Plain English glossary
Marketing terms, without the jargon.
Good marketing should be easy to understand. Every term we use, explained in a line or two — including the AI-era ones. Bookmark this page and search it any time.
AOV (Average Order Value)
The average rupee value of an order: total revenue divided by number of orders. A rising AOV is usually a sign of a healthier business.
API (Application Programming Interface)
How software talks to other software. WhatsApp Business API is the most common one for Indian SMBs.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)
Shaping your content so AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name you as the answer. The newest, fastest-growing way to be found.
Affordance
The perceived property of a digital element that suggests how it can be used — a button that looks pressable, a slider that looks draggable. Good affordances reduce the need for instructions.
Asynchronous Interaction
Communication or engagement that does not happen in real time — emails, forum comments, post reactions. Contrast with synchronous interaction (live chat, video calls).
Accessibility (A11y)
Designing interfaces so people with disabilities can use them — through keyboard navigation, screen readers, voice control, and sufficient colour contrast. A legal requirement in many markets and a ranking signal in SEO.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
What it costs to win one new customer: total marketing spend divided by new customers gained. Lower is better — but never at the cost of customer quality.
CMS (Content Management System)
Software that lets non-technical people update a website. WordPress, Shopify, Webflow are common.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
A tool that stores every lead and customer interaction. Zoho CRM, HubSpot, Pipedrive are popular in India.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)
The practice of improving the percentage of visitors who take a desired action (form fill, purchase, signup).
CPC (Cost Per Click)
How much you pay each time someone clicks your ad.
CPL (Cost Per Lead)
What you spent in marketing for each lead. For most SMBs, the single most useful number to watch.
CPM (Cost Per Mille (per 1,000 impressions))
How much you pay for 1,000 ad impressions.
CTA (Call To Action)
The button or link that asks the visitor to do something. 'Book a call', 'Buy now', 'Download free'.
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Clicks divided by impressions. A high CTR means your headline and creative are working.
CWV (Core Web Vitals)
Google's set of 3 page experience metrics: LCP, INP, CLS. Affects ranking.
D2C (Direct-to-Consumer)
Brands that sell directly to customers, bypassing retailers. Boat, Mamaearth, Nykaa started D2C.
DA (Domain Authority)
Moz's score from 1 to 100 estimating how strongly a site can rank. Not a Google metric, but useful relative.
Digital Interaction Terminology
The specialised vocabulary used to describe how humans engage with digital systems, interfaces, and platforms. It draws from Interaction Design (IxD), UX, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) — covering input methods, engagement metrics, and design processes.
Digital Engagement
Any interaction a user has with a brand, product, or platform online — likes, comments, shares, time spent, clicks. Can be asynchronous (a comment) or synchronous (a live event). Often measured as engagement rate.
Digital Personalization
Dynamically adapting content, product recommendations, or interface elements to individual users based on their behaviour, preferences, or profile data.
EAT (Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
Google's quality framework. Especially important for finance, health, legal content (YMYL).
Engagement Rate
A quantitative measure of how actively users interact with content — calculated from likes, comments, shares, saves, or time spent relative to reach or impressions. A high engagement rate signals audience relevance.
Feedback (interaction)
The system's immediate response to a user action — a button changing colour on click, a success message after form submission. Clear feedback builds trust and reduces user errors.
GBP (Google Business Profile)
Your free Google listing for a local business. Done well, it is the single biggest free SEO win available to Indian businesses.
GST (Goods and Services Tax)
India's indirect tax. Marketing services typically attract 18% GST.
GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)
Total rupee value of goods sold over a period. Common for marketplaces.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)
The same idea as AEO: shaping content so AI-generated answers feature your business.
Gesture Recognition
A system's ability to interpret physical movements — swipes, tilts, hand gestures — as commands. Common in mobile apps, smart TVs, and immersive environments.
Haptic Feedback
Tactile vibrations or forces delivered by a device to simulate physical sensation — the buzz when your phone keyboard registers a tap, or resistance in a game controller. Increases perceived quality of interaction.
HCI (Human-Computer Interaction)
The academic and applied field that studies how people use computers and digital systems. It underpins modern UX and interaction design practice.
Hover
A mouse-based interaction where moving the cursor over an element triggers a tooltip, preview, or state change. Not available on touchscreens, so hover-only interactions should always have a tap alternative.
Interaction Design (IxD)
The discipline focused on designing the interactive behaviours of digital products — what happens when you tap, swipe, speak, or wait. It addresses five dimensions: words, visuals, physical space, time, and behaviour.
Immersive Interaction
Engagement within AR, VR, or spatial computing environments where users interact through movement, gaze, or gesture rather than traditional screens.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
The numbers you actually watch to know if things are working. Different per channel.
LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
Total rupees a customer is expected to spend with you over their relationship. LTV/CAC > 3 is healthy.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
How fast the main content loads. Should be under 2.5 seconds.
MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)
A lead the marketing team thinks is sales-ready.
MoM (Month over Month)
Change versus the previous month.
Mapping (interaction)
The relationship between controls and their effects — a scroll bar moving down as you scroll down, a volume slider going left to decrease sound. Good mapping makes interfaces feel intuitive.
Microinteraction
A small, focused moment in an interface — a heart icon animating when liked, a loading spinner, a button briefly depressing on tap. Microinteractions give products personality and confirm that actions worked.
Menu-driven Interface
A navigation pattern built around organised lists or hierarchies that guide user choices. Common in complex apps, dashboards, and legacy enterprise software.
NAP (Name, Address, Phone)
Your business contact info. Must be identical everywhere for local SEO.
Natural Language Interface
Interaction through spoken or typed everyday language rather than menus or commands — chatbots, voice assistants, and AI search. Also called a conversational interface.
Navigation Design
The structuring of pathways that allow users to move through digital content — menus, breadcrumbs, tabs, search. Good navigation design reduces bounce rate and increases task completion.
OG (Open Graph)
The meta tags that control how your link looks when shared on social. og:title, og:image, og:description.
Onboarding
The process of introducing new users to a product — walkthroughs, tooltips, empty-state guidance, welcome emails. Strong onboarding reduces churn in the critical first sessions.
PPC (Pay Per Click)
Same as paid search, mostly Google Ads.
RCS (Rich Communication Services)
An upgraded SMS protocol. India is moving from SMS to RCS slowly.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Revenue from ads / ad spend. Use our ROAS calculator.
ROI (Return on Investment)
Profit from a project / cost of the project.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Earning a higher place on search engines without paying for each click. A slow build that compounds for years.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
What you see after typing a query. Includes ads, the Map Pack, organic results, AI overviews.
SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
A lead the sales team has agreed is worth pursuing.
SMB (Small and Mid-sized Business)
What we mostly work with.
SOV (Share of Voice)
Your share of conversations / impressions in your category.
Signifier
A visual or auditory cue that communicates an affordance — an underline on text indicating a link, a shadow suggesting a button can be clicked. Without signifiers, affordances stay invisible.
Scroll Depth
How far down a page a user scrolls, expressed as a percentage. A key engagement metric: 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% are typical thresholds tracked in analytics.
Session (User Session)
A continuous period of interaction with a digital product, usually ending after 30 minutes of inactivity. Session duration and pages-per-session are core engagement benchmarks.
Synchronous Interaction
Real-time communication or engagement — live video calls, instant messaging, live chat support. Requires both parties to be present simultaneously. Contrast with asynchronous interaction.
Task Completion Time
How long it takes a user to finish a defined task — finding a product, completing checkout, submitting a form. A core usability metric: faster usually means a better-designed interface.
UGC (User Generated Content)
Photos, reviews, videos created by your customers. Highest-trust content type.
USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
What makes you different from the next option. The clearer, the better.
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module)
Tags added to URLs to track where traffic came from. Use our UTM builder.
UX (User Experience)
How people experience your site or product. Good UX makes hard things feel easy.
User Engagement
The level of attention, interaction, involvement, and emotional connection a user has with a digital product. Measured through time spent, actions taken, and return visits.
User Journey
The end-to-end sequence of steps a user takes to achieve a goal — from first touchpoint through to conversion and beyond. Mapping the user journey reveals friction points and drop-off stages.
WAU (Weekly Active Users)
How many unique users used your product in a week.
WoW (Week over Week)
Change versus the previous week.
Wireflow
A design document combining wireframes (layout sketches) and flow diagrams to show both what a screen looks like and how users navigate between screens. Used in UX planning before visual design begins.