40 marketing acronyms every UK business owner should know

Marketing is full of acronyms. This glossary covers the 40 terms UK business owners are most likely to encounter.

Acquisition Metrics

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) — The total cost of acquiring a new customer. Divide total sales and marketing spend by new customers gained.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) — The cost of acquiring one conversion at the campaign level.

CPL (Cost Per Lead) — Campaign spend divided by leads generated.

CPC (Cost Per Click) — What you pay each time someone clicks your ad.

CPM (Cost Per Mille) — Cost per 1,000 impressions. Used in display and brand awareness campaigns.

Revenue Metrics

LTV (Lifetime Value) — Total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your business. Also written as CLV.

AOV (Average Order Value) — Total revenue divided by number of orders.

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) — Revenue divided by total users. Common in SaaS.

MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) — Predictable monthly revenue from subscriptions or retainers.

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) — MRR multiplied by 12.

Funnel Stages

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) — A lead that has shown interest but not yet been assessed by sales.

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) — A lead confirmed as a genuine prospect by sales.

PQL (Product Qualified Lead) — A lead that has used your product and shown conversion-likely behaviour.

Advertising Metrics

ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) — Revenue divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4:1 means every pound spent generated four pounds in revenue.

CTR (Click-Through Rate) — Clicks divided by impressions, as a percentage.

CVR (Conversion Rate) — Percentage of visitors who completed a desired action.

CPV (Cost Per View) — Cost of one video view.

QS (Quality Score) — Google Ads rating of ad relevance and landing page quality, scored 1-10.

Web and SEO

DA (Domain Authority) — Moz score (1-100) predicting ranking likelihood.

DR (Domain Rating) — Ahrefs equivalent of DA.

CWV (Core Web Vitals) — Google metrics for page loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — Time for the largest visible element to load.

INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — How quickly a page responds to user interactions.

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) — The page of results after a search query.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) — Paid advertising on search engines.

PPC (Pay Per Click) — Advertising model where you pay per click.

Strategy and Planning

KPI (Key Performance Indicator) — A measurable value indicating progress toward an objective.

OKR (Objectives and Key Results) — A goal-setting framework.

USP (Unique Selling Proposition) — What makes your business different from competitors.

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) — Description of the customer most likely to benefit from your service.

TAM (Total Addressable Market) — Total market demand for your product or service.

SAM (Serviceable Available Market) — The portion of TAM you can realistically serve.

SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) — The portion of SAM you can realistically capture near-term.

Content and Social

CMS (Content Management System) — Software for managing website content (WordPress, Shopify, etc.).

UGC (User-Generated Content) — Content created by customers rather than the brand.

CTA (Call To Action) — A prompt encouraging the user to take action.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) — Software for managing customer interactions (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.).

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) — Structuring content for citation by AI tools. See our full guide to GEO.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important marketing metric for small businesses?

CAC and LTV. See our guide to CAC vs LTV vs payback period.

What does ROI mean in marketing?

Return On Investment. Profit generated divided by cost. CM Beyer clients average 2.7x ROI.