Ecommerce ads glossary
Plain-English definitions of the metrics and terms that decide whether your ads make money — from ROAS and hook rate to Spark Ads and creative fatigue.
UGC (User-Generated Content)Generate UGC-style ecommerce ads directly inside Claude. UGC (user-generated content) is media made by real customers or creators instead of a brand studio — here is what the term means and why the format converts.Spark AdsGenerate UGC ad winners right inside Claude with Polaris, then boost your best as a TikTok Spark Ad — a paid ad run from a real organic post (yours or a creator's) instead of a faceless brand account. Here's how they work and why ecommerce brands lean on them.WhitelistingGenerate UGC-style ad variants right inside Claude, then test them alongside creator whitelisting — where a creator lets a brand run paid ads from their own handle. Here's how whitelisting works and why it lifts trust and performance.Creative FatigueCreative fatigue is when an audience sees an ad so often it stops working - and the durable fix is generating fresh ads inside Claude with Polaris. Here is how to spot it early and stay ahead of it.ROASThe fastest way to lift ROAS is more winning creative — and Polaris generates it right inside Claude. First, the number itself: revenue per dollar of ad spend, the formula, what counts as good, and how to find your break-even.Hook RateHook rate is the share of viewers who watch past the first 3 seconds of your video ad — the highest-leverage number on any UGC creative. Here's what it means and how to move it by generating and testing hooks inside Claude with Polaris.Hold RateHold rate is the share of viewers who keep watching a video ad past an early checkpoint. The fastest way to lift it is to generate and test more variants right inside Claude — connect Polaris once as an MCP connector and the winners render in the chat.CPMCPM (cost per mille) is what you pay for one thousand ad impressions. Here is the formula, what moves it, why it climbs as creative wears out, and how to refresh ads inside Claude to bring it back down.Ad Account StructureAd account structure is how campaigns, ad sets, and ads are organized inside a platform account — the architecture that controls how budget flows, how the algorithm learns, and how cleanly you can read results.Ad AngleAn ad angle is the specific persuasive lens an ad uses to sell a product — the problem it leads with, the desire it targets, or the frame it puts around the offer — distinct from the format or the hook.Ad Fatigue vs Audience FatigueAd fatigue is when a specific creative stops performing because the same people have seen it too many times; audience fatigue is when an entire audience segment stops responding no matter which creative you show it.Ad FrequencyAd frequency is the average number of times each person in your audience has seen your ad over a given period. It is the primary early-warning gauge for creative fatigue.Ad HookAn ad hook is the opening moment of an ad — the first line, visual, or action in roughly the first three seconds — whose only job is to stop the scroll and earn the next few seconds of attention.Advantage+ Shopping CampaignsAdvantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) are Meta's highly automated campaign type for ecommerce, where the system controls targeting, placements, and budget distribution while you supply the creative. You feed it ads and a budget; it finds the buyers.AdvertorialAn advertorial is a paid landing page or ad written to read like an editorial article — a story, review, or reported piece — that pre-sells the product before sending readers to the offer.AIDA FrameworkAIDA (Attention–Interest–Desire–Action) is a classic persuasion framework that structures an ad as four stages: grab attention, build interest, create desire for the product, then drive a specific action.AOV (Average Order Value)AOV (average order value) is the average amount a customer spends per order. It determines how much room you have to pay for traffic and still profit.ASMR AdAn ASMR ad sells through sound and texture — crinkling packaging, tapping, pouring, slicing — using sensory audio as the hook instead of a spoken pitch. It targets the satisfying, tingly response that keeps viewers watching with the sound on.Aspect Ratio (9:16, 1:1, 16:9)Aspect ratio is the width-to-height proportion of your video or image — 9:16 is full-screen vertical (TikTok, Reels, Shorts, Stories), 1:1 is square (feed placements), and 16:9 is horizontal (YouTube, desktop).Attribution WindowAn attribution window is the period after a click or view during which a conversion is credited to an ad — for example, 7-day click means a purchase within seven days of clicking counts toward that ad.Before/After AdA before/after ad contrasts the state without the product against the state with it, making the benefit visible as a transformation. It is one of the highest-clarity ad structures because the value proposition is literally shown in two frames.Broad TargetingBroad targeting means running ads with minimal audience restrictions — little or no interest, behavior, or lookalike narrowing — and letting the platform's algorithm find buyers. The creative itself becomes the targeting mechanism.Product BundlingProduct bundling is selling multiple items together as one package — usually at a perceived discount versus buying separately — to raise average order value and make the offer feel richer.Carousel AdA carousel ad is a multi-card unit — typically 2 to 10 swipeable images or videos, each with its own link — shown on platforms like Meta and LinkedIn. It lets one placement tell a sequence: features, steps, products, or a story that unfolds card by card.CBO vs ABOCBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) lets Meta distribute one campaign-level budget across ad sets automatically, while ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization) gives each ad set its own fixed budget you control manually.CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)CPA (cost per acquisition) is how much you spend on average to get one conversion, typically one customer or order. It is the metric most directly tied to whether your ads are profitable.CPC (Cost Per Click)CPC (cost per click) is the average amount you pay each time someone clicks your ad. It tells you how expensively you are buying traffic before any of it converts.Creative StrategistA creative strategist is the person who decides what ads to make and why — translating customer research, ad account data, and competitor analysis into briefs, angles, and hooks for creators and editors to produce.Creative TestingCreative testing is the structured process of running multiple ad variations against each other to find which hooks, angles, formats, and offers actually drive results, instead of guessing.CTA (Call to Action)A CTA (call to action) is the explicit instruction telling the viewer what to do next — "Shop now", "Get 20% off today", "Tap the link" — appearing in the ad's script, on-screen text, and the platform's button.CTR (Click-Through Rate)CTR (click-through rate) is the percentage of people who clicked your ad after seeing it. It is the fastest read on whether your creative and hook earn attention.CVR (Conversion Rate)CVR (conversion rate) is the percentage of visitors or clickers who complete the action you care about, usually a purchase. It measures how well traffic turns into customers once the ad has done its job.Dark PostingDark posting is running ads that never appear on your brand's public page or organic feed — they exist only as paid placements shown to targeted audiences. It lets you test many variations without cluttering your profile.Product Demo AdA product demo ad shows the product actually being used, proving the core benefit on camera instead of claiming it. It answers 'how does this work?' and 'does it really do that?' in one shot.First FrameThe first frame is the very first visual of a video ad — what viewers see before any motion or audio registers, and often the thumbnail the platform displays. It is the single most-viewed moment of any ad, because every viewer sees it and only some continue.Founder AdA founder ad is a direct-to-camera video where the founder (or a founder-style persona) tells the origin story — the problem they had, why existing options failed, and what they built instead.Greenscreen AdA greenscreen ad places a talking presenter over a background image or screenshot — a product page, review, headline, or chart — mimicking the native TikTok greenscreen effect. The presenter reacts to or explains what's behind them, turning static proof into a narrated story.Creative IterationCreative iteration is producing new versions of a proven ad by changing one meaningful element at a time — the hook, the actor, the setting, the CTA — instead of inventing from scratch.Kill CriteriaKill criteria are pre-defined rules for when to turn off an ad or ad set — for example a spend threshold with no purchases, or a CPA ceiling — decided before the test launches.Learning PhaseThe learning phase is the initial period after an ad set launches or is significantly edited, during which the platform's algorithm is still exploring who to show the ad to and performance is unstable.Listicle AdA listicle ad is creative or a pre-sell page structured as a numbered list — '5 reasons', '7 things I wish I knew' — with the product woven into or concluding the list.Lookalike AudienceA lookalike audience is a targeting audience the ad platform builds by finding new people who statistically resemble a source list you provide, such as past purchasers or high-value customers.LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)LTV (customer lifetime value) is the total profit or revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your brand, not just their first order. It defines the true ceiling on what you can afford to spend acquiring them.Media BuyerA media buyer is the person who manages paid ad campaigns — setting up campaign structure, budgets, bids, targeting, and placements on platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Google, and optimizing spend against performance targets.MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)MER (marketing efficiency ratio) is total business revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. It is the blended, whole-business answer to "is our marketing paying off" — sometimes called blended ROAS.Meta PixelThe Meta Pixel is a snippet of code installed on your website that tracks visitor actions — page views, add-to-carts, purchases — and sends those events back to Meta for ad measurement and optimization.The OfferThe offer is the complete deal you put in front of the customer — product, price, bundle, discount, guarantee, shipping terms, and urgency — not just the product itself.Organic DropshippingOrganic dropshipping is running a dropshipping store where customer acquisition comes from unpaid viral content — mainly TikTok, Reels, and Shorts — instead of paid ads.PAS FrameworkPAS (Problem–Agitate–Solution) is a copywriting framework: name the problem the viewer has, agitate it by making the pain vivid and costly, then present the product as the solution.Performance MaxPerformance Max (PMax) is a Google Ads campaign type that runs one goal-based campaign across all Google surfaces — Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps — using automated bidding and asset mixing. You supply assets and a conversion goal; Google's AI assembles and places the ads.Post-Purchase SurveyA post-purchase survey is a short question shown to customers right after checkout — most often "How did you hear about us?" — used to attribute sales in the customer's own words rather than through tracking pixels.POV AdA POV ad is shot from the viewer's first-person perspective — you see hands, not a face — so the audience experiences using the product rather than watching someone else use it. On social feeds it often carries a 'POV:' caption framing a relatable scenario.Reels AdsReels ads are vertical video ads delivered inside Instagram's and Facebook's Reels feeds, sandwiched between organic short-form videos. They compete directly with entertainment, so they perform best when they look and feel like native Reels content.RetargetingRetargeting (or remarketing) is showing ads to people who already interacted with your brand — visited the site, viewed a product, added to cart, or engaged with your content — to bring them back to convert.Safe Zones (Platform UI)Safe zones are the regions of a vertical video frame that stay free of platform UI — captions, buttons, usernames, and CTAs on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts all overlay the edges, so anything important must sit inside the uncovered center area.Scaling (Vertical vs Horizontal)Scaling is increasing spend on what works: vertical scaling raises the budget on an existing winning ad set or campaign, while horizontal scaling duplicates the winner into new audiences, placements, geos, or creative variations.YouTube Shorts AdsYouTube Shorts ads are vertical video ads served within the Shorts feed, typically skippable as the viewer scrolls to the next clip. They bring Google's intent and audience data to a TikTok-style short-form environment.Social ProofSocial proof is evidence that other people already buy, use, and like a product — reviews, ratings, testimonials, user photos, press mentions — used to lower a new buyer's perceived risk.TikTok Spark CodeA Spark Code is the authorization token a TikTok creator generates for a specific post so an advertiser can run that exact video as a Spark Ad — a paid ad delivered from the creator's own handle.Static AdsStatic ads are single-image ad units — product shots, graphics, memes, or text-on-image designs — as opposed to video or carousel formats.Story AdsStory ads are full-screen vertical ads shown between users' Stories on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, lasting a few seconds per card. They inherit the ephemeral, tap-through rhythm of organic Stories, so they must land their message almost instantly.Testimonial AdA testimonial ad is creative built around a customer-style endorsement — a person sharing their experience and result with the product, on camera or as quoted text.Thumb-Stop RatioThumb-stop ratio is the share of people who stop scrolling and watch the first moments of your video ad — commonly measured as 3-second video views divided by impressions. It grades your hook in isolation.TikTok ShopTikTok Shop is TikTok's native commerce layer that lets users buy products directly inside the app — from tagged videos, live streams, and a storefront tab — without visiting an external site.UGC CreatorA UGC creator is a freelancer paid to film user-generated-content-style videos of a brand's product — authentic, phone-shot, first-person content made for the brand's ads rather than the creator's own audience.Unboxing AdAn unboxing ad is a UGC-style video where a creator opens a product's packaging on camera, revealing the item piece by piece as the emotional hook. It borrows the anticipation of a gift reveal to sell the first-touch experience of the product.Upsell & Cross-sellAn upsell offers the buyer a bigger or better version of what they chose; a cross-sell offers a related additional item. Both raise revenue per customer after the initial buying decision is made.Us-vs-Them AdAn us-vs-them ad positions the product directly against an alternative — the old way, the overpriced incumbent, or the category's status quo — making the contrast itself the message.VSL (Video Sales Letter)A VSL (Video Sales Letter) is a long-form direct-response video — often several minutes — that walks a viewer through a problem, story, mechanism, proof, and offer in one continuous pitch.Winning CreativeA winning creative is an ad that beats your target metrics (CPA, ROAS, CTR, hook rate) consistently enough to earn scaled spend, not just a lucky day of results.