Glossary
Our glossary page is a comprehensive resource for understanding key terms and concepts in the fields of digital marketing and conversion rate optimization. From A/B testing and landing page optimization to psychology principles used in user experience design this page covers the most important terms that you need to know in order to be successful in these fields. Use the glossary to familiarize yourself with the lingo, or as a reference when you come across a term that you don't understand.
Term of the day
User Experience (UX)User experience encompasses how a user perceives their interactions with a website, or product, or system. Every interaction a user has will factor into their overall user experience.
A/B Testing
Sometimes referred to as split testing, this is a process of creating two or more versions of one variable (like a webpage or a button) to test on users simultaneously.
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Accessibility
Accessibility in web design refers to the practice of designing and developing websites that can be used by people of all abilities and disabilities.
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Aesthetic-Usability Effect
The Aesthetic-Usability Effect states that a product's aesthetic appeal can positively influence its usability. In other words, a product that is pleasing to look at is more likely to be used effectively.
General Principles
Analytics
Website analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data about website traffic and user behaviour.
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Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. It is the text that is displayed to users and that they can click on to follow the link.
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Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is a website analytics term that refers to the percentage of visitors to a website who leave the site after viewing only one page, and is an indicator of the effectiveness and relevance of the website.
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Breadcrumbs
Website breadcrumbs are a navigation aid that allows users to see the page hierarchy of a website and to easily navigate back to higher-level pages.
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Call to Action (CTA)
A call to action (CTA) is a message or button that prompts the user to take a specific action.
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Click-through rate (CTR)
Click-through rate (CTR) is a metric for measuring how many clicks a web page or ad receives, as a percentage of the total number of impressions it has had.
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Conversion Rate
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter.
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Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving website efficiency by increasing the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action.
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Doherty Threshold
The Doherty Threshold is the point at which a user's perception of the time it takes for a computer system to respond becomes noticeable, leading to decreased productivity and satisfaction if exceeded.
General Principles
Fitt’s Law
This law is a predictive model for how a user will move in a human-computer interaction. It states that the time to move quickly to a specific area is affected by the distance between start and finish and how large the target is.
UX Design Principles
Heatmaps
Website heatmaps are visual representations of user behaviour on a website, showing where users click, scroll, and move their mouse. They can be used to identify patterns and trends in user behaviour and improve website design and usability.
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Heuristic Evaluation
Heuristic evaluation is a method of evaluating the usability of a website or software application by identifying issues based on established usability principles.
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Hick’s Law
Sometimes referred to as the Hick-Hyman Law, this law outlines the amount of time a person will need to make a decision. The more possible choices they’re presented with, the more time it will take for them to make a decision.
UX Design Principles
Hyperlink
A hyperlink, also known as a link, is a reference to a web page or other resource that is embedded in a piece of text or an image.
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Jakob’s Law
This law states that web users prefer new sites they visit to act in a similar way to other sites they use. The familiarity makes the new site easier to use.
UX Design Principles
Landing Pages
Landing pages are standalone web pages that are designed to focus on a specific product, service, or promotion, and are used in online marketing campaigns.
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Lead
A lead is a potential customer or client who has show interest in your products or services.
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Occam’s Razor
Occam's razor is a principle that states that, given a choice between competing explanations or solutions, the simplest one is most likely to be correct."
General Principles
Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.
General Principles
Parkinson’s Law
An amusing principle that states that the time to complete a task will expand to fill the time given. For example, if you’re given a day to do a task that should take one hour, it will end up taking a week to complete.
UX Design Principles
Postel’s Law
This computing theory is a guideline for software design, where ideally you’re being conservative in what you present, but liberal in what you accept from others.
UX Design Principles
Principle of Habit Formation
If a user repeatedly uses an interface, they’re likely to develop a habit for this usage. When designing, you should therefore try and encourage “good” usage rather than bad habits.
UX Design Principles
Principle of Least Astonishment (POLA)
This principle states that when you’re designing an experience, you need to remember that human beings can only pay full attention to one thing at a time, meaning that you should reduce the amount of new things you introduce at once.
UX Design Principles
Prototype
A prototype is a preliminary model of a product or system that is used for testing and demonstrating concepts and ideas.
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Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on investment (ROI) is a metric that measures whether an investment made a positive financial return when considered against the amount of funding that was initially invested.
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Search Engine Optimisation
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimising a website in order to improve its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
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Slug
A slug is a part of a URL that identifies a specific page or post on a website.
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SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that is used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a business or project.
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Tesler’s Law
Also known as the Waterbed Theory, this is the “law of conservation or complexity”. This theory states that every human-computer interaction will involve some amount of complexity, which can’t be hidden away or cut out entirely.
UX Design Principles
Usability Testing
Usability testing is a method of evaluating a website or software application by testing it with representative users in order to identify any issues or problems that they may encounter while using it.
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User Experience (UX)
User experience encompasses how a user perceives their interactions with a website, or product, or system. Every interaction a user has will factor into their overall user experience.
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User Experience (UX) Design
The process of designing a user experience. Ideally, you’re making a user experience easy, simple and enjoyable so they come back to experience it again.
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User Interface (UI)
A user interface is where a user interacts with a computer, such as when they visit a website or use a product. This might be a display screen, a keyboard or a digital button, for example.
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User Interface (UI) Design
User interface design is the process of designing the visual and interactive elements of a product or service, with the goal of making it easy, efficient, and enjoyable to use.
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User Personas
User personas are a fictional character that is meant to represent the potential users you might have on your website.
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Visits
A visit is a single instance of a user accessing a website or application.
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Wireframe
A wireframe is a low-fidelity, 2D visual representation of a website or user interface (UI). It outlines the layout, structure, and content of a page or screen.
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