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Above-the-fold
The part of an email or web page that is visible without scrolling. It is generally more desirable placement because of its visibility. |
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Affirmative Consent
Another word for permission. The recipient of your email has been clearly and fully notified of the collection and use of his email address and has consented prior to such collection and use. Affirmative consent is not only a best practice; it is required by all reputable email marketing services. |
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Auto Responder
A program or a script that automatically sends a response when someone sends a message to its address. The most common uses of auto responders are for subscribe and unsubscribe confirmations, welcome emails and customer-support questions. |
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Bounced Email
A bounced email is an email that is returned to the server that sent it. A bounced email is usually classified as either a "hard bounce," which indicates a permanent failure due to a non-existent address or a blocking condition by the receiver. A "soft bounce" indicates that there is a temporary failure due to a full mailbox or an unavailable server. |
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Calls to Action
Words included in images or text that encourage the prospect to take a specific action. For example, "Click here to see a product tour" or "Add this product to your wish list." |
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Campaign
A coordinated set of individual email marketing messages delivered at intervals and with an overall objective in mind. |
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CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Federal anti-spam legislation passed in 2003 that requires the following in each email: a legitimate header, a valid "From" address, a straightforward "Subject" line, an unsubscribe/opt-out link and/or instructions and a physical address. It also requires that all unsubscribes are processed within ten days of receipt. |
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Click-Through
When a prospect takes an action and clicks on a link. To determine the click-through rate, divide the number of responses by the number of emails opened (multiple this number by 100 to express the result as a percentage). |
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Confirmed Opt-In
A Confirmed Opt In (also referred to as Double Opt In) is a two-step process that allows a user to join your mailing list. The user must initially sign up, and then respond to a follow-up email prior to receiving any further email. |
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Conversion Rate
The number or percentage of recipients who respond to your call-to-action in a given e-mail marketing campaign or promotion. This is the measure of your e-mail campaign's success. You may measure conversion in sales, phone calls, appointments etc. |
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Double Opt-In
See Confirmed Opt-In |
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Email Blocking
Email blocking typically refers to blocking by ISPs. E-mails that are blocked are not processed through the ISP and are essentially prevented from reaching their addressed destination. ISPs actively block email coming from suspected spammers. |
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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. Usually treated by senders as an unsubscribe request. (Also see Spam Complaint) |
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Hard Bounce/Soft Bounce
A "hard bounce" indicates a permanent failure due to a non-existent address or a blocking condition by the receiver. A "soft bounce" indicates that there is a temporary failure due to a full mailbox or an unavailable server. |
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Headers
The documentation that accompanies the body of an email message. Headers contain information on the email itself and the route it's taken across the Internet. Recipients can normally see the "to" (identity of recipient), "from" (identity of sender) and "subject" (information in the subject line) headers in their inbox. You can modify these to influence their decision to open or delete an email. |
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House list
A permission-based list that you built yourself. Use it to market, cross sell and up-sell, and to establish a relationship with customers over time. Your house list is one of your most valuable assets. |
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Mailing list
A group of email addresses (with or without additional information such as the subscribers' names) to which specific mailings are sent. |
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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 enabled. Opens are generally tracked by inserting a small clear image 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. |
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Open Rate
The total number of emails opened divided by the total number of emails delivered (multiply this number by 100 to express the result as a percentage). |
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Opt In (or Subscribe)
The action a person takes when he or she actively and explicitly requests, by email or other means, to receive email communications.
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Opt Out (or Unsubscribe)
The action a person takes when he or she chooses not to receive email communications. It requires a Web-based mechanism by which people can ask to be removed reliably from an email list. This request must be honored within ten days. |
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Permission-Based Email
E-mail sent to recipients who have opted-in or subscribed to receive e-mail communications from a particular company, website or individual. Permission is an absolute prerequisite for legitimate and profitable e-mail marketing. |
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Personalization
The practice of writing the email to make the recipient feel that it is more personal and was sent with him or her in mind. This might include using the recipient's name in the salutation or subject line, referring to previous purchases or correspondence, or offering recommendations based on previous buying patterns.
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Privacy
The quality or condition of being free from unsanctioned intrusion. Communications need to reassure the prospect through clear, accessible and enforced assurances so he/she can feel comfortable about providing personal information and transacting business. |
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Rental List (or Acquisition list)
A list of prospects or a targeted group of recipients who have opted-in to receive information about certain subjects. Using permission-based rental lists, marketers can send e-mail messages to audiences targeted by interest category, profession, demographic information and more. Renting a list usually costs between $.10 and $.40 per name. |
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Recipient
The end user who requested the email from the sender, usually identified by the email address in the ‘To’ line. |
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Reputation
The estimation to which a sender is held by the community or the public as sending "good" or "bad" email. Many factors are used to determine a sender's reputation, though spam complaints are the main metric considered. |
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Segmentation
Dividing your email list based on interest categories, purchasing behavior, demographics and more for the purpose of targeting specific email campaigns to the audience most likely to respond to your messaging or offer. Your list segmentation and targeting efforts pay off in higher open and click-through rates. |
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Sender
The person or organization responsible for transmitting the email, usually identified by the email address in the ‘From’ line. |
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Spam
Unwanted email usually sent without the recipient's permission. |
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Spam Complaint
The receipt of a complaint from a recipient who has identified the message as spam. (Also see Feedback Loop) |
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Subject Line
The title of the email communication. This is the first (and hopefully not last) element of the communication recipients will see when they access their email. It has to grab attention and be credible or the email will not get opened. |
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Subscribe
Subscribe means to sign up - to give permission to someone to send you newsletters, email, or other electronic information. (Also see Opt-In) |
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Targeting
Selecting a portion of the mailing list with similar demographic values to send messages relevant to those demographics. |
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Tracking
Collecting and evaluating the statistics from which one can measure the effectiveness of an email or an email campaign. |
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UCE
Unsolicited Commercial Email (also referred to as Spam). Commercial email sent without the recipient's express permission. |
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Unique Click
A unique click is a single click by a single user. When unique clicks are measured, it is an aggregate number of how many times that URL was clicked by individual users (not the complete total of all users, all clicks.) |
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Unsubscribe
To cancel a service such as the delivery of an email newsletter or mailing list. In Benchmark an unsubscriber is a person who has asked to be taken off your mailing list. |
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Viral Marketing
A type of marketing that is carried out voluntarily by a company's customers. It is often referred to as word-of-mouth advertising. Email has made this type of marketing very prevalent. Tools such as "send this page, article or website to a friend" encourage people to refer or recommend your company product, service or a specific offer to others. |
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Viral Design
Elements and functions included in a communication that
encourage and allow recipients to pass the offer along
to others, thereby leveraging the marketing effort ("tell
a friend,"
"please forward," etc.). |
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Viral Effect
A measurable outcome of the degree to which recipients
of a communication refer the offer, products, services
or company to others. |
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Viral Forwards
The number of referrals sent. |
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Viral Responses
The number of recipients who received the referral, opened
it and clicked on a link. |
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Visual Clarity
A function, in large part, of layout and design: Pages
are easy to scan; text and graphics are clear; prospects
can find what they are looking for quickly and easily. |
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Voice
A grammatical property of verbs that indicates a relationship
between the subject and the action expressed by the verb. "Birds
build nests" is written in the active voice and
emphasizes the subject - birds. "Nests are built
by birds" is written in the passive voice and emphasizes
the action - building nests. Active voice is far more
persuasive in driving action. |
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WIIFM or "What's In It For Me?"
The question at the forefront of every email recipient's mind when making a decision to open, read and take action on your email (e.g. click on a link, call for an appointment, visit an office or retail location). |
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