Marketing jargon, in plain English
Every industry hides behind acronyms. Here are the marketing ones that matter, explained the way we'd explain them to a friend. Search for the term you're stuck on.
CAC
What it costs, all in, to win one new customer. Spend divided by customers gained.
LTV
The total profit you expect from a customer over the whole relationship. Healthy marketing keeps LTV well above CAC.
CTR
The share of people who saw something and clicked it. Clicks divided by impressions.
CPC
How much you pay each time someone clicks your ad.
CPM
The cost per 1,000 times your ad is shown. A measure of awareness, not clicks.
CPA / CPL
What you pay for one conversion, a sale (CPA) or an enquiry (CPL).
ROAS
Revenue earned for every pound spent on ads. 4:1 means £4 back for every £1 in.
Funnel
The journey from stranger to customer: top (awareness), middle (consideration), bottom (decision).
Conversion rate
The percentage of visitors who do the thing you want, buy, enquire or sign up.
Bounce rate
The share of visitors who leave without interacting. High isn't always bad, context matters.
Impressions vs reach
Impressions count every time content is shown; reach counts the unique people who saw it.
Organic vs paid
Organic is traffic you earn for free through content and SEO; paid is traffic you buy through ads.
Retargeting
Showing ads to people who already visited you, nudging warm prospects back.
A/B test
Running two versions to see which performs better, then keeping the winner.
USP
The honest reason a customer should choose you over the alternative.
Positioning
The space you own in a customer's mind, who you're for and what you stand for.
Lead magnet
Something useful you give away (a guide, tool or template) in exchange for contact details.
Nurture
Building trust with a prospect over time, usually by email, until they're ready to buy.
Attribution
Working out which marketing touchpoints deserve credit for a sale.
KPI
The handful of numbers that actually tell you if marketing is working.
Trusted sources
Want to go deeper than the definitions? These are the references we rate.
- Think with Google — consumer trends, benchmarks and marketing insight.
- Google Search Central — the official word on how search and ranking work.
- Nielsen Norman Group — evidence-based UX and conversion research.
- Advertising Standards Authority — the UK regulator on honest, legal advertising.
Prefer to talk it through? Explore what we do or browse our free resources.