Email Marketing Articles
The Complete Email Marketing Glossary: 200+ Essential Terms Every Marketer Should Know
Email Marketing Glossary: Your Complete Guide to Industry Terminology
Welcome to the definitive resource for email marketing terminology. Whether you're trying to understand deliverability concepts, decode technical jargon from your ESP, or simply expand your digital marketing knowledge, this comprehensive glossary covers over 200 essential terms that every email marketer should know.
The rapidly evolving landscape of email marketing introduces new terminology constantly—from authentication protocols like DKIM and DMARC that affect inbox placement, to advanced techniques like dynamic segmentation and AI-powered personalization that drive engagement. Our searchable glossary breaks down complex concepts into clear, actionable explanations that will help you communicate more effectively with team members, improve campaign performance, and stay compliant with regulations like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL.
Use this resource to troubleshoot deliverability issues, interpret your analytics more effectively, optimize your email strategy, and ultimately drive better results from your email marketing program. Whether you're managing list hygiene, crafting more compelling CTAs, or trying to reduce bounce rates and improve sender reputation, the knowledge contained in this glossary will serve as your roadmap to email marketing success. Bookmark this page as your go-to reference whenever you encounter unfamiliar terminology or need to refresh your understanding of email marketing fundamentals.
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| A/B Testing | A method of comparing two versions of an email to determine which performs better. The versions typically differ in a single element (subject line, call-to-action, images, etc.) with performance measured through metrics like open rate or click-through rate. |
| Above the Fold | The portion of an email that is visible without scrolling when the email is first opened. This prime real estate is crucial for capturing attention and encouraging recipients to scroll down to view the rest of your content. |
| Abandoned Cart Email | An automated message sent to customers who added items to their online shopping cart but left the website without completing the purchase. These emails aim to remind customers of their abandoned items and often include incentives to encourage them to complete their transaction. |
| Acceptance Rate | The percentage of emails accepted by receiving servers out of the total number of emails sent. A low acceptance rate may indicate issues with your sender reputation or that you're being blocked by ISPs. |
| Acquisition Email | An email specifically designed to convert prospects into customers or subscribers. These emails focus on highlighting the value proposition and often include special offers or incentives to encourage sign-up or purchase. |
| Adaptive Email | Email content that automatically adjusts its layout, design, or content based on recipient attributes such as device type, location, or past interactions. These dynamic emails enhance user experience by delivering optimally formatted messages regardless of how or where subscribers access their email. |
| AFP (Authenticated Forwarding Protection) | A deliverability feature that helps preserve email authentication when messages are forwarded. It helps maintain sender authentication through the forwarding process, which can improve deliverability of forwarded messages. |
| AI-Powered Email | Email marketing that uses artificial intelligence to optimize content, subject lines, send times, and personalization based on subscriber data and behavior patterns. AI systems analyze engagement patterns to predict the most effective messaging strategies, continuously improving performance through machine learning algorithms. |
| Algorithmic Segmentation | An advanced method of dividing email lists using algorithms that automatically analyze subscriber data and behavior patterns to create highly targeted groups. Unlike manual segmentation, algorithmic approaches can identify complex patterns and relationships within data that humans might miss, resulting in more precise targeting and higher engagement. |
| AMP for Email | A technology developed by Google that allows for interactive, dynamic content within emails. AMP for Email enables recipients to take actions directly within the email without having to visit a website, such as completing forms, browsing products, or responding to invitations. |
| Anonymization | The process of removing or modifying personally identifiable information in email marketing data while maintaining its analytical value. Anonymization protects subscriber privacy while still allowing marketers to derive meaningful insights from aggregate data patterns for strategy development and campaign optimization. |
| Anti-Spam Legislation | Laws and regulations designed to combat unsolicited commercial emails (spam). Major examples include CAN-SPAM in the US, CASL in Canada, and GDPR in Europe, all of which establish requirements for commercial emails and penalties for violations. |
| API Integration | The connection of email marketing platforms with other business systems or applications using Application Programming Interfaces. API integrations enable automated data exchange between systems, allowing for enhanced functionality like real-time subscriber data updates, automated workflow triggers, and synchronized customer information across platforms. |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Email | The application of machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics to email marketing. AI capabilities include content optimization, send time personalization, subscriber behavior prediction, automated segmentation, and subject line generation, helping marketers create more effective, personalized communications at scale. |
| Attachment | A file sent along with an email message. Attachments should be used sparingly in marketing emails as they can trigger spam filters, increase email size, and may not be compatible with all email clients. |
| Audience Segmentation | The practice of dividing an email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, purchase history, engagement level, or interests. Effective segmentation allows for more targeted and relevant email content tailored to different audience groups. |
| Augmented Reality (AR) in Email | The integration of AR technology into email campaigns, allowing recipients to interact with virtual elements overlaid on their real-world environment. AR in email can create immersive experiences like product visualization, virtual try-ons, or interactive games, significantly increasing engagement and creating memorable brand interactions. |
| Authentication | The process of verifying that an email is legitimate and comes from the claimed sender. Email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) help prevent email spoofing and phishing, improving deliverability and protecting sender reputation. |
| Automated Email | A pre-written email that is automatically sent based on triggers, timing, or subscriber actions. Examples include welcome emails, birthday emails, abandoned cart reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups. |
| Autoresponder | A pre-written email or series of emails automatically sent when triggered by specific subscriber actions or time intervals. Common autoresponders include welcome series, purchase confirmations, or anniversary emails. |
| Average Order Value (AOV) | The average amount spent each time a customer places an order through your email campaigns. Calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders, this metric helps assess the effectiveness of your email marketing in driving sales value. |
| Batch and Blast Email | A traditional email marketing approach where identical messages are sent to an entire subscriber list without personalization or segmentation. While efficient for broad announcements, this one-size-fits-all method typically generates lower engagement rates than targeted approaches and may contribute to list fatigue when overused. |
| Behavioral Targeting | A strategy that delivers content based on subscribers' past actions and engagement patterns rather than just demographic information. By analyzing website visits, purchase history, email clicks, and other interactions, marketers can create highly relevant messages that respond to actual customer behavior rather than assumptions. |
| Blacklist | A database of IP addresses and domains identified as sources of spam or malicious emails. Being on a blacklist can severely impact your email deliverability, as many ISPs and email clients check these lists before accepting incoming mail. |
| Blacklist Monitoring | The systematic practice of checking whether your sending domain or IP addresses have been added to spam blacklists. Regular monitoring allows for quick remediation of listing issues before they significantly impact deliverability and sender reputation. |
| Bot Traffic | Automated web traffic generated by software programs rather than human users that can skew email marketing metrics. Bots may artificially inflate open rates by triggering tracking pixels or create false engagement data, making it essential to filter out this activity when analyzing campaign performance to ensure accurate measurement. |
| Bounce | An email that couldn't be delivered to the recipient's inbox. Bounces are categorized as either ‘hard' (permanent delivery failure due to invalid email address) or ‘soft' (temporary delivery issue like a full inbox). |
| Bounce Handling | The systematic process of managing emails that couldn't be delivered by categorizing them as hard or soft bounces and taking appropriate actions. Effective bounce handling includes removing hard bounces immediately, monitoring soft bounces for repeat failures, and implementing verification systems to reduce future bounces. |
| Bounce Rate | The percentage of emails that couldn't be delivered to recipients' inboxes out of the total emails sent. A high bounce rate can damage sender reputation and affect future deliverability. |
| Brand Consistency | The maintenance of uniform visual elements, messaging tone, and overall experience across all email communications. Consistent branding builds recognition, reinforces brand identity, and creates a cohesive customer experience that strengthens trust and engagement over time. |
| BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) | A standard that allows companies to display their logos alongside emails in recipients' inboxes. BIMI works alongside authentication protocols like DMARC to verify sender identity and display the brand logo, increasing recognition and trust. |
| Broadcast Email | A mass email sent to a large portion of your subscriber list simultaneously. Unlike targeted or triggered emails, broadcast emails deliver the same message to all recipients regardless of their individual characteristics or behaviors. |
| Browser Extension for Email | Software add-ons that enhance email functionality directly within web browsers, providing additional capabilities beyond standard email client features. These extensions can offer productivity tools like email scheduling, tracking notifications, template management, or AI-powered writing assistance to improve email marketing workflow efficiency. |
| Bulk Mail | Large volumes of mail sent to numerous recipients simultaneously. While legitimate marketing emails are a form of bulk mail, excessive or poorly targeted bulk mailing can lead to spam complaints and deliverability issues. |
| Call-to-Action (CTA) | A prompt in an email that encourages the recipient to take a specific desired action. Effective CTAs use action-oriented language, create urgency, and are visually distinct through buttons or highlighted text to drive conversions. |
| Campaign Calendar | A strategic planning tool that organizes and schedules email marketing initiatives over time. This visual timeline helps marketers coordinate messaging across campaigns, maintain consistent cadence, align with business objectives and seasonal opportunities, and prevent list fatigue by ensuring balanced communication frequency. |
| CAN-SPAM Act | A United States law that establishes requirements for commercial emails and penalties for violations. Key provisions include prohibiting deceptive subject lines or headers, providing a clear way to opt out, and honoring opt-out requests promptly. |
| CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) | Canada's anti-spam law that regulates commercial electronic messages sent to Canadians. CASL requires express or implied consent before sending commercial emails and mandates clear identification of the sender and an unsubscribe mechanism. |
| Certification Programs for Email Marketers | Professional credentials that validate specialized knowledge and expertise in email marketing best practices. These industry-recognized certifications typically cover areas like strategy development, deliverability optimization, compliance, analytics, and technical implementation, providing a benchmark for professional competency in the field. |
| Chatbot Integration | The connection between email marketing platforms and conversational AI systems that enables interactive messaging experiences. Chatbot integration allows subscribers to engage with automated response systems directly from emails, providing immediate assistance, answering common questions, or facilitating transactions without requiring website visits. |
| Churn Rate | The percentage of subscribers who leave your email list during a specific time period through unsubscribes, bounces, or becoming inactive. Monitoring churn rate helps assess list health and the effectiveness of retention strategies, with lower rates indicating more relevant and engaging email programs. |
| Click Map | A visual representation showing where recipients clicked within an email, using colors to indicate click frequency. Heat maps help marketers understand which design elements attract attention and which calls-to-action are most effective. |
| Click Rate | The percentage of email recipients who clicked on one or more links in an email. Calculated by dividing the number of unique clicks by the number of delivered emails, this metric indicates how engaging your email content is. |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | The percentage of email recipients who clicked on one or more links in an email out of the total number who opened it. CTR is a key performance indicator that measures how effectively your email content motivates recipients to take action. |
| Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) | The ratio of unique clicks to unique opens, expressed as a percentage. This metric provides insight into how effectively the content of your email drives engagement once someone has opened it, isolating content performance from subject line effectiveness. |
| Cloud-Based Email Services | Email marketing platforms hosted on remote servers accessible via the internet rather than installed on local computers. Cloud-based solutions offer advantages including automatic updates, scalable resources, accessibility from anywhere, built-in redundancy, and reduced IT infrastructure requirements for managing email marketing programs. |
| Cold Email | An unsolicited email sent to a recipient with whom you have no prior relationship. While cold emailing is a legitimate business practice when done properly, it must comply with anti-spam laws and focus on providing value to avoid being marked as spam. |
| Collaborative Filtering | A recommendation technique that analyzes patterns across many users to suggest relevant content or products in emails. By identifying similarities between subscribers based on their behaviors (such as ‘customers who bought this also bought that'), collaborative filtering enables personalized recommendations without requiring explicit data about individual preferences. |
| Complaint Rate | The percentage of recipients who report your email as spam. High complaint rates can seriously damage your sender reputation and deliverability, with most ESPs considering rates above 0.1% problematic. |
| Consent Management | The systematic collection, storage, and maintenance of subscribers' permissions to receive marketing communications. Effective consent management includes capturing explicit opt-ins, maintaining records of when and how consent was obtained, and providing easy unsubscribe options to comply with regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM. |
| Confirmation Email | An automated message sent to verify a specific action taken by the recipient, such as creating an account, making a purchase, or submitting a form. These transactional emails typically have high open rates and help build trust with customers. |
| Content Block | A modular section of an email template that contains specific content types like text, images, or buttons. Content blocks allow for flexible email design and easier template creation through drag-and-drop interfaces in many email marketing platforms. |
| Content Personalization | The practice of tailoring email content to individual recipients based on their data, behavior, or preferences. Going beyond simply using a subscriber's name, advanced personalization dynamically adjusts product recommendations, offers, images, and messaging to create highly relevant experiences that drive engagement and conversions. |
| Content Recommendation Engine | A system that automatically suggests relevant content to email subscribers based on their interests, behaviors, and preferences. These algorithms analyze user engagement patterns, purchase history, and demographic data to identify the most appropriate articles, products, or offers for each recipient, increasing email relevance and engagement. |
| Conversion | The completion of a desired action by an email recipient, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or downloading content. Conversions are the ultimate goal of most email marketing campaigns and a key metric for measuring success. |
| Conversion Funnel | A visual representation of the customer journey from initial awareness to final action, with each stage narrowing as some prospects drop off. Email marketers use this model to create targeted messages for each funnel stage—awareness, interest, consideration, and decision—with content and CTAs appropriate to where recipients are in their journey. |
| Conversion Rate | The percentage of email recipients who complete a desired action (conversion) after clicking through from your email. This metric measures the effectiveness of both your email content and the landing page in driving the target behavior. |
| Cookie Consent | The explicit permission obtained from website visitors to store cookies on their devices for tracking and personalization purposes. Email marketers must implement cookie consent mechanisms to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR and ePrivacy Directive, affecting how subscriber behavior can be tracked for campaign optimization. |
| Cross-Channel Marketing | A strategy that integrates email with other marketing channels like social media, SMS, direct mail, and paid advertising to create cohesive customer experiences. This approach ensures consistent messaging across touchpoints, leverages channel strengths for different objectives, and creates multiple opportunities for customer engagement throughout their journey. |
| Custom Domain | A domain name that you own and use for sending emails instead of using the domain of your ESP. Using a custom domain (like emails@yourbusiness.com rather than yourbusiness@espname.com) enhances brand recognition and professionalism. |
| Customer Data Platform (CDP) | A software system that creates unified, persistent customer profiles by collecting and integrating data from multiple sources. CDPs enable email marketers to build comprehensive views of each subscriber by combining email engagement metrics with website behavior, purchase history, and demographic information for highly personalized communications. |
| Customer Journey | The complete experience a customer has with your brand from initial awareness through conversion and beyond. Email marketing plays a crucial role at various touchpoints throughout this journey, nurturing leads and building customer relationships. |
| Customer Lifecycle | The stages a customer goes through in their relationship with your business, typically including awareness, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy. Different email types and strategies are appropriate for each stage of the lifecycle. |
| Customer Retention | Email marketing strategies and tactics specifically designed to maintain relationships with existing customers and encourage repeat business. Retention-focused emails include post-purchase follow-ups, loyalty program communications, product usage tips, and personalized offers based on past purchases, all aimed at increasing customer lifetime value. |
| Dark Mode | A display setting that shows light text on a dark background instead of dark text on a light background. Email marketers need to consider how their designs appear in dark mode as more users adopt this setting across various email clients. |
| Data Enrichment | The process of enhancing existing customer data with additional information from external or internal sources to create more comprehensive subscriber profiles. By appending details like demographic data, firmographic information, social media activity, or purchase history, marketers can develop deeper customer insights for improved segmentation and personalization. |
| Data Privacy | The protection of personal information collected from email subscribers. Email marketers must adhere to various data privacy regulations (like GDPR and CCPA) by obtaining proper consent, securely storing data, and providing transparency about how data is used. |
| Data Visualization | The representation of email marketing data in graphical or visual formats such as charts, graphs, and dashboards to facilitate understanding and analysis. Effective data visualization transforms complex metrics and trends into easily interpretable visual elements, helping marketers quickly identify patterns, outliers, and opportunities for campaign optimization. |
| Dedicated IP | An IP address used exclusively by a single sender for sending emails. A dedicated IP gives you complete control over your sending reputation but requires consistent sending volume and good email practices to maintain positive deliverability. |
| Deep Linking | URLs that direct users to a specific page within a mobile app rather than a website or app store. In email marketing, deep links create a seamless experience for mobile users by taking them directly to relevant content within an app they already have installed. |
| Deliverability | The ability of an email to successfully reach recipients' inboxes rather than being blocked or filtered to spam folders. Factors affecting deliverability include sender reputation, authentication, content quality, and list hygiene. |
| Deliverability Rate | The percentage of sent emails that successfully reach recipients' inboxes rather than being blocked entirely or filtered to spam folders. This metric goes beyond delivery rate by measuring actual inbox placement and is a critical indicator of email program health and sender reputation quality. |
| Deliverability Testing | The process of evaluating how your emails will perform in terms of inbox placement before sending to your full list. This proactive approach involves using seed lists to check rendering across email clients, testing content against spam filters, and verifying that authentication protocols are working correctly. |
| Digital Signature | An electronic authentication method that verifies the sender's identity and ensures email content hasn't been altered in transit. Digital signatures use cryptographic techniques to create a unique identifier linked to both the sender and the specific email message, providing recipients with confidence in the legitimacy and integrity of communications. |
| DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) | An email authentication method that adds a digital signature to your emails, verifying they were sent by an authorized user of your domain. DKIM helps prevent email spoofing and improves deliverability by proving email authenticity. |
| DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) | An email authentication protocol that builds upon SPF and DKIM to protect against phishing and spoofing. DMARC allows domain owners to specify how email receivers should handle messages that fail authentication checks. |
| DNS (Domain Name System) | The system that translates domain names into IP addresses, essential for email delivery. Email marketers need to understand DNS to properly set up authentication records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC that improve deliverability. |
| Domain | The part of an email address after the @ symbol that identifies the email service provider. Using a consistent, branded domain for sending emails (rather than free services like Gmail) improves professionalism and deliverability. |
| Domain Alignment | An email authentication best practice where the domain visible in the sender's address matches the domain used in SPF and DKIM authentication records. Proper domain alignment strengthens email authentication, improves deliverability, and is required for a DMARC policy to be fully effective. |
| Domain Reputation | The credibility and trustworthiness associated with your sending domain based on historical email practices. Unlike IP reputation which can change with a new IP address, domain reputation follows your brand across ESPs and is built through consistent quality sending practices, proper authentication, and positive engagement metrics. |
| Double Opt-in | A subscription process requiring new subscribers to confirm their email address by clicking a link in a confirmation email before being added to your list. This method ensures higher-quality subscribers, reduces bounces, and provides stronger legal compliance. |
| Drip Campaign | A series of automated emails sent on a schedule or triggered by specific subscriber actions. These campaigns nurture leads or customers through a sequence of messages that build upon each other to drive engagement and conversions over time. |
| Dynamic Content | Personalized email content that changes based on subscriber data or behavior. Dynamic content allows you to send a single email campaign where certain elements (images, product recommendations, offers) automatically adjust to be more relevant to each recipient. |
| Dynamic Segmentation | An advanced targeting approach where subscriber segments are automatically updated in real-time based on behavior, preferences, and other data points. Unlike static segments that require manual updates, dynamic segments continuously evolve as subscribers take actions, ensuring your targeting remains current and relevant without ongoing maintenance. |
| Dynamic Subject Lines | Email subject lines that automatically change based on individual subscriber data, behavior, or preferences. This personalization technique uses variables to insert recipient-specific information (like names, recent purchases, or location) or adapts entire subject lines based on engagement history, significantly improving open rates through increased relevance. |
| E-blast | A single email sent to a large number of recipients simultaneously. While the term is commonly used in marketing, many professionals avoid it as it suggests an untargeted, disruptive approach rather than strategic, permission-based communication. |
| Email Address Validation | The process of verifying that email addresses in your database are properly formatted, actually exist, and can receive messages. Validation tools check syntax, domain existence, mailbox availability, and other factors to identify invalid addresses before sending, reducing bounce rates and protecting sender reputation. |
| Email Alias | An alternative email address that forwards messages to a primary mailbox without requiring a separate inbox. Email aliases are useful for tracking campaign sources (sales@company.com, newsletter@company.com), department-specific communications, or temporary projects while maintaining centralized email management. |
| Email Append | The process of adding email addresses to an existing customer database by matching customer records against a third-party database. This practice is controversial as it doesn't involve explicit consent and may violate privacy regulations in some jurisdictions. |
| Email Authentication | The technical processes used to verify that an email comes from the claimed sender. The three main authentication protocols are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which work together to prevent email spoofing and improve deliverability. |
| Email Automation | The use of predefined rules to trigger email sending based on subscriber actions, dates, or other criteria. Automation enables timely, relevant communication without manual intervention, improving efficiency and effectiveness of email marketing. |
| Email Cadence | The frequency and timing pattern of emails sent to subscribers. An optimal email cadence balances staying top-of-mind without overwhelming recipients, and may vary based on subscriber preferences, industry norms, and campaign objectives. |
| Email Client | The software or app used to read email, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail. Email marketers must consider how their emails will display across various email clients, as rendering can differ significantly. |
| Email Client Detection | Technology that identifies which email application or service a subscriber is using to view messages. This information helps marketers optimize email design for specific clients, address rendering issues proactively, and understand audience technology preferences, resulting in better user experiences across different reading environments. |
| Email Content Calendar | A strategic planning tool that schedules and organizes email content topics, themes, and campaigns over time. This calendar helps maintain consistent communication cadence, align messaging with business objectives and seasonal events, coordinate with other marketing channels, and ensure content variety that keeps subscribers engaged. |
| Email Data Warehouse | A centralized repository that stores and organizes email marketing data from multiple campaigns and sources. These systems consolidate metrics like opens, clicks, conversions, and subscriber attributes for long-term analysis, allowing marketers to identify historical trends, perform advanced analytics, and maintain a comprehensive record of program performance. |
| Email Deliverability | The ability of your emails to successfully reach recipients' inboxes rather than being blocked or filtered to spam folders. Good deliverability depends on sender reputation, authentication, content quality, engagement metrics, and list hygiene. |
| Email Design | The visual layout and formatting of an email, including typography, color scheme, images, and structural elements. Effective email design considers both aesthetic appeal and functional aspects like responsiveness and accessibility across devices. |
| Email Fatigue | The condition where subscribers become overwhelmed by receiving too many emails too frequently, leading to decreased engagement or unsubscribes. Preventing email fatigue requires respecting frequency preferences, maintaining relevant content, and implementing proper segmentation to ensure communications remain welcome and valuable. |
| Email Feedback Loop (FBL) | A mechanism where mailbox providers notify senders when recipients mark their messages as spam. By monitoring these spam complaints, marketers can identify problematic content or segments, remove dissatisfied subscribers promptly, and adjust strategies to improve sender reputation and deliverability. |
| Email Filter | A tool used by email clients and ISPs to sort incoming messages, potentially directing marketing emails to promotional tabs or spam folders. Filters analyze factors like sender reputation, content, and recipient engagement to make sorting decisions. |
| Email Footer | The bottom section of an email containing required information such as unsubscribe links, physical address, and privacy policy. The footer also often includes social media links, contact information, and copyright notices. |
| Email Frequency | How often you send emails to your subscribers. Finding the optimal frequency is crucial—too many emails can lead to fatigue and unsubscribes, while too few might result in disengagement or missed revenue opportunities. |
| Email Frequency Cap | A limit set on how many emails a subscriber can receive within a specified timeframe. Implementing frequency caps prevents overwhelming subscribers with too many messages, reducing list fatigue and unsubscribe rates while maintaining engagement quality over quantity. |
| Email Governance | The framework of policies, processes, and standards that guide an organization's email marketing practices. Good governance establishes clear guidelines for compliance, data handling, brand consistency, approval workflows, and performance measurement, ensuring responsible, effective email programs that align with business objectives and regulatory requirements. |
| Email Header | The section at the top of an email containing the sender name, subject line, preheader text, and other metadata. The header makes the crucial first impression that determines whether recipients will open your email. |
| Email Identity | The recognizable characteristics that define your brand in the inbox, including sender name, email address, logo, design elements, and communication style. A consistent, authentic email identity builds trust with subscribers, enhances brand recognition, and improves open rates through immediate sender identification. |
| Email Inbox Simulator | A testing tool that shows how emails will appear across different email clients, devices, and settings before sending. These simulators help marketers identify and fix rendering issues, spam trigger content, or design problems, ensuring optimal inbox presentation and reducing the risk of deliverability issues. |
| Email Intelligence | The strategic use of data analytics and insights to inform email marketing decisions and optimize campaign performance. Email intelligence transforms raw metrics into actionable knowledge by identifying patterns, predicting outcomes, and revealing optimization opportunities across audience segments, content types, and campaign structures. |
| Email List | A collection of email addresses and associated data gathered from individuals who have opted to receive communications from your organization. A quality email list is the foundation of successful email marketing campaigns. |
| Email List Segmentation | The practice of dividing an email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement level. Segmentation enables more targeted, relevant messaging that typically generates higher engagement and conversion rates. |
| Email List Validation | The process of verifying the quality, accuracy, and deliverability of email addresses in your database. Validation services check for syntax errors, domain existence, mailbox accessibility, and spam traps, helping maintain list hygiene, reduce bounce rates, and protect sender reputation by identifying problematic addresses before sending. |
| Email Marketing | The strategy of sending commercial messages to a group of people via email. Effective email marketing involves building and maintaining a subscriber list, creating valuable content, and analyzing performance to continuously improve results. |
| Email Marketing Automation | Software and strategies that enable the automatic sending of targeted emails triggered by specific times, actions, or behaviors. Automation improves efficiency, ensures timely communication, and allows for sophisticated customer journeys without manual intervention. |
| Email Marketing Platform | Software that facilitates the creation, sending, and analysis of email marketing campaigns. These platforms (like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or HubSpot) typically offer features such as templates, automation, segmentation, and analytics. |
| Email Migration | The process of transferring email marketing operations from one platform or service provider to another. Successful migration involves carefully transferring subscriber lists with their consent records, historical campaign data, custom templates, automation workflows, and integration connections while maintaining deliverability and program continuity. |
| Email Monetization | The practice of generating revenue directly through email campaigns beyond traditional product promotion. Monetization strategies include selling sponsored placements to partners, incorporating affiliate links, offering premium newsletter subscriptions, and renting list access for third-party messages while maintaining subscriber privacy and trust. |
| Email Parsing | The automated extraction and processing of specific data elements from incoming emails. Parsing technology identifies and captures structured information from message content, enabling workflow automation, data entry elimination, and trigger-based actions based on content received via email. |
| Email Personalization | The practice of tailoring email content to individual recipients based on their data, preferences, or behaviors. Personalization ranges from simple tactics like using the recipient's name to sophisticated approaches like dynamic content based on browsing history. |
| Email Preference Center | A page where subscribers can specify what types of emails they want to receive and how often. Preference centers reduce unsubscribes by giving recipients more control over their email experience rather than forcing an all-or-nothing choice. |
| Email Preview Text | The snippet of text displayed after or beside the subject line in most email clients before the email is opened. This text (also called preheader) provides additional context that can influence open rates and should complement the subject line. |
| Email Queue Management | The system that controls the order, timing, and rate at which emails are processed and sent from a server to recipients. Effective queue management balances sending volume with server capacity, implements throttling to avoid triggering spam filters, and prioritizes time-sensitive messages for optimal delivery performance. |
| Email Rendering | How an email displays across different email clients, devices, and settings. Testing email rendering before sending campaigns is crucial as variations can significantly impact user experience and campaign effectiveness. |
| Email Rendering Engine | The software component within email clients that interprets HTML and CSS code to display the visual presentation of an email. Different email clients use different rendering engines with varying levels of support for modern code, requiring marketers to test thoroughly and use compatible design approaches for consistent display across platforms. |
| Email Reputation | A holistic assessment of your trustworthiness as an email sender based on historical sending patterns, authentication practices, and recipient engagement. Email reputation encompasses both IP and domain reputation, with positive signals including high engagement, proper authentication, and low complaints, while negative signals include spam reports, blacklisting, and poor engagement. |
| Email ROI Calculator | A tool that measures the financial return generated by email marketing investments by comparing campaign costs against resulting revenue. These calculators typically account for expenses like platform fees, design resources, and staff time against metrics such as conversions, average order value, and lifetime customer value. |
| Email Scrubbing | The systematic process of cleaning an email list by removing invalid, inactive, or risky addresses to improve deliverability and engagement. Regular list scrubbing identifies and removes hard bounces, spam traps, role addresses, and chronically unengaged subscribers to maintain list quality and protect sender reputation. |
| Email Security Gateway | A protective system that filters incoming and outgoing email traffic to detect and block threats like spam, phishing attempts, malware, and sensitive data leakage. Email security gateways use various detection methods including pattern matching, reputation scoring, behavioral analysis, and content scanning to safeguard communication channels. |
| Email Sender Reputation | A score assigned to your sending domain and IP address based on your email sending practices. A good reputation—influenced by factors like bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement—is crucial for inbox placement. |
| Email Sentiment Analysis | The use of natural language processing to determine the emotional tone of subscriber responses to email campaigns. This analysis identifies positive, negative, or neutral sentiment in replies and feedback, providing insights into audience reception beyond standard engagement metrics to help refine messaging and relationship management. |
| Email Service Provider (ESP) | A company that offers email marketing services, including tools for creating, sending, and analyzing email campaigns. ESPs provide infrastructure for managing subscriber lists, designing emails, automating workflows, and tracking performance metrics. |
| Email Signature Management | Tools and systems that standardize the creation, distribution, and updating of email signatures across an organization. These solutions ensure brand consistency, compliance with legal requirements, and efficient deployment of signature updates while allowing for personalization and campaign-specific messaging in the signature area. |
| Email Spoofing | A deceptive technique where attackers forge email headers to make messages appear to come from a trusted sender or organization. Email spoofing is commonly used in phishing attacks and can be prevented through proper implementation of authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. |
| Email Template | A pre-designed layout for emails that can be reused across multiple campaigns. Templates maintain brand consistency, save time in the creation process, and ensure emails follow best practices for design and structure. |
| Email Template Builder | A visual design tool that allows marketers to create professional email layouts without coding knowledge. These drag-and-drop interfaces typically include responsive design components, customizable content blocks, brand styling options, and preview capabilities, making email creation more accessible while ensuring technical best practices. |
| Email Testing Tools | Software applications that evaluate various aspects of email campaigns before sending to identify potential issues. These tools check for deliverability problems, rendering inconsistencies across devices and clients, broken links, spam trigger content, load time optimization, and accessibility compliance to maximize campaign effectiveness. |
| Email Throttling | The practice of controlling the rate at which emails are sent to avoid triggering spam filters or exceeding ISP limits. ESPs often automatically throttle sending to optimize deliverability, especially for large campaigns. |
| Email Tracking | The monitoring of recipient interactions with emails, including opens, clicks, conversions, and other engagement metrics. Tracking provides valuable insights for measuring campaign success and optimizing future emails. |
| Email Whitelisting | The process of getting your sending address added to a recipient's trusted senders list or address book. When a subscriber whitelists your email address, your messages bypass certain spam filters and typically receive preferential inbox placement, improving deliverability and visibility. |
| Enhanced Customer Profile (ECP) | A comprehensive subscriber record that combines standard demographic information with behavioral data, preferences, purchase history, and cross-channel interactions. Enhanced profiles provide deeper insights into individual subscribers, enabling highly personalized messaging strategies that respond to specific needs and interests throughout the customer lifecycle. |
| Engagement-Based Segmentation | A targeting strategy that groups subscribers based on their level of interaction with your emails, such as active readers, occasional clickers, or inactive subscribers. This behavioral approach enables tailored content strategies for each engagement level, from special offers for loyalists to re-engagement campaigns for dormant subscribers. |
| Engagement Rate | A composite metric that measures the overall level of subscriber interaction with your emails across multiple dimensions. While calculation methods vary, engagement rates typically incorporate opens, clicks, conversions, and sometimes forwards or social sharing to provide a comprehensive view of email performance beyond individual metrics. |
| ESP (Email Service Provider) | A company that provides services and infrastructure for sending marketing and transactional emails. ESPs offer features like list management, email design tools, automation capabilities, and performance analytics. |
| Event-Based Automation | Email marketing workflows triggered by specific subscriber actions or system events rather than time-based schedules. These automated sequences respond to real-time behaviors like website visits, purchase completions, or cart abandonment, delivering highly relevant messages at moments of peak engagement opportunity. |
| Event-Triggered Email | An automated message sent in response to a specific action taken by a recipient or an event related to them. Examples include welcome emails after signup, birthday emails, or cart abandonment reminders—all triggered by particular events rather than sent on a schedule. |
| External Data Integration | The process of incorporating information from sources outside your email marketing platform into your subscriber profiles and campaigns. By connecting with CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, website analytics, social media, or third-party databases, marketers can enrich subscriber data for more sophisticated segmentation and personalization strategies. |
| First-Party Cookie | Browser cookies placed by the website a user is directly visiting, rather than by third-party domains. These cookies collect data about visitor behavior that can inform email marketing strategies while providing better privacy compliance than third-party cookies, becoming increasingly important as browsers phase out third-party tracking. |
| First-Party Data | Information collected directly from your audience or customers rather than purchased or acquired from external sources. In email marketing, first-party data includes subscription information, purchase history, and email engagement metrics, which are valuable for personalization. |
| Forward Rate | The percentage of recipients who share your email with others using the forward function or share buttons. A high forward rate indicates particularly valuable content that recipients find worth sharing with their network. |
| Frequency Capping | A strategy that limits how many emails an individual subscriber receives within a specified timeframe to prevent list fatigue. Marketers set maximum message thresholds per day, week, or month across all campaigns, ensuring recipients aren't overwhelmed while still maintaining adequate brand presence in the inbox. |
| From Name | The name that appears as the sender of an email in the recipient's inbox. The from name significantly influences open rates and should be recognizable and trustworthy, typically featuring your brand name or a consistent sender identity. |
| Gamification in Email | The incorporation of game design elements in email marketing to increase engagement and interaction. Techniques include points systems, progress bars, quizzes, contests, hidden content, interactive challenges, and reward mechanisms that make email experiences more enjoyable while encouraging specific subscriber behaviors. |
| GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) | A European Union regulation governing data protection and privacy. For email marketers, GDPR requires explicit consent before sending marketing emails, clear privacy notices, and mechanisms for subscribers to access, correct, or delete their data. |
| GDPR Compliance Tools | Software solutions that help email marketers meet the requirements of General Data Protection Regulation. These tools facilitate consent collection and management, maintain documentation of permission, automate data subject access requests, implement proper data storage practices, and provide audit trails for regulatory accountability. |
| Geotargeting | The practice of delivering different email content to subscribers based on their geographic location. Geotargeting enables regionally relevant messaging such as promoting local events, featuring seasonal products appropriate to local climate, or highlighting nearby store locations to increase message relevance and drive higher engagement. |
| Graymail | Email that recipients have technically opted into but may not actively want or read, such as newsletters they signed up for but no longer engage with. Graymail isn't spam, but poor engagement with it can harm sender reputation. |
| Hard Bounce | A permanent email delivery failure due to issues like an invalid email address, non-existent domain, or blocked server. Hard bounces should be promptly removed from your email list to protect your sender reputation. |
| Hard vs Soft Bounce | The classification of email delivery failures into permanent (hard) or temporary (soft) issues. Hard bounces indicate permanent problems like invalid addresses or non-existent domains requiring immediate list removal, while soft bounces represent temporary issues like full mailboxes or server unavailability that may resolve with future delivery attempts. |
| Heat Map | A visual representation of where recipients click within an email, using colors to indicate click frequency. Heat maps help marketers understand which design elements attract attention and which calls-to-action are most effective. |
| Honey Pot | A fake email address created specifically to catch spammers who harvest email addresses without permission. Getting caught in a honey pot can result in being blacklisted, so always use permission-based methods to build your email list. |
| HTML Email | An email formatted using Hypertext Markup Language to include design elements like colors, images, and formatted text. HTML emails allow for more visually appealing messages compared to plain text, though both formats serve different purposes in email marketing. |
| Inbox Placement Rate | The percentage of sent emails that successfully reach recipients' inboxes (not spam folders). This metric is a true measure of deliverability and is influenced by sender reputation, authentication, and engagement metrics. |
| Inactive Subscriber | A person on your email list who hasn't opened or clicked your emails for an extended period. Managing inactive subscribers through re-engagement campaigns or eventual removal is important for maintaining list quality and sender reputation. |
| IP Address | A unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network. In email marketing, your sending IP address develops a reputation based on your sending practices, which influences your email deliverability. |
| IP Blacklisting | The addition of an IP address to a database of known or suspected spam sources maintained by anti-spam organizations. Being blacklisted can severely impact deliverability as many receiving servers check these lists before accepting incoming mail, making regular blacklist monitoring and prompt remediation essential for maintaining email performance. |
| IP Warming | The process of gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address to establish a positive sender reputation. Proper IP warming prevents deliverability issues that can occur when sending large volumes from a new IP without building trust first. |
| ISP (Internet Service Provider) | A company that provides internet access to subscribers, such as Comcast or AT&T. ISPs often include email services and play a critical role in email deliverability by determining which messages reach the inbox versus spam folder. |
| KPI (Key Performance Indicator) | A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively email marketing objectives are being achieved. Common email marketing KPIs include open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and revenue generated. |
| Landing Page | A standalone web page designed specifically for visitors who click through from an email campaign. Effective landing pages continue the message from the email, focus on a single conversion goal, and maintain consistent branding and messaging. |
| Lead Magnet | A valuable resource offered to potential subscribers in exchange for their email address. Common lead magnets include ebooks, checklists, templates, or exclusive content that solves a specific problem for the target audience. |
| Lead Scoring | A methodology that assigns numeric values to subscribers based on their profile attributes and behaviors to identify those most likely to convert. Email-based lead scoring typically considers engagement metrics like opens and clicks alongside demographic fits and website interactions to help prioritize sales outreach and customize nurturing paths. |
| Link Tracking | The monitoring of which links in an email are clicked, how many times, and by whom. Link tracking provides insights into subscriber interests and helps measure the effectiveness of different content and calls-to-action. |
| List Bombing | A malicious tactic where attackers submit a victim's email address to numerous mailing lists simultaneously. This causes the victim to receive a flood of unwanted confirmation emails and can harm the sender's reputation if they don't use double opt-in processes. |
| List Broker | A company that sells or rents email lists to marketers. Most reputable email marketers avoid purchased lists as they typically result in poor performance, high complaint rates, and potential legal issues for non-compliance with consent requirements. |
| List Churn | The rate at which subscribers leave your email list through unsubscribes, bounces, and spam complaints. Some list churn is natural, but excessive churn indicates problems with list acquisition methods, email content, or sending frequency. |
| List Cleaning | The process of removing invalid, inactive, or risky email addresses from your subscriber list. Regular list cleaning improves deliverability, engagement metrics, and cost efficiency by ensuring you're only sending to quality addresses. |
| List Growth Rate | The speed at which your email list is expanding, calculated by subtracting unsubscribes and bounces from new subscribers over a given period. A healthy list growth rate is essential for offsetting natural list churn and expanding your marketing reach. |
| List Hygiene | The practice of maintaining a clean and engaged email list by removing invalid addresses, managing bounces, and addressing inactive subscribers. Good list hygiene is crucial for deliverability, engagement, and cost efficiency. |
| List Management | The processes and practices involved in maintaining a healthy email subscriber list, including acquisition, segmentation, hygiene, and compliance with privacy regulations. Effective list management balances growth with quality for optimal campaign performance. |
| List Rental | The practice of paying to use someone else's email list for a specific campaign without actually obtaining the email addresses. With true list rental, the list owner sends your message to their subscribers, maintaining better privacy and compliance than list purchasing. |
| List Segmentation | The practice of dividing your email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement level. Segmentation enables more targeted, relevant messaging that typically generates higher engagement and conversion rates. |
| List Suppression | A collection of email addresses excluded from receiving your campaigns, including unsubscribes, hard bounces, and addresses marked as spam. Maintaining proper suppression lists is legally required and essential for deliverability and sender reputation. |
| List Unsubscribe Header | An email header that enables recipients to unsubscribe directly from within their email client interface, without having to click through to a webpage. Supporting this header enhances user experience and can reduce spam complaints. |
| Mail Merge | A technique that personalizes email content by automatically inserting recipient-specific information from a database into a template. Beyond simple personalization like names, sophisticated mail merge can customize entire content sections based on subscriber data. |
| Mailbox Placement | The specific location where an email lands within a recipient's email environment—primary inbox, promotions tab, spam folder, or other categorized location. Mailbox placement is a more precise deliverability metric than simple delivery rate, as it distinguishes between emails that reach the primary inbox versus those filtered to less visible locations. |
| MBP (Mailbox Provider) | A company that provides email account services to end users, such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Outlook.com. MBPs implement various filtering algorithms to protect users from spam and influence whether your emails reach the inbox. |
| Metrics | Quantifiable measurements used to track and assess the performance of email marketing campaigns. Key email metrics include open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, and unsubscribe rate. |
| Micro-Segmentation | An advanced targeting approach that divides your audience into highly specific, narrowly defined groups based on detailed criteria combinations. While traditional segmentation might target ‘female customers in California,' micro-segmentation targets ‘female customers in Northern California who purchased outdoor gear in the last 30 days and viewed hiking content,' enabling extremely personalized messaging. |
| Mobile Optimization | The process of designing emails to display and function effectively on smartphones and tablets. Mobile-optimized emails feature responsive layouts, appropriately sized fonts, touch-friendly buttons, minimal load times, and content formatted for smaller screens to ensure a positive user experience regardless of device. |
| MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) | The server software responsible for transferring email messages from sender to recipient. An MTA accepts messages from email clients or other MTAs and delivers them to the next server in the delivery chain. |
| Multi-channel Marketing | An approach that uses multiple channels (email, social media, direct mail, etc.) in coordination to reach customers. Email often serves as the backbone of multi-channel strategies due to its directness and measurability. |
| Multivariate Testing | A method of testing that compares multiple variables simultaneously to determine the most effective combination. Unlike A/B testing, which tests one element at a time, multivariate testing can evaluate how different elements interact with each other. |
| Newsletter | A regularly distributed email publication providing news, updates, and valuable content to subscribers. Effective newsletters balance promotional content with informative or entertaining material to maintain subscriber interest and engagement. |
| Onboarding Email | A welcome message or series sent to new subscribers that introduces them to your brand, products, or services. Effective onboarding emails set expectations about content and frequency, highlight key benefits, encourage profile completion, provide navigation guidance, and begin building relationship through relevant, valuable information. |
| Open Rate | The percentage of recipients who open an email out of the total number of emails delivered. While imperfect due to technical limitations in tracking, open rate remains a valuable metric for assessing subject line effectiveness and sender recognition. |
| Opt-in | The process by which individuals actively consent to receive emails from a sender. Opt-in can be single (subscribing via a form) or double (confirming subscription via a verification email), with the latter providing stronger legal compliance and list quality. |
| Opt-out | The process by which email recipients withdraw consent to receive future communications. By law, marketing emails must include a clear, easy-to-use opt-out mechanism, and requests must be honored promptly (usually within 10 business days). |
| Permission-Based Marketing | An approach that only sends marketing communications to individuals who have explicitly agreed to receive them. Permission marketing builds trust, improves engagement, and ensures compliance with anti-spam laws. |
| Personalization | The practice of tailoring email content to individual recipients based on their data, preferences, or behaviors. Personalization ranges from simple tactics like using the recipient's name to sophisticated approaches like dynamic content based on browsing history. |
| Phishing | Fraudulent emails designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information or installing malware by impersonating legitimate organizations. Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help prevent your brand from being used in phishing attacks. |
| Plain Text Email | An email containing only unformatted text without HTML elements like images, colors, or styled fonts. Plain text emails can be useful for specific purposes like transactional notifications or when a more personal, direct communication style is desired. |
| Preheader Text | The snippet of text displayed after or beside the subject line in most email clients before the email is opened. This text provides additional context that can influence open rates and should complement the subject line. |
| Preference Management | Allowing subscribers to control what types of emails they receive and how often, rather than forcing an all-or-nothing subscription choice. Comprehensive preference centers reduce unsubscribes by giving recipients options to adjust content topics, frequency, and format preferences to match their individual interests. |
| Previewing | The process of checking how an email will appear across different email clients and devices before sending. Thorough previewing helps identify and fix rendering issues that could affect user experience and campaign effectiveness. |
| Privacy Policy | A statement that discloses how an organization collects, uses, and manages customer data, including email addresses. Including a link to your privacy policy in emails is both a legal requirement in many jurisdictions and a trust-building practice. |
| Progressive Profiling | The practice of gradually collecting additional subscriber information over time rather than asking for everything at once. This approach improves sign-up rates initially and allows for increasingly personalized email content as more data is gathered. |
| Promotional Tab | A category in Gmail and some other email clients where marketing messages are automatically filtered. Understanding inbox placement and optimizing for visibility within or outside the promotional tab is an important consideration for email marketers. |
| Purchasing Email Lists | The practice of buying email addresses from third parties. This approach is generally discouraged as it typically results in poor performance, high complaint rates, potential blacklisting, and may violate laws requiring explicit consent. |
| Re-engagement Campaign | A series of emails specifically designed to win back inactive subscribers who haven't opened or clicked emails for an extended period. These campaigns typically offer incentives or highlight value while providing an easy way to unsubscribe if no longer interested. |
| Rendering | How an email displays across different email clients, devices, and settings. Email rendering can vary significantly, making testing across multiple platforms essential for ensuring a consistent user experience. |
| Reply-To Address | The email address that receives responses when recipients reply to an email campaign. Using a monitored reply-to address rather than a no-reply address improves customer experience and opens a valuable feedback channel. |
| Responsive Email Design | An approach to email design that ensures emails display optimally across different devices and screen sizes. Responsive emails automatically adjust layout, font size, and image dimensions based on the device used to view them. |
| Return on Investment (ROI) | The profitability measure of email marketing calculated by dividing the revenue generated by the cost of the campaign. Email marketing typically delivers one of the highest ROIs among digital marketing channels. |
| Revenue Per Email (RPE) | The average amount of revenue generated by each email sent in a campaign, calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of emails delivered. This metric helps compare the direct financial impact of different campaigns. |
| Revenue Per Subscriber | The average amount of revenue generated per person on your email list over a specific period. This valuable metric helps assess the overall financial value of your email program and can guide list growth and retention strategies. |
| Scheduling | The process of determining when emails will be sent to subscribers. Strategic scheduling considers factors like time zone, day of week, and recipient behavior patterns to optimize open and engagement rates. |
| Seed List | A set of test email addresses used to evaluate inbox placement and rendering before sending a campaign to your entire list. Seed addresses are distributed across various email providers, allowing marketers to verify deliverability, identify potential filtering issues, and preview how emails will appear in different environments. |
| Segmentation | The practice of dividing your email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement level. Segmentation enables more targeted, relevant messaging that typically generates higher engagement and conversion rates. |
| Sender Policy Framework (SPF) | An email authentication protocol that verifies an email was sent from an authorized IP address for a specific domain. SPF helps prevent email spoofing and improves deliverability by allowing receiving servers to confirm sender legitimacy. |
| Sender Reputation | A score assigned to your sending domain and IP address based on your email sending practices. A good reputation—influenced by factors like bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement—is crucial for inbox placement. |
| Shared IP | An IP address used by multiple senders for sending emails, typically provided by an ESP to its customers. Shared IPs are suitable for lower-volume senders but carry the risk that poor practices by other users can affect your deliverability. |
| Single Opt-in | A subscription process where users are added to an email list immediately after submitting a form without confirmation. While simpler than double opt-in, this method offers less protection against fake or mistyped addresses and weaker proof of consent. |
| SMS Marketing | The use of text messages to communicate promotions, alerts, or information to customers. SMS marketing often works alongside email in a multi-channel strategy, with each channel having distinct advantages for different types of communications. |
| Soft Bounce | A temporary email delivery failure due to issues like a full inbox, temporarily unavailable server, or message size exceeding limits. Unlike hard bounces, soft bounces may resolve on their own and typically don't require immediate removal from your list. |
| SPAM | Unsolicited, unwanted email typically sent in bulk. Beyond the legal definition, any email perceived as irrelevant or excessive by recipients risks being considered spam, regardless of whether they technically opted in. |
| Spam Complaint | When a recipient reports an email as spam to their email service provider. High complaint rates severely damage sender reputation and deliverability, with most ESPs considering rates above 0.1% problematic. |
| Spam Folder Placement Testing | The process of evaluating whether your emails are likely to be filtered to spam folders before sending to your full list. This proactive testing uses seed addresses across various email providers to identify content, design, or technical elements that might trigger spam filters, allowing for correction before impacting deliverability. |
| Spam Trap | An email address used to identify and blacklist senders who use questionable list-building practices. Spam traps include pristine addresses (never used for subscription) and recycled addresses (abandoned but repurposed to catch spammers). |
| Split Testing | A method of comparing two or more versions of an email to determine which performs better for a given objective. Also known as A/B testing, this approach helps optimize elements like subject lines, content, design, and calls-to-action. |
| Subject Line | The brief text that appears first in the recipient's inbox summarizing an email's content. The subject line is the primary factor in a recipient's decision to open an email and should be compelling, clear, and aligned with the email content. |
| Subscriber | An individual who has opted to receive email communications from your organization. Building and maintaining a list of engaged subscribers is fundamental to successful email marketing. |
| Subscriber Lifetime Value | The total revenue a subscriber generates over their entire relationship with your business. This metric helps assess the long-term value of your email marketing program and can guide investment decisions in acquisition and retention strategies. |
| Subscription Management | The process of handling how people join and leave your email list, including sign-up forms, preference centers, and unsubscribe mechanisms. Effective subscription management balances growth with compliance and user experience. |
| Sunset Policy | A systematic approach to removing chronically inactive subscribers from your email list after attempting re-engagement. A clear sunset policy maintains list quality and sender reputation while respecting subscriber implicit preferences. |
| Suppression List | A collection of email addresses excluded from receiving your campaigns, including unsubscribes, hard bounces, and addresses marked as spam. Maintaining proper suppression lists is legally required and essential for deliverability and sender reputation. |
| Tagging | The practice of applying labels to subscribers based on their characteristics, behaviors, or preferences. Tags help organize your list and enable more precise targeting and segmentation for future campaigns. |
| Template | A pre-designed layout for emails that can be reused across multiple campaigns. Templates maintain brand consistency, save time in the creation process, and ensure emails follow best practices for design and structure. |
| Text-to-HTML Ratio | The proportion of text content compared to HTML code in an email. A healthy ratio (generally more text than HTML) helps avoid spam filters, which may flag code-heavy emails with minimal actual content as suspicious. |
| Throttling | The practice of controlling the rate at which emails are sent to avoid triggering spam filters or exceeding ISP limits. ESPs often automatically throttle sending to optimize deliverability, especially for large campaigns. |
| Tracking Pixel | A small, invisible image embedded in an email that loads when the email is opened, allowing senders to detect opens. While useful for measuring engagement, tracking pixels have limitations due to image blocking and privacy protections in some email clients. |
| Transactional Email | An automated email sent in response to a specific user action or transaction. Examples include order confirmations, shipping notifications, and password resets—messages that facilitate an already-agreed-upon transaction rather than primarily marketing new products or services. |
| Triggered Email | An automated message sent in response to a specific subscriber action or event. Triggered emails (like welcome series, abandoned cart reminders, or birthday messages) typically have higher engagement rates than broadcast emails due to their relevance and timing. |
| Unsubscribe | The action taken by recipients to opt out of receiving future emails from a sender. By law, marketing emails must include a clear, functioning unsubscribe mechanism, and requests must be honored promptly. |
| Unsubscribe Rate | The percentage of recipients who opt out from receiving future emails after a specific campaign. While some unsubscribes are normal, a spike in this rate may indicate issues with content relevance, frequency, or audience targeting. |
| Viral Email | A message that recipients share widely with their networks, extending reach beyond the original list. Creating viral content typically involves providing exceptional value, humor, or emotional appeal that motivates recipients to forward or share. |
| Warm IP | An IP address with an established positive sending reputation. Warming up a new IP address by gradually increasing sending volume is essential before sending large campaigns to avoid deliverability issues. |
| Welcome Email | The first message sent to new subscribers after they join your list. Welcome emails typically have the highest engagement rates of any message type and set expectations for future communications while capitalizing on the subscriber's initial interest. |
| Whitelist | A list of approved senders whose emails are allowed to bypass certain spam filters. Getting recipients to add your sending address to their address book or safe senders list improves deliverability and ensures your messages are seen. |
Ian Brodie
https://www.ianbrodie.comIan Brodie is the best-selling author of Email Persuasion and the creator of Unsnooze Your Inbox - *the* guide to crafting engaging emails and newsletters that captivate your audience, build authority and generate more sales.
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