Optimization Glossary

The optimization space is full of acronyms and jargon, and Optipedia is here to help. Our optimization glossary is a dictionary of the terminology most commonly used by optimization professionals.

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Want to know the difference between A/B Testing, Split Testing, and Multivariate Testing? Or what the heck CRO, LPO, and EXO stand for? Maybe you're looking for a refresher on Statistical Significance and Sales Funnels? Browse our optimization glossary and learn to speak the language of optimizers!

A

A/A Testing

A method of comparing two versions of a webpage or mobile app experience against each other in order to test the accuracy of the testing tool.

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A/B/N Testing

A method of comparing multiple versions of webpage or mobile app against each other to determine which performs best.

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Above The Fold

The top most portion of a webpage that is visible without users having to scroll.

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A/B Testing

A method of comparing two versions of a webpage or mobile app experience against each other to determine which performs best.

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Account Based Marketing

A business marketing strategy that concentrates resources on a set of target accounts within a market.

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Ad Viewability

The concept of how visible ads on a website or mobile app are to users.

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App Personalization

The process of building a mobile application to meet the needs of specific audiences.

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Average Order Value

The average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order on a website or mobile app.

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B

Behavioral Science

Behavioral science studies the way that emotions, the environment, and social factors influence our decisions.

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Below The Fold

The portion of a webpage that is not immediately visible when the page loads, that users must scroll to see.

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Bounce Rate

The percentage of site visits that are single-page sessions, with the visitor leaving without viewing any other pages.

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Bucket Testing

A method of testing two versions of a website or app against one another to see which one performs better on specified key metrics. Synonym for split testing.

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C

Call To Action

A call to action or CTA is a prompt on a website that tells the user to take some specified action.

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Canary Testing

A way to reduce risk and validate new software by releasing software to a small percentage of users.

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Click-Through Rate

The percentage of people that click on an element that they have been exposed to.

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Content Management System

An application that allows multiple contributors to create, edit and publish web content.

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Continuous Delivery

A software development process for getting code changes into production quickly and safely.

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Continuous Integration

A devops and software development practice where code is continuously integrated into the trunk where these integrations are automatically built and tested.

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Conversion

When a user completes some predetermined action on your site.

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Conversion Rate

The number of conversions on a webpage or app divided by the total number of visitors.

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Conversion Rate Optimization

The process of increasing the percentage of conversions from a website or mobile app.

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D

Decision Fatigue

When the mind becomes fatigued after a sustained period of decision making, such as when faced with too many options on a website.

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E

Experience Optimization

The process of providing your customers with the best possible experience across all touchpoints through analytics, user research, A/B testing, and personalization.

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F

Feature Branch

A copy of the main codebase where an individual or team of software developers can work on a new feature until it is complete.

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Feature Flags

A software development technique that turns certain functionality on and off, without deploying new code.

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Feature Rollout

The software development process of introducing a new feature to a set of users.

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Feature Test

The software development process of testing multiple variations of a feature to determine the best user experience.

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Feature Toggle

A mechanism that allows code to be turned “on” or “off” remotely without the need for a deploy.

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G

Growth Hacking

The use of resource-light and cost effective marketing tactics to help grow and retain an active user base, sell products and gain exposure.

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H

Headline Testing

The process of developing multiple title variations for an article or piece of online media to determine which one performs the best.

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Heatmap

A graphical representation of data such as clicks and scrolls that uses a system of color-coding to represent different values.

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Hero Image

An oversized image or video at the top of a website, often extending full-width and featuring a CTA and/or value proposition.

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I

How to Improve Conversion Rates

Learn how to improve your conversion rates through A/B testing to drive your business objectives.

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Inbound Marketing

A marketing methodology that is designed to draw visitors and potential customers in, rather than outwardly pushing a brand, product or service onto prospects.

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Information Scent

Visual and textual cues that provide website vistors with hints on what information a site contains.

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iOS A/B Testing

The process of running a controlled experiment comparing one or more versions of an iOS app against the original to improve certain metrics.

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L

Landing Page Optimization

The process of improving elements on a landing page to increase conversions.

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Lead Generation

The process of generating consumer interest for a product or service with the goal of turning that interest into a sale.

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Lean Hypothesis Testing

An approach to agile product development that’s designed to minimize risk, increase speed of development, and hone product market fit by building and iterating on a minimum viable product (MVP)

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Lifetime Value

An estimate of the average revenue that your customers will generate throughout their lifespan as a customer.

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M

Marketing Automation

The replacement of repetitive manual marketing processes and tasks with solutions that are automated, especially in regards to e-mail marketing.

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Marketing Technology Stack

A grouping of technologies that marketers leverage to conduct and improve their marketing activities.

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Mobile App A/B Testing

The practice of using A/B testing to test different experiences within mobile apps.

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Multi-Armed Bandit

A form of A/B testing that uses machine learning algorithms to dynamically allocate traffic to variations that are performing well.

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Multivariate Testing

A technique for testing a hypothesis where multiple variables are modified, in order to determine the best combination of variations on those elements of a website or mobile app.

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Multivariate Testing vs A/B Testing

Learn about the key differences between A/B testing and multivariate testing, and when is the best time to use each approach.

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O

Online Marketing

The strategy for leveraging web-based channels to spread a message about a company’s brand, products, or services to its potential customers.

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P

Progressive Delivery

A method of gradually rolling out new features in order to limit the potential negative impact and gauge the user engagement with new product features.

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R

Revenue Per Visitor

A metric for website performance calculated by dividing the total revenue by the total number of visitors to your website.

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S

Sales Funnel

The path taken by a potential customer through a website or app as they move towards becoming a customer.

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Search Engine Marketing

A digital marketing strategy used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages, especially with regards to paid advertising.

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Search Engine Optimization

The art and science of getting pages to rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing.

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Visitor Segmentation

The process of dividing your visitors to your website based on a specific criteria, such as demographics or user behavior.

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Server-Side Testing

A form of experimentation where unlike in client-side testing, the variations of a test are rendered directly on the web server before it is delivered to the client.

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Shopping Cart Abandonment

When a potential customer starts a check out process for an online order but drops out of the process before completing the purchase.

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Social Proof

Evidence that a product or service is popular with a large number of people.

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Split Testing

A strategy for conducting controlled, randomized experiments with the goal of improving a conversion metric on a website or mobile app.

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Squeeze Page

A landing page which is specifically designed to 'squeeze' e-mail addresses out of visitors and prospects.

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Statistical Significance

The likelihood that the difference in conversion rates between a given variation and the baseline is not due to random chance.

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T

Testing in Production

A software development practice in which new code changes are tested on live user traffic rather than in a staging environment.

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Trunk-Based Development

A strategy where engineers merge smaller changes more frequently into the main codebase and work off the trunk copy rather than work on long-lived feature branches.

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Type 1 Error

A statistics term used to refer to an error that is made in testing when a conclusive winner is declared although the test is actually inconclusive.

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Type 2 Error

A statistics term used to refer to a testing error that is made when no conclusive winner is declared between a control and a variation when there actually should be one.

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U

Unique Selling Point

The competitive differentiators that a business has over its competitors.

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Usability Testing

A method of evaluating a website or app’s readiness for release by testing it with real users who are part of your target audience.

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User Flow

The path taken by a prototypical user on a website or app to complete a task.

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User Journey Map

A diagram of the entire user experience, starting with initial contact or discovery, and continuing through the process of engagement into long-term loyalty and advocacy.

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V

Value Proposition

The essence of the value that your product or service provides to the customer.

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Viewable Impression

A standard measure of ad viewability defined by the IAB to be an ad which appears at least 50% on screen for more than one second.

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