When I started out in the online advertising industry (back in the internet’s equivalent of the Dark Ages), the terminology was pretty simple. We had just a few elements: publishers, advertisers, banners, pops, ad networks, clicks, impressions, sales, performance based models (CPC and CPA), and branding based models (CPM). Along the way, as the industry grew, people started looking for ways to differentiate themselves, to seem more sophisticated or more cutting edge… so they started calling the same old things by different names. Publishers were called ‘affiliates’. Advertisers were called ‘demand’. Ad networks became ‘marketplaces’, or were broken up by publishers (SSP - supply side platform) and advertisers (DSP - demand side platform),or called ad buying ‘platforms’. The advertisers a publisher worked with became their ‘demand stack’. Banners became ‘display’ or display ads, pop ads became ‘interstitials’ or takeovers. Now there’s programmatic, prebid, open bidding, PMP (private marketplaces) …. yes, some new things too.
So, when I’m talking to a publisher / affiliate or an advertiser / marketer / media buyer, I find that it’s not uncommon for us to be using the same terms but with different understandings of their meaning. For instance, to me, RPM refers to ‘revenue per thousand pageviews’. But to someone else, it means ‘revenue per thousand impressions’. Who is right? I don’t know but there can be a really BIG difference between the two. If want to discuss or analyze revenue per 1000 impressions, I think in terms of CPM. Or, I could be speaking with an affiliate about EPC, which to me means how much they are earning per click they send to an offer / landing page. However, if it’s a Commission Junction affiliate, EPC over there means earnings per 100 clicks. Again, that’s a BIG difference.
How about you? What is RPM to you? What is EPC to you?
Below is a list of some common terminology used in the Affiliate Marketing space, along with my definitions for each. Do you agree with these? Are any of these definitions incorrect as far as you’re concerned? Are there any key terms or acronyms I missed? Please let me know.
| TERM | DEFINITION | |
| AM | - | Affiliate Manager or Affiliate Marketer / Marketing |
| AN | - | Affiliate Network |
| AOV | - | Average Order Value. Calculated by total revenue / # of initial orders |
| APV | - | Average Payout Value or the average amount an affiliate gets per sale |
| Callback code | - | Not sure. Is this related to postbacks? |
| Click | - | When a user clicks on an advertisement |
| Client Side | - | Coding that runs on the user's browser |
| Conversion | - | Completion of a specific goal (sale, lead, subscriber, etc) |
| Conversion Rate | - | Percentage of users that went from a click to a conversion (sale, lead, etc). calculated by # of buyers / # of visits to offer |
| Coreg | - | Co registration |
| CPA | - | Cost Per Action or per acquisition or per sale or per goal. Calc'd by spend / goal |
| CPC | - | Cost Per Click. Calculated by spend / # of clicks received or sent |
| CPL | - | Cost Per Lead. Calc'd by spend / leads generated |
| CPM | - | Cost per 1000 impressions. Calc'd by (spend / impressions) * 1000 |
| CPS | - | Cost Per Sale. Calc'd by spend / sales generated |
| Creative | - | The ad (banner, text, video) for the product / service / offer |
| CTA | - | Call to action |
| CTR | - | Clickthrough rate. calculated by # of clicks generated by the ad / # of impressions (or page visitors) |
| CTV | - | Connected TV. A subset of OTT (Over-The-Top), which are devices (smart tvs, game consoles, Roku) that can connect to the internet and stream videos |
| DOI | - | Double Opt In. User confirmation of email submission |
| DSP | - | Demand side platform. Programmatic ad platform that enables advertisers and media buyers to bid on publisher inventory |
| EPC | - | Earnings per click. Unless you're talking to a Commission Junction affiliate or advertiser, then it's 'earnings per 100 per clicks' |
| ESP | - | Email Service Provider |
| Funnel | - | Path that a user is taken on to go from a prospect to a customer |
| Impression | - | When a user sees an advertisement |
| Incent | - | Incentivized traffic |
| LTV | - | Customer lifetime value. calculated by AOV * # of orders per year * average retention time (in years). |
| Native Ads | - | An ad that appears more like content than a typical banner ad |
| Native Traffic | - | Visitors originating from their clicks on native ads |
| Open Rate | - | Percentage of emails received that are opened by the end user |
| OTO | - | One Time Offer |
| OTT | - | Video content streamed over the internet from platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. |
| Pageview | - | A count of a user viewing a webpage. A single pageview can result in one or more impressions, depending on the number of ads on the page. |
| Postback URL | - | A URL used to pass information about the conversion. Cookie-less |
| PPC | - | Pay Per Click. Total ad spend / # of clicks on the ads |
| Programmatic | - | Programmatic Advertising. Real-time bidding / automated buying of publisher ad inventory |
| Push Traffic | - | User action / visit in response to mobile and web browser notifications |
| Rev Share | - | Another way of saying commission rate or percentage of the revenue that will be paid |
| ROAS | - | Return On Ad Spend. Calculated by total revenue / total spent |
| RPM | - | Revenue per 1000 pageviews or per 1000 impressions. |
| S2S | - | Server to Server. Cookieless, direct communication. Used in postbacks |
| Server Side | - | Coding that runs on the server hosting the site / page |
| SOI | - | Single Opt In. User has only submitted their email address, not verify after submitting. |
| SSP | - | Supply Side Platform. Helps publishers sell inventory in automated auctions. |
| Sub-id | - | Tracking system identifier |
| Tracking Pixel | - | Code implemented on an offer / landing page to track conversions. Client side based, uses cookies |
| TSL | - | Text Sales Letter (on a landing page) |
| VSL | - | Video sales letter (on a landing page) |
Thanks for your contribution!
If anyone's interested, here's a similar thread:
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...n-the-IM-World
Amy