eCommerce KPI Glossary: 217 metrics every store owner should know

All business activity conducted online — showcasing products, ordering, payment, shipping, and post-sale service. The backbone of every online store.

The price an advertiser pays each time a visitor clicks the ad. Influenced by competition, Quality Score, and landing page relevance.

The cost of advertising per 1,000 ad impressions. A key metric in awareness-focused and brand-building campaigns.

The amount it costs to get a customer to complete a desired action. A core profitability metric — if CPA exceeds gross profit, the campaign loses money.

Total marketing and sales spend divided by the number of new customers. Always compare to LTV. A healthy ratio: LTV at least 3x higher than CAC.

Revenue generated divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means $4 in revenue for every $1 spent on ads.

A general profitability metric: (net profit / investment cost) × 100. Different from ROAS — it includes all expenses.

An advertising model where payment occurs only on click. Includes Google Ads, Meta Ads. Allows budget control and instant measurement.

A Google campaign type automatically distributed across all channels (Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail) by AI. Requires quality assets and audience signals.

Showing ads to visitors who already visited but didn't purchase. Conversion is 2-5x higher compared to a cold audience.

A desired action a visitor takes — a purchase, sign-up, form submission. The basis for measuring marketing success.

The percentage of visitors who completed a desired action. Average: 1-4% for purchases, depending on category.

The percentage of people who clicked a link/ad out of those who saw it. A measure of ad quality and relevance.

The number of times an ad was shown to viewers. Different from reach — one person can accumulate multiple impressions.

The number of unique people exposed to content. Different from impressions — a person who saw it 5 times is counted once.

The average number of times each unique visitor saw the ad. High frequency causes ad fatigue.

The stages of the customer journey: awareness → interest → consideration → intent → purchase → loyalty. Each stage requires a different message.

The awareness stage — the first exposure to the brand. Includes awareness campaigns, SEO content, videos.

The purchase stage — customers who already know and are interested. Effective tactics: coupons, retargeting, social proof.

A potential customer who expressed interest — signed up for a newsletter, asked a question, abandoned a cart.

The process of attracting interested people into a marketable list. Tools: landing pages, popups, lead magnets.

A dedicated page for a campaign, focused on one goal. No distracting navigation, one clear CTA.

An element that directs the visitor to the next action: 'buy now,' 'sign up.' Design, color, and placement affect CR.

The action where a visitor adds an item to the cart. Average ATC rate: 8-10% of product page visits.

A customer added an item to the cart but didn't complete the purchase. Average: 70-75%. One of the biggest opportunities.

An automated email sent to a customer who abandoned a cart. The highest ROI among automations — 5-15% of email revenue.

An automated sequence of 3-5 emails for new subscribers. Open rate: 50-60%.

A direct marketing channel. Average ROI: $36 for every $1 spent. Generates 20-30% of revenue for mature stores.

A platform for sending marketing emails. Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend.

Sending marketing messages via SMS. Open rate: 90%+ within 3 minutes. Requires opt-in.

The percentage of recipients who opened the email. Average: 20-25% in eCommerce.

The percentage of recipients who clicked a link. Average: 2-3%. A CTOR (click-to-open rate) of 10-15% is a good target.

An email that failed to deliver due to a permanent reason (address doesn't exist). Must be removed immediately — hurts deliverability.

A temporary email rejection (full inbox, server unavailable). Can be retried.

The ability of emails to reach the main inbox, not spam. Affected by reputation, bounce rate, and list quality.

Dividing the mailing list into subgroups. Raises open rate by 14% and revenue by 760% (DMA).

Tailoring the experience to each visitor. A name in the subject line raises open rate by 26%. Products viewed on the homepage raise CR.

Affiliates earn a commission (5-30%) on each sale via a unique link. The business pays only for results.

Partnering with content creators to showcase products. Nano (<10K), Micro (10-100K), Macro (100K-1M), Mega (1M+).

Content created by real customers. Influences 79% of purchase decisions.

A detailed profile of an ideal customer — age, gender, motivations, concerns.

A unique identifier for each product variation. The basis for precise inventory management.

Tracking, ordering, and maintaining inventory. Too much means cash tied up. Too little means stockouts.

A product unavailable for shipping. Immediate lost sales plus damaged trust.

Selling without holding inventory — a supplier ships directly to the customer. Low margin (5-20%), no quality control.

The entire process from receiving an order to delivery: pick, pack, label, ship.

An external company for storage, picking, packing, and shipping. The store owner sends inventory to the 3PL, receives orders, and the 3PL handles fulfillment.

The time from ordering with a supplier to receiving inventory. Critical for calculating the reorder point.

The minimum quantity a supplier requires. Affects cash flow and risk on new products.

Using historical data to predict sales volume. Enables ordering the right amount of inventory at the right time.

A service for accepting payments. Stripe, PayPal, Tranzila, Cardcom. Fee: 1.4-3.5% plus a fixed amount.

Total revenue divided by number of orders. The biggest lever for increasing revenue without more advertising.

Total expected profit from a customer over the entire relationship. A healthy LTV:CAC ratio is 3:1.

A customer disputing a charge through their bank. Costs the merchant: a $7-15 fee plus the lost amount. Above 1% puts the account at risk.

Security requirements for any business handling credit card data. Non-compliance means fines and account termination.

Klarna, PayPlus, Afterpay — interest-free installment payments. Raises AOV by 20-30% but carries a 2-6% fee.

The terms and process for refunding a customer. A generous policy raises conversions by 18% on average.

(Sale price - COGS) / sale price × 100. The basis for every pricing and advertising decision.

The direct cost of producing or acquiring products sold. Includes: product + import shipping + customs + packaging.

The movement of cash in the business. 'Profitable on paper, broke in the bank' — a common problem in growing stores.

The final leg of shipping — from the logistics center to the customer's door. 53% of shipping costs.

Managing product returns: collection, inspection, sorting, restocking, or recycling. Costs 2-3x regular shipping.

A company that performs shipping: DHL, UPS, USPS, FedEx. Each has different pricing, speed, coverage, and reliability.

Selling internationally — currencies, languages, taxes, customs, shipping reliability.

Amazon stores, packs, and ships for you. Includes the Prime badge and higher ranking. Fees: referral + FBA + storage.

Selling directly to consumers without intermediaries. Control over price, experience, and customer data. Higher margin.

Integrated management of all sales channels as one unit. Inventory, history, and messaging are synchronized.

A customer orders online and picks up in-store. Saves on shipping, and 25% of pickup customers buy an additional item.

Selling to private consumers. Emotional and fast decisions. 60%+ of traffic is mobile.

Trade between businesses. Large orders, credit terms, approval processes. Global volume is 5x that of B2C.

The percentage of visitors who left after viewing only one page. In GA4, replaced by engagement rate — the percentage of visits with 10+ seconds, a conversion, or 2+ pages.

A session is the period during which a visitor is active on the site. It ends after 30 minutes of inactivity. Session duration is the average visit length — a measure of engagement.

Where visitors come from: organic (Google), direct, paid (advertising), social, referral, and email. Each source converts differently.

The most widely used measurement platform in eCommerce. Tracks traffic, behavior, sources, conversions, and customer journeys. GA4 is event-based — different from Universal Analytics.

A quantitative measure reflecting success toward business goals. eCommerce KPIs: CR, AOV, LTV, CAC, ROAS, Churn Rate. Every business needs 5-7 core KPIs — not 50.

Grouping customers by a shared characteristic (month of first purchase) and tracking their behavior over time. Reveals real changes that averages can hide.

Customer segmentation by Recency (time since last purchase), Frequency, and Monetary value. Highlights your best customers and those at risk of churning.

Identifying which marketing channel 'deserves credit' for a conversion. Models: First-Touch, Last-Touch, Linear, Time-Decay, Data-Driven. Each model tells a different story.

A loyalty metric: 'How likely are you to recommend us?' (0-10). NPS = % Promoters (9-10) minus % Detractors (0-6). Good average: above 50. Above 70 is excellent.

A heatmap visually shows where visitors click, scroll, and look. Session recording captures visitor behavior. Tools: Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity (free), Crazy Egg.

The process of optimizing for high rankings in organic search results. Includes: technical SEO (speed, structure), on-page (content, keywords), off-page (inbound links).

A free Google tool: keywords, clicks, impressions, CTR, ranking, crawl errors, and indexing issues.

The process of identifying what your target audience searches for: search volume, competition, and search intent (informational/transactional/navigational). The foundation of all SEO and paid advertising.

Improvements made directly on a page: H1-H3 headings, meta descriptions, URLs, content, alt text, internal links, schema markup. Fully within your control.

Links from external sites — a 'vote of confidence' in Google's eyes. Quality links (from authoritative sites) impact ranking. Quantity matters less than quality.

Three site performance metrics: LCP (main content load < 2.5s), INP (interaction responsiveness < 200ms), CLS (visual stability < 0.1). Google factors these into rankings.

A structured file (XML/CSV) with details for every product, sent to Google Shopping, Facebook Catalog, and Amazon. Feed quality directly impacts ROAS.

A systematic process to improve conversion rates: data analysis, A/B tests, UX improvements, and marketing psychology. Improving CR is equivalent to doubling your ad budget.

Comparing two versions with equal-sized groups. Version A is the existing one, version B is the change. Every major store change is worth testing before full rollout.

Mapping every touchpoint with a brand — from the first ad seen to post-purchase support. Stages: awareness, consideration, purchase, usage, loyalty.

A 'language' for communication between systems. A store connects via API to shipping providers, Klaviyo, and payment platforms. The API is the 'pipe' through which data flows.

An architecture that separates the front end (what the customer sees) from the back end (catalog, payments, inventory). Gives full freedom in design and channel integration.

A system for storing customer data, communication history, and purchase history. Enables segmentation, personalization, service tracking, and lifecycle management. HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo.

Consolidates customer data from multiple sources into a unified real-time profile. More advanced than a CRM — pulls behavioral events and enables instant segmentation.

Systems that trigger automatic marketing actions: cart abandonment → email, purchase → thank-you SMS, 90 days without a purchase → win-back campaign.

Every post-purchase interaction — questions, complaints, issues. Channels: chat, phone, email, WhatsApp. Directly impacts NPS, LTV, and reviews.

A system for managing inquiries: Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk. Consolidates inquiries from all channels into a single view. Enables tracking, assignment, and SLAs.

A psychological phenomenon: people choose based on what others do. In a store: reviews, ratings, purchase counts, UGC, media logos. Boosts conversions by 15-270%.

Elements that establish credibility: SSL (lock icon), payment badges, phone number, return policy, physical address, reviews, media mentions.

The percentage of customers who made at least a second purchase. A gauge of product-market fit and experience quality. Healthy: 25-40% within 12 months. Above 40% is excellent.

Replacing a credit card number with a unique string (a token) for storage and reuse. Enables repeat charges without storing card details — reduces breach risk and supports PCI DSS compliance.

An additional security layer for card transactions — the customer verifies identity via an SMS code or biometrics. Reduces fraud by 80%+ and shifts liability from the merchant to the issuing bank.

A sales model based on automatic monthly/annual billing. Common for coffee, cosmetics, supplements, and SaaS. Raises LTV and enables predictable revenue.

Total fixed monthly revenue from subscriptions. MRR = number of subscribers × ARPU (average revenue per subscriber). A core metric for SaaS and subscription businesses — enables forecasting and planning.

The percentage of customers/subscribers who stopped buying or paying in a given period. High churn means every new customer just replaces an old one. Per Harvard research: cutting churn by 5% increases profit by 25-95%.

A rewards system for repeat customers: points, discounts, early access, gifts. Increases purchase frequency, AOV, and LTV. Examples: Sephora Beauty Insider, Starbucks Rewards.

A dedicated campaign targeting customers who haven't purchased in a while (60-180 days). Usually includes a coupon, an exclusive offer, or a 'we've missed you' message. Cost to re-acquire is 5-7x lower than acquiring a new customer.

Offering complementary products at the point of purchase. Buying a camera prompts a memory card offer. Buying shoes prompts a socks offer. Raises AOV by 10-30% at no acquisition cost.

Offering an upgraded or pricier version of the product a customer is choosing. Upgrading from Basic to Pro, or from a medium bottle to a large one. Raises AOV without adding a new product.

Selling multiple products together at a reduced combined price. A bundle becomes a new SKU. Raises AOV, pairs less-popular products with bestsellers, and simplifies purchase decisions.

A system that consolidates and synchronizes orders from every sales channel (website, marketplaces, physical store) into one place. Manages the order lifecycle: receipt → picking → packing → shipping → returns.

Software for managing warehouse operations: receiving goods, placement, picking, packing, shipping. Includes barcode scanning, staff management, and real-time inventory tracking.

A central system for managing all business activity: finance, procurement, inventory, HR, production. Synced with the eCommerce platform. Examples: SAP, NetSuite, Priority.

General Data Protection Regulation — an EU law (2018) governing the collection and processing of personal data. Applies to any company serving EU citizens. Fines up to €20M or 4% of revenue.

A document on the site explaining what data is collected, how it's used, who it's shared with, and users' rights. Legally required in Israel (Privacy Protection Law), under GDPR, and under CCPA.

The contract between merchant and customer: return policy, product warranty, payment terms, liability limits, jurisdiction. Consumer protection laws set minimum requirements.

The world's largest commerce platform — 300M active customers. Offers Seller Central (selling directly to consumers) and Vendor Central (selling to Amazon). Fees: 8-15% referral plus FBA fees.

The box on Amazon that displays 'Add to Cart.' The seller who wins the Buy Box gets 80-82% of sales on that ASIN. Other sellers appear under 'Other Sellers' — with almost no clicks.

A marketplace for handmade, vintage, and unique design items. 95M active customers. Fees: $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction + 3% payment processing. Suited to artistic and unique products.

The percentage of a sale a marketplace charges on every successful transaction. Amazon: 8-15%. Etsy: 6.5%. eBay: 12.9%. Local marketplaces vary. Directly impacts gross margin.

A measure of satisfaction with a specific interaction (support, purchase). Measured on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale. CSAT = (positive scores / total scores) × 100. Good average: above 80%.

How easy it is for a customer to accomplish their goal — a purchase, service request, or return. Measured by: 'how much effort was required?' (1-7). Strongly correlated with loyalty — ease beats 'delight.'

A website that behaves like an app — fast, works offline, and can be added to the home screen. Cuts load time by 50%+ and increases engagement and CR on mobile.

A checkout system for physical stores synced with the online store. Enables unified management of inventory, customers, and sales. Shopify POS, Square, iCount.

An automated conversation system — rule-based or AI-powered — that handles customer inquiries 24/7. Reduces service load, shortens wait times, and boosts CR through instant answers.

Messages sent directly to a user's browser/app without email. Open rates: 7-12% (2-3x higher than email). Requires explicit opt-in. Tools: OneSignal, PushOwl.

A website that adapts to different screen sizes — desktop (1200px+), tablet (768px), mobile (375px). In 2024: 60%+ of traffic comes from mobile — responsive design is mandatory, not a nice-to-have.

Gross sales minus returns, cancellations, and discounts. Net Revenue = Gross Revenue - Returns - Cancellations - Discounts. What's left after deductions.

Gross profit minus marketing, payment processing, and variable shipping costs. Contribution Margin = Net Revenue - COGS - Variable Costs. Reflects the real profit each order 'contributes' toward covering fixed costs.

Total sales before returns, discounts, and fees. GMV = price × quantity for each transaction. Common among marketplaces (eBay, Etsy, Amazon) that measure activity volume. GMV isn't the same as a merchant's revenue.

Creating valuable content (blog posts, guides, videos, podcasts) that attracts potential customers organically. Goal: build authority, brand awareness, and long-term SEO.

A section of the site with ongoing articles. A powerful SEO tool for capturing long-tail keywords and building niche authority. Drives targeted organic traffic — customers actively searching for a solution.

The Meta Title is the headline shown in the SERP and browser tab (up to 60 characters). The Meta Description is the text below it (up to 160 characters). Both directly affect Google CTR.

JSON-LD code that explains page content to Google — products, reviews, prices, FAQs. The foundation for rich snippets (stars, price, availability) that boost CTR.

Links between pages on your site. Helps SEO (passing 'authority'), navigation, and guiding visitors from content to product pages. One of the highest-ROI SEO tactics.

Optimization for local searches: 'shoe store in [city],' 'pizza near me.' Includes Google Business Profile, Google reviews, local citations, and local schema.

The overall experience of a visitor interacting with the site — speed, ease, navigation, clarity. Poor UX directly hurts conversions. Good UX means visitors find what they wanted with minimal effort.

The visual design of the site — colors, typography, icons, layout, spacing. Good UI guides the eye, creates visual hierarchy, and builds trust. Poor UI confuses and repels.

The content a visitor sees without scrolling — the first 50-60% of screen height. 80% of visitors don't scroll below the fold. What's above the fold determines whether the visitor stays or leaves.

A feature that lets customers save products for future purchase. Helps generate leads, enables targeted marketing ('the item you wanted is back in stock'), and reduces purchase-time friction.

A psychological trigger that creates urgency and drives action. In eCommerce: stock counters, countdown timers, 'X people viewing now,' 'price rises in 24 hours.' Boosts CR by 10-40%.

Completing purchases directly within social platforms without visiting the site. Instagram Shop, TikTok Shop, Facebook Shop, Pinterest Shopping. The purchase happens within the feed.

Nano (<10K), Micro (10K-100K), Macro (100K-1M), Mega (1M+). Each tier has a different engagement rate, cost, and ROI. Micro and Nano influencers usually generate 2-3x higher engagement rates than Mega influencers.

The degree to which your target audience recognizes your brand. Measured by: direct Google searches (brand search volume), direct traffic, and brand mentions. The foundation of any long-term marketing strategy.

A strategy delivering a consistent customer experience across every touchpoint — website, email, SMS, social media, physical store. Messaging, tone, and history stay consistent across every channel.

The strategy for setting a product's price. Types: Cost-Plus (cost + markup), Value-Based (what it's worth to the customer), Competitive (market-based), Penetration (low price to break in), Premium (high price to differentiate).

Calculating how many sales/how much revenue is needed to cover fixed and variable costs. Break-Even Point = Fixed Costs / (Price - Variable Cost per Unit). Above this point, every sale is profit.

ARPU = total revenue / number of active customers. A metric common in SaaS and subscription businesses. eCommerce version: ARPU = annual revenue / active customers (= one-year LTV).

A CMS without a built-in front end — it manages content and delivers it via API. Lets you display content across any channel (website, app, IoT, smartwatch) from one source. Contentful, Sanity, Strapi.

A model where software is consumed as an online service via monthly/annual payment, with no local installation. Shopify, Klaviyo, Hotjar, Zendesk — all SaaS. Enables fast scaling without infrastructure.

How long it takes for a customer to 'pay back' the cost of acquiring them. Payback = CAC / (Monthly ARPU × Gross Margin). Benchmark: under 12 months = healthy. Over 18 = risky.

The ratio between a customer's lifetime value and their acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is healthy. Below 2:1 is risky. Above 5:1 often signals underinvestment in growth (you could be more aggressive in acquisition).

Extra inventory held beyond what average demand requires — protects against demand fluctuations, lead-time delays, and forecasting errors. Safety Stock = Z × √Lead Time × Demand STD.

The inventory level at which a new order must be placed with the supplier. ROP = (Average Daily Sales × Lead Time) + Safety Stock. Prevents stockouts between orders.

A contract between a merchant and a service provider (3PL, carrier, customer service) defining: delivery times, order accuracy, response time, and penalties for failure. The basis for managing expectations and accountability.

How many times inventory is fully sold and replaced in a year. Turnover = COGS / average inventory value. Benchmark: 4-12x depending on category. Higher = efficient inventory. Lower = tied-up capital.

A system for storing, editing, and distributing product data — descriptions, images, specs, categories — from one place to every channel. Akeneo, Contentful PIM, Salsify.

The percentage of orders that get returned. Return Rate = returns / orders × 100. Averages: apparel 20-30%, electronics 8-15%, books 5%. Above benchmark signals a problem worth investigating.

Products that haven't sold and aren't expected to sell — inventory that's stuck. It costs money: storage, insurance, tied-up capital, and often depreciation. One of the biggest causes of cash-flow problems.

Selling externally manufactured products under your own brand. The supplier manufactures, you brand and sell. Higher gross margin than reselling, control over pricing, and building a brand asset.

Automated email sequences triggered by an event: sign-up, purchase, cart abandonment, return visit. They run 24/7 and generate revenue without ongoing effort.

Tags added to links to identify traffic source in GA4. UTM Source (Google, Facebook), Medium (CPC, Email), Campaign (campaign name). The basis for accurate attribution.

Dividing the customer base into groups with shared traits: demographic, behavioral, geographic, psychographic. Enables targeted messaging, personalization, and higher ROI.

An automated series of emails sent at pre-scheduled intervals: day 1, day 3, day 7, day 14. Goal: education, trust-building, and gradually guiding toward a purchase.

A system that rewards existing customers for bringing in new ones. Rewards: discounts, credit, free product. A customer who arrives via referral converts 3-5x better than one from paid advertising.

A visitor who viewed specific product pages but didn't add anything to cart. An automated flow reminds them of the products they viewed. Less urgent than abandoned cart but converts at 3-5% on average.

An automated sequence starting after a purchase: order confirmation, shipping updates, review requests, cross-sell, win-back. Increases LTV, repeat purchase rate, and NPS.

Analysis showing how many visitors move through the stages of the purchase process — and where they drop off. In GA4: Explore → Funnel Exploration. Displays the drop-off rate at each stage.

A business approach where every decision is based on hard data — not gut feeling, experience, or the opinion of the most senior person in the room. Requires quality data, analytics, and an organizational culture.

Using statistical models and AI to predict a customer's expected LTV based on early behavior. Klaviyo offers built-in Predictive CLV. Enables acting early.

A single metric that represents the business's true growth and the value it delivers to customers. Amazon: number of Prime products available. Shopify: partner GMV. A store: customers who bought more than twice.

Analyzing revenue and costs at the level of a single unit — one customer, one order. Includes: CAC, LTV, Gross Margin, Payback, Contribution Margin. The basis for understanding business sustainability.

The difference between current assets (cash, inventory, receivables) and current liabilities (payables, short-term credit). A liquidity metric — the business's ability to fund day-to-day operations. Positive working capital = healthy.

An automated 'phone call' between systems when an event occurs: a new order → Shopify notifies Klaviyo, the 3PL, and GA4 simultaneously. Unlike an API, which requires a query, a webhook 'pushes' data automatically.

A global network of servers that distributes content (images, video, JS) from the server closest to the visitor. Cuts load time by 40-70%, improves Core Web Vitals, and boosts SEO.

A security certificate that encrypts communication between the browser and the site. Signaled by HTTPS and a lock icon in the browser. Mandatory for every store — without SSL, Google marks the site 'Not Secure,' customers leave, and PCI compliance fails.

A design approach that starts with the mobile screen and expands to desktop. Google indexes based on the mobile version. Over 60% of eCommerce traffic is mobile. Mobile-first is a priority for the majority of visitors.

A consistent, unified customer experience across every touchpoint — website, app, physical store, email, social media, and WhatsApp. History, offers, and messaging stay the same across every channel.

The process of introducing a new customer to your product/service — welcome emails, usage guides, proactive check-ins. The first impression that drives long-term retention. A well-onboarded customer stays; one who isn't leaves.

A system that shows personalized content, products, and offers to each visitor in real time — based on history, behavior, and traits. Raises CR and AOV by 10-25%.

Adapting site content for voice searches (Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa). Voice search means natural language and longer questions ('where can I buy...'). Growing — 20-25% of mobile searches.

Optimizing video content for search on Google and YouTube. Includes: titles, descriptions, tags, chapters, transcripts. YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine.

Enhanced search results with stars, price, availability, FAQ, or a video thumbnail. Based on schema markup. Raise CTR by 20-30% compared to a plain result.

A browser/device-based payment method: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, PayPal. The customer confirms with a fingerprint/Face ID — no data entry needed. Shortens checkout to 1-2 steps. Raises mobile CR by 30%+.

A customer who made a legitimate purchase and files a chargeback — forgot they bought it, didn't recognize the charge, a child bought without permission, or a deliberate attempt to get a free product. 30-40% of chargebacks are friendly fraud.

Unauthorized use of stolen credit-card details for purchases. Includes card testing (checking which stolen cards are active with small charges), account takeover, and triangulation fraud. Costs the merchant the goods plus a chargeback.

A managed process for forecasting future demand and planning purchases accordingly. Differs from demand forecasting by also including: planned promotions, seasonality, new launches, and promotional events.

Managing the relationship with suppliers: selection, evaluation, negotiation, execution, and building long-term partnerships. A reliable supplier is a business backbone. An unreliable one means stockouts, poor quality, and crises.

A self-service purchasing platform for B2B customers: tiered pricing, registration, net terms, quick CSV ordering, and account hierarchy. Replaces a manual phone-and-email process and generates orders 24/7.

A subscription product where the customer receives a curated selection of products each month. Birchbox, FabFitFun, HelloFresh. Raises LTV and generates predictable MRR.

Automated purchase of digital ad space via algorithms and real-time bidding (RTB). Instead of negotiating with sites directly, a system buys impressions in real time based on target audience. Google Display, Meta, DV360.

A decline in ad performance after repeated exposure to the same audience. Shows up as: falling CTR, rising CPM, low relevance score. Requires creative refresh and audience expansion.

A target audience that platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok) create based on your existing customers' traits. 'Find people similar to my best 1,000 customers.' Expands acquisition beyond interest-based targeting.

A small JavaScript snippet embedded on the site that tracks visitor actions — visits, product views, add-to-cart. The basis for retargeting, lookalikes, and conversion measurement. Meta Pixel, Google Tag.

The process of improving a landing page to maximize conversions. Includes: message match, load speed, a clear CTA, social proof, and minimal distractions. Focused CRO for a page linked to a campaign.

The stages a customer moves through from discovering a product to purchase: awareness → interest → consideration → intent → purchase. Each stage requires different content, messaging, and tactics.

A combination of all marketing channels and tools: paid advertising, organic (SEO, social), email, influencer, referral, PR. A healthy strategy is diversified across channels rather than relying on just one.

The number of pages Google allocates to crawling your site in a given period. For small sites, not an issue. For stores with 10,000+ pages, it's critical that Google 'spends' its crawl on the pages that matter.

A text file at yourdomain.com/robots.txt that tells bots which pages to crawl and which to skip. Allow/Disallow by path. One of the most basic tools in technical SEO.

An XML file at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml that lists all of a site's pages for crawling and indexing. Includes: URL, last-modified date, priority. Speeds up indexing of new content.

The period during which an ad platform 'credits' a sale to an ad shown. Meta default: 7-day click + 1-day view. Google: 30-day click. A wider window means more attributed conversions.

An attribution model that gives credit for a conversion to multiple marketing touchpoints along the customer journey. Includes: linear (equal), time-decay (more weight to recent), and data-driven (AI).

The percentage of customers from a given cohort (a group defined by first purchase) who remain active over time. Month-1 retention = the percentage who bought again within 30 days. A health indicator for LTV.

Analysis of a new customer's specific journey — from initial discovery (impression) to first purchase. Different from a conversion funnel, which also includes existing customers. Focuses on CAC and acquisition quality.

Net profit divided by total revenue, as a percentage. Net Profit Margin = net profit / revenue × 100. Includes every expense: COGS, marketing, rent, salaries, taxes. The truest measure of profitability.

Cash generated by a business's day-to-day operations, excluding investing or financing activity. OCF = Net Income + D&A + changes in working capital. Measures how much cash operations actually generated.

Markup: how much was added above cost. COGS $14 + 100% markup = $28 price. Margin: the profit percentage of the price. Price $28, COGS $14 = 50% margin. Same product — different numbers.

A financial report detailing all of a store's revenue and expenses. eCommerce P&L structure: Revenue → Gross Profit → Marketing Contribution → EBITDA → Net Profit. The basis for every financial decision.

Platforms that let you run A/B tests on your site and emails without code. VWO, Optimizely, Convert, Google Optimize (discontinued), Klaviyo (for email). Manage traffic split, statistical significance, and reporting.

A free Google tool for managing and publishing tracking code (tags) on your site without touching the codebase. Pixels, analytics, conversion tracking — all managed from one place. Essential for modern marketing.

Sending tracking data from a server (not the browser) to ad platforms. Solves iOS 14, ad-blocker, and cookie-restriction issues. Raises conversion match rate by 20-40%.

Cookies created by the site's own domain (not a third party). Live longer, are less restricted by browsers, and are more resilient to privacy changes. The foundation of a first-party data strategy.

Cookies created by a domain different from the one being viewed (like Facebook, Google, or advertisers). Enable cross-site tracking. Blocked in Safari and Firefox, and gradually in Chrome. A shift affecting the entire ad industry.

The percentage of inquiries resolved on the first contact without needing to follow up with the customer. FCR = inquiries resolved on the first attempt / total inquiries × 100. Good benchmark: above 70%. Directly tied to CSAT and service costs.

The average time an agent spends on an inquiry: talk time + after-call work. AHT = (Talk Time + Hold Time + After-Call Work) / number of inquiries. Benchmark: 4-6 minutes for chat, 5-8 for a phone call.

A central information repository (articles, guides, FAQs) accessible to customers and/or agents. Reduces service load, raises FCR, and enables 24/7 self-service. Zendesk Guide, HelpScout Docs, Gorgias Help Center.

A systematic process for collecting, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback. Includes: NPS, CSAT, exit surveys, review analysis, CS ticket mining. Goal: turning the voice of the customer into business decisions.