If you’re new to the crazy world of marketing your products online, you may be confused by the myriad of slang terms used to describe parts of the system.

Don’t quite have the grasp of the internet marketing terms yet? Never fear, we’re happy to explain.  This article breaks down some of the most common ones!

Campaign

This is an all encompassing term that includes every touch point from a lead “opting-in” to receive marketing messages from you, up to making the initial sale. Typically a campaign will include a lot of ‘value-giving’ emails (and possibly other forms of media) that build trust with a prospect and move them towards being ready to buy something from you.

Follow-Up Sequence

A follow-up sequence is typically a chain of time-delayed emails that are sent to a lead or customer after they have taken a particular action, such as opting-in to a web form.  Follow up sequences are commonly seen as a sub-component of a campaign.

Opt-In

An opt-in is a confirmation from a lead that they are allowing you to send them marketing messages. Typically this is done in online marketing with a “Web Form” in which the website lead trades their information (typically name & email address) for some item of value that you are providing them (e-book, newsletter, video, etc.).

Single Opt-In

A single opt-in occurs when a lead fills out information to receive marketing messages from you. It is an agreement that it’s okay for you to send them information.

Double Opt-In

A double opt-in builds upon a single opt-in by sending a confirmation email to the lead asking for the lead to click a link that verifies the email provided is correct and it’s okay to send marketing information to the email address. Typically a double opt-in will reduce the number of bounces and spam complaints you receive because the lead truly wants to receive more information from you.

Web Form

A web form is used to collect information from visitors to your website. Typically there is an exchange that takes place where visitors trade their personal information for something of value to them (informational ebook, DVDs, videos, etc.).

Landing Page

A landing page is typically referring to the page where someone first “lands” when they visit your website.  For example, if you have a link to your website home page on one of your social media pages, that would be considered a landing page.  The theory is to design your landing page to have a specific outcome (i.e. offer a product for sale, “squeeze” an email address or other contact information from a lead, etc.).

These outcomes are generated by creating a strong “Call to Action” (CTA) – which is just another way to say that you explicitly tell the visitor exactly what to do on the page (i.e. “Enter your email to receive X”).

Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a page designed specifically to capture contact information from a lead visiting your website.  Most commonly, a squeeze page will ask for an email address, or name + email address in exchange for a free gift (such as a newsletter subscription, e-book for download, video series, etc).

There are two basic types of Squeeze Pages – Hard Squeezes and Soft Squeezes.  Hard squeeze pages ask for contact information and don’t offer any options on the page other than submitting your information – you either enter your info or leave the page.  Soft squeeze pages also ask for information, but additionally offer you links or other to-do items on the page for people who don’t want to enter their information just yet.

Sales Page

A sales page is a web page specifically designed for one action – to get the prospect interested enough in the product offering to click through to a page where they can enter their billing details to make a purchase.  There are 3 common strategies for creating a sales page on the internet these days:

• Long form sales page – this is a page that scrolls down through quite a long amount of written copy, most often with several Call to Action buttons offering a chance to purchase the product.  Typically these pages will also contain testimonials, product details, guarantee details about the product, and other supporting information to get the sale.
• Short form sales page – this is a strategy very similar to the long form sales page, except the content is typically very short with only one or two Call to Action buttons leading to a checkout page.
• Video sales letter page – these pages are typically very simple, typically just a video on the top of the page (commonly set to “auto play” when someone visits the page), and a Call to Action button that links to a checkout page.  Often the call to action button is also delayed so that the checkout button is only displayed after the product offering has been mentioned in the video.
• Hybrid video sales letter / copy – in some cases, marketers will combine a video sales letter at the top of the sales page, with supporting copy writing and multiple Call to Action buttons below the video.

Split Testing (aka A/B testing)

You may wonder “how do I know which version of the sales page options to use?” – the best answer is to test a few options by creating different sales pages and splitting traffic to go to each page, then review the results.  Google Analytics has a free tool called “Content Experiments”  that can help you facilitate this testing.  One precaution: make sure that you send enough traffic to each version of the page to prove that the results are significant!  Here’s an article we wrote to help you understand the difference regarding statistical significance. 

Tagging

One of the most powerful functions of Infusionsoft is its tagging abilities. Tags are placed on contacts in your database, typically set automatically, based on rules that you set up. For example if a lead buys a product from you, you can apply a tag to denote them as a “buyer”. The power comes when you tag nearly every action that a lead takes in your business.

For example, suppose a website visitor comes to a particular page and opts-in to your funnel. Apply a tag to note which opt-in brought the lead into your funnel. Next, the lead signs up for a webinar that you are hosting. Tag them as registered for the webinar. But what if during the webinar they don’t take you up on your sales offer? Tag them as didn’t purchase from webinar. Now since this has been happening automatically in Infusionsoft for you (you just set the rules, and it takes care of the rest), you have a list of specific leads to follow up with (people tagged as “registered for webinar” AND “didn’t purchase”).

Segmentation

Segmentation is the ability to split off chunks of your email list based on some data that you have collected. For example, if you are running a local live event in Los Angeles, you might not want to blast updates about the event to your entire list – just those living around the Los Angeles area! The more data you collect from your leads and customers, the more chances you have to intelligently segment your list.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is your solution for keeping all of the data about your leads, prospects, and customers in one place and well organized. Infusionsoft offers extensive built-in ‘fields’ of data you can collect for each contact in your database, as well as 100 custom fields for extra information.

Cross-selling

Cross-selling refers to making an offer on a complimentary product after a customer has very recently purchased a product from you. Typically cross-sell offers are similar in value/price to the original offer. Think “would you like fries with that burger?”.

Up-selling

Up-selling is similar to cross-selling except it usually involves offering a big upgrade to the product your customer just bought. Think “would you like to supersize that order?”. A common way this is done in internet marketing is to offer a continuity membership program to a customer who just bought an e-book from you.

Down-selling

Down-selling is similar to up-selling except that it usually involves offering a product that is less costly/valuable than the previous offer. Down-sells typically occur after a customer has chosen not to purchase an up-sell. For example, suppose your original offer is an e-book. Then after your customer buys, your up-sell is a premium priced membership program. If they turn down your up-sell, you offer them a down-sell offer of a lower priced version of the membership program that may be less extensive but more affordable for your new customer.