Cracking the Code of Marketingspeak — What’s CTR and CPI All About?

Even for seasoned marketing professionals, marketing terminology can be confusing. There are more acronyms than we can count, and new technologies are constantly yielding new words and phrases.

To help you understand some of the digital marketing jargon you’re seeing in industry articles (and hearing during strategic meetings), we’ve broken down some of the most common acronyms entering marketingspeak.

Here’s a quick digital marketing glossary. You’re welcome.

CPI (Cost Per Impression)

You know how when you visit a webpage, you often seen an ad (or a bunch) on the site? Your view is an “impression.” When a company buys ad space on a website, it’s charged by the website publisher based on how many people view the ad. The cost per impression is the amount of money the company pays every time a potential customer views its ad on a webpage.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

When you call a company’s customer service number, the representative usually asks for certain identifying information. This is so they can pull up your customer record. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems keep customer data and records organized. This allows companies to see what issues are popping up, how they’re getting resolved, and the overall health of customer relationships.

CTA (Call to Action)

Call to Actions (CTAs) are most easily recognized in infomercials — “Call now for your free gift!” or “Order now to save!” etc. The purpose of a CTA in marketing is to get people to take a particular action. In digital marketing, the action is usually clicking through to another webpage. If you’ve created a great piece of content, it will inspire people to want to learn more. Insert a CTA that links back to more information on the website, or tells them where else to go for more details.

CTR (Click-Through Rate)

You created a great CTA, and people are clicking through to the webpage you linked to. Congrats! The percentage of people who take this action, clicking through to the next step, determines the Click-Through Rate (CTR). People who viewed the ad and later ended up at the website without clicking the link are NOT factored into CTR, since they didn’t click through via that ad.

H2H (Human to Human)

If given the choice, would you rather buy something directly from a person you know, or from a business? Human to Human (H2H) marketing adds a personal touch to the sales process. Social media has made it easier for brands to connect with customers on a 1:1 basis, allowing care agents to personally engage with customers while representing the brand.

KPI (Key Performance Indicators)

What are your goals, and how do you know when you’ve hit them? Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a measurable way to track the success of campaigns. It’s a multi-step process in that you must first figure out your goals in order to see how close you are to reaching them. For example, if you want to gain 1,000 new Twitter followers this year, you can track your performance over the course of the year to see how many more followers you need, which campaigns have been most successful, and where your time will be best spent to hit that goal.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

This one is actually pretty simple. The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the webpage that appears when you perform an online search. If you’re using a search engine like Google, it’s the page of links that shows up as a result of your Google search.

TOFU (Top of Funnel) and BOFU (Bottom of Funnel)

If you’ve worked in marketing for any length of time, you know that there are different stages of brand awareness and product need. Some potential customers might be planning a project in the future and are gathering information, while others are requesting quotes. People who fall into the information gathering group are known as Top of Funnel (TOFU or TOF).

If you think of an actual funnel, the top part is the most broad. As you move down the funnel, that Bottom of Funnel (BOFU or BOF) is where you’ll find that smaller, targeted group of buyers. These are the customers that are ready to buy in the near future — or, right now.

TOP (Time on Page)

Time on Page (TOP) sounds self-explanatory, right? It’s the amount of time website visitors spend on a particular page. But — do you understand the role of TOP in website rankings? The more time a person spends on a webpage, the better that page will rank in search engines. If people are really reading through the content rather than glancing and clicking somewhere else, that page is seen as more valuable. If people aren’t spending much time on a page, see if you can add some more helpful content to hold their interest longer.

UGC (User Generated Content)

You’ve probably heard this one thrown around a lot lately. User Generated Content (UGC) is any piece of content that your customers create on their own about your brand or product. Maybe they’ve posted a how-to video or testimonial on social media, or maybe they’ve taken a selfie with your product. These types of posts not only build awareness of your brand in an organic way, they also build trust among that person’s friends and followers. See how you can leverage UGC by sharing posts from brand accounts, and perhaps on the website itself.

Adding Marketingspeak to Your Vocabulary

Now that you have a better understanding of the above phrases, go into your next meeting feeling confident! But remember that the best communicators keep things simple, so don’t overdo it. Also keep in mind that this is just a sampling of the acronyms used by marketers on a daily basis. Continue to learn about new words, phrases, processes, and topics that relate to the industry. Even if they don’t relate to your role specifically, it’s helpful to know what other people are talking about. You might even find that you have insights to share once you’re able to follow the conversation.