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EMAIL MARKETING GLOSSARY

Email Marketing Glossary: The Ultimate Resource

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  • Post last modified:August 1, 2024

DigitalMetic’s comprehensive Email marketing glossary is the ultimate resource for all things email marketing!  As a digital marketer, staying up to date with the latest terminology and strategies is crucial for success. If you are a seasoned email marketer looking to refine your skills or a newbie seeking to navigate the complexities of email campaigns, our comprehensive glossary is your go-to reference. Feel free to explore the language of email marketing!

Why Is An Email Marketing Glossary Needed?

As you know, knowledge is power. Having the ability understand and convey thoughts and ideas in industry language is extremely important. Not only for you and your clients, but also your collaborators. Knowing the proper terms and definitions allows allows marketers to stay updated with trends, be able measure performance and comprehend specific concepts in order to create content effectively.

Glossary Terms

Above the Fold: The portion of an email or webpage visible to users without scrolling, often considered prime real estate for important content.

Abandoned Cart Email: Automated emails sent to users who have added items to their shopping cart but did not complete the purchase, encouraging them to return and complete the transaction.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): A technology that allows for interactive and dynamic content in email messages, enhancing the user experience.

Adaptive Content: Email content that adapts dynamically based on recipient preferences, behavior, or demographics.

API (Application Programmable Interface): is an interface that allows developers to connect an application or service to an email service provider and use the provider’s functionality—including sending email, creating lists, or pulling email stats—without having to build it themselves.

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification): A standard that allows brands to display their logos in email inboxes, increasing email trustworthiness.

Bounce Rate: The percentage of sent emails that couldn’t be delivered due to various reasons, like invalid addresses or full inboxes.

Call to Action (CTA): A clear and persuasive prompt within an email to encourage recipients to take a specific action, like clicking a link or making a purchase.

CAN-SPAM Act: Legislation in the United States that regulates commercial email practices.

CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation): Canadian legislation governing commercial electronic messages.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of email recipients who clicked on at least one link contained in an email.

Content Calendar: A schedule that outlines the planned content and email campaigns for an extended period, helping with planning and consistency.

Content Creator: is an individual or professional who works across different niches and industries who specializes in producing and curating various forms of content for online platforms, such as websites, social media, blogs, podcasts, videos etc. The primary goal of a content creator is to engage and captivate audiences by providing valuable, informative, entertaining, or inspiring content.

Conversion Rate: The ratio of email recipients who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase, to the total number of recipients.

CTR Benchmark: A comparison of your email campaign’s click-through rate against industry averages.

Digital Marketer: A digital marketer is a professional who specializes in promoting and advertising products, services, or brands using digital channels and technologies. Their primary objective is to connect with and engage target audiences online to achieve specific marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, or boosting sales.

DMS (Email Marketing Service): Acronym for Email Marketing Service providers, platforms that facilitate email campaign creation and management.

Double Opt-In: A two-step process where subscribers confirm their subscription, reducing the likelihood of fake or mistyped email addresses.

Drip Campaign: A series of automated emails sent to subscribers over a predefined time to nurture leads and guide them toward a specific goal.

Dynamic Content: Personalized email content that changes based on recipient data, enhancing relevance.

Email Analytics: Data and statistics related to the performance of your email campaigns.

Email Automation: Using automated workflows to send emails triggered by specific user actions or behaviors.

Email Campaign: A coordinated series of email messages sent to a specific audience to achieve a particular goal.

Email Client: Software used by recipients to access and view their emails, such as Outlook, Gmail, or Apple Mail.

Email Deliverability: The ability of your emails to reach the recipients’ inbox rather than being marked as spam or bouncing.

Email Footer: The bottom section of an email that often includes contact information, unsubscribe links, and legal disclaimers.

Email Header: Information at the beginning of an email that includes sender details and subject line.

Email List Growth Rate: The rate at which your email subscriber list is expanding, usually expressed as a monthly percentage.

Email List Hygiene: The process of regularly cleaning and updating your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.

Email List Rental: Temporarily using another company’s email list for your campaign, usually with their permission.

Email List Segmentation: The practice of dividing your email list into smaller, more targeted groups based on specific criteria, such as demographics or behavior.

Email Marketing: The practice of sending commercial messages to a group of people via email to promote products, services, or engage with an audience.

Email Metrics: Various statistics and data used to measure email campaign performance, including open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate.

Email Open Rate: The percentage of recipients who opened an email, indicating the effectiveness of your subject lines and sender reputation.

Email Personalization Tokens: Dynamic placeholders in emails that automatically insert subscriber-specific information like names or purchase history.

Email Signature: A personalized sign-off at the end of your email, often including your name, title, and contact information.

Email Subject Line: The text that summarizes the email’s content and entices recipients to open it.

Email Template: A pre-designed layout that you can customize for your email campaigns.

Engagement Rate: A metric that measures how recipients interact with your emails, including opens, clicks, and shares.

Feedback Loop (FBL): A service provided by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that notifies senders when their emails are marked as spam, allowing for list cleaning.

Footer: The bottom section of an email that often includes contact information, unsubscribe links, and legal disclaimers.

Frequency Capping: Limiting the number of emails sent to a subscriber within a specified time frame to avoid overloading them.

Geotargeting: Sending emails to subscribers based on their geographic location.

Graymail: Emails that fall between spam and desired content, often sent by legitimate sources but not always wanted by recipients.

Hard Bounce: An email that cannot be delivered due to a permanent issue, such as an invalid email address.

HTML Email: Emails formatted using Hypertext Markup Language, allowing for rich media and design elements.

Inbox Placement: The percentage of emails that successfully land in the recipients’ primary inbox.

Inbox Zero: A personal email management goal to have an empty inbox by processing and organizing emails regularly.

Landing Page: A dedicated web page designed to receive traffic from email or other marketing campaigns and encourage specific actions.

Lead Magnet: An incentive, such as a free eBook or discount, offered to subscribers in exchange for their email addresses.

List Building: Strategies and tactics to grow your email subscriber list.

List Churn: The natural process of subscribers leaving your list over time.

List Decay: The decline in email list quality over time without active engagement.

List Hygiene: The process of regularly cleaning and updating your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.

List Purchase: Buying or renting email lists, often discouraged due to low-quality leads and potential legal issues.

LTV (Lifetime Value): The estimated revenue a subscriber will generate throughout their relationship with your brand.

Marketing Automation: The use of software and technology to automate repetitive marketing tasks and deliver personalized content to customers and prospects.

Mobile Optimization: Ensuring that email campaigns display properly and are easy to interact with on mobile devices.

Multichannel Attribution: Measuring the impact of email marketing in conjunction with other marketing channels on conversions.

Multichannel Marketing: Integrating email marketing with other marketing channels for a cohesive strategy.

Multivariate Testing: Testing multiple elements within an email (e.g., subject line, CTA, images) to determine the most effective combination.

Open Rate: The percentage of recipients who opened an email, indicating the effectiveness of your subject lines and sender reputation.

Open Tracking: Technology that allows you to monitor whether an email has been opened by the recipient.

Opt-In: The process by which individuals give explicit permission to receive emails from you, ensuring compliance with email marketing regulations.

Opt-Out: The process of unsubscribing from an email list.

Permission-Based Marketing: The practice of only sending emails to individuals who have explicitly given their consent to receive them.

Personalization: Customizing email content to make it relevant to individual subscribers, often using their name or previous interactions.

Personalized Subject Line: Using the recipient’s name or other personal information in the subject line to increase open rates.

Plain Text Email: Emails without HTML formatting, often used for a more personal touch.

Preheader: A short summary text that appears after the subject line in the inbox preview.

Pre-Send Testing: A quality assurance process that involves reviewing and testing emails before sending them to the entire list.

Reactivation Campaign: A targeted effort to re-engage dormant or inactive subscribers.

Responsive Design: Creating emails that adapt and display well on various devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

Segmentation: The practice of dividing your email list into smaller, more targeted groups based on specific criteria, such as demographics or behavior.

Segmentation Rules: Criteria used to define segments within your email list, such as behavioral triggers or demographics.

Sender Authentication: Verification processes like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to confirm that emails are sent from legitimate sources.

Sender Reputation: A score assigned to your email sending IP address, impacting email deliverability and inbox placement.

Sender Score: A numerical score that measures the reputation of your email sending IP address, affecting email deliverability.

Spam Complaint Rate: The percentage of recipients who marked your email as spam.

Spam Filter: Software or algorithms used by email service providers to identify and filter out spammy emails.

Split Automation: Auto-Split automation action lets you create A/B split tests within an automation.

Spam Score: A numerical score that indicates the likelihood of an email being identified as spam by spam filters.

Subject Line Testing: Experimenting with different subject lines to determine which ones generate the best open rates.

Subscriber Engagement: Measuring how involved your subscribers are with your content.

Subscriber Lifecycle: Tracking and responding to subscribers’ changing needs and behaviors over time.

Suppression List: A list of email addresses you should never send emails to, often containing unsubscribed or bounced addresses.

Targeted Email: Sending highly customized emails to specific segments of your audience based on their preferences or behavior.

Template Email: A pre-designed layout that you can customize for your email campaigns.

Transactional Email: Messages sent in response to specific user actions, such as order confirmations or password resets.

Unsubscribe Rate: The percentage of recipients who opt out of your email list, which should be closely monitored to maintain list quality.

Viral Marketing: Encouraging recipients to share your email content with their networks, expanding your reach.

Whitelist: An email address or domain that is marked as safe and is unlikely to be filtered as spam.

White labeling: Customizing the appearance of your email notifications to match your brand identity.

Whitespace: The space within and around your email content that improves readability and visual appeal.

EMAIL MARKETING GLOSSARY -WRAP UP

On your quest to create compelling campaigns, optimize open rates, and master the art of segmentation, let this glossary be your trusted companion. Each of these terms offer clear and concise definitions that empower you with the ability to navigate the email marketing turf like a pro.

This site offers so much more: in addition to this email marketing glossary, check out our email marketing company reviews, comparisons, Toolbox and more! . 

To advance your knowledge in email marketing even further, be sure to check out the Hubspot Academy Free Email Marketing Course today!

Happy email marketing, and may your inbox always be filled with opportunities!