Glossary

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 54136

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

Example and Directions
Words (or words that have the same definition)	The definition is case sensitive	(Optional) Image to display with the definition [Not displayed in Glossary, only in pop-up on pages]	(Optional) Caption for Image	(Optional) External or Internal Link	(Optional) Source for Definition
(Eg. "Genetic, Hereditary, DNA ...")	(Eg. "Relating to genes or heredity")		The infamous double helix	https://bio.libretexts.org/	CC-BY-SA; Delmar Larsen

Glossary Entries
Word(s)	Definition	Image	Caption	Link	Source
A/B test	Also known as a split test, it involves testing two versions of the same page or site to see which performs better.
Above the fold	The content that appears on a screen without a user having to scroll.
Accessibility	The degree to which a website is available to users with disabilities, such as the visually or hearing impaired, and those technically disadvantaged by not having the necessary device, software or browser.
Active verb	A word that conveys action or behaviour, and in a ll to action , tells a reader what to do.
Ad Server	The technology that places ads on websites.
Ad Types	The kind of ads you can create on social media; these could be Twitter Cards, Facebook sponsored posts or, Lenses or Geofilters on Snapchat.
Adaptive web design	Websites that respond to a user’s screen size by loading predefined layouts.
Ads manager	An online dashboard provided by Facebook where one can view, edit, and access performance reports for campaigns, ad sets and individual ads. With Ads Manager you can view all your Facebook campaigns, track your payment history, make changes to your bids and budgets, export ad performance reports, and pause or restart your ads.
Algorithm	An algorithm is a mathematical, computational or statistical method pre-determined to take a number of variables into account and output a single, quantifiable result that is a function of all the variables. A good example of a commonly used algorithm is the one used by Google to determine which pages rank more highly on SERPs.
Alt text	The ‘alt’ attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a search engine or user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load. Also called alt tag. Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a link.
Alt Text	The ‘alt’ attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load. Also called alt tag.
Anchor text	A text link, or backlink, that refers visitors to your site from another with SEO benefits, passing relevance and authority from the referring site.
Animated GIF	A GIF (type of image file) which supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colours for each frame.
Annotation	A comment or instruction usually added as text, on a YouTube video. A YouTube annotation may contain links directing users to other pages within YouTube or, if a brand is willing to pay, to outside websites. These have been phased out as of 2017 and replaced with video cards.
App	Short for ‘application’, which in a mobile context, means software developed specifically for smartphones and other mobile devices. These come in two types, web apps and native apps.
App store optimisation (ASO)	The process of optimising mobile and web applications for the specific web stores in which they are distributed.
Attention economy	The idea that human attention is a scarce commodity i.e. seeing attention as a limited resource.
Audience	The group of people at which a marketing communication is targeted.
Augmented reality (AR)	A form of virtual reality in which computer graphics are superimposed onto the physical space around the user by way of a mobile device. These graphics can be 3D images or information tags.
Avatar	A manifested online identity on social media and other online communities. An Avatar can be whatever the user chooses and is the personal image the user wants to project to other users.
Backlink	All the links from pages on external domains pointing to pages on your own domain. Each link from an external domain to a specific page is known as an inbound/backlink. The number of backlinks influences your ranking, so the more backlinks the better, get linking!
Banner	An online advertisement in the form of a graphic image that appears on a web page, including mobile sites.
Benefit	The positive outcome for a user that a feature provides.
Blog	Short for weblog. A type of website that allows users (bloggers) to post entries and self-published musings on different topics and which often allows readers to comment on these posts.
Bluetooth	A short-distance wireless transfer protocol for connecting devices.
Boosted posts	A boosted post is a post such as status updates, photos, videos and offers, that will appear higher in news feeds so that more users will see the post. Posts can only be boosted from a brand or business page. Personal profiles cannot be boosted. The cost of a Boosted post depends on the number of users you want to reach.
Bounce	When users leave a site before navigating from their landing page to another.
Bounce rate	The number of people who view one page and then leave a website without viewing any other pages. Data statistics and facts collected for analysis.
Branding (or visual identity or corporate identity)	These terms refer to the look and feel of your brand. In this context it is used when discussing how your logo, colours and styling elements are translated from traditional print-based assets to digital.
Breadcrumbs	Links, usually on the top of each page, indicating where a page is in the hierarchy of the website. Breadcrumbs can be used to help users navigate through the website, as well as act as a page index for search engines.
Business intelligence/ insights	Data that can help businesses understand the factors influencing their success and how these can be used to benefit them.
Business-to-business, B2B	When businesses sell products or services to other businesses and not to consumers.
Business-to-consumers, B2C	When businesses sell products or services to consumers.
C2B	Consumer to business, where consumers sell products to business, such as freelance services.
C2C	Consumer to consumer, where consumers sell products directly to other consumers.
Cache	Files stored locally on a user’s browser to limit the amount of data called from the server on a return visit.
Call to Action	A phrase written to motivate the reader to take action (sign up for our newsletter, book car hire today etc.). Calls to action are usually styled differently from other copy on a page so that they stand out and draw attention.
Canonical	In SEO, canonical refers to a definitive URL. The canonical version is the definitive version. Domain name**The easy-to-read name used to identify an IP address of a server that distinguishes it from other systems on the World Wide Web: our domain name is redandyellow.co.za.
Captions	Text that appears over a video that labels a scene, identifies a location or person, or narrates dialogue onscreen. Captions can be either open or closed.
Carousel ads	An ad form that allows the brand to show multiple images and/ or videos and a link to some action in a single ad. Up to 10 pieces of content can be included. Carousel ads have proven to be much more effective in driving traffic to advertisers’ websites from social media platforms.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)	A programming language that defines the styles such as fonts and colours, used to display text and content. Web pages are one of the places that this language is used.
Chiclets	Social share buttons that appear as small icons adjacent to a blog post, image, article or web page which enable users to share the information via a social media platform, whose icon is indicated by the chiclet.
Churn rate	The annual percentage rate at which a business loses customers.
Cinemagraph	Online photographs, with elements that move, using looped video, published as an animated GIF, or other video format, to give the impression the viewer is watching an animation.
Click path	The journey a user takes through a website.
Clickthrough	A click on a text ad link that leads to a website.
Clickthrough rate, CTR	The total clicks on a link divided by the number of times that link was shown, expressed as a percentage.
Client-side	Scripts that run in a user’s browser, rather than on a web server.
Cluetrain Manifesto	A set of 95 theses organised as a call to action (CTA) for businesses operating within a newly connected marketplace.
Common page elements	Items that appear on every page of a website.
Community guidelines	The rules and principles that community members must adhere to when communicating on a social media platform.
Community management	Community management is the building and monitoring of online communities generated from your brand’s blogs, forums, social network pages, etc.
Connected customer	Consumers are increasingly connected, using ever-growing numbers of Internet-enabled devices. These offer opportunities for data collection.
Content	Any items you post online are considered content. This includes status updates, images, posts, videos and any copy. Good content should engage users and build your brand.
Content audit	An examination and evaluation of existing content on a website.
Content audit	An examination and evaluation of the existing content which a brand publishes.
Content Management System (CMS)	A software system that allows an administrator to update the content of a website, so that a developer is not required.
Content strategy	In this context, a plan that outlines what content is needed for a web project and when and how it will be created.
Convention	A common rule or tried-and-tested way in which something is done.
Conversion	Completing an action or actions that the website wants the user to take. Usually a conversion results in revenue for the brand in some way. Conversions include signing up to a newsletter or purchasing a product.
Conversion funnel	A defined path that visitors should take to reach the final objective.
Conversion rate	The number of conversions divided by the number of visitors, expressed as a percentage.
Cookie	A small text files that are used to transfer information between browsers and web servers. They help web servers to provide the right content when it is requested.
Cookie	A small text file that is used to transfer information between browsers and web servers. They help web servers to provide the right content when it is requested.
Cost per acquisition (CPA)	Refers to the cost of acquiring a new customer. The advertiser pays only when a desired action is achieved (sometimes called cost per lead).
Cost per action (CPA)	The amount paid when a certain action is performed by a user.
Cost per click (CPC)	Refers to when an advertiser pays only when their ad is clicked on, giving them a visitor to their site typically from a search engine in pay-per-click search marketing or programmatic CPC buying engines.
Cost per mille/ thousand (CPM)	Amount paid for every 1 000 impressions served of an advertisement.
Count	Raw figures captured for data analysis.
Cover image	The main image on a social media page. It needs to catch the attention of the user, be consistent with your brand, and encourage the user to read more on the page and engage further with your brand.
Credibility	In this context, how trustworthy, safe and legitimate a website looks
Cross channel commerce	Strategic maximization of customer relationships beyond the initial engagement channel.
Crowdfunding	Funding a project or venture by raising financial contributions from a larger number of people. Kickstarter and Thundafund are examples of crowdfunding platforms that source funds for a variety of projects.
Crowdsourcing	Taking a job traditionally performed by a professional and distributing it to an undefined, generally large, group of people in the form of an open call.
Current indicators	Information from the present time that can help businesses to understand their customer and themselves.
Customer	A person who buys or uses goods or services, with whom a company should develop a relationship.
Customer experience map	A visual representation of the customers’ flow from beginning to end of the purchase experience, including their needs, wants, expectations, and overall experience.
Customer intelligence	The process of gathering and analysing information about customers to improve customer relationships and allow for more strategic business decisions.
Customer lifetime value (CLV)	The profitability of a customer over their enti
Customer persona	A detailed description of a fictional person to help a brand visualise a segment of its target market.
Customer relationship management (CRM)	A strategy for managing a company’s interactions with clients and potential clients. It often makes use of technology to automate the sales, marketing, customer service and technical processes of an organisation.
Customer centric	Placing the customer at the centre of an organisation’s business planning and execution.
Data intelligence	The process of gathering and analysing data from all available sources to improve customer relationships and make more strategic business decisions.
Data mining	The process of analysing data to discover unknown patterns or connections.
Data sentiment analysis	The systematic analysis of subjective materials, such as survey responses or social media posts, in order to determine the attitude and intended emotional communication of the customer
Database	In email marketing, the database is the list of prospects to which emails are sent. It also contains additional information pertinent to the prospects.
Demographics	Statistical information about a particular population, such as age, gender, language or location.
Display network	Content websites that serve pay-per-click adverts from the same provider, such as AdWords.
Disruption	When a disruptive innovation changes the market and displaces established players.
Domain name system, DNS	DNS converts a domain name into an IP address. DomainKeys, an email authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity.
Double opt-in	The act of getting subscribers to confirm their initial subscription via a follow-up email asking them to validate their address and hence opt-in again.
dpi	Dots per inch (in an image). On the web, the screen resolution is 72dpi.
Dynamic data	Data that is constantly updated and evaluated to provide a dynamic, changing view of the customer
Dynamic keyword insertion	In paid search advertising, this allows keywords used in searches to be inserted automatically into advert copy.
eCommerce	The buying and selling of products and services, including funds and data, electronically.
Editor	A person who determines the ultimate content of copy, traditionally understood to be in the newspaper, magazine or publishing industry context.
Email service provider, ESP	A service that helps you design and send emails.
Embedding	Taking video from an online video provider and posting it elsewhere on the web.
Event	A step a visitor takes in the conversion process.
Facebook Business Manager	A service from Facebook that assists with managing access to multiple Pages and ad accounts. The service is ideal for businesses that need different permissions for different people in the organization.
Feature	A prominent aspect of a product that is beneficial to users.
Fidelity	An interface design. A low-fidelity prototype will be basic, incomplete and used to test broad concepts. A high fidelity prototype will be quite close to the final product, with detail and functionality and can be used to test functionality and usability.
Flash	A technology used to show video and animation on a website. It can be bandwidth heavy and unfriendly to search engine spiders.
Focus group	A form of qualitative research where people are asked questions in an interactive group setting. From a marketing perspective, it is an important tool for acquiring feedback on new products and various topics.
Forum	A website where users can engage in discussions by commenting on threads or previous posts made.
Funnel	In web analytics or conversion optimisation, an established set of steps a user should take in reaching a goal, such as making a purchase.
Future/leading indicators	Information that can help a brand to make decisions about the future.
GIF	Graphics Interchange format is a computer file in the form of a bitmap image that enables short lops of video to be transferred online easily in small file sizes.
Global citizen	A person who identifies as part of a world community and works toward building the values and practices of that community.
Goal	The defined action that visitors should perform on a website, or the purpose of the website.
Google AdWords	Google’s PPC program, which allows advertisers to display their adverts on relevant search results and across Google’s content network.
Google AdWords	Google’s search advertising program, which allows advertisers to display their adverts on relevant search results and across Google’s content network.
Graceful degradation	The use of both modern and antiquated web techniques and code to provide a safety net, or fallback, for users with older browsers and technologies.
Handle	A public username used to identify individual users online, usually on social media. For example, @RedAndYellowEd is the Twitter handle for Red & Yellow.
Hard bounce	The failed delivery of email communication due to an undeviating reason like a non-existent address.
Hashtags	A word preceded by a hash, such as #nofilter, used to help users find posts related to their interests.
Heading tags	Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are standard elements used to define headings and subheadings on a web page. The number indicates the importance so H1 tags are viewed by spiders as being more important than H3 tags. Using target keyword s in your H tags is essential for effective SEO.
Heat map	A data visualisation tool that shows levels of activity on a web page in different colours.
Hypothesis	A statement that is being tested.
Heatmap	A data visualisation tool that shows levels of activity on a web page in different colours.
Home page	The first page of any website. The home page gives users a glimpse into what your site is about very much like the index in a book, or contents page in a magazine.
HTML5	HTML5 is the most current iteration of the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) standard. It is a broad range of technologies that allow for rich media content and interaction on websites that do not require additional third-party plugins. It allows rich multimedia content to be displayed and easily viewed by users, computers and devices.
Hyperlink	A reference to data that users can find by clicking on a link, which will take them to the document or page to which it refers.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)	A language read by web browsers. Certain HTML ‘tags’ are used to structure the information and features within a web page. As an example, HTML emails usually contain graphics and can be interactive.
Hypothesis	A supposition that is tested in relation to known facts; a proposition based on reason but not necessarily assumed to be true.
Impression	Each time an advert is shown.
Information architecture	The way data and content are organised, structured and labelled to support usability.
Information architecture	The way in which data and content are organised, structured and labelled to support usability.
Internal link	A hyperlink on a website that points from one page to another on the same website / domain.
Internet of things	The interconnection of everyday objects to the Internet via embedded computing devices, giving them the ability to send and receive data.
Internet Protocol (IP) address	The Internet Protocol (IP) address is an exclusive number which is used to represent every single computer in a network.
Internet service provider (ISP)	Internet service provider; this is the company that provides you with access to the Internet, for example, MWEB, Verizon or AT&T
JavaScript	A high-level, dynamic programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers.
JavaScript	A popular scripting language. Also used in web analytics for page tagging.
Key performance indicators, KPI	The metrics that are examined to determine the success of a campaign.
Lagging indicators	Older data that gives information on how a brand performed in the past.
Key phrase	Two or more words that are combined to form a search query are often referred to as keywords. It is usually better to optimise for a phrase rather than for a single word.
Key phrase	Two or more words that are combined to form a search query, often referred to as keywords.
Keyword	A word found in a search query. For example, a search for ‘blue widgets’ includes the keywords ‘blue’ and ‘widgets’.
Keyword frequency	The number of times a keyword or key phrase appears on a website.
Keyword rankings	Where the keywords or phrases targeted by SEO rank in the search engine results. If your targeted terms do not appear on the first three pages, start worrying.
Keyword stuffing	The process of intentionally putting too many keywords into the metadata of the website or using many irrelevant keywords. Search engines can penalise websites using this practice.
Keywords	Words identified as crucial search and advertising parameters. These words are used in copy or posts to optimise discovery and engagement.
KPI	Key performance indicator, important metrics that can be measured to indicate success.
Landing page	The website page that a user is sent to after clicking on any link or CTA, for example, in an email or affiliated site, in a display ad, or a paid or organic search engine listing. The landing pages that have the most success are those that match up as closely as possible with the user’s search query or intention.
Landing page	The first page a visitor sees on a site. Usually it is specific to a campaign being run.
Lapsed	Someone who is no longer a customer
Lead	A person who has shown interest in a brand, product or service and could be converted into a customer.
Link	A URL embedded on a web page. If you click on the link you will be taken to that page.
Link bait	A technique for creating content that is specifically designed to attract links from other web pages.
Listening lab	A testing environment where the researcher observes how a customer uses a website or product.
Log file	A text file created on the server each time a click takes place, capturing all activity on the website.
LTE	‘Long term evolution’. A fourth-generation mobile communications standard and a name given to technology used in pursuit of faster data communication.
m-commerce	Mobile commerce, the use of wireless devices to conduct commercial transaction online.
Market share	In strategic management and marketing, the percentage or proportion of the total available market or market segment that is being serviced by a company.
Mass customisation	Tailoring content for many individuals. Metadata information that can be entered about a web page and the elements on it in order to provide context and relevant information to search engines.
Meta data	Information that can be entered about a web page and the elements on it to provide context and relevant information to search engines. Metadata includes meta and title tags.
Meta tags	Tags that tell search engine spiders exactly what a web page is about. It’s important that your meta tags are optimised for the targeted keywords. Meta tags are made up of meta titles, descriptions and keywords.
Metadata	Information that can be entered about a web page and the elements on it to provide context and relevance information to search engines.
Metric	A quantifiable measure used to track the performance of a campaign. The most important metrics are called KPIs. Net promoter score (NPS) The KPI used to measure customer loyalty.
Metric	A defined unit of measurement.
Micro-conversion	A small conversion in the path to a full conversion, such as going from step one to step two in a checkout process of four steps.
Model	A strategic visual representation of a process that a company adheres to.
Multi-channel commerce	An online purchase experience that involves multiple channels, such as social media, company website, user reviews, in-store, traditional media and apps.
Multivariate test	Testing combinations of versions of the website to see which combination performs better
Native mobile application	A mobile application designed to run as a program on a specific device or mobile operating system.
Navigation	How a web user interacts with the user interface to navigate through a website, the elements that assist in maximising usability and visual signposting so users never feel lost.
NFC	‘Near-field communication’. A set of communication protocols that enable two devices, one of which is usually a mobile device, to communicate when they are within 4 cm of each other.
Null hypothesis	The default or general position, usually where no difference is the hypothesis
Objective	A desired outcome of a digital marketing campaign.
Observation/online ethnography	When a researcher immerses themselves in a particular environment in order to gather insights.
Omnichannel	Retailing strategy that delivers a seamless customer experience through all available shopping channels.
Online reputation management (ORM)	Understanding and influencing the perception of an entity online.
Open rate	The percentage of emails determined as opened out of the total number of emails sent.
Open source	Unlike proprietary software, open source software makes the source code available so that other developers can improve on or build applications for the software.
Opt-in	Giving permission for emails to be sent to you.
Opt-out	Also known as unsubscribe. The act of removing oneself from a list or lists so that specified information is no longer received via email.
Organic results	Also known as natural results. Search results served by the search engine’s algorithm. The search engine does not charge website owners to list these results.
Page tag	A piece of JavaScript code embedded on a web page and executed by the browser.
Paid media	Any marketing efforts that involve a paid placement. PPC ads, branded content, display ads and promoted and boosted posts are all considered paid media. Paid media involves paying a third party to broadcast your message to others.
Paid search advertising	Usually refers to advertising on search engines, sometimes called pay-per-click or PPC advertising. The advertiser pays only for each click on the ad.
Pay per click (PPC)	Pay per click is advertising where the advertiser pays only for each click on their advert, not for the opportunity for it to be seen or displayed.
Payment gateway	eCommerce service that processes online payment for purchases through online stores.
Payment models	The various ways available to pay for ads online, such as cost per click (CPC), cost per engagement (CPE), and cost per mille meaning cost per thousand views, (CPM).
Persona	A character created to define a group of readers in order to speak to them as though they were a unique reader, creating the feeling of a one-on-one conversation.
Platform	A single social media network, such as Facebook, Instagram, or WeChat
Plug-in	Often referred to as a module or extension, a piece of third-party code that extends the functionality of a website.
Power Editor	Another Facebook advertising tool. It is designed for larger advertisers that may have a large number of ads running simultaneously. The tool provides precise control over all the campaigns.
Primary research	The collection of data to present a new set of findings from original research.
Product	An item sold by a brand.
Progressive enhancement	The development of web technologies in a layered fashion, prioritising basic content and functionality for all web browsers, while allowing users with higher bandwidth or browsers access to an enhanced version of the page.
Promoted content	Content (posts) that extends its reach via paid-for advertising/ promotion.
Proprietary software	Any software that one or more intellectual property holders own and licence to others in exchange for compensation, subject to certain restrictions. Licensees may not be able to change, share, sell or reverse engineer the software.
Prospect	A potential customer
Prototype	Interactive wireframes, usually of a higher fidelity, that have been linked together like a website, so that they can be navigated through by clicking and scrolling.
Push messaging	A notification from an app that displays on a smartphone while the app is not actively in use. This is triggered by an external event within the context of a connected device.
QR code	Quick response code. A machine-readable code, like a barcode, that can be used to store information like URLs and can be read by an app through the camera of a smartphone.
Qualitative data	Data that can be observed but not measured. Deals with descriptions.
Quality score (QS)	A measure used by Google AdWords to indicate how relevant a keyword is to an ad text and to a user’s search query.
Quantitative data	Data that can be measured or defined. Deals with numbers.
Ratio	An interpretation of data captured, usually one metric divided by another.
Referrer	When a user clicks on a link from one site to another, the site the user has left is the referrer. Most browsers log the referrer’s URL in referrer strings. This information is vital in determining which queries are being used to find specific sites.
Research community	A community set up with the intention of being a source for research.
Research methodology	Methods employed in research for reaching results
Responsive design	A design approach that enables a website display to change depending on the size of the viewport or screen, regardless of the device on which it is displayed.
Responsive web design	Websites that fluidly respond to a user’s device or screen resolution based on media queries sent between the site and the device regarding the specs of the device.
Return on investment (ROI)	The ratio of cost to profit.
Robots.txt	A file written and stored in the root directory of a website that restricts the search engine spiders from indexing certain pages of the website.
Sample size	The number of respondents in a sample of the population.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)	SEO is the practice that aims to improve a website’s ranking for specific keywords in the search engines.
Search engine results page, SERP	The actual results returned to the user based on the search query. Sponsored results are search engine results that are paid for by the advertiser.
Search engine spiders	Programs that travel the web, following links and building up the indexes of search engines.
Search term	The keywords a user enters when searching on a search engine.
Secondary research	The collection of existing research data.
Single view of customer	Single view of customer is achieved when all customer information is available in a single central location.
Segmentation	The practice of dividing customers into smaller sub-groups based on shared interests or characteristics.
Sender alias	The name that is chosen to appear in the sender or ‘from’ field of an email.
Sender ID	A method used by major ISPs to confirm that an email does originate from the domain that it claims to have been sent from.
Sentiment	The emotion attached to a particular mention which is positive, negative or neutral.
Server-side	Scripts that run on a server, as opposed to a user’s browser
Short Message Service (SMS)	Electronic messages sent on a cellular network.
Sitemap	On a website, a page that links to every other page in the website and displays these links organised according to the information hierarchy. While this is often physically available on a website (HTML sitemap), it should also be created as an XML file and included within the Robots.txt.
SMART objectives	A marketing objective that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound.
SMS	Short message service, a text message of up to 160 characters that can be sent from one mobile phone to another. MMS, Multimedia Messaging Service, is similar, but can include multimedia content and longer messages. This works on a regular cell phone connection, so it does not require a data connection or smartphone.
Social commerce	Subset of eCommerce that involves social media and online media that supports social interaction, where user contributions assist in online trade of products.
Social media dashboard	A service that allows you to centralise management of your social media properties.
Social media ROI	The return on investment on social media, difficult to measure straightforwardly, but important to track.
Social network	In the online sense, a type of website model where individual members become part of a broader virtual community, where they can share, communicate and collaborate in online commentary and engagement around a shared interest or goal.
Soft bounce	The failed delivery of an email due to a deviating reason like an overloaded email inbox or a server failure.
Spam	Email sent to someone who has not requested or given authorisation to receive it – EVIL!
Split test	Also known as an A/B test.
Stakeholder	A person or organisation with an interest in how a resource is managed.
Statistically significant	A sample that is big enough to represent valid conclusions.
Story	A narrative that incorporates the feelings and facts created by your brand, intended to inspire an emotional reaction.
Strategy	A set of ideas that outline how a product line or brand will achieve its objectives. This guides decisions on how to create, distribute, promote and price the product or service.
Tactic	A specific action or method that contributes to achieving a goal.
Tagging	Using a keyword or phrase to group pieces of content together under a specific theme, or assigning a piece of content to another user.
Target	The specific value that a marketer wants a metric to achieve.
Targeting options	The options available for ensuring that ads reach the right users at the right time.
Thumbnail	The small, still image that is shown at the start of the video. This can be selected, and can make a video more enticing.
Tone of voice	The register, formality and personality that comes through in the text.
Tracking	Measuring the effectiveness of a campaign by collecting and evaluating statistics.
Tracking code	A piece of code that tracks a user’s interaction and movement through a website.
Traditional media	Media that is not digitally based or bought through digital metrics, these include TV, print, radio, magazine, activation and out f home (billboards). Digital billboards and activations using digital hologram technology, along with radio ads that integrate mobile technology, are blurring the lines between media.
Trend	To trend on social media means your content experiences a spike in popularity on a social media channel.
Tribe	A social group linked by a shared belief or interest.
Unique forwarders	This refers to the number of individuals who forwarded a specific email on.
Unique selling point (USP)	The aspect that makes your offering different from your competitors’.
Universal Resource Locator (URL)	A web address that is unique to every page on the Internet.
URL Shortener	A web tool that creates a shorter version of a full URL.
Usability	A measure of how easy a system is to use. Sites with excellent usability fare far better than those that are difficult to use.
User experience design (UXD)	The process of applying proven principles, techniques and features to create and optimise how a system behaves, mapping out all the touchpoints a user experiences to create consistency in the interaction with the brand.
User interface (UI)	The user-facing part of the tool or platform i.e. the actual website, application, hardware or tool with which the user interacts.
User-centred design (UCD)	The design philosophy where designers identify how a product is likely to be used, taking user behaviour into consideration and prioritising user wants and needs. UCD places the user at the centre of the entire experience.
Video cards	Calls to action that pop up during a video and entice certain actions from viewers. Replaced annotations in 2017.
Viral	When a piece of content is shared in very large numbers it is considered to be viral. There is no exact number of shares that constitute viral. If the number of shares of a piece of content is exponentially larger than the usual number of shares of posts from that specific user, it can be considered to have gone viral.
Virtual reality (VR)	Computer-generated simulations of a 3D image or environment. Using the right equipment, a person can interact with that environment in a seemingly real way
Visitor	An individual visiting a website that is not a search engine spider or a script.
Vlogger	Video blogger. A person who produces regular web videos about a chosen topic on a video-enabled blog.
W3C standards	A common approach to development that focuses on accessibility and standardisation, overseen by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Web analytics	A software tool that collects data on website users, based on metrics to measure its performance.
Web application framework	Software used to help create dynamic web properties more quickly. This is done through access to libraries of code for a specific language or languages and other automated or simplified processes that do not then need to be coded from scratch.
Web browser	This is what allows you to browse the World Wide Web. Examples of browsers include Microsoft Edge, Chrome, OperaMini, and Firefox.
Web server	A computer or program that delivers web content to be viewed on the Internet.
White list	A list of accepted email addresses that an ISP, a subscriber or other email service provider allows to deliver messages regardless of spam filter settings.
Wi-Fi	The transfer of information from one device to another over a distance without using wires.
Wireframe	The skeletal outline of the layout of a web page. This can be rough and general, or very detailed.
XML sitemap	A guide that search engines use to help them index a website, which indicates how many pages there are, how often they are updated and how important they are.