Glossary

Definitions of terms.

A section_02E8CD217BFC42D288C8A9CBFC215E46

A/B test

A/B Testing compares two or more versions of your Web site content to see which version best improves your conversions during a pre-specified test period.

Activities list

Dashboard that displays a quick overview of activities.

activity

Enables you to test page designs and target content to specific audiences.

activity change log

A record of who changed your activities and when the changes occurred.

activity collision

An activity collision occurs when multiple activities are set up to deliver content to the same page. If an activity collision occurs, you may not see the expected content on your page.

activity URL

The default URL used for an activity.

AdBox

Useful for testing marketing from sites that do not have an mbox, such as affiliates.

at.js

The at.js library is a new implementation library for Adobe Target designed for both typical web implementations and single-page applications. The at.js library replaces mbox.js for Target implementations.

audience

A group of similar activity entrants who will see a targeted activity. A group of people with the same characteristics, such as a new visitor, a returning visitor, or help/c-integrating-target-with-mac/a4t/a4t-at-aa.mds from the Midwest. The Audience feature allows you to target different content and experiences to specific audiences to optimize your digital marketing by displaying the right messages to the right people at the right time. If a visitor is identified as part of a target audience, Target determines which experience to display, based on criteria defined during activity creation.

Auto-Allocate

Auto Allocate identifies a winner among two or more experiences and automatically reallocates more traffic to the winner to increase conversions while the test continues to run and learn.

Auto-Target

Auto-Target uses advanced machine learning to identify multiple high performing marketer-defined experiences, and serves the most tailored experience to each visitor based on their individual customer profile and the behavior of previous visitors with similar profiles, in order to personalize content and drive conversions.

automated personalization

Automated Personalization (AP) combines offers or messages, and uses advanced machine learning to match different variations to each visitor based on their individual customer profile, in order to personalize content and drive conversions.

B section_03D02D426DB44F2CA79314F73BB2DD84

behavioral ads

Tests and tracks visits to ads and other offsite content. You can also use behavioral ads to identify the same user on and off your site and deliver a consistent experience throughout their web experience.

C section_2CBF7BABD2B74C8286A2992D8C54C8A6

campaign

Same as “activity”

capture score

An engagement metric that calculates an aggregated score based on the value assigned to pages visited on the site, from the point the visitor first sees the activity’s first display mbox.

catalog

The entire set of products or content that are eligible to be recommended.

category affinity

Automatically captures the categories a user visits and calculates the user’s affinity for the category so it can be targeted and segmented on. This helps to ensure that content is targeted to visitors who are most likely to act on that information.

collection

A subset of products or content that are eligible to be recommended.

combination

The content variations created when you test multiple content options in multiple locations in a multivariate test. For example, if you are testing three locations, each with three content options, then there are 27 possible combinations (3x3x3). A visitor to your site will see one combination, also referred to as an experience.

content

The text or image comprising a test variation within a location. In a multivariate test, a number of content options within multiple locations are compared. In MVT methodology, the content is sometimes referred to as a level.

conversion mbox

Logs your test or activity results, such as registrations, orders, or sales. Typically, a conversion mbox displays nothing but merely listens. Common locations for the conversion mbox are a registration completion page, an order thank you page, or a click-through. You might also use a global mbox to calculate conversion metrics.

criteria

Rules that determine which products or content to recommend. Criteria can be based on popular trends, a visitor’s current and past behaviors, or similar products and content.

D section_CD712B37316C45F58F82113707A98D5C

DAM

Digital Asset Manager. The library containing items to be used as content in Target.

default content

Displays if the visitor does not meet the requirements of the test, or if default content is used as a control in the test.

design

Template-enabled HTML that displays your recommended items to the web page. A design defines the appearance of the recommendations in a Recommendations activity.

duration

The length of time than an activity runs, from the start date and time to the end date and time.

dynamic content

Can be part of any type of test or activity. No additional programming is required. The visitor’s session on your domain is preserved.

dynamic mbox

Enables Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) to manipulate HTML after the page has already loaded, by using technologies like DHTML and AJAX.

dynamic offer

Uses dynamic page technology to pass values to the offer.

E section_55C3D8AF3D31494784C70090D8343244

engagement

The measurement of a visitor’s interest in a site, measured by time on site, clicks, conversions, and other engagement metrics.

enhanced experience composer

The Enhanced Experience Composer is an extension of the Visual Experience Composer that helps you edit an experience for an iframe-busting site or pages that do not yet include the Target implementation. If you have trouble opening your page in the Visual Experience Composer, try the Enhanced Experience Composer.

Enterprise user permissions

A means of formal administering enterprise-wide user access to Target. Add users to Target, assign permissions based on their roles, and create workspaces for teams based on different departments, global locations, channel and other logical groupings. You can assign users the roles of Observer, Editor, or Approver.

entity attributes

Custom parameters used to pass product or content information to Recommendations.

entrant

An entrant is a visitor who meets the criteria to enter an activity.

environment

Hosts are bundled into environments for ease of management. The preset host groups are Production, Staging, and Development. However, you may add new host groups and rename your existing host groups.

experience

An offer, image, text, button, video, combination of these various elements on a page, an entire web page, or a set of pages that perhaps form a purchase funnel or some other logical sequence of pages. It can also be the response of a voice assistant, a customer service script, or even a personalized flavor from a drink machine. You test or personalize experiences in Target activities.

experience targeting

Experience Targeting (XT) delivers content to a specific audience based on a set of marketer-defined rules and criteria.

F section_45450032955C4DD2B607B85A23C4E21A

feed

Provides methods to get product or content information into your recommendations.

flow diagram

The visual representation of an activity in Target Standard.

Form-Based Experience Composer

A non-visual experience and offer creation interface that’s useful in creating experiences for use in A/B tests, Experience Targeting, Automated Personalization, and Recommendations activities when the visual experience composer is not available or practical for use. For example, you might use the form-based composer to create experiences and offers for delivery in emails, kiosks, and voice assistants.

G section_D7B3B62BD3A449EFAA11DF9704773B28

geo location parameter

Allows you to target activities and experiences based on your visitors’ geography. Also known as geo targeting parameter.

goal

The conversion or result that signals a successful activity. It is best practice never to run a test without having a goal to improve in some specific way.

H section_B3FB79217FAF4FE3917AC14DE6F68E08

host

Any Web server (or Web domain) from where you serve content during any stage of your project.

host group

See Environment. Host groups are called “environments” in Target Standard/Premium.

I section_8ABE89A86AF54BD4B6B2CC909F651B5C

In-mbox profile parameter

Visitor-specific parameter passed to the visitor’s cookie from the mbox. Returning visitor is an example of an in-mbox profile parameter.

L section_9F81FB4EED15412BB51B286512E1C5FC

landing page activity

A landing page activity allows you to use targeting to display different landing page content for different visits. Otherwise, the landing page shows the same content for each visit. A landing page activity compares different versions of the page to help you see which version of the landing page produces more successful results. In Target Standard, replaced by experience targeting.

location

A specific content area on a page, often contained by a single DOM element. In MVT methodology, a location is sometimes referred to as a factor. A full-factorial multivariate test compares all possible combinations of offers in your locations.

M section_FA130A5F610F4B5DA7A88CF119B8F422

mbox

“Marketing box,” the location on your Web page where content is displayed and visitor behavior is recorded. Some mboxes do not display anything. They might track a visitor’s progress through your Web site, or might track whether the visitor completes a specific success metric, such as adding an item to the shopping cart or completing a purchase. One such type of mbox is a conversion mbox.

mbox.js

A Target JavaScript implementation library that has been deprecated.

mbox parameter

Passed in the page, not the URL. Parameters are used to pass data from your database and to track sales data or to run Adobe Recommendations. Also known as page parameter.

multivariate test

Multivariate Testing (MVT) compares combinations of offers in elements on a page to determine which combination performs the best for a specific audience, and identifies which element most impacts the activity’s success

N

New Visitor

A visitor is included in the New Visitors segment if one of the following conditions is met:

For more information, see How are the New Visitors and Returning Visitors metrics counted? in Reporting Q&A. Contrast with “Returning Visitor” below.

O section_A2C1A057EC87445CBDB535E80C371105

objective

An activity field where you enter a description of what you’d like to learn from an activity.

offer

An offer is the content displayed within an mbox during activities and tests. An experience determines which offer displays when particular conditions are met.

opt-out link

Enables visitors to opt-out of all tracking and content delivery.

P section_C4ED86CA8CE74D03A8C6586A205C04B4

page count

An engagement metric that measures the number of pages seen in a visit from the point the visitor first sees the activity’s first display mbox.

page view

Page view means a single view of a mobile or browser application, e-mail, or web page of an internet site, including application screen views, application screen states, mobile web pages, and social network pages. Page views occur each time a web page is loaded or refreshed, an application is loaded, when targeted content renders or is generated, or is shown through an opened or viewed e-mail.

priority

Priority is used if multiple activities are assigned to the same location with the same audience. If two or more activities are assigned to the location, the activity with the highest priority displays.

R section_86725D549B6F46A6ADEE424F33595705

recipe

Deprecated term defining the content that displays in a location. See experience.

redirector

Redirects a visitor to a different web page. Use this Redirector similarly to how you use an mbox in your tests to track clicks from display ads to your site, vary display ad destinations, and similar tasks.

referring URL parameter

Passes values to the destination page’s mbox as referring URL parameters and values. Use these to target on the visitor’s origin, for example.

Returning Visitor

The visitor is included in the Returning Visitors segment if the user previously visited the site, left for at least 30 minutes, and returned to the site again with the same cookies. As long as a visitor returns within their profile lifetime, this visitor a returning visitor.

For more information, see How are the New Visitors and Returning Visitors metrics counted in Reporting Q&A. Contrast with “New Visitor” above.

role

A group of users with a specific set of privileges.

remote offer

Use remote offers to host content outside of Target that Target references and delivers to users’ websites. This content might be in a content management or other system, either for ease-of-use or for security reasons.

reports

Reports provide information about the progress and results of your activities that help you make decisions based on your data. Report data can help you decide when to end a test, show you which experience or offer is the winner, and provide insights you need to determine next actions.

S section_9482B06EBB09486784492F838289E54D

script profile parameter

Similar to in-mbox profile parameter, but defined with JavaScript that runs on the Target backend, rather than in the browser.

segment

A specified set of criteria used for targeting an activity. Only visitors who meet the criteria see the content of an activity targeted to that segment. Some segments are reusable across multiple activities and others are specific to an activity.

segment filter

A report filter used to display reports related to a specific segment.

single-page application

A single-page application (SPA) is a web application or web site that fits on a single web page to provide a more fluid user experience, similar to a desktop application.

success metrics

The parameters used to measure the success of an activity. Success metrics include key business measures that enable you to determine the success of a given experience or offer in a Target activity. For example, you can determine if a new offer or adding an item to a shopping cart increases your revenue per visitor. Success metrics can be useful for discovering issues with registration, ordering, or purchase funnels, but also simply with visitor or customer engagement.

T section_1841144841AF41169AF1E83B90C18292

test

An activity that compares two or more experiences against the success metrics you specify, so you can choose the experience that is most likely to provide the results you want.

time on site

An engagement type that represents the time spent in the visit (in seconds) from the point the visitor sees the activity’s first display mbox to the load of the final page in a session with an mbox.

U section_6407B81326FF43049D92265746E6C402

URL parameters

All referring page and page URL variables are automatically passed to an mbox whenever the page with the mbox is viewed by any visitor. These URL variables are then available to use through display targeting or segment filters in reports.

V section_0B85CE959BA948CDAC3BAEFB4EEDFAD2

visit

A visit is sometimes called a session. A visit ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, meaning at least 30 minutes have passed between server requests to Target.

visitor

A visitor is any person who accesses your site. A visitor is evaluated against activity criteria to determine whether the visitor is included in an activity. See entrant.

Visual Experience Composer

In Target Standard, a WYSIWYG user interface that lets you easily create and test personalized experiences and offers in the site context. You can create experiences and offers for Target activities by dragging and dropping, swapping, and modifying the layout and content of a web page (or offer).

W section_62E7B598DBB34ECABAF4EF913B0895EC

winning experience

The best performing experience in a test.