eCommerce Glossary
Plain-English definitions of every Klaviyo, Shopify, paid media, attribution, and AI search term DTC operators actually need. Maintained by a Klaviyo Gold Partner agency running 150+ brands.
Klaviyo & Email
Abandoned Cart Flow
The 2-4 email sequence triggered when a customer starts checkout but does not complete. Typically the highest revenue per recipient.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
A cryptographic signature added to email headers that proves the message was sent by an authorized server. Required for deliverability.
DMARC
A DNS policy telling inbox providers what to do if a message fails SPF or DKIM checks (reject, quarantine, monitor).
Email Deliverability
The probability that your email reaches the inbox instead of spam or the promotions tab. Driven by sender reputation, authentication, and engagement.
Flow (Email/SMS)
An automated sequence of messages triggered by a customer action — welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, etc.
GDPR Compliance
EU privacy regulation governing personal data collection, consent, and processing. Applies to any brand selling to EU residents.
Klaviyo
A behavioral email and SMS platform purpose-built for eCommerce, with native Shopify integration and event-level customer data.
List Hygiene (Email)
The ongoing process of removing inactive, bounced, and spam-trap email addresses to protect sender reputation.
Segmentation (Email)
Splitting your email list into groups based on behavior, profile, or purchase data so each group receives relevant messaging.
SMS Marketing (DTC)
Direct text messaging to opted-in subscribers. Higher conversion than email per send, but higher cost-per-send and compliance constraints.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
A DNS record that authorizes which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain. Required for deliverability.
TCPA Compliance (SMS)
US federal law governing SMS marketing — requires express written consent before sending commercial texts.
Welcome Flow
The 3-7 email sequence sent when a new subscriber joins your list. The single highest-ROI flow in most Klaviyo accounts.
Shopify & eCommerce
Checkout Extensibility (Shopify)
Shopify Plus's modern checkout customization model using web pixels, UI extensions, and Functions — replacing the deprecated checkout.liquid.
Product Feed
A structured data file (typically XML or CSV) that exports your product catalog to ad platforms, marketplaces, and shopping engines.
Shopify Functions
Server-side WebAssembly modules that run custom logic at checkout — discounts, shipping rules, payment customizations, validation.
Shopify Migration
Moving an eCommerce store from another platform (WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce) to Shopify or Shopify Plus.
Shopify Plus
Shopify's enterprise tier for brands above ~$1M ARR. Adds checkout extensibility, B2B, multi-store, dedicated launch manager, higher API limits.
Paid Media
AOV (Average Order Value)
Total revenue divided by total orders in a period.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Total marketing spend divided by new customers acquired in the same period.
CAPI (Meta Conversions API)
Server-side event tracking from your store to Meta, replacing browser pixel events lost to iOS privacy changes and ad blockers.
Google Shopping (Performance Max)
Google's automated shopping campaign type that places product ads across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps based on your feed.
LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
The total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your brand.
MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)
Total revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. The cleanest profitability proxy at the business level.
Meta Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns
Meta's machine-learning-driven shopping campaign type that automates targeting, placements, and creative testing.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Revenue generated divided by ad spend. A 4x ROAS means $4 in revenue for every $1 spent.
SEO & AI Search
AI Search
Search delivered by AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Bing Copilot. Cites sources directly in answers.
Core Web Vitals
Google's performance metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
E-E-A-T
Google's quality framework: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Heavily weighted on YMYL content.
FAQPage Schema
JSON-LD structured data that marks question-and-answer blocks on a page so search engines and AI tools can extract them.
HowTo Schema
JSON-LD structured data marking procedural content as step-by-step instructions, eligible for Google rich results and AI citation.
Internal Linking
Hyperlinks from one page on your site to another. Distributes ranking authority and helps search engines understand topic structure.
JSON-LD
A JavaScript Object Notation format for Linked Data — the preferred method for embedding schema.org markup in HTML.
llms.txt
A proposed standard file at /llms.txt that gives AI agents a curated, condensed view of your most important content.
Pillar / Cluster Content Model
A content architecture: one comprehensive pillar page on a broad topic, linked to many narrow cluster posts on subtopics.
robots.txt
A file at the site root telling crawlers which paths they may or may not access.
Schema.org Structured Data
A shared vocabulary of structured data markup understood by Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Claude, and most AI agents.
Speakable Schema
Schema.org markup indicating which parts of a page are best suited for voice assistants to read aloud.
Topical Authority
A search engine's assessment of how comprehensively your site covers a topic. Drives ranking on long-tail queries within the topic.
Analytics & Attribution
Attribution
The model used to assign credit for a conversion across the marketing touchpoints that influenced it.
First-Party Data
Customer data you collect directly (purchases, behaviors, preferences) — owned, durable, and immune to third-party cookie loss.
GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Google's current analytics platform — event-based, privacy-focused, replaced Universal Analytics in July 2023.
Incrementality
The revenue that would not have happened without a specific marketing channel running. The cleanest measure of true channel value.
Server-Side Tracking
Tracking implementation where events are sent from your server (not the browser) to ad platforms and analytics tools.
Tracking Pixel
A small JavaScript snippet (or 1x1 image) embedded on a page that fires events back to an ad platform or analytics tool.
UTM Parameters
Query-string tags appended to URLs (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term) to track traffic source.
Conversion & UX
AOV Bundling
Combining multiple products at a small discount to lift average order value while improving margin per order.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
The systematic process of testing and improving the percentage of site visitors who complete a desired action.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
A Core Web Vital measuring how long the largest above-the-fold element takes to render. Target: under 2.5 seconds.
Retention (DTC)
The rate at which existing customers continue purchasing. Drives LTV and lowers blended CAC payback.
Shop Pay
Shopify's accelerated checkout that one-clicks a shopper using stored payment and address data across all Shopify stores.
Subscription Commerce
Recurring auto-shipment of consumable products. Highest-LTV business model for DTC categories with replenishment cadence.
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