If you really want to understand what marketing automation is all about, then you have to understand the language that surrounds it. After all, if you don’t know the difference between a CTA and a CTR, then sitting in meetings with other marketing automation experts could be really frustrating.
Good news.
We’ve compiled a list of the 19 most important words in marketing automation. If you understand and embrace these concepts, then you’ll be well on your way to putting marketing automation to work for your business.
Ready to get started? Great, here goes:
A/B split testing
This is one of the most important concepts you should understand. A standard A/B test for a marketing automation campaign involves running the two campaigns simultaneously and then assessing which version gets a better response from the audience. It’s best to test only one variable at a time (e.g., the subject line, the call to action, the key image, etc.). By doing so, you’ll end up with a winner, which is called the control. The next time you run a campaign, you’ll test against the control to see if you can beat those results.
Analytics
Data is just data until you apply some analytics to them. Analytics can be used to uncover information about how many people browse a website, how much time they spend on the website, and the specific actions they take on the website.
This information is then used to target audiences, understand consumer behavior, improve user experience, and optimize marketing automation campaigns.
Click
The action taken when a consumer interacts with an email by clicking on it with their mouse. Pretty straightforward, right?
Call to action (CTA)
Essentially, a CTA is what you’re asking your prospect or customer to do. Examples include phrases such as “Click to Read More,” “Download E-Book Now,” or “Learn More.” Some studies have shown that softer CTAs (such as “Learn More,” or “Click Here to Read More”) work better than more demanding CTAs (such as “Submit,” or “Download”). Of course, your audience might respond differently, so be sure to test your way to success using A/B Split Testing (mentioned above).
Click through rate (CTR)
This shows how often people who are asked to click on something actually end up clicking on it. A CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks a campaign received by the number of times it’s been served, then converting that into a percentage. For example, if a link in a marketing automation campaign got 5 clicks and was shown to 1000 prospects, the CTR is 0.5%. The higher the CTR on a link, the better it’s performing.
Content marketing
In the old days, marketing was all about interrupting a consumer’s life with an ad that tried to sell them something. Today, more and more businesses are using content marketing as a way to encourage prospects to become customers. Content marketing is when a brand provides valuable content on their website that attracts and engages visitors.
Conversion
When launching a campaign, marketers select a specific action or set of actions they want audiences to take. Each time a member of the audience takes this action, it’s counted as a conversion. Conversions include signing up for a newsletter, downloading an ebook, and making purchases on a website.
Conversion rate
A conversion rate is calculated when the number of conversions (e.g. ebook downloads, newsletter signups, purchases, etc.) is divided by the number of times the offer was presented to your prospects.
Conversion tracking
Observing how many conversions have transpired during any specific time period, and examining which campaigns led to the conversions.
Cost per acquisition
The cost of acquiring a customer. This is often calculated by dividing the total amount spent on a marketing campaign by the number of customers acquired through that campaign.
Email marketing
The act of distributing a marketable message, typically to a group of people, using email. In the most general sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing.
Geographic targeting
Choosing an audience for a campaign based on zip codes, DMA, cities, states, countries, or any other geographically defined area.
Inbound marketing
A technique used as a way to bring consumers to products or services through content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, etc.
Landing page
The webpage consumers land on after they click a link in your marketing automation campaign.
Lead
In marketing automation, a lead is someone who has taken an action on your website, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading an ebook, but is not yet a customer.
Lead scoring
A practice used by sales and marketing departments to define the merit of leads, or potential customers, by assigning values to them based on their performance relating to their interest in products or services.
Lead grading
Lead grading confirms that the leads being passed from marketing to sales match your company’s ideal customer profile. Leads are automatically valued based on a number of implicit factors and given a letter grade (A-F).
Marketing automation
Specific software technologies and platforms used as a way to efficiently market to consumers through multiple channels and to automate repetitive tasks.
Social media
Software applications and platforms that allow users to create and share content with their friends, followers, or the public at large.
Over to you
That wraps up this blog post with the 19 essential marketing automation definitions every marketing executive should know. Did we miss any that you think should be added to the list? If so, let us know in the comments section below.
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