Glossary

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Glossary Index - A B C D F H O P R S T U

A

Affirmative Consent

The Senate Commerce Committee Report for the CAN-SPAM Act indicates that "affirmative consent" requires some active choice or selection by the recipient. Remaining passive, such as not un-checking a pre-checked box or other default Web form, is not sufficient. Source: Commerce Committee Report, CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

B

Bounced email

An email that is returned to the server that sent it. It can be classified as "Hard bounce" or "Soft bounce", to determine whether or not the message should be resent.

Bounce Rate

The total number of undeliverable emails returned divided by the total number of emails sent.

C

Calls to Action

Words used to encourage the prospect to take a specific action. E.g. "Click here to learn more about the services" or "Act Now!"

Campaign

A coordinated set of individual email marketing messages delivered at intervals and with an overall objective in mind. A campaign allows each new message to build on previous success.

Click-Through

When a prospect clicks on a link embedded in the email.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The percentage of those who click on a link out of those who see the link. Divide the number of click-throughs by the number of emails sent.

Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)

The number of unique click-throughs divided by the number of unique emails opened (NOT Delivered). It measures how effective your email message was in motivating recipients who opened it to click on a link.

Commercial Email Message

Any email message "the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service." Source: Commerce Committee Report, CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

Confirmed Opt In

It is also referred to Double Opt In, which is a two-step process allowing a user to join your mailing list. The user must first sign up, and then respond to a follow-up email before receiving any further emails.

D

Demographic

A statistical characteristic of a human population (such as name, age, address or income) that can be used as merge fields in creative or to segment mailings for specific targets.

Double Opt In

See Confirmed Opt In

F

Feedback Loop

The process by which the email client (ISP) of the receiver forwards complaints of emails marked as spam by recipients for removal by the sender. (i.e. usually for unsubscribe request) (Also see Spam Complaint)

H

Hard Bounce

A "Hard Bounce" refers to a permanent failure of email delivery due to an invalid address or a blocking condition by the receiver. Hard bounces indicate that the message should not be re-sent.

O

Open

"Opened" messages include HTML emails that have been viewed in a preview pane or fully opened in the email client, as long as images have been clicked. Opens can be tracked by inserting a small clear image/tag in an HTML message. When a message is opened and images are enabled, the image calls the server and the message is then counted as an open. Text messages cannot be tracked as opened because they cannot include images.

Open Rate

The number of emails opened divided by the number of emails delivered.

Opt In

The action a person takes to actively and explicitly request for email communications. (Also see Double Opt In)

Opt Out

The action a person takes to reject email communications. A Web-based mechanism enables people to ask to be removed from an email list. The request must be honored within 10 days. (Also see Unsubscribe Request)

P

Personalization

The practice of creating a personalized email to recipient with personalized elements by merging a name into the body copy, referring to previous purchases, or more dynamic content insertions based on demographic fields.

R

Receiver

The entity that handles the receipt of the email and delivery to the end recipient. It is usually identified by the domain at the end of the email address of the recipient. (i.e. aol.com)

Recipient

The end user who requested the email from the sender, identified by the email address in the 'To' line..

Relevance

Send the right email message to the right recipient at the right time.

Reputation

The estimation by the community or the public to consider whether a sender is sending "good" or "bad" email.

S

Sender

The person or organization who transmits the email, usually identified by the email address in the 'From' line.

Soft Bounce

A "soft bounce" refers to a temporary failure due to a full mailbox or an unavailable server. A soft bounce indicates that the sender should trying resending the email.

Spam

Unwanted email sent without the recipient's permission. (Also see UCE)

Spam Complaint

The receipt of a complaint from a recipient about spammed messages. (Also see Feedback Loop)

Subject Line

The title of the email communication to grab attention of the receivers to open the messages.

T

Targeting

Select a portion of the email list with similar demographic values to send relevant messages.

Tracking

Collect and analyze the statistics for measuring the effectiveness of an email or an e-marketing campaign.

Transactional or Relationship Email Message

An email message that is primarily intended to facilitate, complete or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter in with the sender. Source: Commerce Committee Report, CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

U

UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email)

Commercial email sent without the recipient's permission. (Also referred to as Spam)

Unique Click

A single click by a single user. When unique clicks are measured, it is an aggregate number of how many times that a link was visited by individual users.

Unsubscribe Request

See Opt Out