Email glossary terms
Table of Contents
A
A/B SPLIT TEST
A method used for testing the response of sending two different email campaigns to two equal segments of an email list. Marketers can then track the response rates based on which results were most successful.
ABSOLUTE URL
A URL that gives the exact location of a target page or document including the ‘http://www’ part of the Internet address.
ABOVE THE FOLD
The top part of an email or web page can be seen, without scrolling down. Acquisition Cost: The cost of generating a lead, determined by: campaign expenses, divided by the total # of leads, sign-ups or conversions.
ALT TAG
An HTML tag that provides alternative text when non-textual elements, images, cannot be displayed. Also useful for search engine indexing, slow Internet connections, and any ESP’s displaying emails with disabled graphics.
API
An Application Programming Interface that enables two software programs to integrate and communicate with one another. An example: list management through an ESP’s interface.
ASP
An Application Service Provider is a business that offers Internet-based software to customers over a network. An example: Email Service Provider or software as a service (Saas).
AUTORESPONDER
Pre-designed emails that are programmed as time-delayed messages and are emailed automatically as a response to a request, Including, subscribe and unsubscribe confirmations, welcome emails, and support emails.
AUTHENTICATION
This process refers to ensuring a valid identity on an email to prove and protect email sender identity and an email sender’s legitimacy and to cut down on spam and phishing scams.
B
BAYESIAN FILTER
A spam filter technique, sometimes embedded in the mail server software itself, that is adaptable and ‘learns’ to identify new patterns of spam, beyond the subject line, by examining character strings, words and punctuation.
BLACKLIST
List of domains and IP addresses that have been reported or accused of sending SPAM. Blacklists are often used by organizations and ISPs as part of their filtering process to block all incoming mail from a particular IP address.
BONDED SENDER
A type of delivery insurance for email marketing companies that is offered by a private email registration service, guaranteeing email delivery and whitelisting to its clients that follow stringent email guidelines.
BOUNCES
A message that is returned to sender due to an invalid or presently not working email address. See: ‘Hard Bounce’, ‘Soft Bounce’.
BOUNCE RATE
The number of bounced emails returned is divided by the total number of sent emails.
C
CALL TO ACTION
A desired action that is requested of prospective clients and customers by an advertiser’s marketing message.
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
CMS is an application designed to store, format, reproduce and manage Web/intranet data.
CONVERSION RATE
The number of recipients who completed the desired action is divided by the number of emails sent.
CONFIRMED OPT-IN
An additional step to the opt-in process is when subscribers are sent an email after signing up for an email list. Subscribers must confirm that they want to subscribe to the list by validating their email addresses.
CONFIRMED OPT-OUT
An approach to email lists in which subscribers are included in email campaigns or newsletters until they specifically request not to be subscribed any longer. This method is not recommended.
CPM
Cost Per Mille/Cost Per Thousand is commonly referred to as the cost per 1000 names on a list rental or impressions on a banner advertisement.
COMMA-SEPARATED VALUE (CSV)
CSV is a specific format in which each new field is separated by a comma. An example: first name, last name, title, company name, email address, and much more.
CLICK-THROUGH RATE (CTR)
The CTR is calculated as the number of unique clicks divided by the number of emails that were sent.
D
DEMOGRAPHICS
Key attributes that make up a group of people such as: gender, race, age, income, geography, education, # of children, homeownership, employment status, and more.
DOMAIN KEYS
Email authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity.
DOMAIN KNOCKING
A process that determines both if a domain exists and if a mailbox on that domain is able to receive emails. See: ‘SMTP Validation’.
DEDICATED IP ADDRESS
An IP Address that is used by only one sender. To help maintain a good reputation, email marketers should send all of their emails from a dedicated IP Address.
DMA DO-NOT-MAIL
Organized by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) allowing consumers to nationally opt-out from receiving advertising mail.
DYNAMIC CONTENT
Email content that changes per recipient according to a set of predetermined rules based on each recipient’s history, preferences or other behaviours, purchases, document downloads, and much more.
E
EMAIL CHANGE OF ADDRESS (ECOA)
ECOA is an email address update service that provides new email addresses for people that have moved, changed jobs, added extra email addresses or changed their Internet Service Provider (IPS).
EMAIL APPENDING
A service that matches email addresses to postal addresses, typically followed by a permission-pass email.
EMAIL CLIENT
A computer program is used to send, receive and manage a user’s email. These programs include Outlook, as well as ‘webmail’ programs such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail.
EMAIL ADDRESS HYGIENE
The process of identifying invalid email addresses due to syntax errors, profanity, typos and removing them from the email marketing list, before a message is sent.
ESP (EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER)
Service that provides clients with a platform from which to create and deploy email messages, as well as additional email marketing services, which may vary depending on the ESP.
EVENT-TRIGGERED MESSAGES
Pre-designed emails that are generated and sent based on when a certain action is taken, a specific event occurs, or a change is made in a customer profile.
EMAIL VALIDATION
The process of identifying invalid email addresses due to syntax errors, profanity, typos and removing them from the email marketing list, before a message is sent.
EZINE
An electronic magazine emailed to a list of subscribers.
F
FALSE-POSITIVE
A legitimate email that is erroneously treated as spam.
FEEDBACK LOOPS
Programs used by ISPs to inform email marketers which recipients report their emails as spam. Marketers can then manage the complaint and remove the address from their marketing lists.
G
GEO SEGMENTATION
Target lists by geographic region such as city, state, country and postal code.
H
HARD BOUNCE
An email address that is permanently non-deliverable. Successful delivery of email address fails due to permanent reasons such as an invalid or expired email address.
HTML-BASED EMAIL
An email comprised of Hypertext Markup Language, instead of just plain text. An HTML-based email contains formatting, such as graphics, logos, colours, and other appealing methods considered equivalent of emailing a web page.
I
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol is the standard protocol for accessing email through a server. Impression: A single page view by one person.
IP ADDRESS
A unique number is assigned to each computer or device connected to the Internet.
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP)
ISPs offer access to the Internet. Common ISPs include: AOL, Netzero, Comcast, Earthlink, and much more.
K
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI)
Quantifiable measurements that reflect business factors and success drivers. General email KPI’s include: email sent/delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes, viral sharing, sales, and much more.
L
LANDING PAGE
The first webpage a subscriber visits when an email’s call to action link or button is clicked. This page should provide relevant information and entice the subscriber in a simplified way to complete the desired call to action.
LIST HYGIENE
The process of identifying invalid email addresses due to syntax errors, profanity, typos and removing them from the email marketing list, before a message is sent.
LIST SEGMENTATION
Breaking a list into smaller pieces for the purpose of targeting recipients with specific characteristics or demographics.
M
MULTI-PART EMAIL (MIME)
An email that is sent with different versions, usually HTML, text and AOL. The recipient’s email client settings determine which version is delivered to that inbox.
MULTIVARIATE TESTING
A method commonly used for testing the response of sending two different email campaigns to two equal segments of an email list.
N
NARROWCAST
Used to describe targeted email marketing that aims for the highest possible relevance, as opposed to ‘broadcast’ email marketing where one message is sent to an entire list with no segmentation applied.
O
OPEN RATE
The total number of recipients who open a given email.
OPT-IN CODE
Code posted on the webpage of a company’s website that allows a subscriber to proactively signup for an email from the company and is automatically added to that company’s email list.
OPT-OUT
A request by a subscriber to proactively unsubscribe from future mailing by having their email address removed from a mailing list.
P
PERMISSION-BASED E-MARKETING
Emails sent to recipients who have opted-in or subscribed to receive email communications.
PERSONALIZATION
Target and send individual email messages by adding tailored information in the subject line or message body such as first name, title, customer number, and much more.
PREDICTIVE MODELING
A mathematical strategy is used to dynamically segment subscribers based on who is most likely to engage with a particular message.
PRE-HEADER
A text link that is displayed before the header or body of your email message typically includes a call to action link, view as a webpage link and/or view as a mobile link.
PREVIEW PANE
A window that displays a portion of an email message without the recipient actually having to open the full message.
PRIVACY POLICY
Legal text on a website stating in clear terms how the business will use a user’s personal information collected by the site, how it will be used, who it will be shared with, and what options there are for controlling usage.
Q
QUICK POLL
A survey is built directly into the body of an email, allowing for a quick and easy collection of research data.
S
SEED EMAILS
Email addresses are placed on a list to evaluate the sender’s service.
SEGMENTATION
Breaking a list into smaller groups for the purpose of targeting specific characteristics or demographics. Segmentation is used to help increase the relevance of a message to the recipients.
SENDER ID
Email authentication technology protocol that verifies the domain name from which email is sent.
SOFT BOUNCE
An email that is temporarily unavailable. It makes it to a recipient’s email server but is bounced back due to the recipient’s inbox being full, the attachment being too large, or there being a problem with the connection,
SMTP
A process that determines both if a domain exists and if a mailbox on that domain is able to receive emails. See: ‘Domain Knocking’.
SPAM SCORE
A determination of the probability that messages from a certain sender will be classified as SPAM when delivered to email clients.
SPAM TRAP
An email address that is posted to the Internet as bait for spam and has been specifically created to detect individuals who have illegally scraped or collected email addresses.
SUBSCRIBER
Any member of a mailing list who requested to be added to a mailing list.
SUPPRESSION FILE
A collection of subscribers’ email addresses that have opted out of a list.
T
TARGETED MESSAGING
The act of sending relevant messaging to a segmented group of subscribers. Unique Clicks: The actual number of individual recipients who click on a link within a given email.
U
UNIQUE OPENS
The actual number of individual recipients who opened a given email.
UNSUBSCRIBE
When an email recipient opts out of an email list.
V
VIRAL MARKETING
Often referred to as word-of-mouth advertising. When a message starts to spread from person to person voluntarily. An example: ‘forward to friend’ tools.
W
WEB 2.0
A term for advanced web technology and applications including blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking, allowing users and content providers to interact.
WHITELIST
A list of sites from which email addresses have built a good relationship with ISPs and are considered safe to receive email from.
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