Demand Gen Glossary: 78 Key Terms Defined
Clear, practical definitions for every demand generation concept you need to know. No jargon, no fluff.
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6sense Buying Stages
6sense's predictive model that classifies accounts by where they sit in the buying journey.
A
Account Score
A composite score combining fit and engagement signals at the account level for ABM programs.
Account-Based Marketing
A strategy that focuses marketing and sales resources on a defined set of high-value accounts.
ARR per FTE
Annual recurring revenue per full-time employee, used to measure go-to-market efficiency.
B
Blended CAC
Customer acquisition cost calculated across all marketing and sales spend.
Bombora Surge
Bombora's intent signal indicating an account is consuming significantly more content on a topic than its baseline.
Bottom of Funnel (BOFU)
The decision stage where prospects are ready to choose a vendor and make a purchase.
Buyer Intent
Signals that a prospect is actively in a buying cycle for a product or service.
C
CAC Payback Period
The number of months it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a customer.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who click on a link or ad after seeing it.
Content Syndication
Distributing gated content through third-party publishers to generate leads at scale.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors or leads who complete a desired action.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
The total cost to acquire one paying customer through marketing and sales.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
The average cost to generate one lead through marketing campaigns.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The fully loaded cost to acquire a new customer across all sales and marketing spend.
D
Dark Funnel
Buyer research activity that happens in channels your analytics cannot track.
Demand Generation
The marketing discipline focused on creating awareness and interest that drives pipeline.
Demand Waterfall
A framework that maps the stages leads pass through from inquiry to close.
Drip Campaign
An automated email sequence sent on a fixed schedule to nurture leads over time.
E
Expansion ARR
Annual recurring revenue gained from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, and seat expansion.
F
First-Party Intent
Intent signals captured on your own properties through user behavior.
First-Touch Attribution
A model that gives full conversion credit to the first marketing interaction.
G
Gated Content
Content that requires a form submission to access, used to capture lead information.
Gross Revenue Retention
Recurring revenue retained from existing customers before expansion, accounting for churn and contraction.
Growth Marketing
An experiment-driven approach to marketing that optimizes the entire customer lifecycle.
I
ICP Fit Score
A numerical score representing how closely a lead or account matches your ideal customer profile.
Inbound Marketing
A strategy that attracts prospects through valuable content rather than outbound interruption.
Intent Data
Behavioral signals that indicate a company or person is actively researching a solution.
Intent Score
A score reflecting how strongly a lead or account is showing buying intent based on behavioral signals.
L
Landing Page
A standalone web page designed to convert visitors into leads through a specific offer.
Last-Touch Attribution
A model that gives full conversion credit to the final marketing interaction before conversion.
Lead Magnet
A valuable resource offered in exchange for contact information.
Lead Nurturing
Automated campaigns that build trust and move leads closer to a buying decision.
Lead Routing
The automated process of assigning incoming leads to the right sales rep for follow-up.
Lead Scoring
A system that ranks leads by their likelihood to buy based on fit and behavior.
Lifecycle Marketing
Marketing campaigns tailored to each stage of the customer journey from prospect to advocate.
Lookalike Audience
An ad audience built by finding people who share characteristics with your best customers.
LTV-to-CAC Ratio
The ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost.
M
Marketing Attribution
The process of identifying which marketing activities contribute to revenue outcomes.
Marketing Mix Modeling
A statistical method that measures the impact of each marketing channel on business outcomes.
Marketing Qualified Account
An account showing enough engagement signals to warrant targeted sales and marketing efforts.
Marketing-Influenced Pipeline
Pipeline that marketing touched at any point during the buying cycle.
Marketing-Sourced Pipeline
Pipeline created from leads where marketing was the first touch.
Middle of Funnel (MOFU)
The consideration stage where prospects evaluate specific solutions and compare options.
MQL
A lead that meets predefined marketing criteria and is ready for sales follow-up.
MQL Aging
The length of time a Marketing Qualified Lead has sat in the sales queue without action.
MQL-to-SQL Rate
The percentage of Marketing Qualified Leads that progress to Sales Qualified Leads.
Multi-Touch Attribution
A model that distributes conversion credit across every marketing touchpoint in the buyer journey.
N
Net Revenue Retention
Recurring revenue retained from existing customers including expansion, after churn and contraction.
O
Outbound Marketing
Proactive outreach to target prospects through direct channels like email, calls, and ads.
P
Paid CAC
Customer acquisition cost calculated only from paid marketing spend.
Paid Media
Any marketing channel where you pay for placement, impressions, or clicks.
Performance Marketing
Marketing where spend is directly tied to measurable outcomes like clicks, leads, or sales.
Pipeline Coverage
The ratio of pipeline value to revenue target, measuring whether you have enough deals to hit goal.
Pipeline Coverage Ratio
The ratio of total pipeline value to revenue target for a given period.
Pipeline Velocity
The speed at which qualified leads move through the sales pipeline to close.
Position-Based Attribution
An attribution model that weights touches based on their position in the buying cycle.
PQA (Product Qualified Account)
An account showing enough collective product engagement to indicate buying intent.
PQL (Product Qualified Lead)
A user whose product usage signals readiness to buy or upgrade.
Programmatic Advertising
Automated, data-driven ad buying that targets specific audiences across the web.
R
Retargeting
Serving ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your content.
Retention Cohort
A group of customers analyzed together based on when they were acquired.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
Revenue Marketing
A marketing approach that directly ties every activity to revenue outcomes.
S
SAL
A lead accepted by sales for follow-up but not yet fully qualified.
SAO (Sales Accepted Opportunity)
An opportunity that sales has formally accepted into the pipeline as worth pursuing.
Signal-Based Selling
A go-to-market motion where outreach is triggered by specific buying signals rather than fixed schedules.
SLA (Service Level Agreement)
A documented agreement between marketing and sales defining lead handoff rules and response times.
SQL
A lead that sales has accepted and confirmed as a genuine opportunity.
SQL-to-Win Rate
The percentage of Sales Qualified Leads that become closed-won customers.
SQM (Sales Qualified Meeting)
A scheduled meeting that sales has confirmed as a real qualification opportunity.
T
Third-Party Intent
Intent signals captured outside your own properties, typically through data co-ops or third-party publishers.
Time-Decay Attribution
An attribution model that gives more credit to touches closer to conversion.
Top of Funnel (TOFU)
The awareness stage where prospects first discover your brand and start learning about a problem.
U
U-Shaped Attribution
A position-based attribution model that credits the first touch and lead conversion touch equally.
Ungated Content
Freely accessible content used to build awareness and trust without requiring a form fill.
W
W-Shaped Attribution
An attribution model that credits the first touch, lead conversion touch, and opportunity creation touch.
Z
ZoomInfo Intent
ZoomInfo's intent signal indicating an account is showing buying activity for a specific topic.