Ecommerce Conversion, Email and Other Marketing Words to Know

When it comes to ecommerce marketing -- using email marketing or ecommerce remarketing to capture a customer and sale – there's an awful lot of lingo to learn.  This glossary of ecommerce terms and phrases (with definitions and links to helpful articles on Ecommerce-Guide.com) will make it easier to understand ecommerce marketing.

Ecommerce Dictionary

Abandonment:  The term used to describe a website visitor who exits the website before completing a desired action. Actions could include making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or registering as a website member.

• Fear of Abandonment
• Abandonment Explained and 4 Tips to Prevent It
• Help Customers Trust Your Ecommerce Website

Abandonment Rate: A calculation (in percentage) that determines your website-visitor abandonment rate. Calculate the total number of website orders divided by total number of "add to cart" clicks and multiply by 100 to obtain the abandonment rate percentage.

• EcommerceGuide Solutions: Customer Relations
• Why do so many customers abandon carts?
• Clean Up Your Act: Perceived clutter causes site abandonment

Conversion: In ecommerce, the word conversion describes the act of converting a website visitor into a customer who takes a specific action on your website (e.g. on-site visitor makes a purchase or fills out a quote form).

• Merchant Secrets for Driving Conversion
• Convert Web Store Visitors to Action Figures
• Is Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online for Small Business

Conversion Marketing:  Conversion marketing is where a business uses marketing messages to convert the website visitor. For example, if a shopping cart has been left and not checked out, the merchant may offer a special deal or coupon code to encourage that visitor to complete the checkout. Conversion marketing is measured by conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who take the desired action).

• Why A/B Testing is Like Eating an Elephant
• Marketing Tips: Convert Clicks, Mesh, Loyalty Programs
• How To Convert Virtual Relationships Into Useful Ones

Conversion Rate (Cart Conversion Rate): The percentage of total website visitors who complete a desired action on the website. For example, make a purchase, submit a form, register on the site or click an advertisement.

• Increase Payment Options to Boost Conversion rates
• Seven Ways to Boost Conversion Rates

Coupon Code:  Online merchants offer coupon codes as an incentive to shoppers to purchase from their website. A coupon code consists of letters or numbers that consumers can enter into a promotional box on a site's shopping cart checkout page to obtain a discount on their purchase, such as a percentage off purchase, free shipping or other discount.

• 5 Coupon Code Marketing Tips
• E-Coupons 101
• Contests as Ecommerce Marketing Tools

Direct Digital Marketing: A method of digital marketing that is addressable, meaning you can identify the recipient of the marketing message being distributed. With the evolution of direct marketing to direct digital marketing, addressability comes in a variety of digital forms including an email address, a Web browser cookie or a mobile phone number.

• How to Find an E-Mail Marketing Service Provider
• From Print to Digital and Back Again
• Cashing in on Coupons: Digital Discount Trends

Ecommerce Remarketing: Ecommerce remarketing (also called remarketing) is used to describe the different strategies and automated ecommerce systems used to follow up with website visitors who do not make a desired action when visiting the site. The phrase is remarketing because you first market to bring a visitor to your website, and if he doesn't make a purchase or complete the desired action, you then use remarketing tactics to bring the visitor back to convert him into a customer.

• Ecommerce Remarketing: Use a Soft-Sell Tone
• A Buyer's Guide to Ecommerce Remarketing Services
• SeeWhy Adds Social Media Remarketing Tool

Email Marketing: A type of direct digital marketing that uses electronic mail (email) as the marketing communication delivery method.  Email marketing is used in a number of ways by organizations and marketers for brand and customer loyalty building, acquiring or converting customers, company advertisements or for communicating promotional offers.

• Small Business Guide to Email Marketing Services
• Email Marketing Review
• Trigger Email Marketing Tips