Growth glossary
The vocabulary of growth, without the jargon
Every acquisition, conversion and steering concept explained simply, with the formula, a concrete example and the tool to run the numbers.
Acquisition and media 13 terms
How you attract prospects, and at what cost.
ROASReturn On Ad SpendThe revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.CPLCost Per LeadWhat it costs you, on average, to obtain a sales contact.CPCCost Per ClickThe average price paid for each click on an ad.CPMCost Per MilleThe cost of showing an ad one thousand times.CTRClick-Through RateThe share of people who click after seeing your ad.RetargetingShowing your ads again to visitors who did not convert.Landing pageThe page dedicated to converting a campaign's visitor.LeadA sales contact: someone who has shown interest.AttributionThe method that decides which channel gets credit for a sale.Negative keywordsThe terms you refuse to appear on: the first anti-waste device of your campaigns.Smart BiddingGoogle's automated bidding, which optimizes toward the conversions you feed it.Consent ModeThe mechanism that adapts Google measurement to the visitor's consent, without losing everything.Offline conversionsSales closed outside the website (phone, meetings, signed quotes) sent back to your ad platforms.
Conversion and pipeline 10 terms
How a contact becomes a customer.
Conversion rateThe share of visitors or leads who move to the next step.FunnelConversion funnelThe visitor's path to becoming a customer, step by step.ClosingTurning a lead into a signed customer.MQL and SQLMQL / SQLA lead qualified by marketing, then by sales.NurturingLead nurturingMaintaining the relationship with a prospect who is not ready yet.Lead scoringScoring your leads to prioritize the hottest ones.Sales pipelineThe overview of your open deals, each with a status, an amount and a dated next action.CROConversion Rate OptimizationThe discipline that raises the share of visitors who become contacts, without buying more traffic.A/B testTwo versions competing on split traffic: the data picks the winner, not opinion.No-showAn appointment booked but not honoured: a wasted slot and vanished revenue.
Unit economics 10 terms
The real profitability of your growth.
CACCustomer Acquisition CostWhat acquiring a customer costs you, all included.LTVLifetime ValueThe total margin a customer brings you over time.LTV / CAC ratioLTV / CACThe health ratio of your acquisition (aim for 3 to 1).PaybackThe time it takes to recoup a customer's acquisition cost.Gross marginWhat remains of a sale once direct costs are deducted.Average order valueAOVThe average amount of an order or a contract.Break-even pointThe level at which a business, campaign or channel stops losing money.Unit economicsYour business profitability brought down to the unit that matters: one customer.ROIReturn On InvestmentThe profit generated by an investment, compared to everything it cost.ChurnThe share of customers who leave you over a given period.
SEO and AI visibility 13 terms
How you get found on Google and in AI answers.
Local SEOBeing visible on geolocated searches in your area.AEOAnswer Engine OptimizationBeing the answer cited by answer engines.GEOGenerative Engine OptimizationExisting in the answers of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.SERPSearch Engine Results PageThe results page of a search engine.BacklinkA link from another website to yours, a mark of authority.Featured snippetPosition zeroThe answer box displayed above the results.Local packThe three business profiles shown with the map at the top of local searches.Google Business ProfileGBPYour storefront on Google and Google Maps: often seen more than your website.NAPName, Address, PhoneYour name, address and phone number, which must be identical everywhere on the web.Structured dataInvisible markup that describes your page to engines: who you are, what you offer, your rating.Core Web VitalsCWVGoogle's three measurements of the real loading experience of your pages.Internal linkingThe links between your own pages: they guide visitors and distribute authority.E-E-A-TExperience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, TrustworthinessThe four qualities Google and AIs look for in content: lived experience, expertise, authority, trust.
Artificial intelligence 10 terms
Agents, generative AI, regulation: the vocabulary of AI in business.
Generative AIGenAIAI that produces content (text, images, code) from a simple instruction.AI agentAn autonomous AI that carries tasks end to end, not just answers.LLMLarge Language ModelThe engine behind text generative AI, trained on massive text corpora.RAGRetrieval-Augmented GenerationConnecting an AI to your documents so it answers from your own data.Prompt and prompt engineeringPromptThe instruction you give an AI; wording it well changes everything.Hallucination (AI)When an AI confidently states something that is false.Fine-tuningSpecialising an existing model on your data or tone.AI ActThe EU regulation that governs AI use, by level of risk.AI copilotAn AI built into your tools that assists without replacing the human.MCPModel Context ProtocolA standard to connect AI to your tools and data, in a controlled way.
Ops and automation 6 terms
How you keep the pace without exploding costs.
CRMCustomer Relationship ManagementThe tool that centralizes and tracks the whole customer relationship.WorkflowA chain of automated actions triggered by an event.AutomationHaving a tool execute the repetitive, rule-based tasks.Follow-upRecontacting a prospect or a quote left without a reply.ReportingPutting your key metrics into regular dashboards.Lead routingThe rules that send every new lead to the right person, immediately.