the current stock would last at the present rate of sale, which is the version people can actually act on.

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Digital Merchandising

The same online, driven by rules and data rather than shelf space.

Discount Depth

How much is taken off. Depth costs margin faster than frequency does.

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Discount Margin

Margin after discounts have been applied.

Discount Rate

The share of orders sold at a reduced price.

Dormant Customer

Someone who has not bought for longer than their usual gap.

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Downsell Rate

How often people take a cheaper alternative after refusing the first.

Downsell Revenue

Revenue saved by offering something cheaper instead of losing the sale.

E5
eCommerce

Selling online. The whole discipline this category describes.

Ecommerce Economics

What is left after goods, shipping, processing, returns and acquisition are paid.

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Email Capture

The same, specifically for email.

Exit Intent

Detecting someone about to leave and interrupting them.

Expansion Revenue

Extra money from existing customers through upgrades or add-ons.

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F4
Form Abandonment Rate

The inverse. Usually a field-count problem.

Form Completion Rate

The share of started forms that get submitted.

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Free Shipping Threshold

The order value that unlocks free delivery. Works best set ten to twenty percent above current average order value.

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Free-to-Paid

The share of free users who upgrade.

H4
Headline Test

Testing the main claim.

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Heatmap

A visual of attention or interaction across a page.

High-Value Customer

A customer whose lifetime value sits well above average.

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Historical LTV

What a customer has actually been worth so far.

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I1
Inventory Turnover

How many times you sell through and replace your stock in a year. Calculated from cost of goods sold divided by average inventory, never from revenue, because revenue carries margin and inventory does not.

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Items Per Order

Another name again. Agree which one your team uses.

L4
Keystone Pricing

The retail habit of doubling the wholesale cost to set the shelf price, giving a 50 percent margin. A starting point rather than a method, since it ignores freight, payment fees and returns.

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Landing Page Optimization

Improving the first page traffic lands on. The cheapest lever in most accounts.

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Layout Test

Testing structure and order of a page.

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Lead Capture

Collecting contact details before the sale.

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LTV:CAC

Lifetime value against acquisition cost. Three to one is the common target, and it means little without payback period next to it.

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M2
Merchandising

Deciding what to show, where and in what order.

Merchandising Margin

Margin after merchandising decisions such as placement and bundling.

N2
Net Margin

What is left after every cost, including overhead.

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New Customer

A first-time buyer. Costs the most to win and is worth the least so far.

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O6
Offer Testing

Testing what you sell rather than how it looks. Usually the bigger lever.

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One-Time Buyer

Someone who bought once and never returned. The majority, in most stores.

Order Conversion Rate

Orders divided by sessions.

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Order Economics

What a single order earns after fulfilment and acquisition.

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Orders Per Visitor

Orders divided by distinct visitors.

P18
Payment Margin

What is left after processing fees.

Payment UX

How paying feels, including which methods are offered.

Pop-Up Conversion Rate

The share of people who complete a pop-up. Judge it against the sessions it disrupted, not on its own.

Post-Purchase Revenue

Everything a customer spends after the first order.

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Predicted LTV

A forecast of what a customer will be worth, based on early behaviour.

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Pricing Test

Testing price points. Highest impact and highest risk of any test you can run.

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Product Affinity

The same relationship at product level, used for cross-sell logic.

Product Discovery

How people find products they were not searching for.

Product Discovery Rate

The share of visitors who reach a product page at all.

Product Economics

What one product earns after everything variable.

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Product Funnel

The path from product view to purchase.

Product Margin

Margin on a single product.

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Product Page Optimization

Improving the page where the buying decision happens.

Product View Rate

Product views divided by sessions.

Promotion Lift

The extra sales a promotion caused, over what would have sold anyway. Usually smaller than it looks.

Promotion Rate

How much of revenue comes from promoted sales.

Purchase Completion Rate

Purchases divided by intent signals.

R11
Reactivated Customer

A dormant customer who came back.

Reactivation Revenue

Revenue from customers who came back after lapsing.

Recurring Purchase Rate

The share of customers on a repeat schedule.

Recurring Revenue

Predictable income you can plan around.

Repeat Purchase Rate

The share of customers who bought again. The strongest predictor of lifetime value.

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Repeat Revenue

Revenue from customers who already bought.

Repurchase Rate

The same number, usually over a fixed window.

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Return Margin

Margin after returns and the cost of handling them.

Return Rate

The share of orders sent back. Applied after revenue and before margin, and routinely forgotten in ROAS targets.

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Returning Customer

Someone buying again. Cheaper to serve and more profitable.

RFM Score

A combined score from recency, frequency and monetary value. Simple, and it beats most complicated models.

S13
Scarcity

Limited availability as a reason to decide. Damaging when invented.

Scroll Depth

How far down people get. Content below the drop-off point may as well not exist.

Search Conversion Rate

Conversion rate among people who used on-site search.

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Sell-Through Rate

The share of received stock that sold in a period. A high rate suggests you are buying too cautiously, a low one that capital is sitting on shelves instead of working.

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Session Recording

A replay of an individual visit. Useful for finding bugs, dangerous for drawing conclusions.

Shipping Margin

What is left after delivery cost. Frequently negative on small orders.

Shopping Funnel

The full journey from browsing to checkout.

SKU Economics

The same at individual variant level. Where unprofitable sizes and colours get found.

Social Proof

Evidence other people already bought and were fine.

Subscription Churn

The rate subscribers cancel.

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Subscription Conversion

The share of buyers who choose the subscription option.

Subscription Customer

Someone on a recurring plan rather than buying one at a time.

Subscription Retention

The inverse, and the number the business lives on.

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Subscription Revenue

Revenue on a recurring schedule.

T3
Trial Conversion

The share of trials that become paying customers.

Trial-to-Paid

The same measure, said differently.

Trust Signals

Elements reassuring a stranger it is safe to pay you.

U6
Units Per Transaction

The same measure, usually in physical retail.

Upsell Rate

How often people take the more expensive option.

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Upsell Revenue

Revenue from moving customers to a higher tier.

Urgency

A reason to act now rather than later.

Usability Testing

Structured testing of whether the interface works.

User Testing

Watching real people attempt a task.

V2
VIP Customer

A high-value repeat buyer. Usually a small share of customers and a large share of profit.

Visitor-to-Buyer Rate

The share of distinct visitors who bought.

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