Glossary of terms

General concepts

1-to-many relationship – Associate one object with multiple object-related data. For example, you can associate one organization with multiple contracts.
API (Application Programming Interface) – Specifies how some software components should interact with each other, such as accessing a database or computer hardware, or easing the work of programming graphical user interface components. APIs often are in the form of a library that includes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables.
BAU (Business As Usual)
BLOB (Binary Large Object) – A BLOB provider is a framework that developers design to store large amounts of binary data in a more optimized and cost-effective solution, such as cloud storage, instead of in a database. Optimizely uses it for the asset system in CMS.
CaaS (Content as a Service) – A delivery model where content is provided through APIs, letting developers consume and display content on any platform or device without being tied to a specific presentation layer.
CSV (Comma-Separated Values) – Tabular data in a plain text file separated by a comma character.
DXP (Digital Experience Platform) – A comprehensive platform that provides a broad set of integrated technologies to support the creation, management, delivery, and optimization of digital experiences across various channels.
GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) – A lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate.
LLM (Large Language Model) – A type of artificial intelligence model designed to understand, generate, and manipulate human language.
many-to-1 relationship – Associate multiple object-related data with a single object. For example, you associate multiple contacts with a single organization.
many-to-many relationship – Associate multiple object-related data with multiple objects. For example, you can associate different Store Keeping Unit (SKUs) with one or more Warehouses for tracking and storage.
NLP (Natural Language Processing) – A subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics that focuses on the interaction between computers and humans through natural language.
ROI (Return On Investment)
RSS (RDF Site Summary / Really Simple Syndication) – A standard for distributing information from one website to another. Optimizely often uses it for distributing news feeds.
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) – The world's primary time standard regulating clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean solar time at 0° longitude, and the system does not adjust it for daylight saving time.
version control – A system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later, essential for collaborative content editing.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) – An open international standard for structuring and transferring data between systems.

Architecture

.NET – The .NET (ASP.NET) Framework is a software framework that Microsoft primarily developed for Windows. It includes a large programming library and supports several programming languages. Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) uses the Microsoft .NET framework.
add-on / app – Also known as an add-on, it is short for application. An app is a plug-in or module that Optimizely or its partners developed to extend the capabilities of Optimizely. Optimizely developers install add-ons.
CDA (Content Delivery API) – An API specifically designed for retrieving content from CMS for display on various front-end applications, often optimized for performance and caching.
CMA (Content Management API) – An API used for programmatic interaction with CMS, letting external systems or tools create, update, and manage content.
DDS (Dynamic Data Store) – A component offering an API and infrastructure for the saving, loading, and searching of compile-time data types (.NET object instances) and runtime data types (property bags). Optimizely ships the component as part of the Framework package.
Optimizely Graph – A unified API layer that provides access to content from various Optimizely products, enabling headless content delivery and flexible content consumption across different channels.
rendering engine – The software component responsible for processing content and templates to generate the final output (such as, HTML for a webpage).

Content Management (CMS)

ACL (Access Control List) – Optimizely user permissions to access system processes and operations.
access rights – Controls what a visitor can view and what an editor can do to content on a website. Access rights include Read, Create, Change, Delete, Publish, and Administer.
admin view – Where administrators manage access rights, website languages, scheduled jobs, export and import of data between websites, and configure websites in a multi-site solution. (See edit view for comparison.)
approval sequence – Defines the steps and reviewers who review and approve content or certain changes (such as changes to access rights, language settings, and so on).
asset – Content such as documents, videos, and images that you can link to other content such as pages, blocks, and catalog entries.
assets pane – Customizable placeholder for assets, where you can drag and drop images, blocks, files, or products into a CMS page and see non-visible settings for the content.
autosave – Saves the page every minute by default, ensuring your work will not disappear if a sudden crash of the system or browser occurs. Your organization might have other settings configured for autosave.
block – Shared, reusable content, such as an image banner, a page listing, or a video, that you can insert into one or more pages. If you edit a block's content, it updates every page on which it was inserted.
block-based editing – A content editing paradigm where pages are constructed using reusable content blocks, offering editors flexibility in layout and design while maintaining consistency.
block type – A type of block, such as campaign teasers and banners, videos, news feeds, and contact forms. A block type contains a set of properties, a visual representation, and editing capabilities. It has no URL.
breadcrumb – The path to the current page within the website structure. Breadcrumbs are clickable for backtracking.
category (Optimizely Content Management System) – An Optimizely property you apply to content, but must build the functionality to display the filtered results.
content area – Where you can drag and drop pages and blocks and create a block. A link collection has a similar area for creating links.
content reference – A property type in CMS that lets one content item (for example, a page or block) to link to or embed another content item, establishing relationships within the content structure.
content type – CMS content types: folders, pages, blocks, and assets (media files). Commerce: CMS content types plus catalogs.
content type builder – A tool or interface within CMS that lets users to define and manage the structure of their content, including fields, properties, and relationships, without writing code.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) – A file type that defines the appearance and layout of the website, containing fonts, colors, and so on.
customer – A site visitor who has purchased on your website.
developer – Writes code to implement some features of the website, especially integrations with other systems and customizations of basic functionality.
edit view – A user interface section where you edit content items, such as pages and blocks. (See admin view for comparison.)
gadget – A small application component responsible for its rendering and behavior, that users can access from the dashboard or the panes in the CMS user interface.
front-end framework – A collection of pre-written code (such as React, Vue, Angular) that provides a foundation for building user interfaces, commonly used with headless CMS implementations.
global menu – Group of options that displays in the uppermost part of the user interface when you log in.
headless CMS – A content management system where the content repository is decoupled from the presentation layer ("head"). This lets content be delivered through APIs to any front-end experience.
internal link – A web page link to another page on the website.
localization – The process of adapting content and user interfaces to specific languages, cultures, and regions, often involving translation and cultural adjustments.
master language – The language in which editors create the first version of content.
media – Files such as an image, a PDF, a Word document, a video, or an MP3 file.
metadata – Information about information. he meta-descriptions for content search engines pick up, or metadata for media, such as images or documents.
navigation panel – Contains the page tree structure, language branches, tasks, and project items of the website.
occasional editor – An individual who occasionally changes web page content.
on-page editing view – Where you can edit selected properties for content in a WYSIWYG-like view.
OpenID – Standard for using an existing account to sign in to multiple websites.
operation – An operation is the unit of an API method and an API endpoint.
page template – Generates the output of the web page and controls how the content editors enter displays to visitors. Developers connect a page template to one or more page types.
page type – Editors use a page type when creating content, and it contains a set of fields (properties) such as page title and main body.
partner – An organization that specializes in building websites for clients.
property – The field in a page type where you can enter information such as the title of the page, the author name, or a main body area where editors add text and images.
quick edit view – You can use the Quick Edit view when updating blocks. It lets you see all relevant block properties in one dialog box, and you do not have to leave the page context.
rich-text editor – Utility for editing the content of web pages.
root – The parent of all folders in a file system.
scheduled publish/unpublish – A feature that lets editors to set specific dates and times for content to automatically become visible or hidden on the website.
SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) – Network protocol for secure data transfer.
start menu – Main page in the classic Optimizely Campaign user interface, where Optimizely groups the options together.
thread – Execution string or execution order of processes, such as API requests.
top menu – The top menu displays in the uppermost part of the user interface when you log in.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) – Also known as a web address.
user – Logs into a website to manage and administer content and products.
WCM (Web Content Management) – A system and procedures for managing online content.
WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)

Commerce Connect

account – A user account you create with a contact to which you can assign roles and access privileges in Commerce Manager.
bundle – A collection of packages, products, and variants (SKUs) that let customers purchase two or more items at once.
cart – A collection of products that a website customer selects with the intention of completing a purchase. Also known as a shopping cart or basket.
catalog – A top-level container for catalog entries such as categories, products, and variants (SKUs).
category – Categories let you adjust the structure and range of a catalog to optimize the selling potential of products.
checkout – Completing a purchase on a website involves collecting shipping and billing addresses, shipping methods, payment, and so on.
Commerce Manager – One of several main user interfaces in Optimizely Commerce Connect. This UI area provides pages for managing markets, customers, catalogs, orders, and so on.
contact – An individual with personalized information (name, address, email, and so on) that Optimizely creates when a user on the front-end registers to make a purchase.
customer group – You create customer groups in Commerce Manager and then apply them to contacts and organizations.
discount – A deduction applied to an online purchase, typically implemented as part of a marketing campaign.
EO (Exchange Order - Optimizely Commerce Connect) – Tracks the exchange of a purchased item for the same or a different item.
exchange – Replacing a faulty product with another one.
expiration date – Used if an order ties to a recurring payment plan for subscription-based transactions.
expression – Customizable conditions that let users extend the marketing system. Promotions, customer segments, and policies rely on expressions.
inventory – The process of checking product availability in one or more warehouses, or a complete list of items such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building.
line item – The products, SKUs, packages, and bundles on one line of a purchase order.
list price – Also known as MSRP or regular price, list price is typically an item's price before a sale or discount reduces it.
low stock report – A report that shows which products are running low in inventory when a product's inventory is less than its minimum reorder quantity.
market – One or more countries, regions, or customer groups, to which you want to apply languages, catalogs, currencies, or promotions.
order – A record of a customer's request for goods or services.
organization – Groups or sub-groups of users and customers who register.
organization unit – Same as organization.
package – A sellable unit that contains variants or other packages, with a single price; similar to an SKU because customers must purchase it as a whole.
packing slip – A paper slip with order information Optimizely attaches to the physical package during shipping.
parent order ID – Relates a purchase order to a payment plan or other order.
payment – Verifying a money transaction in a website shopping scenario.
payment method – Contains information about how a customer views a payment option and has an associated payment gateway.
payment plan – Payments Optimizely initiates and uses for managing orders.
PCI (Payment Card Industry - Optimizely Commerce Connect) – An organization providing security standards for merchandising companies that process, store, or transmit credit card information.
PDP (Product Display Page) – A commercial page that displays products for sale.
picklist – The list warehouse staff use to collect the physical items for shipping.
PIM (Product Information Management - Optimizely Commerce Connect) – A system for managing product information, which Optimizely distributes to multiple output sources.
plan cycle – Used for payment plans, determining the period of time during which a payment plan is initiated.
PO (Purchase Order - Optimizely Commerce Connect) – An order a customer registered and paid for.
product – Various forms of merchandise that you can display and purchase from the public site, including products, variations or SKUs, bundles, and packages.
promotion – A marketing tool marketers use to increase sales of certain products or product lines.
purchase order – An order a customer registered and paid for.
refund – A payment Optimizely Product Information Management (PIM) returns to a shopper due to a faulty product delivery or other reason.
relation – Lets a merchandiser assign items related to the current one, enticing shoppers with upsell or cross-sell items.
return – Manages exchanges and refunds for faulty or unwanted products.
sales report – An overview of a site's sales performance over a period of time.
shipment – A collection of products from a purchase order, ready for shipment after warehouse staff go through inventory check and other verifications.
shipping gateway – In Shipping Providers, you select a specific class (Generic Gateway or Weight/Jurisdiction Gateway).
shipping jurisdiction groups – A group of jurisdictions (such as the Southwest region). A field Optimizely requires when configuring Shipping Method parameters.
shipping jurisdictions – Define values for region-specific shipping rates. Optimizely only uses it when you select the Weight/Jurisdiction Gateway.
shipping method – A set of information and rules determining the shipping cost.
shipping provider – A shipping provider interacts directly with one or more shipping services, such as USPS, UPS, or FedEx.
shipping report – Overview of shipping method, number of orders, and total shipping cost over a period of time.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit - Optimizely Commerce Connect) – Corresponds to a product that a customer can purchase with specific characteristics.
split payment – A remittance that the system divides by either time (such as a subscription) or by different receivers.
split shipment – A shipment that comes from multiple warehouses or warehouse staff cannot fulfill simultaneously.
subscription – A recurring order that Optimizely can associate with a payment plan.
tax category – Applies a different tax rate based on the items a customer purchases.
tracking number – Optimizely uses it to track the shipment of orders.
variant – A variant (SKU) corresponds to a product that a customer can purchase with specific characteristics.
VAT (Value-Added Tax) – A consumption tax the seller adds to a product at the point of sale.
widget (Configured Commerce) – A content holder ISC_Content user roles may use to add content to website pages without having to develop page elements.

Marketing

allowlisting – The reverse of blocklisting. The practice of listing trustworthy sender IP addresses to protect them from being rejected or sent to the junk mail folder.
autoresponders – A computer program that automatically answers emails you send to it.
blocklist – Recipients whose email addresses are on the blocklist will not receive your email.
BOFU (Bottom-of-Funnel) – A marketing term; the stage where someone is ready to decide, perhaps to buy a product.
bounce – The email system generates a bounce whenever an email fails to reach a recipient's server or mailbox.
bounce overflow – Optimizely records recipients who exceed the bounce limit as bounce overflow and no longer contacts them.
campaign (Optimizely Campaign) – A campaign in Smart Campaigns or Marketing Automation. The complete campaign plan contains elements, nodes, and branches, and their relationships to each other.
campaign (Optimizely Commerce Connect) – A set of related components and activities for promotions.
CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test) – A challenge-response test that developers use in computing to determine whether the user is human.
client (Optimizely Campaign) – The working environment of Optimizely Campaign. A client is a stand-alone and closed system that organizes your mailings.
click profiles – Click profiling generates target groups.
click-through – Following a hypertext link to a particular website, especially a commerce site.
closed loop interface – Bi-directional interface between Optimizely Campaign and an external system.
closed-loop marketing – Marketing that relies on data and insights from sales teams, who report back to Marketing what happened to their leads.
CMO (Campaign Monitor and Optimization) – Measures and monitors campaigns and optimizes landing pages.
creative – Artwork for website advertisement, such as a banner, that generates leads by promoting a discount, product, or service.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – A system for managing interactions with current and future customers.
CSR (Customer Service Representative)
CTP (Click to Purchase)
CTR (Click-Through Rate) – The ratio of users who click a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement.
CUID (Customer User ID)
customer journey – Describes the phases and touchpoints of a potential customer with a product until making a purchase decision.
direct traffic – A user generates a visit when they arrive after typing the URL directly in the browser, or using a bookmark, or clicking a link in an email.
double opt-in – A practice in which a recipient consents to receiving email from the sender before any promotional email is sent.
ESP (Email Service Provider)
franking code – A code on mailing envelopes that machines read to calculate postage.
hard bounces – Occur when the email system cannot deliver an email due to a permanent error.
hash algorithm – An algorithm that encodes digital content using a unique combination of numbers and letters, making it uniquely identifiable.
impressions (Marketing Automation) – The number of visitors to a landing page in an A/B test.
landing page – The target page on which a visitor "lands" after clicking a banner or link.
lead – A contact acquired through marketing activities.
lifecycle marketing – The concept that marketers should orient email content toward the recipient's interests and personal circumstances.
MAI (Marketing Automation Integration)
marketing channel – Channel through which Optimizely transmits advertising messages or information to customers and prospects.
MOFU (Middle-of-Funnel) – A marketing term that refers to the stage where someone is considering the content, perhaps a target audience or sales lead.
node (Campaign) – Item that determines when a recipient passes through the campaign and the actions Optimizely executes for the recipient.
omnichannel marketing – Multiple channel marketing that provides an integrated experience for buyers.
opt-in method (Optimizely Campaign) – An opt-in method requires recipients to give a sender explicit permission to send them advertising mail.
original page – Web page version editors publish and marketers use in an A/B test.
post-click tracking – Tracking method that measures and analyzes the click path that site users follow after clicking a link in an email.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) – An internet advertising model advertisers use to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when a user clicks the ad.
product feed – A file that contains all products a client sells.
promotion (Optimizely Commerce Connect) – A marketing tool marketers use to increase sales of certain products or product lines.
pseudonymization – Encryption of personal data using combinations of letters or numbers.
Punycode – A way to transform Unicode to ASCII that Optimizely uses for Internet host names.
push campaigns – Campaign to send push messages that display on the recipient's mobile device or web browser.
push messages – Message that displays on the recipient's mobile device or web browser without any special request.
RBL (Realtime Blocklist) – A list of IP addresses of mail servers that Optimizely knows send spam.
recipient list (Optimizely Campaign) – A recipient list contains information on recipients, such as name and email address.
segment – A term for dividing recipients into relevant groups to send them the appropriate content.
Smart Campaigns – Optimizely feature for sending out one-shot campaigns.
soft bounces – Occur when the email system cannot deliver emails due to temporary problems.
split mailings – Variation of a regular mailing where the system "splits off" a subset of recipients.
SWYN (Share With Your Network)
target groups – Subset of recipients marketers define by rules and conditions.
TOFU (Top-of-Funnel) – A marketing term that refers to the beginning stage of awareness of the content and has the broadest general audience.
transactional mails – A recipient action (such as an order or purchase) or event (such as an anniversary) triggers an email.
trigger mails – Campaign mailings related to an event or special occasion.
Triggered Messages – A product that lets you send automated personalized emails through an Email Service Provider (ESP), whose email recipients' on-site actions initiate.
utm (Urchin Traffic Monitor) – A snippet of simple code that you can add to the end of a URL to track the performance of campaigns and content.
Webhook – HTTP callback for sending event data in real-time.
Webhook URL – Data hub that gathers information from form data through API calls.

Recommendations

audience – Formerly visitor group, an audience is a group of site visitors with something in common, such as age, geographic location, and so on. Optimizely CMS uses it in the personalization feature.
campaign (Optimizely Email Product Recommendations) – Describes the rules for sending emails that share a strategy and time frame while marketing a product or service.
campaign (Optimizely Product Recommendations) – Describes rules for displaying recommendations that share a strategy and time frame while marketing a product or service.
campaign (Optimizely Triggered Messages) – Describes rules for sending automated personalized emails through an Email Service Provider (ESP), whose email recipients' on-site actions trigger.
content item (Optimizely Content Recommendations) – A web page with an associated identifier.
customer segment (Optimizely Commerce Connect) – Determines the target audience for a promotion.
deliveries – Include retargeting, blocks on a web page, and personalized emails that contain relevant content based on previous interactions and interests.
Email Recommendations – A personalization feature that incorporates personalized product or content recommendations into an email that Optimizely generates dynamically.
flow (Optimizely Content Recommendations) – Rules for sections based on titles, URLs, or metadata, to group content.
goal (Optimizely Content Recommendations) – A set of behaviors you want someone to perform, such as filling out a form, requesting demos, downloading a resource, or viewing three pages on the Financial site.
hint – Attributes span products, such as products that fit into the same category or products you recently viewed, similar to expressions that work on specific product attributes.
ingestion – The process of gathering topics for analysis.
interest profile – A data representation of an individual's interests based on site activity, which Optimizely derives from the near-real-time modeling of topics contained within the URLs the individual visited.
native clients – Clients that use the Optimizely platform (such as the CMS with Content Recommendations or Commerce Connect with Product Recommendations or Email Product Recommendations).
personalization – Adapt content to target groups you customize for a personalized website experience.
Profile Store – Tracks and stores data about a visitor to your website.
reviewer (Optimizely Product Recommendations) – Can view, create, edit, review change requests, approve or reject changes, and make a Product Recommendations campaign "go live."
section (Optimizely Content recommendations) – Groups of content based on flow rules.
standalone clients – Clients that use non-Optimizely platforms (for example, Magento or Hybris) with Product Recommendations, Email Product Recommendations, or other Optimizely solutions.
strategy – A criterion (such as best sellers for conversion, best trending, or abandoned basket products), Optimizely uses to determine when it sends an email.
topic (Optimizely Content Recommendations) – A subject Optimizely indexes, such as finance, insurance, hamburgers, rocks, or a brand name.
volume (Optimizely Content Recommendations) – The number of content profiles that the system calculates as unique URLs, into the personalization instance.
visitor group – See audience.

Search

canonical URL – Websites may contain identical or almost identical pages, and the canonical link points out which pages are the most important.
GraphQL – A query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data.
O.D.R. (Dynamic Rendering)
schema.org – A set of extensible schemas that enable webmasters to embed structured data on their web pages for use by search engines.
search index – When a search engine robot crawls the pages of a website, an indexing program analyzes the result.
search phrase – One or more words a user enters into a search box to begin a search.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Making website content attractive to website visitors and, as a result, achieving high rankings in search results.
SEO URL – Corresponds to a simple address in CMS.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page) – The page with search hits you see in search engines, such as Google, when you have searched for a term.

Analytics

bounce rate – The percentage of visitors to a website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page.
conversion – When a website visitor takes a desired action.
conversion goal – The measurement of actions on web pages. Also known as Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
conversion KPI – A key performance indicator that measures how many visitors reached the target page.
conversion page – A confirmation that a visitor completed the desired action on the target page.
conversion path – A conversion path shows how many visitors reach a campaign target page.
conversion rate – Number of conversions divided by the number of views of an item.
cookies – Files used by your browser on a website or by a third party, and can range from very small to large text files.
CPC (Click-to-Purchase Conversion - Personalization)
downloads KPI – A key performance indicator that measures the number of downloads of a document or file in an online campaign.
exit rate – The percentage of visitors on the session's last page.
finalized form submission – A website visitor has gone through all steps of a form and submitted the form.
forms KPI – A key performance indicator that measures when a visitor posts a web form.
generic KPI – A key performance indicator that collects data through a Web Service API from any external data source.
goal page (Optimizely Commerce Connect) – A confirmation when a website visitor completes a desired action on a target page.
HTTP Referrers – Key Performance Indicator that measures traffic from a URL or domain.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) – The measurement of actions on web pages.
KPI entity – An extension Optimizely uses with KPI values.
KPI value – Optimizely converts desired actions into KPI values, in market value or points.
page views – Measures the number of page visits.
partially submitted form data – A website visitor has gone through some of the form steps but has not reached the final step and has not submitted the form.
RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) – A customer segmentation technique that categorizes customers into distinct groups based to their past purchase behavior.
- Recency (R) – Time since last purchase.
- Frequency (F) – Total number of purchases.
- Monetary value (M) – Total monetary value.
session (Optimizely Triggered Messages) – A sequence of activity from the same website visitor in a limited time.
target page – The page that defines the end goal of a conversion path.
Tracking ID (Optimizely Google Analytics) – A unique number to each website you want to track separately, that Google uses to count when someone visits and interacts with your website.
unique visitors (Marketing Automation) – The number of unique IP addresses that visited this page or URL during a period you specify.
visitor – Someone who visits a website using a web browser.