D

Demographics:

Data about the size and characteristics of an audience.

Domain Keys:

Email authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity.

Double Opt-in Email Marketing:

The process of collecting permission to email users whereby a submitted email address is not immediately added to a mailing list. Instead, an email is sent to the submitted address asking the user to take additional action to confirm that they do want to receive email communications from the marketer. If the user does nothing, the submitted address is not sent email communications. The user will only be sent email communications if they respond to the confirmation email.

E

Email Authentication:

Practice of validating that an email sender is legitimate to cut down on spam and phishing scams.

Email Client:

A computer program used to send, receive and manage a user’s email. Includes programs such as Outlook, as well as “webmail” programs such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail.

Email Frequency:

The number of times an address receives an email within a month.

Email Header:

The portion of an email containing basic information such as the senders address, the recipient’s address, the subject line and the date sent. Also contained in the header (though not always readily accessible) is more detailed information about the entire path the email traveled between the sender and recipient.

Email List Manager:

Controller of email list or database entity.

Email Marketing Campaign:

Coordinated email marketing messages delivered at intervals with a specific objective or goal.

Email Newsletter:

An email message sent out to a group of subscribers with relevant information on a topic. Often used to capture a web site visitor’s email addresses, they can also be used to keep in touch with existing customers, or simply as a means of distributing new product information.

Email Service Provider (ESP):

Service that provides clients with platform from which to create and deploy email messages, as well as the ability to access reporting tools. Depth of service and sophistication of systems vary depending on the ESP.

Email Spoofing:

Altering certain elements of an email to disguise or misidentify the origin of the message. This is an illegal technique commonly used when sending SPAM.

F

Forward:

An email function allowing subscribers to relay a previously received message in full to another email address (or addresses). This is convenient in that the entire email is passed along without the need to create a new message or do any cut/paste work.

Domain Keys:

Email authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity.

From Name:

The name by which the sender of an email is known.

From address:

The email address from which an email is sent.

G

Geo Segmentation:

The ability to target email recipients by geographic region such as city, state, country and postal code.

H

Hard Bounce:

An email address that is rejected by the receiving server for a permanent reason (example: “email address does not exist”). Hard bounces are not valid email addresses and should be removed from lists.

HTML-based Email:

An email comprised of HTML code. Essentially, an HTML-based email is the equivalent of emailing a web page, complete with colors, graphics, and other visually appealing methods of delivering content.

I

Image Suppression/Image Blocking:

A default setting in many Email Clients (and an available option on almost all), image suppression allows recipients to view emails with no images displayed. Only text and HTML-coded colors will display when emails are viewed with images blocked. Recipients do this to cut down on the amount of advertisements displayed in the emails they view, and to make emails load onto their screen in the least amount of time required. Emails viewed with images blocked are not counted as an Open because the invisible tracking images used to determine the emails Open Rate is blocked as well.

L

List Segmentation:

Breaking a list into smaller pieces for the purpose of targeting recipients with specific characteristics or demographics.

M

Multi-part Email:

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 form of email testing where testing software is used to display emails containing variations to several different elements. These emails are displayed with different combinations of the elements to different users. The data can then be viewed to see which combinations and elements had the greatest impact on performance.

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 percentage of total recipients who open a given email. An open is only counted when an invisible tracking image placed within an email by an Email Service Provider is viewed. This tracking image is not considered as having been viewed when an email is seen using an email client with images blocked, which makes Open Rates a less reliable metric than many realize.

Opt-in Code:

The percentage of total recipients who open a given email. An open is only counted when an invisible tracking image placed within an email by an Email Service Provider is viewed. This tracking image is not considered as having been viewed when an email is seen using an email client with images blocked, which makes Open Rates a less reliable metric than many realize.

Opt-in Email Marketing:

The process of collecting permission to email users whereby the user must take action to receive email communications. Also known as Permission-based Email Marketing.

P

Permission-based Email Marketing:

The practice of sending email communications only to recipients who have given their consent to receive them.

Personalization:

Inserting a token into your email message that allows you to draw personal information from the recipients account, i.e. first name, title, customer number, etc.

Predictive Modeling:

Mathematically-based formula used to dynamically segment subscribers based on who is most likely to engage with a particular message.

Preview Pane:

Available in some email clients, preview panes display a portion of a selected email message without the recipient actually having to open the full message. In some clients, the size of the preview pane can be adjusted to display all or most of an email.

Psychographics:

Identification of personality characteristics and attitudes that affect a person’s lifestyle and purchasing behaviors. Psychographic data points include opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about various aspects relating to lifestyle and purchasing behavior.

Q

Quick Poll:

A simple survey built directly into the body of an email, allowing for quick and easy collection of research data from members of a mailing list.

R

Recipient:

Any member of a mailing list who receives a particular email communication without a hard/soft bounce affecting delivery.

Render:

Used to describe whether or not images within an email display, particularly tracking images used to determine open rates. For this reason, some in the email marketing industry have proposed changing what is now called an “open rate” to be referred to as a “render rate.”

Reply-to Address:

The email address to which a recipient can reply to from your email message. This address must be a working email address and must be live for at least 30 days after your email is sent.

S

Segmentation/Targeting:

Identifying and sending to only a select portion of an email list based on a shared pre-determined criteria, such as the recipients’ zip code or online purchase history. 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.

Sender Score Certified:

Email certification process that requires originators of legitimate email adhere to a baseline set of industry standards for email communication.

Single Opt-in:

Method of list building where only a single action is required of an interested party before he/she is added to a mailing list (such as submitting a web form). Differs from Double Opt-in in that no follow-up action is required on the part of new subscribers in order to confirm their opt-in status.

Snippet Text:

The first line of text within an email, also called the Pre-header. While often used to prompt recipients to add the sender to his/her safelist, Snippet Text is increasingly being used for more high-value content. In email clients such as Gmail, Snippet Text is displayed after the subject line in recipients’ inboxes, making it a valuable area for key messaging.

Soft Bounce:

An email that makes it to a recipient’s email server but is bounced back. This can be due to a recipient’s inbox being filled to capacity. A soft bounce email may be deliverable at a later time if re-sent after the initial bounce.

SPAM:

Unsolicited bulk or commercial email. The prevalence of SPAM emails has led to laws against SPAM being enacted by the U.S. government, as well as more stringent filtering methods implemented by widely-used email clients.

SPAM Score:

Unsolicited bulk or commercial email. The prevalence of SPAM emails has led to laws against SPAM being enacted by the U.S. government, as well as more stringent filtering methods implemented by widely-used email clients.

SPAM Trap:

An email address that has been specifically created to detect individuals who have illegally scraped or collected email addresses. The belief is that any email sent to a spam trap address is indeed Spam, as the email address is not usually used as a real email address.

Split List:

A list that has been segmented in some way(s). Examples could include a 50/50 split, customer vs. prospect split, a split based on subscriber profile information such as their Industry, etc.

Subject Line:

Used as the first point of contact with an email recipient, the subject line is the only portion of an email message guaranteed to be seen in all email client inboxes (i.e. those with and without preview panes available). The importance of subject lines is twofold: not only does the appeal of a subject line directly affect whether or not recipients will open the email, but a subject line containing unfavorable elements can trigger SPAM filters and be considered junk mail by email clients.

Subscriber:

Any member of a mailing list who has opted-in of his/her own accord to receive mail from that particular sender.

T

Text-based Email:

A black and white email consisting only of typed text. Preferred by recipients who view email on mobile devices, or those who prefer email without images.

Total Clicks:

The total number of times a link was clicked, includes recipients who may have clicked multiple times.

Total Opens:

The total number of times an email was opened, includes recipients who may have opened the email multiple times.

U

Unique Clicks:

The number of individual recipients who click on a link within a given email. Even if one person clicks on three links within an email, he/she is only counted as one unique click.

Unique Opens:

The number of individual recipients who opened a given email. Different from Total Opens in that each individual is only counted once. A recipient who opens an email three times will be counted as one Unique Open, while adding three to the number of Total Opens.

Unsubscribe:

When an email recipient requests to no longer receive email communication from a particular sender. The option to unsubscribe from a mailing list is required by law to be available on all email marketing communications.

W

Web version:

Most email marketing messages contain a link which points to a Web Version of the message. This is usually displayed at the top of the message so it is the first thing recipients will see if they have images suppressed. Web versions of emails contain the same content, but are viewed as standalone web pages instead of through an email client.

Whitelist:

A list of email addresses that a user designates as safe to receive email from. Inclusion on a whitelist means that no email from those particular senders will ever end up in the user’s junk mail folder unless express action is taken by the user to remove an address from the whitelist.

Z

ZIP Code Radius Filter:

Segmentation feature allowing the sender to isolate a regional portion of a mailing list based on recipients’ proximity to a specified ZIP Code.