Every article on this blog explains each acronym the first time it comes up, but if you landed straight on this glossary, or you just want everything in one place, here's every term with a one line definition, its formula where relevant, and a link to the article where it's covered in depth.
Cost and Return Metrics
| Term | What It Means | Formula | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) | What it costs you, on average, to get a new customer | Spend / New customers | Art. 1 |
| CPA (Cost Per Action) | The cost of a specific conversion within a campaign (a sale, a signup, a qualified click) | Spend / Conversions | Art. 1 |
| CPL (Cost Per Lead) | What it costs you to get a contact who isn't a customer yet | Spend / Leads | Art. 9 |
| ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) | How many dollars in sales each dollar of ad spend brings back | Attributed revenue / Spend | Art. 5 |
| MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) | Your total revenue divided by your total ad spend, without looking at campaign by campaign | Total revenue / Total spend | Art. 5 |
| LTV (Lifetime Value) | Everything a customer buys from you over time, not just their first purchase | Average order value × frequency × duration | Art. 2 |
| CTR (Click Through Rate) | Percentage of people who see your ad and click on it | Clicks / Impressions | Art. 2 |
| CPM (Cost Per Mille) | What you pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown, whether people click or not | (Spend / Impressions) × 1,000 | Art. 12 |
| ROI (Return On Investment) | Profit earned relative to what was invested, for any type of investment, ROAS is a specific version of this idea applied only to advertising | (Profit − Investment) / Investment | , |
Customer Journey Stages
| Term | What It Means | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| TOFU (Top of the Funnel) | Awareness stage: the person doesn't know your brand yet | Art. 16 |
| MOFU (Middle of the Funnel) | Consideration stage: they know your brand and are comparing it to others | Art. 16 |
| BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) | Decision stage: they're about to buy or ironing out final details | Art. 16 |
| Lead | A contact who shared their details (form, WhatsApp) but isn't a customer yet | Art. 3 |
| Repeat purchase | When a customer who already bought from you buys again | Art. 2 |
| Prospecting | Advertising aimed at people who haven't had contact with your brand yet, to generate new customers | Art. 2 |
| Remarketing / Retargeting | Advertising aimed at people who already interacted with your brand (visited your site, viewed a product) but didn't buy | Art. 2 |
Campaign Structure and Management
| Term | What It Means | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) | Meta automatically distributes budget across a campaign's ad sets based on performance | Art. 24 |
| ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization) | Each ad set's budget is set manually, instead of being distributed automatically | Art. 24 |
| Frequency | How many times, on average, the same person saw your ad over a period | Art. 12 |
| Reach | Number of distinct people who saw your ad (not counting repeats) | Art. 1 |
| Impressions | Total number of times your ad was shown, counting repeats | Art. 1 |
| Lookalike | A new audience the platform builds by finding people similar to your current customers | Art. 21 |
| Media buyer | The person who manages and optimizes advertising campaigns day to day | Art. 10 |
Measurement and Technology
| Term | What It Means | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel | Code installed on your site that tells the ad platform when a conversion happened | Art. 11 |
| CAPI (Conversions API) | A way of sending conversion data to the platform directly from your server, more reliable than the pixel alone | Art. 11 |
| Attribution | The criteria a platform uses to decide which ad or interaction gets "credit" for a sale | Art. 19 |
| First party data | Your own data, collected directly from your customers (email, phone, purchase history), without relying on third parties | Art. 19 |
| GA4 (Google Analytics 4) | Google's tool for measuring traffic and behavior on your site | Art. 11 |
| Core Web Vitals | A set of Google metrics that assess how fast and stable a web page loads | Art. 11 |
SEO and AI Visibility
| Term | What It Means | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| SEO (Search Engine Optimization) | The set of practices for ranking better on search engines like Google | , |
| GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) | The set of practices that help a generative AI model (ChatGPT, Gemini) understand and cite a brand's information | Art. 25 |
| CRM (Customer Relationship Management) | A system where contact with each customer or lead is logged and tracked | Art. 13 |
Business and Profitability
| Term | What It Means | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| Net margin | What's left from a sale after subtracting all costs, including advertising | Art. 8 |
| Average order value | The average amount a customer spends per purchase | Art. 8 |
| Breakeven ROAS | The minimum ROAS needed to not lose money, calculated from your margin | Art. 5 |
| D2C (Direct to Consumer) | A business model where the brand sells directly to the end consumer, without intermediaries | Art. 2 |
| SaaS (Software as a Service) | A software product accessed through a subscription, instead of a one time purchase | Art. 4 |
| UGC (User Generated Content) | Content with a homemade or real customer look, instead of traditional ad production | Art. 12 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between CAC and CPA?
CPA measures the cost of a specific conversion within a campaign; CAC measures the real cost of getting a paying customer, factoring in all the investment required. See the full breakdown in article 1.
Are ROAS and ROI the same thing?
Not exactly: ROI is a general concept for any type of investment, while ROAS is the specific version applied to advertising, calculated only with revenue attributed to that ad spend.
Why are there so many English acronyms in digital marketing?
Because most advertising platforms (Meta, Google) document their tools in English, and the terms were adopted directly into the industry as is. This glossary translates each one into its real meaning.
Conclusion
None of these acronyms is complicated once it's explained in a simple sentence, most of the confusion comes from using them without defining them, not from the underlying concept being difficult. Come back to this glossary whenever a term confuses you in any other article on the blog.
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