Glossary
The words we use for how buyers move from a website visit to a purchase.
The Path to Purchase
- Path to Purchase
- The chain from what a company makes to a purchase of what you do: they make a product, which contains a component, which needs your process, which you can do, ordered by someone you can reach. The Path to Purchase →
- The five links
- They make, which contains, which needs, that you can do, ordered by. SiteSonar checks them in order and stops at the first one that fails.
- Specifier
- The company or person that decides what a part must be, such as the brand that specifies a decorated bottle cap.
- Orderer
- The company that places the purchase order. Often different from the specifier, such as the closure supplier that buys the finish the brand specified.
- Brand owner
- A company whose products contain parts made by others. Brand owners rarely look like buyers in industry codes, but they often specify the parts a supplier buys. Brand owners are hidden buyers →
- Supply-chain tier
- Where a company sits in its industry: the OEM or brand at the top, then Tier 1 (systems), Tier 2 (components), Tier 3 (parts and processes), Tier 4 (materials) and Tier 5 (raw materials). You usually sell one tier up, and the OEM often specifies your part. The supply-chain ladder →
- OEM
- Original equipment manufacturer: the company that designs and sells the end product. In industrial buying it is often the specifier, even when a lower tier places the order.
- Conversion point
- The action that starts a sales conversation on your site: an RFQ, an RFI, a sample request, a cart, an account application, a distributor lookup or a call. You choose yours during setup.
The Sonar Reading
- Sonar Reading
- The grade on every lead, read verdict first, then signal, such as "Initiate · Contact". Together they set one action with a due date. Leads →
- Verdict
- What SiteSonar's agent decided after investigating a company: Ignore, Investigate or Initiate.
- Initiate (verdict)
- The path is clear: a specific part is named and it matches an application you serve. Start the conversation.
- Investigate (verdict)
- Something may be there that our agent couldn't see. It runs a second, targeted pass, then shows a person what it checked and where it got stuck.
- Ignore (verdict)
- Investigated, no path: they don't make physical products, sit outside your limits, or are on your skip list.
- Signal
- How strong a buying signal a visitor gives, from what they actually did on your site: Noise, Echo, Contact or Lock.
- Noise (signal)
- No buying behaviour, or a job seeker, student or vendor selling to you.
- Echo (signal)
- Light research: one short visit, an application page, a catalog or brochure download.
- Contact (signal)
- Evaluating: return visits, real reading on capabilities, materials or quality, "ask an expert" questions.
- Lock (signal)
- Converted or about to: quote or contact page, RFQ or RFI form, sample request, cart, distributor lookup.
- Second pass
- For an Investigate verdict, the agent runs one targeted check before a person sees the lead, then shows what it checked and where it got stuck.
The product
- Company identification
- Matching a visit's network address to the business it came from. Home internet, mobile carriers, bots and your own staff are filtered out first.
- Visitor website read
- SiteSonar reading a visiting company's own website to learn what it makes, its product lines and the markets it sells into.
- Lead instruction
- The handoff on every lead: the Sonar Reading, one action with a due date, what to send, what to say, the questions that confirm the path, and the evidence.
- Likely phoned you
- A visit that lands on the home page, glances at Contact for a few seconds and leaves. Often someone looking up your number, so check the call log.
- First-party identity
- Naming a person only when they identify themselves to you, through your own form or a link in an email you sent. SiteSonar never buys or appends personal contact data. Trust & data →
- Visitor Alerts
- The entry plan: company identification and an email for each new visiting company, without the agent investigation.
- Website Insights
- Aggregate reporting for marketers: where companies with a path read, stop and leave, and which channels bring them. Website Insights →
- AI Connect
- Read access for Claude and other MCP clients to your leads and visit history, so your team's AI can prepare follow-ups and account plans. AI Connect →
- Credits
- What the expensive steps use: reading a visitor's website and investigating its path. Tracking and company identification are included in the plan. Pricing →