The demand intelligence glossary.

A method for comparing two versions of a webpage, design, or message to learn which performs better. Used to validate changes against real shopper behaviour rather than relying on intuition.

The part of a webpage visible without scrolling. The most valuable space on the page for any revenue-driving element.

The percentage of available message slots on a page that are actually filled with a message. A high activation rate means most pages are receiving the full set of messages they could carry; a low rate usually points to thin signal data in some part of the catalogue rather than a pipeline issue.

The number of shoppers currently holding a specific product in their cart. A leading indicator of imminent purchase activity and the basis of cart pressure messaging.

The action of a shopper adding a product to their cart. A key behavioural signal — stronger than a view, weaker than a purchase — and an important input to demand intelligence.

Social proof messaging that highlights add-to-bag activity on a product, surfacing how many shoppers have moved a product towards purchase recently. A stronger purchase-intent signal than views; weaker than completed purchases.

A structured way for two pieces of software to communicate. Flockr is delivered as an API: a retailer's storefront asks Flockr for messaging on every page load and receives a response in milliseconds.

The process of working out which orders and revenue were actually influenced by a marketing or messaging tool, versus which would have happened anyway. Flockr ships with attribution built in, so commercial impact is measured rather than estimated.

The typical total amount a shopper spends per order. Calculated as total revenue divided by total number of orders. One of the most-watched ecommerce KPIs.

The portion of a webpage that requires scrolling to see. Less valuable real estate, but still consequential for engagement and discovery.

Messaging that surfaces a product's rank within its category by recent sales — for example, “#1 best seller in trainers”, or a top-ten position. Communicates social validation grounded in measurable position rather than a subjective claim.

The percentage of visitors who leave a site after viewing only the page they landed on. High bounce rates usually point to landing-page or relevance issues.

Any page where shoppers are evaluating products against alternatives — listing pages, search results, recommendation carousels. Different from decision surfaces like the cart and checkout, where evaluation has already happened.

A prompt encouraging the visitor to take a specific action — “Buy now”, “Add to bag”, “Book a demo”. The single thing a page is asking the visitor to do.

The slide-out cart preview that appears when a shopper adds an item, without sending them to a full cart page. A high-conversion surface for cart pressure and scarcity messaging.

A demand signal that captures how many shoppers are currently holding a specific product in their cart. Creates honest urgency without invented countdowns.

Messaging that surfaces the number of shoppers currently holding a product in their cart, in real time. Communicates honest urgency without invented countdowns or fabricated stock numbers — the urgency reflects what is actually happening on the storefront right now.

A demand event raised when the number of shoppers currently holding a product in their cart grows sharply compared with the previous snapshot. Often a leading indicator of an imminent purchase spike, and a strong trigger for cart pressure messaging.

The percentage of times a piece of content is shown that results in a click. For messaging tools, CTR measures how often a shopper clicked a product that had a message visible.

A defined group of products or sessions that share an attribute and can be analysed or activated together. Cohorts let merchandisers operate on slices of the catalogue at portfolio scale rather than product-by-product.

A measure of how reliable the data behind a signal is. A signal drawn from a large sample of recent activity is more confident than one drawn from a small sample. Confidence is one of the factors that feeds into the message score, so low-confidence signals are deprioritised when stronger candidates are available.

The point at which a shopper completes the desired action — typically a purchase. The unit by which ecommerce success is measured.

The percentage of sessions that result in a purchase. The most-watched metric in ecommerce, and the number Flockr is built to move.

The relative percentage difference in conversion rate between two groups — typically, shoppers who saw a Flockr message versus those who did not. The headline measure of commercial impact.

The discipline of testing and refining elements of an ecommerce experience to lift the conversion rate over time.

The patterns of choice that emerge when many shoppers make similar decisions in similar conditions. The underlying phenomenon that social proof messaging draws on.

The full sequence of interactions a shopper has with a brand, from awareness through purchase to repeat. Used to understand what shoppers need at each stage.

The total revenue a business can expect to earn from a customer across their entire relationship with the brand.

The aggregate level of shopper interest in a product, measured through real signals: views, add-to-bags, purchases, cart-holding, and the rate at which those are changing.

The percentage of products in the catalogue that have at least one qualifying demand signal. Indicates how much of the catalogue is generating enough live activity to support messaging.

A notification raised by the Flockr platform when something commercially significant changes for a product — a lifecycle transition, a demand spike, a cart surge, a rank change, a low-stock crossing, or a restock. Demand events appear in the portal's live activity feed and let merchandisers act on changes as they happen rather than discovering them after the fact.

A category of ecommerce infrastructure that tracks the live demand state of every product in a catalogue — momentum, scarcity, popularity, lifecycle — and activates that intelligence as messaging, alerts, and merchandising decisions. The category Flockr operates in.

The web app where Flockr customers see what the platform knows about their store and what it's doing for them. Covers live activity, demand state, attribution, signal performance, and pipeline observability.

A measurable piece of evidence about shopper demand for a product. Examples include views, add-to-bags, purchases, low stock levels, and accelerating activity versus baseline. Demand signals are the raw inputs that social proof messaging operates on — they are evaluated against thresholds and scored before being surfaced.

A demand event raised when a product's recent activity — views, add-to-bags, or purchases — has at least doubled compared with the previous snapshot. Surfaces products where demand is accelerating rapidly, even when no other threshold has been crossed yet.

A short-term classification of whether a product's recent activity is accelerating, stable, or fading compared with the previous few days. Used alongside stock data to determine whether a low-stock product is genuinely at risk or whether demand is dropping away anyway.

A business model where a brand sells directly to shoppers without retail intermediaries.

The buying and selling of goods and services online, through websites, mobile apps, and connected commerce surfaces.

Any page or component where messaging can appear. Common surfaces include product detail pages, listing pages, cart drawer, cart, search results, predictive search, recommendation carousels, and checkout.

The rule that determines whether a particular type of message is appropriate to show on a particular surface. For example, “new in” messages are eligible on listing pages and product detail pages but not at checkout, where novelty is no longer the right framing. Eligibility keeps messaging contextually relevant rather than just technically possible.

The percentage of visitors who leave the site from a specific page. Different from bounce rate, which only counts single-page sessions.

A product whose recent activity has dropped meaningfully versus its baseline. A useful early-warning signal for merchandising and reordering decisions.

A real-time demand intelligence platform for ecommerce. Tracks the live demand state of every product in a catalogue and activates that intelligence as social proof messaging, alerts, and merchandising decisions across the storefront.

Flockr's AI assistant. Lets non-technical users ask plain-language questions of their live demand and attribution data — “which products are losing momentum?”, “what's trending in shoes this week?”, “what was Flockr's incremental revenue last month?” — and get answers grounded in real platform data.

A measure of how recent a signal is. Recent signals score higher than older ones, even when both meet the minimum threshold to qualify. Freshness is the reason “right now” or “in the last hour” messages tend to win over “in the last 7 days” messages whenever both are available — the engine surfaces the most current credible evidence.

Revenue that wouldn't have occurred without a particular intervention. Flockr's primary measure of value: how much additional revenue did shoppers exposed to Flockr generate versus comparable shoppers who were not.

A pre-defined metric used to track progress against a business goal. Common ecommerce KPIs include conversion rate, AOV, revenue per visitor, and customer lifetime value.

Messaging that surfaces the recency of the most recent purchase of a product — for example, “Just bought” or “Bought in the last minute”. Creates a sense of immediate, current activity that's verifiably real.

Where a product sits in its demand arc: just launched, discovering, trending, declining, or established. Lifecycle classification lets messaging fit the product's actual stage rather than a fixed calendar rule. Movement between states is surfaced as a lifecycle transition event.

A demand event raised when a product moves from one lifecycle state to another — for example, from Discovering to Trending New, or from Trending New to Declining New. These transitions often signal the right moment for editorial or marketing attention.

Products in the catalogue that sell slowly and in small volumes — the opposite of best sellers. Often forgotten by merchandising but collectively significant.

The single number, between 0 and 1, that represents how strong a candidate message is for a given product and slot. The score combines several factors: how strong the underlying signal is, how recent it is, how well it fits the current page surface, the shopper's journey stage, and how clear the resulting message will be. The highest-scoring candidate wins the slot.

Buying and selling on mobile devices. Now the majority of ecommerce traffic for most retailers.

A measure of whether a product's demand is accelerating, steady, or fading versus its recent baseline. A 2× momentum means the product is running at twice its normal rate. Momentum produces the underlying signal that powers trending messaging, and rapid jumps in momentum can trigger a demand spike event.

A form of rank messaging that highlights the most-viewed product in a category. Surfaces shopper attention as a competitive position — useful where sales data is too sparse to support a best-seller claim.

Messaging applied to recently launched products that are showing genuine early traction. Used to surface meaningful novelty rather than indiscriminately tagging everything launched in the past month.

A small intervention designed to encourage a decision without forcing it. Honest social proof messaging operates as a nudge: it informs the shopper without pressuring them.

A product carrying inventory beyond what current demand justifies. Identifying overstock products lets merchandising prioritise messaging and promotion to move them.

The percentage difference in click-through rate between pages where Flockr is active and visible versus comparable pages where it was not shown.

Tailoring what a shopper sees based on their behaviour, attributes, or preferences. In Flockr's model, personalisation affects which messages reach which shoppers; it never changes the underlying demand signal, which is always grounded in real catalogue activity.

The sequence of steps the Flockr engine runs on every page load: read the live demand state of every visible product, generate candidate messages from each signal family, filter by eligibility, score the candidates, allocate the available slots, and return the selected messages. Runs end-to-end in milliseconds, on every request.

Social proof messaging that highlights how many shoppers are looking at a product across recent time windows. The most common form of social proof messaging, and a strong leading indicator of broader demand.

Search suggestions that appear as a shopper types, often with thumbnail products inline. A short-lived discovery surface where messaging needs to be high-clarity and unambiguous.

The page devoted to a single product, showing images, price, description, reviews, and the add-to-bag button. The decision page in most ecommerce journeys.

A page that displays multiple products together — a category, collection, or filtered list. The primary browse surface where catalogue exploration happens.

A measure of how much underlying evidence supports a signal. A product with many recent purchases produces a stronger purchase signal than one with the minimum number needed to qualify. Proof strength is one of the components that feeds into the message score.

Messaging that surfaces real, recent sales of a product — for example, how many units have been bought today, this week, or in the past hour. Backed by actual purchase events, never inferred or fabricated.

A demand event raised when a product's position in a category rank moves significantly — entering the top three for the first time, dropping out of the top three, or moving by several positions. Useful for spotting emerging best-sellers in real time, and for catching products that are losing position before it becomes a problem.

Messaging that communicates a product's position within its category — top seller, most viewed. Carries social validation grounded in measurable rank rather than subjective claim.

Social proof messaging that surfaces customer reviews — typically the average rating and number of reviews. Validates the product through peer judgment rather than the brand's own claim.

Operating with sub-second latency, on every request, against the live state of the system. A real-time messaging system evaluates current demand fresh on every page load, rather than relying on overnight batches or pre-curated lists.

A horizontal scroll of suggested products, typically labelled “you might also like” or “trending in this category”. A common cross-sell and discovery component.

Messaging that draws only on real, verifiable evidence — actual views, actual purchases, actual stock levels, actual cart activity. Avoids fabricated countdowns, invented “people just bought” claims, and manufactured pressure. Flockr operates exclusively on responsible social proof.

A demand event raised when a previously low-stock or out-of-stock product has had its inventory replenished. Identifies products that may benefit from “Back in stock” messaging or renewed editorial focus.

The ratio between profit earned and cost incurred from an investment, usually expressed as a percentage. The standard measure of whether a tool earns its keep.

Total revenue divided by total visitors. Often a more useful conversion metric than conversion rate alone because it captures both whether shoppers convert and how much they spend.

A combined measure that brings together a product's inventory depth and its live demand pressure. The highest-scoring products on this measure are the ones most likely to sell out before being restocked, and therefore the most urgent for merchandising attention.

Messaging that highlights genuinely limited inventory — “Low stock” or “Only a few left”. Effective because it is verifiable and actionable; damaging to trust when fabricated.

A product at risk of selling out at its current velocity. Identified by combining stock levels with recent demand. Flagged early enough to be messaged or restocked before it runs out.

How much influence each factor has within the overall message score. The pipeline gives more weight to evidence strength and surface fit than to message clarity, for example. The weights determine what the engine prioritises when choosing between competing messages.

A continuous shopping interaction by one shopper within a defined time window. The unit of measurement for many ecommerce KPIs.

A measure of how commercially significant a demand event is. Used to triage which events deserve immediate attention versus those that are informational only. Typically banded into low, medium, high, and critical.

The psychological phenomenon where people, uncertain about the right action, look to the behaviour of others as evidence. Foundational to commerce both online and offline, and the basis for an entire category of ecommerce messaging.

On-storefront messaging that draws on the behaviour of other shoppers — views, add-to-bags, purchases, cart-holding, reviews, ranks — to inform a current shopper's decision. The visible output of a demand intelligence platform.

The estimated number of days a product's current stock will last at its recent rate of sale. Combined with demand strength, stock runway identifies the products most likely to sell out before being restocked — short runway plus accelerating demand is the highest-urgency combination.

A tool that lets marketing and analytics teams add and update website tracking scripts without engineering changes. Common examples: Google Tag Manager, Adobe Launch.

The minimum amount of evidence required before a signal qualifies to become a message. A purchase signal needs a minimum number of recent purchases; an attention signal needs a minimum number of recent views. Thresholds prevent low-confidence signals from being surfaced as messages.

Social proof messaging that highlights a product whose demand is accelerating rapidly versus its recent baseline. Picks up an emerging best-seller in real time, before it has had a chance to show up in ranked lists.

A descriptive class of messaging designed to prompt swift action, typically combining scarcity, cart pressure, or recent purchase activity. Effective when grounded in real, current evidence; destructive of trust when fabricated.

The overall experience of using a website, product, or service — how it feels, how easy it is, and whether it does what the user came for.

The rate of shopper activity on a product over a time window — views per hour, add-to-bags per day, purchases per week. The pace at which demand is moving.

The principle that the aggregated behaviour of many people often produces a better signal than any individual judgment. The intellectual foundation of social proof messaging.