My name is Justine Marcil, and I have been a student in business management for three years. My glossary can help everyone who starts studying in this program or people whom English is not their first language and want to learn about business management.
There are ten terms, five about sales and five about marketing. I used different websites to find words we use on a daily-basis in the field to help everyone.
Abandoned cart
When a user adds a product to the online shopping cart of an e-commerce site but doesn’t proceed to checkout and complete the purchase.
Example: We send reminder emails to customers who have an abandoned cart to encourage them to complete their purchase.
fr: Panier abandonné
Advertorial
Advertising and editorial content combined. An advertorial brings the 2 formats together to educate readers about a product through an editorial-esque storytelling experience.
Example: The company published an advertorial in the magazine to promote its new product while providing helpful tips to readers.
fr: Publi-reportage
Bottom of the funnel
A stage of the buying process leads reach when they're just about to close into new customers. They've identified a problem, have shopped around for possible solutions, and are very close to buying.
Example: At the bottom of the funnel, our prospects have already explored their options, identified their problem, and are just about ready to become new customers.
fr: fond de l'entonnoir
Bounce rate
The percentage of visits to your website where only 1 page was viewed.
Example: We’re working to improve our website content because a high bounce rate means visitors are leaving without engaging.
fr: taux de rebond
buying criteria
All the information a consumer needs to make a buying decision. It can be written or unwritten, and often answers questions like, "what is it?; "why should I buy it?"; "what is the price?"; "why do I need it?" and so on.
Example: Before making a final decision, customers always compare their buying criteria, like price, features, and reliability, to choose the best option.
fr: critères d'achat
Classified advertising
Ads appearing on the same page and grouped into categories in a list-like format. Common categories are real estate, home services, clothing, and cars. Compared to display ads, classified ads usually don’t have images alongside the ad copy - and they’re less expensive.
Example: The local store used classified advertising in the newspaper to promote its seasonal sales and attract nearby customers.
fr: petites annonces
Closing ratio
The percentage of prospects that a sales rep successfully close-wins. This ratio is usually used to assess individual sales reps on their short-term performance, but it can also be used to evaluate profits, forecast sales, and so on. Improving a closing ratio usually requires efforts to bring better-qualified leads into the funnel.
Example: Improving my closing ratio helps me turn more qualified leads into actual customers.
fr: Rapport de clôture
commission
a payment, usually a percentage of a sale or service, earned by a salesperson or agent for completing a transaction, acting as an incentive on top of or instead of a regular salary to motivate performance and reward success in selling products or generating revenue.
Example: I earn a small commission for every product I sell.
fr: Commissions
Email automation
The use of predefined rules to trigger email messages based on specific actions customers take—or don’t take. Some examples include a welcome email that sends when a customer signs up for a mailing list, or a quick reminder that the customer placed something in their cart but never finished checking out. Email automation takes repetitive tasks off your to-do list to free up your time for other valuable tasks, such as responding to customer questions. It can help customers learn more about your brand, encourage them to keep coming back, or remind them of why they bought from you in the first place.
Example: We use email automation to send personalized messages to customers at the right time, helping nurture leads without manual effort.
fr: automatisation des emails
Flywheel
The flywheel is a new way of conceptualizing the sales process, replacing the funnel where customers are thought of as an output. The flywheel demonstrates that awareness, engagement, and delight can happen at any point during the customer journey and that the best way to achieve growth is to apply force and remove friction in each stage.
Example: By using the flywheel model, we focus on creating awareness, engagement, and delight at every stage of the customer journey while reducing friction so the business can keep growing.
fr: Le volant d'inertie marketing
Hashtag
A hash or pound sign (#) used after a word or phrase to label content and make it easier to find. Hashtags are common on social media and used to connect posts on related topics.
Example: We added a popular hashtag to our post to increase its visibility and reach a larger audience.
fr: hashtag
JavaScript
A coding language that works with HTML to make dynamic web page content possible. Contact forms, sign-in pages, and shopping carts are all brought to you courtesy of JavaScript. JavaScript is also a key player in responsive web design, which uses the same code for desktop and mobile devices, making the user experience (UX) seamless.
Example: We used JavaScript to make the website interactive, allowing users to click buttons and see content update instantly.
fr: JavaScript
Lifetime value
A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.
Example: Calculating a customer’s lifetime value lets us predict the total net profit we can expect from our entire future relationship with them.
fr: Valeur à vie
Net promoter score
A customer satisfaction metric that measures, on a scale of 0-10, the degree to which people would recommend your company to others. The NPS is derived from a simple survey designed to help you determine how loyal your customers are to your business.
Example: We track our net promoter score to measure how likely our customers are to recommend us to others, which reflects overall satisfaction and loyalty.
fr: score net du promoteur
Nonprofit marketing
Marketing with objectives that advance a nonprofit organization’s cause versus driving a business’s profitability. This is also referred to as “cause marketing.” Common goals for nonprofit marketing initiatives include raising awareness, increasing donations, and growing the number of volunteers.
Example: Nonprofit marketing helps organizations raise awareness, engage supporters, and encourage donations to support their mission.
fr: marketing à but non lucratif
Pipeline
The step-by-step process sales reps go through to convert a prospect into a customer. The sales pipeline is often divided into stages for each step in the sales process, and the sales rep is responsible for moving opportunities through the stages. It can also refer to a visual representation of the sales process, where every open opportunity is arranged based on the sales stage they're in.
Example: Our marketing team monitors the sales pipeline to see which leads are in each stage and ensure we’re nurturing them toward becoming customers.
fr: Pipeline commercial
Product lifecycle
The stages a product goes through during its time on the market. There are 4 stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The stage your product is in helps inform your marketing objectives and promotional mix.
Example: Understanding the product lifecycle helps our team plan marketing strategies for each stage, from introduction to growth, maturity, and eventual decline.
fr: cycle de vie du produit
Quota
A sales goal; a set amount of selling a sales rep is expect to meet over a given time frame, usually a month and/or quarter.
Example: Each month, I have a sales quota that I need to reach to stay on track.
fr: objectif de vente
Social selling
When sales reps use social media to interact directly with their prospects. They provide value by answering prospects' questions and offering thoughtful content until the prospect is ready to buy.
Example: By using social selling, I connect with potential customers on social media, build relationships, and guide them toward making a purchase.
fr: Vente sociale
Spam
The digital equivalent of junk mail. Spam can be an email, text message, social media direct message, or any other unwanted or unsolicited electronic communication. Marketers can ask people to actively opt into email lists and provide easy ways to unsubscribe to prevent their digital marketing communications from being considered spam.
Example: We make sure our emails follow best practices so they don’t end up in the customer’s spam folder.