Business & AskBiz Glossary

Plain-English definitions for 42+ business metrics and AskBiz-specific terms.

AskBiz

Business Pulse: AskBiz's 0–100 health score for your business. It weighs revenue, profit, cash flow, growth, and customer metrics into a single number. Above 70 is strong; below 50 means action is needed.Business Pulse explained →
Ask AskBiz: The AI chat feature in AskBiz. Ask any plain-English question about your business data — sales, costs, customers, trends — and get an instant, data-backed answer.Ask your first question →
Data Source: Any external tool or platform connected to AskBiz — for example Shopify, QuickBooks, Stripe, or Amazon. AskBiz pulls data from these sources to build your dashboard and answer questions.Connect a data source →
Sync: The process by which AskBiz fetches the latest data from your connected sources. Syncs happen automatically on a schedule and can also be triggered manually.Data sync guide →
Integration: A connection between AskBiz and a third-party platform. Each integration allows AskBiz to read data from that platform.
Alert: An automated notification in AskBiz. You define a condition and AskBiz emails you when it's triggered.Setting up alerts →
Business Pulse Categories: The five dimensions that make up the Business Pulse score: Revenue Health, Profit & Margin, Cash Flow, Customer Metrics, and Growth Momentum.

Revenue: The total amount of money your business earns from selling products or services before any costs are deducted. Also called 'top line' or 'gross revenue'.
Net Revenue: Revenue after deducting returns, refunds, and discounts. For e-commerce, net revenue is the more accurate figure.
Average Order Value (AOV): The average amount spent by a customer per transaction. Calculated as: Total Revenue / Number of Orders.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors or leads who complete a desired action (e.g. making a purchase). E-commerce conversion rate = Orders / Sessions * 100.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): The predictable, normalised monthly revenue from subscriptions.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR): MRR * 12. The annualised value of your subscription revenue.
Revenue Run Rate: A projection of annual revenue based on current performance.

Gross Profit: Revenue minus Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Shows how much money you make from selling products before overhead.
Gross Margin: Gross Profit expressed as a percentage of Revenue. Formula: (Revenue - COGS) / Revenue * 100.
Net Profit: What remains after all costs are deducted from revenue. Also called 'bottom line'.
Net Margin: Net Profit as a percentage of Revenue.
EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation. A measure of core operating profitability.
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): The direct costs involved in producing or purchasing the products you sell.

Cash Flow: The movement of money in and out of your business over a period.
Operating Cash Flow: Cash generated from normal business operations. Excludes investment and financing activities.
Cash Runway: How long your current cash reserves will last at your current burn rate.
Burn Rate: The rate at which a business spends its cash reserves.
Accounts Receivable: Money owed to your business by customers who haven't paid yet.
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO): The average number of days it takes to collect payment after a sale.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring one new customer. Formula: Total Sales & Marketing Spend / New Customers Acquired.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV or CLV): The total revenue expected from a customer over their entire relationship with your business.
LTV:CAC Ratio: Compares how much value a customer generates versus what it costs to acquire them. A ratio of 3:1 or higher is considered healthy.
Churn Rate: The percentage of customers (or revenue) lost in a given period.
Retention Rate: The percentage of customers who continue to buy from you over a period. Retention Rate = 1 - Churn Rate.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): A measure of customer loyalty. Scores range from -100 to +100. Above 50 is excellent.
Repeat Purchase Rate: The percentage of customers who make more than one purchase.

Inventory Turnover: How many times inventory is sold and replaced in a period. Formula: COGS / Average Inventory Value.
Days of Inventory Outstanding (DIO): How long, on average, inventory sits before being sold.
Stockout: When a product is out of stock and unavailable for sale.
Reorder Point: The inventory level that triggers a new purchase order.
Dead Stock: Inventory that hasn't sold and is unlikely to sell.
Safety Stock: Extra inventory held as a buffer against demand spikes or supply delays.

Month-on-Month Growth (MoM): The percentage change in a metric from one month to the next.
Year-on-Year Growth (YoY): The percentage change in a metric compared to the same period last year. More reliable than MoM for seasonal businesses.
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): The mean annual growth rate over multiple years, smoothing out year-to-year variation.

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