Working inside an app growth agency, you win by speaking the same language across product, UA, and ASO. This App Marketing Glossary: 100 Terms You Must Know translates cross-functional jargon into plain, actionable definitions so your team moves faster. In our work at AppFillip, consistent terminology improves planning, reduces costly miscommunication, and sharpens growth decisions.
Why an app growth agency relies on clear language
Terms like CPI, PPO, SKAN, and CPP sound similar, yet each drives a different lever. Consequently, one misused word can send budgets to the wrong audience or create a misleading KPI trend. For example, we often see teams chase a low CPI while their paywall conversion quietly drops, which stalls revenue growth. When definitions align, your acquisition, store optimization, and retention work reinforce each other instead of competing.
From experience running Apple Search Ads, Google App Campaigns, and ASO sprints, we start every engagement with a shared glossary. First, we confirm which metrics are directional and which are targets. Next, we map data availability by platform and privacy constraints. Finally, we agree on a reporting cadence, so insights turn into weekly actions.
How to use this glossary and avoid jargon traps
Skim the sections that match your current project, then bookmark the page. Importantly, pick a single definition for each metric in your dashboards and stick to it. If you work inside an app growth agency, align vocabulary early with product and data teams. Moreover, document exceptions such as campaign-level CVR versus store-level CVR, because blended numbers can mask problems.
Google documents that App campaigns automatically build creatives from your assets and optimize delivery across Search, YouTube, Play, and the Display Network. That automation changes testing strategy and budget pacing according to Google Ads support. Likewise, viewability and attribution terms follow definitions set by standards bodies; see IAB viewability standards for accepted thresholds and measurement rules.
How an app marketing agency measures success
Define a north-star metric that ties to revenue or retention. For subscription apps, trial-to-paid and renewal rates matter more than clicks. For marketplaces, activation and repeat purchase usually win. Therefore, make acquisition targets serve those outcomes, not the other way around.
The App Marketing Glossary: Acquisition, ASO, and Analytics
Acquisition Essentials for an App Growth Agency
Use these to design, buy, and evaluate traffic. Apple’s privacy framework limits user-level attribution on iOS; SKAdNetwork provides anonymized postbacks and conversion values in a privacy-preserving way as described in Apple’s developer documentation. Therefore, align your measurement plan with platform rules before scaling budgets.
- CPI — cost per install; ad spend divided by installs
- CPA — cost per action; spend per signup, trial, or purchase
- CPM — cost per thousand impressions
- CPC — cost per click or tap
- CTR — click-through rate; clicks divided by impressions
- TTR — tap-through rate; App Store taps per impression
- CVR — conversion rate; installs or purchases per click
- ROAS — return on ad spend; revenue divided by spend
- LTV — lifetime value; net revenue per user over time
- ARPU — average revenue per user
- SKAdNetwork (SKAN) — iOS privacy-safe attribution framework
- IDFA — Identifier for Advertisers on iOS
- GAID — Google Advertising ID on Android
- ATT — App Tracking Transparency; iOS user permission prompt
- Creative set — grouped ad assets for testing
- Ad group — targeting and bid container
- Campaign objective — install, action, or value goal
- Lookalike audience — expansion from seed users
- Interest targeting — audiences by declared interests
- Keyword match type — broad, phrase, or exact logic
- Broad match — flexible keyword matching
- Exact match — tight keyword control
- Negative keyword — blocks irrelevant traffic
- Dayparting — schedule ads by time windows
- Bid cap — limits maximum bid per result
- Budget pacing — delivery speed across the day
- Auction overlap — competing bids across your own ads
- Incrementality — lift caused by ads beyond baseline
- MMP — mobile measurement partner; neutral attribution
- SAN — self-attributing network; claims own conversions
- Deep link — route users into a specific in-app screen
- Deferred deep link — routes after first install
- View-through attribution — credit from ad views
- Click-through attribution — credit from ad clicks
- Postback — attribution signal sent by a network
- Conversion model — rules mapping events to value
ASO & Store Visibility
Store metadata builds organic demand and multiplies paid results. In addition, consistent keyword themes across titles, screenshots, and ads help audiences recognize your value instantly. Start with relevance, then validate search volume and difficulty before writing copy.
Metadata hierarchy to remember
Titles and subtitles on iOS, plus short descriptions on Google Play, carry stronger weight than body text. Therefore, place your primary keyword theme in these fields, and support it with visuals and benefits.
- Title — official app name; brand plus benefit
- Subtitle — iOS field reinforcing value
- Short description — Google Play teaser line
- Long description — Play keyword-rich body copy
- Keyword field — iOS hidden 100-character keywords
- Promo text — iOS promotional copy; update anytime
- In‑app events — iOS cards that can rank in search
- Custom product pages — tailored iOS landing variants
- Product page optimization (PPO) — iOS A/B testing
- Store listing experiments — Google Play A/B testing
- Screenshot order — narrative sequence for scannability
- Preview video — short demo; autoplay muted
- Icon test — iterative shape, color, and symbols
- Ratings — star scores from users
- Reviews — qualitative feedback and social proof
- Star average — overall rating signal
- Feature graphic — top artwork on Google Play
- Category ranking — position within your genre
- Featured placement — editorial or algorithmic boost
- Browse traffic — users finding you via discovery
- Search traffic — users finding you via queries
- Brand keyword — queries with your name
- Category keyword — generic intent phrases
- Long‑tail keyword — multi‑word, specific phrases
- Relevance — match between term and app content
- Volume — search demand for a term
- Difficulty — competitive intensity for ranking
- Localization — translations for each locale
- Transliteration — phonetic variants of brand terms
- Keyword stuffing — overuse of terms; avoid it
- Semantic clustering — related terms grouped by topic
- Visual hierarchy — emphasis order in creatives
- A/B test — controlled experiment for variants
- Search intent — user goal behind a query
- On‑metadata — edit fields in the stores
- Off‑metadata — external signals influencing rank
Retention, Monetization & Analytics
Growth compounds when acquired users activate, retain, and pay. Therefore, connect event tracking to clear lifecycle stages, then optimize one bottleneck at a time. Because results vary by category and price point, benchmark against your own history first.
- Onboarding — initial steps to first value
- Activation event — action proving value realized
- DAU/MAU — daily to monthly user ratio
- Stickiness — DAU divided by MAU
- Session length — average time per visit
- Churn — users who stop returning
- Retention D1/D7/D30 — users active after n days
- Cohort — users grouped by start date
- Funnel — ordered steps toward a goal
- Drop‑off — where users exit a funnel
- Push opt‑in rate — notifications permission rate
- In‑app message — contextual on‑screen prompt
- Paywall — screen presenting pricing
- Trial‑to‑paid — share of trials that convert
- Subscription renewal — auto‑renew success rate
- Intro price — discounted starting offer
- ARPDAU — revenue per daily active user
- eCPM — effective revenue per thousand impressions
- Ad waterfall — sequential ad network calls
- Mediation — tool managing multiple ad networks
- Cross‑promo — show your other apps
- Segmentation — target by behavior or value
- RFM — recency, frequency, monetary model
- North‑star metric — single guiding outcome
- Event taxonomy — standardized analytics schema
- Attribution window — time allowed for credit
- Granularity — detail level of your data
- Anomaly detection — alert on unusual patterns
- Growth loop — system where actions create more users
- Virality coefficient — invites leading to signups
Frequently confused terms and quick formulas
To prevent common mistakes, anchor decisions to simple math and consistent labels. For instance, define CVR as installs per click on both paid and organic sources when possible. Otherwise, tag the metric name with its layer, such as CVR_store or CVR_ad.
- CPI vs. CPA — CPI pays for installs; CPA pays for actions
- ROAS vs. ROI — ROAS is revenue/spend; ROI includes all costs
- CTR vs. TTR — CTR is generic; TTR is Apple’s tap metric
- Brand vs. category keywords — branded capture demand; category creates it
- Retention vs. stickiness — retention is time‑based; stickiness is DAU/MAU
- Organic vs. non‑paid — organic may still be influenced by ads
Quick formulas you can paste into spreadsheets:
- CVR = Installs ÷ Clicks
- ROAS = Revenue ÷ Ad Spend
- ARPDAU = Daily Revenue ÷ DAU
- DAU/MAU Stickiness = DAU ÷ MAU
- Churn% = 1 − Retention%
Finally, remember constraints. Privacy rules limit tracking, and channel algorithms change. However, crisp definitions keep analysis resilient even when platforms evolve. When in doubt, tie metrics to real user behavior, then validate in small experiments before scaling.
Wrap‑up: Put the glossary to work
Use this reference to kick off campaigns, write store copy, and align dashboards across teams. Share it with your analysts, designers, and media buyers so everyone uses the same names for the same things. If your roadmap needs a structured push, our team at AppFillip app growth experts can help translate insights into a test plan, from ASO through retention. Most importantly, choose a north‑star metric and apply these terms to drive that outcome step by step. With a shared language, an app growth agency turns complexity into compounding results.