A/B split -
Refers to a test situation in which a list is split into two halves with every other name being sent one specific creative, and vice versa. (See also Nth name).

Abandonment -
When a user leaves a shopping cart with something in it, prior to completing the transaction.

Above the fold -
The part of an Email message or Webpage that is visible without scrolling. Material in this area is considered more valuable because the reader sees it first. Also refers to a printing term for the top half of a newspaper above the fold. Unlike a newspaper, Email and Webpage fold locations aren’t predictable. Your fold may be affected by the users’ preview pane, monitor-size, monitor resolution, any headers placed by Email programs such as Hotmail, etc.

Acquisition cost -
In Email marketing, the cost to generate one lead, newsletter subscriber or customer in an individual Email campaign; typically, the total campaign expense divided by the number of leads, subscribers or customers it produced.

Ad activity -
This is an alternative to the click-through rate as a unit to measure the success of an Online ad campaign. Not every click in a Rich Media unit produces a click-through. When a viewer clicks on a Rich Media unit for example, a number of outcomes are possible, including expanding the unit, playing a Video or otherwise interacting with the unit. The call-to-action for a viewer to click-through competes with all other possible forms of interaction within the unit.

Ad copy -
The actual text of an advertisement that explains what product or service is being advertised (a media neutral term).

Ad exchange -
A virtual marketplace where participating suppliers auction their impressions to eligible buyers. The ad exchange announces each impressions, in real time, and asks buyers if they are interested to buy said impression and at which price.

Ad impression -
1) An ad which is served to a user’s browser. Ads can be requested by the user’s browser (referred to as pulled ads) or they can be pushed, such as e-mailed ads; 2) a measurement of responses by an ad delivery system to an ad request from the user’s browser, which is filtered from robotic activity and is recorded at a point as late as possible in the process of delivery of the creative material to the user’s browser — therefore closest to the actual opportunity to see by the user. Two methods are used to deliver ad content to the user – a) server-initiated and b) client-initiated.  Server-initiated ad counting uses the Online Publisher’s Web content server for making requests, formatting and re-directing content.  Client-initiated ad counting relies on the user’s browser to perform these activities. (See www.iab.net for details concerning ad campaign, broadband Video and Rich Media measurement guidelines).

Ad interaction -
A popular measure of Rich Media campaign performance. The metric places value on interactions within a unit, even if they do not result in a click-through. Interactions are captured when the user does one or more of the following: Clicks an Exit link, Makes the ad display in Full Screen mode, Mouses over the ad. (See Ad Activity).

Ad interaction rate -
The ratio of Rich Media ad interactions to the number of Rich Media ad impressions displayed.  

Ad interaction time -
The average amount of time, in seconds, that users interact with a Rich Media ad. Multiple interactions with an ad during a single ad view are aggregated.

Ad request -
The request for an advertisement as a direct result of a user’s action, as recorded by the ad server. Ad requests can come directly from the user’s browser or from an intermediate Internet resource, such as a Web content server.

Ad server -
Technology that stores display advertisements, delivers them to website visitors in a way that would maximize the Advertiser’s (or Publisher’s) revenue, monitor campaigns and create reports.

Ad serving -
The delivery of ads by a server to an end user’s computer on which the ads are then displayed by a browser and/or cached. Ad serving is normally performed either by a Web Publisher, or by a third-party ad server. Ads can be embedded in the page or served separately.

Ad stream -
The series of ads displayed by the user during a single visit to a site (also impression stream).  

Ad tag (Publisher) -
A script calling an ad from an ad server via an URL. The tag, for organization and accuracy purpose, should contain, at the very least, the following information: page content theme, ad size which should be displayed in this ad slot and a cache busting random number to minimize impression discrepancy.

Advertising network (Ad network) -
An Online aggregator or broker of advertising inventory for many sites. Ad networks act as sales representatives for the Websites within their networks, whereby ads are bought centrally by media buyers and displayed on multiple Websites that contract with individual Ad Networks, for a share of revenue generated by ads served on their site.

Ad verification -
A service that confirms if an ad ran only where it was intended to by the Advertiser. Often used to ensure brand safety, so that an ad does not appear in an inappropriate place or site. Vendors include AdSafe, AdXpose, Evidon, and DoubleVerify.

Affiliate marketing -
An agreement between two sites in which one site (the affiliate) agrees to feature content or an ad designed to drive traffic to another site. In return, the affiliate receives a percentage of sales or some other form of compensation generated by that traffic.  

Affirmative consent -
An active request by an Online viewer or subscriber to receive advertising or promotional information, newsletters, etc. Generally affirmative consent does not included the following — failing to uncheck a pre-checked box on a Web form, entering a business relationship with an organization without being asked for separate permission to be sent specific types of Email, in other words lack of an ‘opt-out’ mechanism.  

Agency Trading Desk (ATD) -
A department or arm of an Agency that oversees programmatic buying. Many Agency holding companies have trading desks.

Aggregated information -
Data combined from many individual users that can’t identify anyone personally.

Alert -
Email message that notifies subscribers of an event or special price.

Algorithm -
The programming technology that a Search engine uses to deliver results to a query. Search engines may utilize several algorithms in tandem to deliver a page of Search results or keyword-targeted ads.

Alternate text -
A word or phrase that is displayed when a user has image loading disabled in their browser or when a user abandons a page by hitting “stop” in their browser, prior to the transfer of all images.  Also appears as “balloon text” when a user lets their mouse rest over an image.

Analytics -
A broad term referring to data analysis; used in PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Online advertising for example, to help determine the quality and success rates of specific pay per click advertising campaigns.

Anchor text -
The clickable text part of a hyperlink. The text usually gives visitors or Search engines important information on what the page being linked to is about.

Animated GIF -
An animation created by combining multiple GIF images in one file. The result is multiple images, displayed one after another, that give the appearance of movement.

Animation -
A programmatically generated display of sequential images, creating the illusion that objects in the image are moving. Not digital Video, as it relates to this document (see below for digital Video).

Anonymizer -
An intermediary which prevents Websites from seeing a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Anonymous information -
Facts that don’t identify a person specifically, such as age group and gender.

API -
An API (Application Programming Interface) allows a software application to interact with the operating system of another software application.

App -
Short for “application.” In social terms, an app may be a mobile or web-based app that enables social functions, e.g. Facebook’s mobile app for iPhone.

Attachment -
A text, Video, graphic, PDF or sound file that accompanies an Email message but is not included in the message itself. Attachments are not an ideal way to send Email newsletters, because many ISPs, Email clients and individual Email recipients do not allow attachments, since hackers can use them to deliver viruses and other malicious code.

Attribute -
A single piece of information known about a user and stored in a behavioral profile which may be used to match ad content to users. Attributes consist of demographic information (age, gender, geographical location), segment or cluster information (auto enthusiast), and retargeting information (visited Site X two days ago).

Attribution modelling -
A mathematical process for linking marketing activities to outcomes such as online or offline product purchases. Attribution modeling typically analyzes the degree to which different blends of media exposure, across different channels, generate different bottom-line results in order to establish causality and properly credit each media channel for its impact on the final outcome. For example, users exposed to $100K of display media only may generate 1,000 conversions that can be directly attributed to the display campaign, but also generate a measurable lift in searches and in offline sales that lead to further impact.

Audience activity -
Audience activity generally consists of counts of Internet users accessing content and/or advertising through one or more Internet applications such as a browser or a browser equivalent, filtered to remove suspected non-human activity.

Audience intelligence (AI) -
The use of 1st and 3rd party data to determine an Advertiser’s audience.

Audit -
Third party validation by qualified auditing firms of server log activity and/or measurement process associated with Internet activity/advertising. Activity Audits validate measurement counts, including the fairness by which a company’s adserving statistics are presented.  Process audits validate internal controls associated with measurement. The latter can include testing an organization’s technology, process, and data as it relates to the underlying ad serving system.

Audio -
The audible file that accompanies ads. Advertising audio should never play without user-initiation.

Audio postcard -
Digital postcard with audio embedded in it.

Authentication -
An automated process that verifies an Email sender’s identity.

Auto bidding -
The opposite of Fixed Bidding in paid Search campaigns. A type of keyword bidding in which an Advertiser sets a maximum bid for a specific keyword, but may pay less for each clickthrough of that keyword. For example, if Advertiser A bid $0.10 on a keyword, but the next highest bid (Advertiser B) on that keyword is $0.05, then Advertiser A will pay only $0.06 for each clickthrough. However, if Advertiser B changes his/her bid from $0.05 to $0.09, then Advertiser A will pay the full $0.10 (Advertiser A’s maximum bid) for each clickthrough.

Autoresponder -
Automated Email message-sending capability, such as a welcome message sent to all new subscribers the minute they join a list. May be triggered by joins, unsubscribes, or even all Email sent to a particular mailbox. May be more than a single message:  can be a series of date or event-triggered Emails.