Glossary/Dictionary: Abbreviations and Acronyms in the IM World (43)
Glossary/Dictionary: Abbreviations and Acronyms in the IM World
I thought making a glossary of common abbreviations and acronyms would be helpful for newbies and people venturing out of their comfort zone.
I haven't thought through this thoroughly so post your own and I'll continually cleanup the thread to keep things sane. I will add definitions for some things later.
One pet peeve of mine is also people misunderstanding the definition of the two, so I'll define them first:
Abbreviation: a shortened form of a word or phrase.
Acronym: an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and usually pronounced as a word.
If you don't/can't say it like a normal word, it's not an acronym. PPC is an abbreviation. CPM is an abbreviation. RON, AJAX, SaaS are acronyms.
The List
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (A design/advertising princple)
AJAX - Asynchronous Javascript and XML (Type of coding that is used to accomplish things on-the-fly without reloading a page, e.g. quick reply to forum posts)
API - Application Programming Interface (These allow things like the Power Editor, PoFPro, etc. to connect to the base services programmatically)
B2B - Business to Business
B2C - Business to Consumer
BIZOPP - Business Opportunity - basically make money online and guru products.
CDN - Content Distribution Network (Servers around the globe that deliver static content such as images, html/css/js files, etc. to your users)
CLV - Customer lifetime value
CMS - Content management system
CPA - Cost per acquisition / action
CPC - Cost per click
CPI - Cost per install (i.e. app download and install triggers the conversion event)
CPL - Cost per lead
CPM - Cost per thousand (usually impressions)
CPV - Cost per view
CVR or CR - Conversion rate
CRM - Customer relationship management
CRO - Conversion rate optimisation
CSS - Cascading style sheets (Used to provide styling information for web pages)
CTA - Call to action
CTR - Click-through rate
DNS - Domain Name System
DOI - Double opt-in (user needs to sign up email/details and then click confirmation link in email message for lead to register)
DSP - Demand-side platform
ECPM - Effective CPM
EPM - Earnings per thousand - I put these two together because they tend to get used interchangeably. A traffic source might want to maximise their earnings per mille, i.e. their EPM. Your eCPM would come from your CPM + any other influencing factors, or may be derived from your spend/(impressions/1000) if using a different bidding mode than CPM.
EPC - Earnings per click
ESP - Email service provider
FB – Facebook
FTP - File transfer protocol (the primary way you interact with your server filesystem, i.e. upload/modify files)
GA - Google Analytics
HTML - HyperText Markup Language
HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol
HTTPS - HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure
IP - Intellectual property or 'Internet Protocol, e.g. IP address = 123.012.123.078
ISP - Internet service provider
KPI - Key performance indicator
LP - landing page, a webpage that you send traffic to
LTV - Lifetime value
MMO – Make money online (in the context of offer types)
MVT - Multivariate testing
OEM - Original equipment manufacturer
OS - Operating system
PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor
POS - Point of sale
PPC - Pay per click
PPL - Pay per lead
PPV - Pay per view
QS - Quality score (usually Google-related)
ROI - Return on investment (Formula = (revenue - costs) / costs. Break even = 0% ROI. Loss = negative ROI. Spending $100 and making $150 is 50% ROI)
RON - Run of network (gimme all teh datas)
RTB - Real time bidding
S2S - Server-to-server - Used in the context of conversion tracking, viz. postback URLs are a type of server-to-server tracking
SaaS - Software as a service (Software/application platforms that run as a service and generally charge monthly, e.g. hosted P202,
SEM - Search engine marketing
SEO - Search engine optimisation
SERP - Search engine results page
SLA - Service level agreement (agreements provided by SaaS and product providers which outline some minimum level of service reliability they will offer and compensation for breaking that, e.g. minimum 99% uptime and for every hour above that 1% you get 10x your hourly service expense refunded)
SMS - Short message service
SOI - Single opt-in (user just needs to input email address and details into form and submit for lead to register)
SSL - Secure Sockets Layer
SSP - Supply-side platform
TLD - Top level domain (e.g. .com, .net, .org - these define the 'root' DNS servers that are first contacted when trying to resolve a domain name)
ToS - Terms of service
UI - User interface
URL - Uniform resource locator (specific address for some resource on the internet)
USP - Unique selling proposition
VPS - Virtual Private Server. Similar to a virtual machine. Basically, an entire operating system run inside a virtual container of limited resources on some host computer. A large server might run 10-100 VPS's on it. Think of it like running multiple pieces of software at the same time in Windows or Mac OS X where each piece of software uses RAM/CPU/HDD resources.
VSL - Video sales letter
WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get (used to describe design software where much of the design is visual > code output afterward)
Mobile Specific:
Preface: mobile conversion events can be complex and you should always know exactly what constitutes a conversion. Ideally, you should load your affiliate link through an iOS or Android device, while connected to an appropriate VPN (learn how to configure this on your phone), and physically go through the conversion process to check that a conversion event fires successfully.
Don't complain about sending 500 clicks to an offer without any conversions if you haven't even checked things yourself.
This cannot be stressed enough.
CPI - Generally means apps offers that payout for app install. A conversion usually fires on the first app open on the users device.
IVR Flow - Interactive Voice Response - relevant to pay per call campaigns.
MO Flow - User input his mobile number > User receives an SMS > User confirms by replying to SMS > conversion occurs.
MO Flow with Click2SMS - User clicks on banner > User sent to SMS application with the pre-filled confirmation form > User clicks on the confirmation button > conversion occurs.
MO MSISDN Flow - User's mobile number is detected and shown automatically > User sends an SMS according to instructions > Conversion occurs.
MT Flow - User input his mobile number > User receives a pin code > User submits the pin code > Conversion occurs.
MT MSISDN Flow - User's mobile number being detected and shown automatically > User Receives a pin code at his mobile > Submit the pin code on landing page > Conversion occurs.
Other Various Terms:
Vertical - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_market - basically, a specific area that products/offers/services focus on. Examples: dating, auto insurance, business opportunities, gaming, solar, retail, etc.
Advertiser - this varies depending on your position. From the perspective of a traffic source, you are an advertiser since you buy ads. However, from your perspective (the affiliate), the advertiser is the owner of the product or service that you are promoting. The traffic source and users basically think you are the product owner - so in a way this ambiguity makes since if you consider yourself as a transparent middleman.
Publisher - this is someone who has some virtual real estate that ads can be placed on, e.g. a website or app. As a publisher, you would join a network to have them monetise your users. From the affiliates perspective, publishers (pubs) are where your ads are getting placed, you would seek out and get rid of poorly performing publishers, etc.
Incentivisation - providing some virtual/material goods in exchange for a user doing something. For example, giving someone a free ebook or virtual goods in a game in exchange for them converting on an offer. Because their conversion is largely driven by an unrelated incentive, this traffic is of relatively low quality to advertisers. Hence, many offers specify "no incent".
Brand Bidding - bidding on keywords related to the brand you are promoting. This is virtually always disallowed. E.g. promoting an offer for Mastercard and bidding on keywords that contain "mastercard" in Adwords. This is not allowed because you will compete directly with the internal advertisers of the brand.
Geo - geographical region, usually country.
Tier 1/2/3 - countries are divided into tiers in a rather arbitrary fashion. If it's an affluent country where advertising is very competitive, costs are high, it's tier 1. E.g. US, CA, AU, UK (the main English-speaking nations), FR, DE, JP, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, SG, etc. Tier 2 is stuff in the middle e.g. NZ, HK, IE, RU, PL, ES, ZA, UAE, etc. Tier 3 is countries where the advertising costs are still quite low, e.g. many LATAM countries, many Eastern European countries, South-East Asia, China, etc.
Let me know what to add and of course ask if there are any that you want to know the meaning of!
Nice one there Mr Zeno 
I thought the first one was
AIDS
Well, it got your attention at least ;P
ARE YOU KIDDING?
GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU... YOU....
I just wanted to start a thread like that but made sure I check the seach function first - and BANG, YOU! Today! Incredible! Can you read my mind?
Meh... now you have the fame and all I can do is add some more, to which I honestly don't know the answer - they're all taken from the campaigns seach function of a well-known aff Network:
CPI (guess that's cost per Impression)
DOI Sign Up
IVR Flow
MO Flow
MO Flow with Click2SMS
MO MSISDN Flow
MT Flow
MT MSISDN Flow
SOI Sign Up
Any help what that means?
I'm off to make myself a hat out of aluminum foil...
Thank you Mr. Zeno.
This is VERY helpful!
However, with all due respect, I believe ROI is an abbreviation and not an acronym, since acronym should actually BE pronounced as words and not just BE pronounceable. AT least that's how I was taught.
Originally Posted by Humbleaid
I like Roy ... a lot.
Originally Posted by bentho
GET OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU... YOU....
I just wanted to start a thread like that but made sure I check the seach function first - and BANG, YOU! Today! Incredible! Can you read my mind?
Meh... now you have the fame and all I can do is add some more, to which I honestly don't know the answer - they're all taken from the campaigns seach function of a well-known aff Network:
CPI (guess that's cost per Impression)
DOI Sign Up
IVR Flow
MO Flow
MO Flow with Click2SMS
MO MSISDN Flow
MT Flow
MT MSISDN Flow
SOI Sign Up
Any help what that means?
I'm off to make myself a hat out of aluminum foil...
Actually, I dug a bit deeper, so here are the answers:
CPI - Could be Cost per Impression, in the mobile context it is:
CPI - User clicks on the banner > User downloads the product > Agree to the T&C and finish install > One conversion is made
DOI - Double Opt-In
IVR Flow - STILL NO CLUE?
MO Flow - User input his mobile number > User receives a SMS > User confirms by replying a SMS > One conversion is made
MO Flow with Click2SMS - User clicks on the banner > User lands into his SMS application with the prefilled confirmation > User clicks on the confirmation button > One conversion is made
MO MSISDN Flow - User's mobile number being detected and shown automatically > User send a text via mobile according to the guide > One conversion is made
MT Flow - User input his mobile number > User receives a pin code > User submits the pin code > One conversion is made
MT MSISDN Flow - User's mobile number being detected and shown automatically > User Receives a pin code at his mobile > Submit the pin code on landing page > One conversion is made
SOI - Single Opt-In
Thank you, bentho!
Zeno, why does this need to be done via a VPN, please?
"Load your affiliate link through an iOS or Android device, while connected to an appropriate VPN (learn how to configure this on your phone), and physically go through the conversion process to check that a conversion event fires successfully."
Great info. I'm new to the industry and there is so much info to learn. Very fun though!
Nice one...thank you
Hi guys - what's the difference between 'niche' and 'vertical'? Thanks!
Originally Posted by victor
A vertical is an industry. The broadest area that you would define an offer as belonging to. Dating, adult dating, gaming, sweepstake, auto insurance, etc.
A niche, to take Google's definition, is a "specialized but profitable segment of the market".
If the vertical is a market, then a niche is a segment within that market.
Example, "the dating vertical". Niche offers might include gay dating, lesbian dating, Asian-focused, casual, etc.
When we say 'go niche' we generally mean go quite specific and focus on a small part of a market where you can tailor ads, campaigns and angles to a subset of the greater audience, and in turn can provide something more appealing to them.
You forgot JAZ man, its a phrase thats been phasing "just google it" out
Just ask Zeno
Very informative. (this is my first reply!)
Can someone explain.. what is the difference between RTB vs DSP vs Ad Exchange? in the context of mobile traffic source.
These makes me confuse..
RTB means real time bidding. That's all. Most ad exchanges will involve bidding on impressions as they occur through a complicated auction process, as opposed to a media buy where you buy all impressions in a row for X amount of time or impressions.
DSP = demand-side platform. This is where advertisers buy inventory and impressions. A supply-side platform (SSP) is on the publisher end where someone wants to monetise their inventory.
It basically goes like this:
Advertiser Side \\ DSP ---> Ad Exchange ---> SSP // Publisher Side.
On the advertiser side we use a DSP, which will plug into multiple ad exchanges (e.g. Mobup, Smaato, Rubicon, Nexage, etc.) where they then let us compete in real-time (RTB) auctions for impressions.
On the opposite end, a publisher who owns an app may integrate with a SSP to fill their inventory with ads (and make them money). That SSP will then likely plug into multiple exchanges as well, allowing for a better chance of every impression being bid on (fill rates of 100% in all geos is one of the publishers goal).
Make sense?
The DSP and SSP terms are somewhat confusing at times since a lot of platforms try to market as one, the other, or both, at their whim and opinion of what DSP and SSP even mean! But the way I see it, DSP = those wanting impressions for their ads, SSP = those who have impressions to supply.
You could add that MSISDN is the term for users mobile phone.
Also, I would like to know is there a difference between MT MSISDN Flow and 1-click flow?
As far as I understand, with 1-click flow user authorizes the purchase via one click on mobile internet page or app, and there is no need for a PIN or anything similar, but this only works with 3G and 4G networks...
Is there a list of countries somewhere. I see in F5 media there are "BR", "INTL", "VE", "SV", "IN", "PH"...
I'm guessing BR is Brazil but I'm having trouble with others such as "SV".
Originally Posted by gordonyu
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/ctycodes.htm
ctrl + F
Thanks, very useful !
btw, is there exact Tier 1/2/3 division and where could I see the list ?
It's an arbitrary thing to the best of my knowledge so the opinion of what is T1/2/3 changes with who you ask and the context.
What does LP and Geo stand for?
LP = landing page, i.e. your web page that you send paid traffic to.
Geo = geographical region = country/area.
Thanks buddy.
Thanks Zeno, great job here, it's first in my bookmarks now !
btw, could you throw me a link what exactly RON "Run of network (gimme all teh datas)" means from Affiliate Marketer point of view ?
I assume it means working with whatever data Traffic Source provides you (like looking for what device types run bad and blacklisting them), but I'm not sure..
Take any traffic source and they will essentially have a network of sites or publishers that provide their traffic.
E.g. they may have 10,000 websites that serve ads through them.
Traffic sources will usually provide targeting parameters like site category, country, etc.
If you target site categories or particular placements (e.g sites or apps) then this is quite specific delivery. On the other hand, Run of Network means you just serve ads on every available site within your other targeting parameters (like Country for example).
So, RoN gives you the broadest traffic you can get and the most volume. However, naturally you will get the lowest ROI because there's a mix of good and bad. So, you then need to collect data (passed from traffic source to your tracking system) from that RoN traffic and use it to filter down to non-RoN where you target specific sites - or conversely stay on RoN but blacklist certain sites to improve the traffic.
so, RON = to Run all the traffic Of particular Network without any filters. I'm afraid I'm the only guy who couldn't catch it on the fly ))
Got it, thanks a lot for answering me even 1st of January !
This came to mind but it might be a little off-topic compared with the more general IM acronyms/abbrevs above:
ASO - App Store Optimization. SEO to increase app discoverability in the Apple iTunes store, Google Play, etc by using keywords in the app name and store description.
What's the difference between DSP and RTB? Is for example Decisive DSP or RTB platform?
What is CSV and Creative?
Originally Posted by cz_voyager
DSP = demand-side platform. These are platforms that serve you, the advertiser, by facilitating the purchase of advertising space. They plug into various exchanges where they can bid on ad slots on your behalf.
RTB = real-time bidding. There's nothing esoteric about this, it just means bidding wars are computed in real-time using back-end systems. When you see an advert on a web page it may have been served by a single advertiser who owns that placement, or in 200 ms an ad network system may have taken into account 50+ advertisers bids and chosen one to have their ad delivered. Most platforms are RTB these days, e.g. Facebook.
Originally Posted by sawrubh
Creative = an ad or landing page, just some element/design that you have created.
Thanks Zeno, for the great list!
Do we use CPC (Cost Per Click) and EPC (Earnings Per Click) interchangeably?
Please enlighten. Thank you.
Great guide, awesome value as always. I would like to know what exchanges are. I know that an example would be smaato, and they have something to do with traffic...
A very useful page. Thanks for putting it in one place.
Thank you so much for this! I will be printing a copy and keeping it handy in my desk at all times!
Shawn Michael
Hello all, I just received some offers and they have the payout listed as:
"Payout: x.xx US$ CPO" for one and another as "Payout: x.xx US$ CPI/D"
Does anyone know what the acronym for CPO and CPD stands for? (I have emailed the company who sent it and searched this forum and have not found an answer)
Thank you.
PS- Thank you for this post Zeno, it has helped a lot.
CPO = Cost per order
CPD = probably cost per download
I'm confused about eCPM. My understanding is that it's a metric for more accurately measuring CPM as you will sometimes pay a bit more (if you don't actually run your camp till 1k impressions and it's rounded for example) and sometimes less (you run a big camp and get some 'bonus' impressions for example). However, the formula I see when googling eCPM is:
eCPM = total earings/impressions x 1000. I don't see how this could mean effective cost per 1000. Rather it would be earnings per 1000. And how is that metric useful without comparing to our costs?
Side not: One of my AMs send me a list of 'Top CPMs'. It contains three columns:
Geo (country and carrier)
CPM
CR
She then told me CPM on that list is actually 'eCPM (earnings per 1000 clicks)'. Just to add to the confusion :/
Can anyone clarify?
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