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Frequently Used Terms Explained

This glossary page contains useful explanations of general email marketing terms and specific features of the service.

Content

Email Marketing Terms

Email App

An application used to access and manage email messages. Can be desktop, mobile or web-based, examples for each type respectively: Microsoft Outlook 2013, Android Email and Gmail.

Spam Filter / Mail Filter

A utility that organises incoming email to identify and remove junk mail, also known as spam.

Campaign Metrics

Sent

The total number of emails sent for delivery.

Opened

The count of unique Users that opened an email.

Clicked

The count of unique Users that clicked a link within an email.

Delivered

Emails accepted for delivery by receiving mail servers.

Processing

The number of emails still attempting to deliver. Email will continue to attempt to be delivered for up to four days after a Campaign was sent.

Undeliverable

Combined total of Hard and Soft bounces.

Soft Bounce

Temporary delivery failure. Emails are sent to the recipient's mail server but is returned before it gets to the recipient (e.g. mailbox full or spam reasons). For certain soft bounce types email sending is re-tried a number of times. If the email continues to bounce the User will be Auto-cleansed. Read more.

Hard Bounce

Permanent delivery failure; the email address is invalid (e.g. typos, non-existent domains or changed address). Hard Bounces are usually auto-cleansed on the first attempt. Read more.

Feedback Loop Complaint

A notification from an ISP Feedback Loop (FBL) to inform that a User marked the email as "Junk" or "Spam". Read more.

Returned Mail

Messages returned to the "From Email Address", such as undeliverable notifications. Known as asynchronous bounces (mail initially accepted but sent back later).

Workflows Triggered

Count of Workflows triggered as a result of Users clicking on links within emails.

Conversions

Number of completed calls-to-action as a result of clicking on an email link. Read more.

Opt-outs

Users that clicked the opt-out link in the email.

Re-subscriptions

Users that opted-out, then changed their mind and opted back in.

Auto-cleansed

Users automatically opted-out as a result of continual delivery failures. View Auto-cleansing Rules for more detailed explanations.

Click-to-Open Rate

Ratio of unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens.

Viewed Online

Users that clicked the "View Online" / "View in Browser" link within an email.

Tracked Replies

When "Reply Tracking" is enabled: the number of messages from Users as a result of them clicking the "Reply" button within their email device or application.

Hard & Soft Bounce Types

Bad Domain

The domain name of recipients email address does not exist or is not currently reachable.

Bad Mailbox

The mailbox of the recipients email address does not exist: this is an invalid email address.

Inactive Mailbox

Recipients mailbox exists but the message was rejected due to mailbox being expired, inactive or blocked.

Protocol Errors

Errors in SMTP communication occurred and as a result delivery failed.

Relaying Issues

The receiving mail server has relaying issues resulting in the email not being delivered.

Routing Errors

Possibly a DNS issue with the recipients email domain that has resulted in the email not being delivered.

Bad Configuration

The mail server receiving the email is not configured correctly resulting in the message being bounced.

Bad Connection

Temporary connection issues between your sending mail server and the receiving mail server resulted in the email not being accepted.

Content Related

The receiving mail server rejected the message because of issues with the content of the email.

Message Expired

The message has been retrying delivering for too long and has now been rejected by the receiving mail server.

No Answer From Host

A connection was made to the receiving mail server but after that it did not respond.

Other

Message rejected due to other non-expected errors.

Policy Related

Message refused or blocked due to policy reasons set by the receiving mail server.

Quota Issues

The mailbox of the recipient is full or has reached a service limit with the provider.

Spam Related

Message identified as Spam by the receiving mail server and has been rejected.

Virus Related

Message identified as containing a Virus by the receiving mail server and has been rejected.

Invalid Sender

The Reply Email Address being used is not valid and verification failed.

Settings

Login

An individual's account that is used to gain access to the service. Also used to track activity within the application and restrict access by applying permissions.

Agency Team Login

Intended for agency team members and provides unrestricted access to the service and all Accounts.

Account

Accounts that separate storage of data, content and access (by way of individual Logins). Accounts could be used to represent companies, departments, brands, projects or publications.

Outbound IP Address

The IP Address the mail server uses to communicate with and attempt delivery of email to the receiving mail server.

Virtual MTA

Private mail server settings to control the IP Addresses used and delivery rates to specified ISPs.

Mail Server

The physical hardware in the data centre that manages and processes the email queues.

Automation

Workflow

A sequence of actions that are triggered when a User clicks on a link, submits a form, completes a call-to-action on a website. Workflows can also be triggered via the API.

Drip Campaign

Another name for a "Workflow" and relates to individual Users entering the sequence of emails at different times.

Nurture Sequence

Another name for a "Workflow"

User Journey

Another name for a "Workflow"

Email Campaigns

Email Template

The content of your emails: including the HTML, text and images. Also commonly known as the "creative".

Email Campaign

An Email Campaign is created when an Email Template is sent to one or more Lists. Use to gauge the success of your Email Campaign and identify deliverability issues

Email Profile

Commonly used settings that relate to sending, receiving and tracking of Email Campaigns. Settings include "From Email Address", "Reply Email Address" and "Opt-out Content".

From Email Address

Who the email message appears to be sent by when it lands in the inbox of a User.

Reply Email Address

Where messages will be sent when a recipient hits the "reply" button in their email app.

Tracking Domain

When emails are sent all links within the email are replaced with coded links. These coded links identify the User and the content they are engaging with. When Users click the request comes to the application first, records the activity and then forwards the User onto the actual link they want.

The 'real' links do not appear in the email the User receives, only coded links on the Tracking Domain are visible.

Split Testing

A delivery technique that tests the effectiveness of varying parts of an Email Campaign, such as: subject line, from email address and Email Template.

Suppression Lists

Users contained on Suppression Lists are excluded from an Email Campaign, even if they appear on other Lists.

Email Templates

Subject Line

Displayed when the recipient views the list of messages in their inbox. Should convey the email's intent.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the main markup language for creating web pages and email content.

HTML Editor

A software application installed on your computer used to construct HTML documents. Examples include: Dreamweaver, Notepad++ and Coda

HTML Tidy

A utility which corrects HTML markup to ensure it is syntactically correct. Invalid HTML can lead to email rendering issues.

Plain text

Basic unformatted text containing no HTML, images or styles.

Image Hosting

Email Templates link to images hosted remotely, rather than them being attached to the email, as attachments cause deliverability issues.

Personalisation

Merging of User specific data to create a personalised message.

Conditional / Dynamic content

Placement of content that is driven by selection rules, transactional data or User data.

Template Language

HTML coding that introduces advanced personalisation and dynamic content capabilities.

Social Sharing

When Users share the content of email messages on social networks, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

Charset

Text encoding used for an Email Template. The service currently supports UTF-8 and iso-8859-1.

Email Attachment

A physical file such as a PDF that gets sent along with the email message. The service does not support sending attachments within Campaigns.

Attachments can be added to Workflow emails.

Integration

API

The API (Application programming interface) is used by developers to connect the service to other apps, websites or CRMs to build integrations. An example could be when a User is updated in an external CRM their details are also updated in this application.

SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a network protocol that provides communication security over the Internet.

Lists

List

A "List" in the application is a collection of User records, used to define who Campaigns are sent to.

Global Suppression

When a User is on the Global Suppression List they are automatically excluded from all emails sent within the currently selected Account. Email addresses can be imported directly into the Global Suppression List to suppress Users.

List Opt-out

If a User is opted-out at a List level, they will still receive email if they are present on another List used to send the Campaign.

Active Users

In relation to Lists, this term means any User that doesn't have a List level opt-out. In addition, it also means they are not part of the Global Suppression List.

Seeds

Seeds are Users on the system level Seed List that is automatically added to each Campaign. Seeds can be anyone you think should receive every Campaign.

Field Map

Field Maps map the columns of your data file to the application's data fields. When you import a data file, the application needs to know how it should map each column in your file to its own fields. Field Maps tell it how to do this.

Auto-cleansing

Auto-cleansing is the automated process of suppressing Users that are deemed to have invalid or unreachable email addresses.

Generic Email Prefixes

Generic email prefixes are email prefixes (the part before the "@" symbol, for example "admin") defined by you for use in excluding Users when importing to a List or in Targeting. Common generic email prefixes include: admin, info, and contact. Generic email prefixes are useful when you want to filter out "generic" email addresses such as these.

Custom Fields

Data fields on a User's Record. Can be labelled as you choose and used to store further information for a User.

User Record

Each User in the application has a User Record that stores their personalisation details, activity in relation to Campaigns and more. View and edit using User Details.

Deduplication

The process of eliminating duplicate data. In the application de-duplication means each User (identified by email address) can only be added to each Account once.

Data Retention

The period of time data downloads can be accessed in relation to time after an Email Campaign was sent and time after a Workflow was triggered. All data and content outside of Email Campaign reports and Workflow reports are stored for an unlimited period of time e.g. Lists, Templates etc.

Click here to find out more about Data Retention.

Files

CSV File

A CSV (Comma Separated Values or Comma Delimited) file stores spreadsheet information, most spreadsheet applications include an option to export as CSV.

Zip File

Zip is a file type used for data compression and archiving. A Zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed to reduce file size. Useful for uploading large amounts of data.

Targeting & Segmentation

Targeting Profile

A set of rules that select a matching group of Users from Lists stored in the application's database.

User Tags

Free-format text identifier to infer interest or preference. Tags can be applied by file import or when Users click links in email. Tags can be used in Targeting Profiles to refine selections.

Sender Reputation

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard for email transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

DNS Records

DNS records or Zone files are used for mapping URLs to a IP Addresses. Located on DNS servers, DNS records are the connection between your domain(s) and the service.

Sending Domain

The domain name section of an email address (hello@yourdomain.com) used to send email from.

In the application, this generally refers to the "From Email Address" set within an Email Profile.

Feedback Loops (FBL)

ISPs such as AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft created feedback loops to enable senders to receive notification when Users mark email as Spam or make a complaint.

DKIM

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method for associating a domain name to an email message. It enables you to claim some responsibility for messages that are sent. Sending domains in the application should be configured in terms of DKIM to aid deliverability.

SPF

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by verifying sender IP addresses. Sending domains in the application should be configured in terms of SPF to aid deliverability.

DMARC

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is a technical specification designed to help reduce the potential for email-based abuse, such as spam and phishing emails, by solving some long-standing operational, deployment, and reporting issues related to email authentication protocols.

Dedicated IP Address

An IP address dedicated to the email delivery of your own emails and not shared with other senders. Click here to read more about the differences between shared and dedicated IP addresses.

Activity

Transactions

Calculated as the total of Emails sent, Workflows triggered, Workflow Email file attachments, API impressions and Webhook requests.

Emails Sent

The total number of emails sent through Email Campaigns and Workflows.

Workflows Triggered

The total number of requests to trigger automated Workflows.

Workflows Email file attachments

PDF, calendar file (.ics) or image attached to an email sent within a Workflow.

API Impressions

The total number of requests made to the API.

Webhook Requests

The total number of external HTTP requests made to other applications.

Inbound Forwarding

Asynchronous bounces forwarded onto an external email address.

Application Level API impressions

The number of request made to the Application Level API.

Other

Deprecated

Usually used to describe out-of-date Template Language features that have been replaced by a newer feature.

Support for any deprecated feature will eventually be removed from the application completely so upgrading to the newest version at the earliest opportunity is recommended.