Marketing glossary

All 87 entries A–Z with definitions, formulas, examples, common mistakes.

Customer Acquisition Cost — blended vs paid-only, target bands per category, common attribution mistakes.

Return on Ad Spend — formula, attribution windows, channel benchmarks, when ROAS misleads.

LTV, or Lifetime Value, is the total revenue a business expects from one customer over the entire relationship. It is ca

LTV/CAC is the ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost. It tells a business whether the cost of ac

CAC Payback is the number of months it takes to earn back the cost of acquiring a customer through their gross-margin co

ARPU is the average revenue earned from one user (or customer) over a defined period, typically monthly. It is calculate

MRR is the predictable revenue a subscription business expects each month from active subscribers. It is calculated as t

ARR is the annualized value of recurring subscription revenue, typically calculated as MRR multiplied by 12. ARR is the

NRR measures how much revenue a cohort of customers generates today compared to one year ago, accounting for upgrades, d

GRR measures how much of a cohort's starting revenue is retained after subtracting churn and contraction, ignoring expan

Churn Rate is the percentage of customers (or revenue) lost in a period. Customer churn = customers lost ÷ customers at

AOV is the average revenue per order in a defined period. It is calculated by dividing total revenue by total orders. AO

Purchase Frequency is the average number of times a customer purchases in a defined period (typically annually). It is c

Repeat Purchase Rate is the percentage of customers who purchase more than once in a defined period. It is calculated by

Retention Rate is the percentage of customers retained from one period to the next. It is calculated as customers at per

Gross Margin is the percentage of revenue retained after subtracting Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). It is calculated as reve

Contribution Margin is the revenue per unit minus all variable costs per unit, including COGS, marketing CAC, fulfillmen

COGS is the direct cost of producing or acquiring the goods or services sold by a business. It includes raw materials, m

RTO Rate is the percentage of orders that fail delivery and return to the seller. It is most relevant in Indian D2C wher

COD is a payment mode where the customer pays for goods at delivery rather than upfront. COD is dominant in Indian D2C (

CPC, or Cost Per Click, is the average price a business pays each time a user clicks on a paid ad. It is calculated by d

CPM is the cost to deliver 1,000 ad impressions, regardless of clicks or conversions. It is calculated as ad spend divid

CTR is the percentage of users who click an ad after seeing it. It is calculated as clicks divided by impressions. CTR i

CPA is the cost paid by advertiser to acquire one conversion (purchase, signup, lead, etc.). It is calculated as ad spen

CPL is the cost paid to acquire one lead — typically a form-fill, demo request, or contact-info submission. It is calcul

Blended CAC is the total acquisition cost divided by total new customers — both paid and organic. It tells the business

Conversion Rate is the percentage of users who complete a desired action (purchase, signup, lead) out of those who saw t

Quality Score is Google's 1–10 rating of the relevance and quality of ad keywords, ad creative, and landing page experie

Ad Rank is the score Google uses to determine ad position in SERPs. It is calculated as bid multiplied by Quality Score,

Impression Share is the percentage of available impressions an ad won out of all impressions it was eligible for. It is

Frequency is the average number of times the same user saw an ad in a given period. It is calculated as total impression

Reach is the total number of unique users who saw an ad in a given period. It is the upper bound of ad exposure (each us

Every glossary term adapted to real estate developers's CAC band (3,500–35,000 ₹), CPC band (40–280 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to d2c brands's CAC band (250–2,200 ₹), CPC band (8–60 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to b2b saas startups's CAC band (15,000–3,00,000 ₹), CPC band (50–1,200 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to healthcare clinics & hospitals's CAC band (500–15,000 ₹), CPC band (15–250 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to education & edtech's CAC band (400–4,500 ₹), CPC band (12–160 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to financial services's CAC band (1,500–20,000 ₹), CPC band (30–950 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to professional services's CAC band (800–12,000 ₹), CPC band (20–500 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to restaurants, cafes & cloud kitchens's CAC band (150–2,500 ₹), CPC band (8–120 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to fashion & apparel d2c's CAC band (200–1,200 ₹), CPC band (10–55 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to gyms, studios & fitness apps's CAC band (250–1,800 ₹), CPC band (12–80 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to automotive dealers & oems's CAC band (600–4,500 ₹), CPC band (18–120 ₹), and channel preferences.

Every glossary term adapted to manufacturing & msmes's CAC band (3,000–35,000 ₹), CPC band (25–220 ₹), and channel preferences.