Bounce or Bounceback - An automatic reply which informs you that the email message you sent cannot be delivered. A “hard” bounce is a permanent failure; a “soft” bounce is a transient error (but may indicate a permanently undeliverable address).
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.
Clickthrough - 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).
Conversion - The key metric to evaluate the effectiveness of a conversion (often, sales) effort, reflecting the percentage of people converted into buyers (or subscribers, or whatever action is desired) out of the total population exposed to the conversion effort. For email marketing, the conversion rate is the number of people who take an action divided by the total number of people who received & opened the email. (Multiply these numbers by 100 to express the results as percentages).
DNS - A system for converting host names and domain names into IP addresses on the Internet or on local networks that use the TCP/IP protocol. For example, when a Web site address is given to the DNS either by typing a URL in a browser or behind the scenes from one application to another, DNS servers return the IP address of the server associated with that name.
DNS Server - A dedicated server or a service within a server that provides DNS name resolution in an IP network. It turns names for Web sites and network resources into numeric IP addresses. DNS servers are used in large companies, in all ISPs and within the DNS system in the Internet, a vital service that keeps the Internet working. They are set up by network administrators and typically do not exist in the very small business or home.
Domain Name - A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains -- like .com, .net, .gov, etc. Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.
Double Opt-In - When a contact decides to opt-in to receive campaigns, a confirmation email can be sent to ensure that the sign up was not a mistake. The subscriber is only added to the contact database after they confirm their subscription. They request a subscription and confirm their request.
Email Client - A computer program that allows someone to download email to their computer. Examples of email clients include Microsoft Outlook, Endura, etc.
Email Server - A mail server is an application that receives/sends incoming/outgoing email from/to local users (people within the same domain). A computer dedicated to running such applications is also called a mail server. Microsoft Exchange is one of the most common mail server programs.
Frequency - The intervals at which email marketing efforts are repeated: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc.
Hard Bounce/Soft Bounce - A hard bounce is the failed delivery of an email due to a permanent reason like a non-existent address. A soft bounce is the failed delivery of an email due to a temporary issue, like a full mailbox or an unavailable server.
Header - 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.
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.
IP Address - In general, an IP address is a 32-bit number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent in packets across the Internet. When you request an HTML page or send e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes your IP address in the message (actually, in each of the packets if more than one is required) and sends it to the IP address that is obtained by looking up the domain name in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) you requested or in the e-mail address you're sending a note to. At the other end, the recipient can see the IP address of the web page requestor or the e-mail sender and can respond by sending another message using the IP address it received.
ISP - An ISP (Internet service provider) is a company that provides individuals and other companies access to the Internet and other related services such as web site building and virtual hosting. An ISP has the equipment and the telecommunication line access required to have a point-of-presence on the Internet for the geographic area served. The larger ISPs have their own high-speed leased lines so that they are less dependent on the telecommunication providers and can provide better service to their customers. Among the largest national and regional ISPs are AT&T WorldNet, IBM Global Network, MCI, Netcom, UUNet, and PSINet.
Landing Page - The page on a website where the visitor arrives (which may or may not be the home page). In terms of an email campaign, one can think of the landing page as the page to which the email directs the prospect via a link. A landing page must satisfy all the requirements pertaining to a home page.
Links - Text links, hyperlinks, graphics or images which, when clicked or when pasted into the browser, direct the prospect to another online location. To be most effective in motivating action, links must be obvious to the visitor or recipient. When images or graphics are used as links, or when hyperlinks are used, always provide a corresponding text link as well.
List Host - A service providing users with tools and facilities for distributing high volumes of email and managing a list of email addresses.
Mail Server - A computer in a network that provides "post office" facilities. It stores incoming mail for distribution to users and forwards outgoing mail through the appropriate channel. The term may refer to just the software that performs this service, which can reside on a machine with other services.
MIME - MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). MIME extends the format of Internet mail to allow non-US-ASCII textual messages, non-textual messages, multipart message bodies, and non-US-ASCII information (such as HTML formatted information) in message headers and in messages.
Percent Bounced Back - The number of emails that were returned as undeliverable divided by the total number of emails sent, multiplied by 100.
Percent Opened - The number of emails opened divided by the total number of emails received, multiplied by 100.
Permission-based - Permission-based email simply means that the email is sent to people who want it — in contrast to unsolicited email or spam. This definition is typically expanded to mean that every person that you send an email message to has given their permission, whether direct or implied, for you to do so.
Plain Text - An email message that contains only unformatted text without graphics or other multimedia files. Text email may be the only option for wireless, handheld devices, but it was the traditional format for all email messages before the Web exploded in the mid-1990s. There are two versions of POP. The first, called POP2, became a standard in the mid-80's and requires SMTP to send messages. The newer version, POP3, can be used with or without SMTP.
POP3 - Short for Post Office Protocol, a protocol used to retrieve email from a mail server. Most email applications (sometimes called an email client) use the POP protocol, although some can use the newer IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).
Port - Generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server.
Spam - Spam is Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). Unsolicited means that you lack affirmative consent from the recipient. If you found an address on a web page, on a mailing list, or on Usenet, you don't have consent. If you got an address in gift, sale or trade, you don't have consent. If someone gave you an address for a particular purpose (for example, a commercial transaction, information about your products, or after-sales support) you only have consent to use it for that particular purpose. Use for any other purpose requires a new consent.
Bulk means that you sent a substantively similar message to more than 200 addresses a day. A message that differs from recipient to recipient only by details (e.g. the recipient's name, account number, blocks of random words, characters, numbers, or non-rendered text) is the same message. A message that uses different wording to express the same idea is the same message. If you send the same message to 200 different people day after day, it's spam.
SMTP - Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol for sending email messages between servers. Most email systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an email client using either POP or IMAP. In addition, SMTP is generally used to send messages from a mail client to a mail server. This is why you need to specify both the POP or IMAP server and the SMTP server when you configure your email application.
Subject Line - The title of the email message. This is the first element of the communication recipients will see when they access their email. The subject line has to grab a viewer's attention and be credible or the email will not get opened.
Subscribe - Subscribe means to sign-up – to give permission to someone to send you newsletters, email, or other electronic information via email.
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol is the basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When you are set up with direct access to the Internet, your computer is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program just as every other computer that you may send messages to or get information from also has a copy of TCP/IP.
Trackable Links - Links (URLs) you can embed in the body of your email campaign messages. These URLs track the activity on those links and reports back the average number of click-throughs per email; click-throughs by URL; click-throughs per day and what contact clicked on what URLs.
Templates - HTML templates are pre-designed templates that allow non-programmers to assemble their own content within an HTML shell for an email campaign. Most email marketing templates provide a variety of tools to allow customization of each section of an email marketing email.
Unsubscribe - To cancel a service such as the delivery of an email newsletter or mailing list. For most email marketing providers an unsubscriber is a person who has asked to be taken off a mailing list.
URL - A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the unique address assigned to each Web page on the Internet. For example, http://www.buckarooemaill.com.
Variable Field - Variable fields are used in many email marketing programs. In general they contain variable data used in each email message generated. For example, a recipient's email address, a recipient's name or a sender's picture, etc.
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