Top 30 Definitions of Advertising Network Terms
Affiliate marketing terms can be very confusing and definitions can be hard to figure out. There are all sorts of terms applied to different things that you’ve probably never heard of or even considered. Unfortunately, not understanding the proper definition of a term or mistaking it to mean something it doesn’t can lead to a lot of trouble. You could spend some time trying to research each term you come across but the problem there is that the definition you find may not apply to affiliate marketing! Fortunately, we’ve compiled a list of important affiliate marketing terms that everyone should know. Whether you’re a beginner who is trying to learn about affiliate marketing or an advanced marketer who just wants to make sure that they have an accurate definition for a specific term, this list will help you out.
Verticals
This refers to the category of an offer. Health, Fashion and Gaming are all “verticals” to name but a few.
CPI
Cost Per Install (this is used in mobile when talking about app installs). CPE = cost per event - this is specific to apps. So some advertisers won't just pay you to install. You need to trigger an event like getting to level 3 of a game, or scoring 400 points. This lets them know it wasn't a quick install / uninstall and gives them more value. They pay more for a KPI / CPE than a CPI since they get more.
*CPA can be used as a general term for CPS and CPL of course since they're actions.
(Ad) Campaign
This term is interchangeable with Ad. Some times people will refer to the campaign by its type. So we might call it a “survey”. Survey is a type of campaign in the same way that a purchase offer is a type of campaign.
Conversion
This is when someone successfully interacts with a campaign. What constitutes a successful interaction depends on the campaign itself. A successful interaction with a CPS campaign would be purchasing something. A successful interaction with a mobile app would be to install the app and use it (or, as noted above, if it’s a CPE / KPI type app, you need to hit a specific level). The advertisers we work with will specify what constitutes a successful interaction if it is not self evident through the offer type. See the offer types above for more.
Conversion Rate (CR)
The frequency, expressed as a percentage, in which a click results into a lead. Said differently, its the % of how often you make money on an ad campaign, any campaign, relative to the % of clicks.
Click through ratio (CTR)
Typically used with display ads. Tells you the frequency as a % on how often someone clicks relative to how many times the ad is shown. So if for every 100 banner ad displays, someone clicks once. That's a CTR of 1%
Earnings Per Click (EPC)
How much someone earns on average for each click that goes through. So if you have 100 clicks and 10 leads (Conversion of 10%) at $1.00 each. You made $10 on 100 clicks. Your Earnings Per Click is $0.10 since 100 x $0.10 = $10. This tends to be the standard bearer for affiliates.
Affiliates aka Publishers
These are the individuals or groups who drive traffic to our campaigns.
Retention rates
These are big in mobile. It describes how many people keep the app they install and its a way to gauge quality. Extremely low suggests poor quality - what constitutes extremely low depends but they all know their own internal numbers.
Scrub
This is an ugly term but a real one. It describes how many leads the network or advertiser hold back and do not report. Aka keeping it for themselves. Sometimes its necessary so as to ensure a good ROI. So if you know you're going to get some bad leads and want to balance things out you might hold some back. This is a bit more specific to co-reg paths or incent though since they tend to base their leads based on how much they make. Scrubbing anywhere else is usually a very bad thing as it describes taking away from affiliates for no reason.
Co-reg
A path where you go through and see multiple offers. Some sale offers, some deals, some coupons, some are iframed pages where you can complete a lead or submit your info for auto insurance. Its like a big long survey where they try to hit you with multiple monetization attempts.
iframe
That's where you frame a web page with your own page. So the borders and the next or back button might belong to CPAead but the center of the page is another site entirely.
Lead Gen
Lead generation. This is used for businesses like legal, auto insurance, home security, solar, mortgages etc. Anywhere someone is willing to pay to get a lead. A lead is qualified information from a real user. So for a car quote you'd give your name, number, etc. They'd verify your info to make sure you're real and pass it along to progressive or Geico or allstate etc who in turn pay a strong premium to have your info since they now know you're interested and can market to you.
Creatives
Banners, display ads. It describes the visual element of an ad. A banner refers to a specific size. There's a ton, some called things like sky scrapper ads, some called nothing at all. They're all just creatives and they come in different shapes and sizes.
RTB
Real time bidding system. Where advertisers bid on the ability to get fills. A fill means their order goes through for a certain amount of volume. So if I bid $0.01 and have a budget of $1.00, I could potentially get 100 fills at that price. However, if the bid moves up to $0.02, I would need to increase my bid to stay competitive or risk getting less or no fills. If I do raise my bid to 0.02 and my budget remains the same $1.00, I could only now get 50 fills.
Landing Page
: This is the webpage that visitors land on when you are guiding them to your promotion. Your landing page serves as the doorway to you getting a conversion. As such, it is very important to have a landing page as it ties directly to your conversion rate.
Template
A template is a generic page, typically a landing page, that can be customized and used for a wide variety of promotions. While landing pages are non-specific, then can be themed or styled towards a specific vertical.
Commission
There are multiple different commission types. You can receive a commission for referring someone to a network wherein you would earn a % portion of their net earnings or you can receive a commission for generating a conversion where you get a percentage amount of a sale.
Reversal aka Chargeback
A reversal is a chargeback and it is normally accompanied by a report that specifies which leads (campaigns that converted) are being denied and returned. This means that the advertiser is refusing to pay for the leads. Depending on the reason for the reversal, a network may take a number of different actions. Normally, the amount charged back or reversed is just deducted from the associated affiliate’s account.
Niches
Describes a promotion effort in its entirety. This means the topic of your promotion, the landing page and any associated content. If someone were to give someone else a “niche” they would be giving them a turnkey package for making money. This is in contrast to say a landing page which is just one component of a niche.
Net Payment Terms
The word net refers to the “end of the month” and any number following the word “net” notes when you will be paid. For example, if you are paid on a net 7 basis, that means you are paid at the end of the month + 7 days. If it were October, that would mean you get paid on November 7th.
