FAQs

Here are some commonly used terms and phrases in the ecommerce (online business) space:

• Affiliate: People, influencers, blogs, businesses, etc. that partner with you to promote your products to their audiences on a performance-based (aka pay-for-performance, which means you only pay when an affiliate completes an action such as a sale - see Affiliate Commission). 
• Affiliate Commission: The amount of money you pay a person, influencer, blogger, business, etc. to sell your product. Average commission is 10%. 
• AI: Stands for Artificial Intelligence. AI is a tool that can help you automate some of the tasks associated with your business. ChatGPT for example can help write copy for product pages or emails, it can generate a list of product attributes, and even help you brainstorm some offer ideas.  
• Avatar (aka Buyer Persona): A description of your perfect customer. I.e. their goals, personal motivations, buying habits, and pain points. 
• Average Order Value (AOV): A metric that measures the average amount that customers spend per order. AOV = Total Sales / # of Orders
• B2B (Business to Business): This is where businesses sell to other businesses. For example, if you sell on Faire, you'd be engaging in B2B sales. 
• Blog: A site that has an informational, educational, or conversational way of delivering content. 
• BOL: Stands for Bill of Landing. This is a detail list of a shipment in the form of a receipt given by the person receiving the goods. 
• Call-to-Action: A marketing message or line of copy that aims to persuade the user to take a specific action. I.e. "Buy Now", "Add to Cart", "Sign Up Today"
• Cart Abandonment Rate: Refers to the % of shoppers who add items to their cart, then abandon before they complete the checkout. Cart Abandonment Rate = # of Orders / # of Shopping Carts Created.
• Content Creators: People on social media who enjoy creating content, but don't necessarily do so for influence over people.  
• Conversion Rate: Refers to the % of site visitors who complete a purchase. Conversion Rates = # of Orders / # of Visitors  
• Deal Site: Marketplace sites that sell other businesses products for a short amount of time. Common deal sites: Jane.com, BradsDeals.com.
• EIN: Stands for Employer Identification Number. It's like a social security number for your business. This is free on the IRS.gov website. 
• Funnel: A series of webpages in sequential order that take a customer down a buying process. I.e. A product page to a shopping cart could be considered a simplify funnel.
• FCL: Shipping lingo that stands for Full Container Load. Typically used when importing products. 
  • LCL: Shipping lingo that stands for Less than Container Load. Typically if you're not filling a container with your products, you are sharing the container space (and costs) with others. 
• Influencers: Individuals who have influence over potential buyers. Typically, refers to people who social presents that share products and information with their audience. 
• Micro & Nano Influencers: Influencers who have influencer over potential buyers and have under 100k followers. 
• MOQ: Minimum Order Quantity. Typically set by the manufacturer. 
• Landing Page: A page designed for traffic to land directly on. This page usually has more information about the brand and the product/offering so that visitors that are not familiar with your brand get more familiar with it.
• Lead Magnet: An amazing offer in exchange for a potential customer's email or contract information. I.e. Subscribe to our email list and get this Free Printable Cookbook. 
• Lead Page: A landing page designed to capture opt-in email addresses from potential customers. 
• LLC: Stands for Limited Liability Company. It's a business entity that separates and protects your personal assets and liabilities from your business assets and liabilities. 
• Offer: An offer is how and where you put your products out into the world for others to see and purchase.  You may have one offer on multiple platforms or you may offer it one way on one platform and another way on another platform as you are testing.  Example:
  #1 offer:  Sell a set of 3 canisters
  #2 offer:  Sell just the middle canister 'the cookie' sized canister.
  #3 offer:  Change the cookie jar to a scrunchie holder for your bathroom  (add in a solution to a problem) and double the price.
• Opt-In: When a customer or a potential customer willing subscribes to your email mailing list. 
• Presale: Selling products before you have them in stock and ready to ship. 
• Print on Demand (POD): A business model where products, such as apparel, accessories, or home decor, are produced when an order is placed. This eliminates the need for up inventory management or upfront costs. 
• Sales Quarters:
  • Q1 (January 1st - March 31st)
  • Q2 (April 1st - June 30th)
  • Q3 (July 1st - September 30th)
  • Q4 (October 1st - December 31st)
• Sell the Vision: Putting an emphasis on how that customer will feel when they buy the product. 
• Visitors/Traffic: Potential customers and customers who are visiting your website.
• Organic Traffic: Visitors who are coming to your site through non-paid campaigns, i.e. Google Search or Facebook posts. 
• Upsell: A sales technique where the seller introduces upgrades or add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. I.e. Upgrade to a large for $X more, or add-on an accessory for $X more. 
• URL: Stands for Uniform Resource Location. aka, a website domain, a web address. I.e. www.AlisonJPrince.com
• Vendor: Typically refers to someone that sells a manufacturer's product to another business. Aka middleman.