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.
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.
EAT (Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
Google's quality framework. Especially important for finance, health, legal content (YMYL).
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.
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.
NAP (Name, Address, Phone)
Your business contact info. Must be identical everywhere for local SEO.
OG (Open Graph)
The meta tags that control how your link looks when shared on social. og:title, og:image, og:description.
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.
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.
WAU (Weekly Active Users)
How many unique users used your product in a week.
WoW (Week over Week)
Change versus the previous week.