Learn the language behind the revenue.

A

Absolute effect

The measured difference in the original unit between an exposed group and a baseline, such as twenty additional approved sales.

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Accepted lead

A submitted prospect that meets documented criteria and can enter the sales process.

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Advertiser

The brand or merchant funding a campaign, affiliate programme or paid placement.

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Affiliate

A person or organisation that promotes an advertiser and may earn a commission when an agreed action occurs.

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Affiliate link

A trackable URL that identifies the referring partner and attributes eligible clicks or conversions.

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Affiliate network

An intermediary platform connecting advertisers and publishers while supporting tracking, reporting and payments.

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Approval lag

The time between a recorded conversion and the final approval or rejection decision.

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Approval rate

The percentage of recorded conversions that are accepted as eligible and payable after validation.

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Assisted conversion

A conversion in which a channel or partner contributed to the journey without receiving the final attribution credit.

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Attribution

The rules used to assign credit for a conversion across one or more marketing touchpoints.

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Attribution precedence

The written rule that decides which eligible signal, such as a click or assigned code, receives credit when signals conflict.

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Audit trail

A dated sequence of records showing how a conversion, commission or programme decision was created and changed.

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B

Banner

A visual advertising asset supplied in standard or responsive sizes for placement on a website or app.

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Brand bidding

Paid-search activity in which affiliates bid on an advertiser’s brand terms, subject to programme rules.

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C

Chargeback

The reversal of a previously recorded sale or commission after a refund, cancellation or invalid transaction.

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Click ID

A unique identifier attached to a click so that later events can be matched to the original visit.

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Click injection

An abusive technique that inserts a click immediately before a conversion in an attempt to claim attribution.

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Code leakage

Use or publication of a promotional code beyond the audience or placement for which it was issued; it needs investigation before any payment decision.

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Commission

The amount paid to a partner for an approved sale, lead, click or other agreed outcome.

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Commission base

The eligible amount to which the commission rate applies after programme-defined inclusions, exclusions and discounts.

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Commission leakage

Commission paid on ineligible, duplicate or otherwise incorrectly approved outcomes.

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Commission reconciliation

The comparison of approved conversions, ledger entries, invoices and payments so every difference can be explained.

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Content commerce

Editorial content that helps an audience make a commercial decision and may generate advertising, affiliate or retail revenue.

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Content freshness

The degree to which published product claims, prices, links and availability still match current evidence.

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Conversion

A completed action that has business value, such as a sale, subscription, lead or app install.

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Conversion rate

The percentage of visitors or clicks that complete the target action.

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Conversion validation

The documented process used to approve, reject or reverse a recorded conversion under programme rules.

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Cookie

A small browser value that may store identifiers or preferences; its use can be subject to consent rules.

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Counterfactual

An estimate of what would probably have happened without the partner, campaign or change being evaluated.

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Coupon attribution

Rules that decide whether a coupon, code or related interaction receives credit for a conversion.

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CPA

Cost per action or acquisition: spend divided by the number of approved target actions.

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CPC

Cost per click: the price paid for each recorded click.

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CPL

Cost per lead: the price paid for each lead meeting the agreed validation criteria.

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CPM

Cost per mille: the price paid for one thousand ad impressions.

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Creative

Any approved promotional asset, including banners, copy, product images, video or landing-page modules.

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Creator brief

A concise document setting the objective, audience, supportable claims, deliverables, constraints and editorial freedom.

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D

Decision register

A dated record of a decision, its context, owner, supporting evidence and planned review date.

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Decision rights

An explicit allocation of programme decisions to an owner, contributors, approvers and an escalation route.

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Deduplication

The process of preventing the same conversion from being credited to multiple channels or partners.

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Deep link

A link that sends a user to a specific product, category or in-app destination rather than a homepage.

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Delivery retry

Another delivery attempt following a failure or missing response. Timing, limits and conditions depend on the provider.

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Disclosure

A clear statement informing an audience that content contains advertising, sponsorship or affiliate links.

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Display advertising

Visual ads delivered across websites or apps in standard, responsive, native or rich-media formats.

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E

Editorial independence

The ability to apply consistent criteria, explain limitations and reach conclusions without commercial pressure determining the outcome.

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EPC

Earnings per click: commission revenue divided by the number of clicks, often shown as an average.

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Event identifier

A reference identifying a message or event, including repeated delivery; it does not replace the order identifier.

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Evidence register

A list of claims or findings with their source, owner, capture date and known limitation.

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Exclusive promo code

A code assigned to a specified partner or audience under documented use and attribution rules.

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F

False positive

A legitimate interaction or conversion incorrectly identified by a control as suspicious or invalid.

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Feed latency

The delay between a change in the source catalogue and the same change appearing in a partner's usable product data.

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First-party data

Information collected directly by an organisation through its own audience relationships and properties.

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Flat fee

A fixed payment for a placement, deliverable or campaign, independent of tracked performance.

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Frequency cap

A rule limiting how often the same user is shown an advertisement within a defined period.

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G

Geo-targeting

Restricting or adapting a campaign according to a user’s country, region or other location signal.

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Geo experiment

A test comparing sufficiently similar exposed and control regions to estimate the effect of an intervention.

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H

Holdout group

A population intentionally not exposed to the tested intervention so it can represent outcomes without that intervention.

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I

Ideal partner profile

A documented description of the partner suited to a particular audience, market and role in the customer journey.

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Idempotency

A property where repeating an operation with the same data within its defined scope does not create another business effect. API keys and message deduplication have different scopes.

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Impression

A recorded instance of an advertisement or creative being served.

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Incrementality

The additional outcomes caused by a marketing activity beyond what would likely have happened anyway.

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Incremental lift

The estimated difference between the outcome observed with an intervention and the counterfactual expected without it.

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Influencer marketing

Commercial collaboration with creators who communicate to an established audience.

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L

Landing-page consistency

The degree to which a promoted product's title, variant, price, availability and claims match its destination page.

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Landing page

The destination page designed to receive campaign traffic and encourage a specific action.

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Last-click attribution

A model assigning conversion credit to the final eligible marketing click before the action.

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Lead

A person or organisation that has expressed interest and supplied information for follow-up.

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Lifetime value

The estimated net value generated by a customer over the duration of the relationship.

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Localisation

The adaptation of content, products and operations to the language, customs, rules and expectations of a market.

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M

Market readiness

The combined preparation of demand, customer journey, margin, partners, payments, support and regulatory requirements.

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N

Native advertising

Paid content designed to fit the format and experience of the surrounding publisher environment.

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Net contribution

Eligible revenue minus relevant variable costs, commissions and programme operating costs.

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O

Offer

The commercial proposition, commission and rules made available to eligible partners.

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Operating cadence

The shared schedule of controls, reviews and conversations required to run a programme consistently.

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Out-of-order event

An event received in a different sequence from business operations, such as a refund processed locally before its order has been recorded.

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P

Paid amplification

The use of media budget to distribute organic creator content under agreed rights and duration.

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Partner

A broad term covering affiliates, creators, publishers, referrers, resellers and technology integrations.

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Partner activation

The first milestone proving that an approved partner is contributing, such as a live placement, qualified traffic or validated conversion.

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Partner cohort

A group of partners joining in the same period or sharing a defined characteristic, tracked to compare activation and results.

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Partner cohort analysis

A comparison of partners grouped by joining period or shared characteristics to understand activation and quality over time.

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Partner concentration

The share of approved programme value supplied by one partner or a small group of partners.

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Payment batch

A group of validated commissions prepared for release through the same payment operation.

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Payout threshold

The minimum approved balance required before a platform releases a payment.

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Performance marketing

Marketing in which spending and optimisation are linked to measurable outcomes.

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Pipeline value

The estimated value of open commercial opportunities, interpreted with their probability and stage.

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Postback

A server-to-server message that reports a conversion or status change without relying only on browser storage.

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Price mismatch

A difference between the price supplied to partners and the price a customer sees or can pay on the destination page.

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Product variant

A sellable version of a parent product, such as one size or colour, with its own availability and often its own identifier.

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Publisher

A website, app, media owner or creator that distributes content and can monetise audience attention.

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Q

Quality scorecard

A set of defined measures and evidence used to review partner value, traffic quality and operational reliability.

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R

Randomisation

The assignment of units to groups by chance to reduce systematic differences between the groups being compared.

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Reason code

A standard label that explains why a conversion, payment or account decision was made.

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Reconciliation gap

An unexplained difference between platform conversions, approved orders, commission records or payments.

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Recruitment funnel

The defined stages through which a prospective partner moves from identification to qualification, onboarding and activation.

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Referral programme

A system rewarding customers or advocates for introducing new users or buyers.

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Relative effect

A change expressed as a percentage of the baseline, interpreted together with the absolute effect and uncertainty.

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Revenue share

A commission calculated as a percentage of eligible revenue.

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Reversal rate

The percentage of recorded conversions later cancelled, rejected or removed from payable results.

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ROAS

Return on ad spend: attributed revenue divided by advertising spend.

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ROI

Return on investment: net return compared with the total cost of the activity.

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Rule version

A reference identifying conditions applied to an operation so a historical calculation can be reproduced after rate changes.

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S

Sales handoff

The documented transfer of a lead to sales with context, response time and a feedback status.

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Scale gate

A set of minimum conditions agreed before a pilot to decide whether a market or activity should be expanded.

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SKU

A merchant's internal stock-keeping unit used to distinguish a sellable item or variant; it should map consistently to catalogue and order records.

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Source of truth

The agreed record used to settle a measure when several systems report different values.

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Sub-affiliate

A partner that operates its own network of traffic sources or publishers under a primary account.

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T

Test contamination

A situation in which the control group is exposed to the tested intervention, reducing the ability to measure a reliable difference.

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Time to activation

The duration between partner approval and the first activation milestone defined by the programme.

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Time to first value

The duration before a newly onboarded partner or customer achieves the first meaningful outcome beyond account creation.

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Timing difference

A temporary mismatch created when closing, validation, invoicing and payment dates do not align.

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Tracking pixel

A small resource request used to report page views or events; deployment may require consent.

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Tracking test

A documented customer journey used to confirm that an eligible event is recorded, attributed and deduplicated correctly.

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Tracking window

The period after an eligible interaction during which a conversion may be attributed.

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Traffic quality

The degree to which visits and actions are genuine, relevant, policy-compliant and capable of producing approved business value.

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Transcreation

Creative adaptation that preserves the purpose and cultural relevance of a message instead of translating its words literally.

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U

Usage licence

Permission defining where, for how long and in which formats content may be reproduced or promoted.

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UTM parameters

URL parameters commonly used to label campaign source, medium, campaign, term and content in analytics.

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V

Validation hold

A temporary state in which a conversion remains under review before approval or rejection.

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Validation period

The time during which an advertiser reviews conversions before approving or rejecting commission.

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Viewability

A measurement of whether an ad had a reasonable opportunity to be seen on screen.

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