Plain-English
lead gen.
Service business owners get hammered with jargon the second they talk to an agency. Here's what it actually means.
Marketing language is one of the cheapest moats agencies use. CPL, LTV, attribution windows, lookalike audiences, drip cadences, lead magnets — most of these terms describe extremely simple operational ideas wrapped in acronyms that make a quarterly report sound impressive. The problem is that owners who don't speak this language can't tell the difference between an agency that's actually moving cost-per-booked-call down and one that's hiding behind vanity metrics like impressions, reach, or click-through rate.
Every entry below is written for a service-business owner first: what the term means in plain English, what it looks like in your actual pipeline, the one common mistake people make with it, and a short FAQ. Bookmark the page — these are the words you'll see on every agency proposal, ad-platform dashboard, and CRM screen.
Attribution
Knowing which ad, channel, or campaign produced which job.
Booked Call
A lead that has scheduled an actual time to talk or get an estimate.
Call Tracking
Unique phone numbers that attribute calls to specific ads or pages.
Close Rate
% of qualified opportunities that become paying customers.
CPA
Cost Per Acquisition — what one closed customer costs.
CPL
Cost Per Lead — what one form-fill or call costs you.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management — where every lead lives.
Drip Campaign
A sequence of pre-written messages sent automatically over time.
Follow-Up Cadence
The schedule of touches a lead receives over time.
Form Abandonment
When a lead starts filling out your form and bails.
Landing Page
A single-purpose page built to convert one type of traffic.
Lead Magnet
A free offer that converts cold traffic into a contactable lead.
Lead Nurture
Automated follow-up that keeps cold leads warm until they're ready.
Lookalike Audience
An audience built from your existing customers' shared traits.
LSA
Local Services Ads — Google's pay-per-lead local ad product.
LTV
Lifetime Value — total revenue one customer generates for your business across every job, repeat, and referral.
Pipeline Stages
The defined steps every lead moves through in your CRM.
Qualified Lead
A lead that fits your service area, budget, and timeline.
Retargeting
Showing ads to people who already visited your site.
Review Velocity
How frequently new Google reviews land on your profile.
ROAS
Return On Ad Spend — revenue divided by ad spend.
Service Radius
The geographic area you actually drive to for jobs.
Show Rate
% of booked calls or appointments that actually happen.
Speed to Lead
How fast you contact a new lead after they raise their hand.
UTM Parameters
URL tags that tell analytics where a click came from.