| Term |
Definition |
| Alt Text |
The 'alt' attribute for the IMG
HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a
web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a user what an
image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is
unable to load. Also called alt tag. |
| Business-tobusiness (B2B) |
When businesses sell products or services to other businesses and not to consumers. |
| Business-toconsumers (B2C) |
When businesses sell products or services to consumers. |
| Call to action (CTA) |
A phrase written to motivate the reader to take action such assign up for our newsletter or book car hire today. |
| Clickthrough rate |
The total clicks on a link divided by the number of times that link was shown, expressed as a percentage. |
| Customer relationship management (CRM) |
A strategy for managing a company's
interactions with clients and potential clients. It often makes use of
technology to automate the sales, marketing, customer service and
technical processes of an organisation. |
| Database |
In email marketing, the database is
the list of prospects to which emails are sent. It also contains
additional information pertinent to the prospects. |
| Domain name system (DNS) |
DNS converts a domain name into an
IP address. DomainKeys, an email authentication system designed to
verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity. |
| Double opt-in |
The act of getting subscribers to
confirm their initial subscription via a follow-up email asking them to
validate their address and hence opt-in again. |
| Email service provider (ESP) |
A service that helps you design and send emails. |
| Hard bounce |
The failed delivery of email communication due to an undeviating reason like a non-existent address. |
| Internet Protocol (IP) Address |
An exclusive number that is used to represent every single computer in a network. |
| Internet service provider (ISP) |
The company providing you access to the Internet, for example, MWEB, AOL and Yahoo!. |
| Open rate |
The percentage of emails determined as opened out of the total number of emails sent. |
| Opt-in |
Giving permission for emails to be sent to you. |
| Opt-out |
Also known as unsubscribe. The act
of removing oneself from a list or lists so that specified information
is no longer received via email. |
| Return on investment (ROI) |
The ratio of profit to cost |
| Sender ID |
A method used by major ISPs to confirm that an email does originate from the domain that it claims to have been sent from. |
| Soft bounce |
The failed delivery of an email due to a deviating reason like an overloaded email inbox or a server failure. |
| Spam |
Email sent to someone who has not requested or given authorisation to receive it – EVIL! |
| Unique forwarders |
This refers to the number of individuals who forwarded a specific email on. |
| White list |
A list of accepted email addresses
that an ISP, a subscriber or other email service provider allows to
deliver messages regardless of spam filter settings. |