E-commerce & conversion

26 terms in this topic.

• Above the fold

  Above the fold refers to the portion of a web page that is visible without scrolling—the content a visitor sees the instant the page loads. The term originated from newspaper publishing, where the most important headlines and images were placed on the upper half of the front page, above the physical fold of the paper.

• Agent payment credential

  An agent payment credential (also called a delegated payment token) is a scoped, single-transaction representation of a shopper's payment method that an AI agent passes to a merchant to complete an agentic checkout — instead of handing the merchant a raw card number.

• Agentic checkout

  Agentic checkout is a purchase completed by an autonomous agent acting for a person, rather than by that person navigating a checkout flow themselves. It extends AI shopping assistance from recommending products to transacting: the agent evaluates options, selects one against stated constraints, and completes payment and fulfilment details.

• Agentic commerce

  Agentic commerce is the emerging model in which an AI assistant completes a purchase on a shopper's behalf — discovering products, comparing options, and placing the order inside the conversation — rather than handing the shopper off to a website to buy.

• Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP)

  The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) is an open specification that standardizes how an AI assistant and a merchant transact — the cart, the checkout session, and the delegated payment token — so any compliant merchant can accept an agent-placed order.

• Average order value (AOV)

  Average order value (AOV) is the average amount spent each time a customer places an order on a website or app. It is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders over a given period.

• Checkout handoff

  The checkout handoff is the transition in agentic commerce from 'the agent has decided to buy this SKU' to 'the order is confirmed.' During the handoff the agent asks the merchant's checkout three questions in rapid succession: is this exact variant still in stock, is the price still the same as the one quoted to the shopper, and what is the true landed cost (shipping, tax, delivery ETA).

• Conversion rate

  Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors, viewers, or users who complete a desired action—making a purchase, signing up for a trial, adding to cart, submitting a lead form, or clicking a CTA—calculated by dividing total conversions by total visitors and multiplying by 100.

• Conversion rate optimization (CRO)

  Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic practice of increasing the share of visitors who take a desired action — buy, sign up, add to cart — by testing changes to the page, offer, and creative rather than by buying more traffic.

• DTC (Direct-to-consumer)

  Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands sell their products directly to end customers — typically through an owned website (Shopify, BigCommerce), branded mobile app, or direct presence on marketplaces like TikTok Shop and Amazon — rather than wholesaling through traditional retailers.

• E-commerce conversion rate

  E-commerce conversion rate is the percentage of online store visitors who complete a purchase, calculated by dividing total transactions by total sessions. It is one of the most important metrics for online retailers and is directly influenced by product imagery quality, page load speed, pricing presentation, and trust signals.

• Email marketing creative

  Email marketing creative refers to the visual and written content used in marketing emails—hero images, product photos, lifestyle imagery, GIFs, and banner graphics. In e-commerce, email creative drives open rates (through preview images), click-through rates (through compelling in-body visuals), and ultimately conversions.

• Google Shopping

  Google Shopping is a product advertising and comparison service that displays product listings with images, prices, and merchant information directly in Google search results. Merchants submit product data via Google Merchant Center, and Shopping ads are managed through Google Ads.

• Landing page

  A landing page is a standalone web page designed for a specific marketing campaign or traffic source, with a single focused call-to-action. Unlike general website pages, landing pages strip away navigation and distractions to maximize conversion rate. Effective landing pages use strong visuals, social proof, and clear value propositions to guide visitors toward the desired action—whether that is signing up, purchasing, or requesting a demo.

• Pinterest marketing

  Pinterest marketing is the practice of using Pinterest—a visual search and discovery platform—to drive brand awareness, website traffic, and product sales. Unlike other social platforms, Pinterest functions as a search engine where users actively look for ideas, products, and inspiration with purchase intent.

• Product detail page

  A product detail page is the page presenting a single product with everything needed to make a purchase decision — imagery, price, variants, description, specifications, reviews, and delivery information. It is the convergence point for every acquisition channel, so its conversion rate multiplies the return on all upstream spend simultaneously.

• Product feed

  A product feed is the structured file or API stream that supplies product data to a shopping surface — Google Merchant Center, Meta Catalog, TikTok Shop, or a marketplace — with each row carrying identifiers, title, description, price, availability, and image URLs.

• Product listing optimization

  Product listing optimisation is the practice of improving every element of an e-commerce listing — title, images, bullet points, description, structured attributes, and backend keywords — to increase both ranking and conversion. The two goals are worth separating, because the elements that drive them differ.

• Product page optimization

  Product page optimisation is the practice of improving a product detail page to convert more of the traffic that already reaches it. Because it acts on existing visitors, its returns compound with every other acquisition channel — a conversion-rate gain applies to paid, organic, and email traffic simultaneously, which is why it usually beats an equivalent effort spent buying more visits.

• Shopify marketing

  Shopify marketing encompasses all strategies and tactics used to drive traffic, convert visitors, and retain customers on a Shopify store. This includes product page optimization, paid social ads, email marketing, SEO, influencer partnerships, and content marketing. Success depends heavily on product imagery quality—stores with lifestyle and UGC-style photos consistently outperform those relying on white-background catalog shots alone.

• Shoppable content

  Shoppable content is editorial or social content with buying built directly into it — tagged products in a post, a checkout inside a live stream, an interactive lookbook, or a video with a linked product card. The purpose is to remove the gap between the moment of interest and the moment of purchase, since every navigation step between them loses a share of buyers.

• Social commerce

  Social commerce is the buying and selling of products directly within social media platforms, enabling the entire shopping journey—from discovery to checkout—without ever leaving the app. It encompasses in-app shops (Instagram Shop, Facebook Shops, TikTok Shop), shoppable posts and stories (product-tagged content that links directly to purchase), live shopping (real-time video broadcasts with embedded product links), and native checkout (completing payment within the social platform itself).

• Social selling

  Social selling is the practice of using social media platforms to identify prospects, build relationships, share relevant content, and ultimately drive sales—without traditional cold outreach. Unlike social commerce (which involves direct purchasing within social apps), social selling focuses on the relationship-building phase: engaging with potential customers through comments, direct messages, content sharing, and community participation.

• TikTok Shop

  TikTok Shop is TikTok's in-app commerce layer, letting sellers list products and buyers complete a purchase without leaving the app. Sales arrive through several distinct surfaces — product links attached to organic videos, LIVE shopping sessions, a product showcase on the seller profile, an in-app shop tab, and the affiliate marketplace where creators earn commission for driving sales.

• Visual commerce

  Visual commerce is the use of imagery, video, and interactive visual formats as the primary mechanism of an online purchase decision rather than as decoration around a text description. It covers shoppable imagery, 360-degree and 3D product views, augmented-reality placement and try-on, video product pages, and user-submitted photography surfaced alongside reviews.

• Visual content marketing

  Visual content marketing is the strategic use of images, videos, infographics, GIFs, interactive media, and other visual formats to attract, engage, and convert target audiences across digital channels. It is grounded in a simple neurological reality: the human brain processes visual information 60,000x faster than text, and 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.

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