Marketing Glossary
All those terms explained!
A
A/B Tests
Creating 2 versions of a digital asset to see which one users respond to better. Examples… [Read more]
Abandoned Cart
When a user adds a product to the online shopping cart of an e-commerce site but doesn’t … [Read more]
Above the fold
The part of an email message or Web page that is visible without scrolling. Material in th… [Read more]
Access
Microsoft software tool used for developing a database. Any database vendor you work with … [Read more]
Acquisition cost
In email marketing, the cost to generate one lead, newsletter subscriber or customer in an… [Read more]
Ad Copy
The words in your advertising messages to customers. Ad copy can be the headline of a dis… [Read more]
Ad Network
A service that offers online ad space for sale to advertisers. This space can represent in… [Read more]
Ad swap
An exchange between two publishers in which each agrees to run the other’s comparabl… [Read more]
AdSense
A Google marketing program that pays website publishers for allowing relevant ads from Goo… [Read more]
Advertising Budget
The money a company puts toward promoting its products and services to its target audience… [Read more]
Advertorial
Advertising and editorial content combined. If you think of a traditional printed magazine… [Read more]
Affiliate
A marketing partner that promotes your products or services under a payment-on-results agr… [Read more]
Affiliate Marketing
Marketing based on a relationship between an online advertiser and website publishers wher… [Read more]
Affiliate Network
A specially selected group of website publishers who partner with an advertiser to deliver… [Read more]
Affirmative consent
An active request by a reader or subscriber to receive advertising or promotional informat… [Read more]
Alert
Email message that notifies subscribers of an event or special price.
Alias
A unique and usually shorter URL (link) that can be distinguished from other links even if… [Read more]
Alt Text
Text that shows in place of images or pops up when you hover your mouse over an image. Alt… [Read more]
Anchor Text
The wording of a link on a website, in an email, or within another digital asset. One exam… [Read more]
AOL
America Online.
Application Program Interface (API)
How a program (application) accesses another to transmit data. A client may have an API co… [Read more]
Application Service Provider (ASP)
Company that provides a Web-based service. Clients don’t have to install software on their… [Read more]
ASP
Application Service Provider – A company that offers organizations access over the Interne… [Read more]
Attachment
A text, video, graphic, PDF or sound file that accompanies an email message but is not inc… [Read more]
Audience Segmentation
A marketing strategy based on identifying subgroups within the target audience in order to… [Read more]
Authentication
A term that refers to standards, such as Sender ID, SPF and DomainKeys/DKIM, that serve to… [Read more]
Back to top
Autoresponder
Automated email message-sending capability, such as a welcome message sent to all new subs… [Read more]
B
B-to-B
Business-to-business (also B2B).
B-to-C
Business-to-consumer (also B2C).
B2B
Business-to-Business – The exchange of information, products or services between two busin… [Read more]
B2C
Business-to-Consumer – The exchange of information, products or services between a busines… [Read more]
Back-end
(1) The part of the computer that changes source code into object code (machine read code)… [Read more]
Backlinks
Links on websites other than your own that go back to a page on your website. Backlinks ar… [Read more]
Banner Ad
A standard horizontal ad placement at the top of a web page. The term “banner” is borrowed… [Read more]
Bayesian filter
An anti-spam program that evaluates header and content of incoming email messages to deter… [Read more]
BIMI
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an emerging security technology that… [Read more]
Bing Ads
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads that run on Bing and Yahoo search engines spanning desktop and mob… [Read more]
BITNET
Abbreviation for “Because It’s Time NETwork.” BITNET is primarily a netw… [Read more]
Black Hat SEO
Not a great idea. Black hat SEO is an approach to search engine optimization (SEO) that fo… [Read more]
Blacklist
A list developed by anyone receiving email, or processing email on its way to the recipien… [Read more]
Block
A refusal by an ISP or mail server not to forward your email message to the recipient. Man… [Read more]
Blog
The short form of “web log.” A blog is a collection of journal-like articles w… [Read more]
Bonded Sender
A private email-registration service, owned by email vendor Ironport, which allows bulk em… [Read more]
Bounce
A message that doesn’t get delivered promptly is said to have bounced. Emails can bounce f… [Read more]
Bounce handling
The process of dealing with the email that has bounced. Bounce handling is important for l… [Read more]
Bounce message
Message sent back to an email sender reporting the message could not be delivered and why…. [Read more]
Bounce Rate
The percentage of visits to your website where only 1 page was viewed. When we say users &… [Read more]
Bounces
Email messages that fail to reach their intended destination. “Hard” bounces a… [Read more]
Brand
The experience a customer has with a product or service that makes it different from other… [Read more]
Brand Identity
The experience a customer has with your product or service visually. A brand identity is m… [Read more]
Brand Image
How your customers perceive your products, services, and company. This is ultimately somet… [Read more]
Brand Manager
A marketing professional responsible for making sure the customer’s experience with a bran… [Read more]
Breadcrumbs
If you’re thinking “Hansel and Gretel,” you’re right. This fairy tale duo left… [Read more]
Broadcast
The process of sending the same email message to multiple recipients.
Back to top
Bulk folder (also junk folder)
Where many email clients send messages that appear to be from spammers or contain spam or … [Read more]
C
Call to Action (CTA)
What you want your target audience to do after receiving your marketing message. The call … [Read more]
CAN-SPAM
Popular name for the U.S. law regulating commercial email (Full name: Controlling the Assa… [Read more]
Canonical URL
The “master version” of a page on your website that you want search engine cra… [Read more]
Catch-all
An email server function that forwards all questionable email to a single mailbox. The cat… [Read more]
Cell
Aka Test cell or version. A segment of your list that receives different treatment specifi… [Read more]
CGI
Common Gateway Interface – A specification for transferring information between a Web serv… [Read more]
Challenge-Response
An authentication method that requires a human to respond to an email challenge message be… [Read more]
Challenge-response system
An anti-spam program that requires a human being on the sender’s end to respond to a… [Read more]
Classified Advertising
Ads appearing on the same page and grouped into categories in a list-like format. Common c… [Read more]
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of users who click on the link in your digital marketing message after seei… [Read more]
Click-through tracking
The process of tracking how many recipients clicked on a particular link in an email messa… [Read more]
clickthrough & clickthrough tracking
When a hotlink is included in an email, a clickthrough occurs when a recipient clicks on t… [Read more]
Co-registration
Arrangement in which companies collecting registration information from users (email sign-… [Read more]
Commercial email
Email whose purpose, as a whole or in part, is to sell or advertise a product or service o… [Read more]
Conditional blocks
A text fragment that is pasted into an email message only if certain conditions are met (f… [Read more]
Confirmation
An acknowledgment of a subscription or information request. “Confirmation” can… [Read more]
Confirmed opt-in
Inexact term that may refer to double-opt-in subscription processes or may refer to email … [Read more]
Contact Form
A page on a website that contains a brief questionnaire that allows users to provide infor… [Read more]
Content
All the material in an email message except for the codes showing the delivery route and r… [Read more]
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategy businesses use to attract, engage, and retain customers by… [Read more]
Conversion
When an email recipient performs a desired action based on a mailing you have sent. A conv… [Read more]
Conversion Rate
The percentage of user actions taken after total clicks on a display ad or other digital a… [Read more]
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
The process of increasing the percentage of users who take the actions you want them to, s… [Read more]
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
How much you spend to win a single paying customer. Cost per acquisition (CPA) is a market… [Read more]
Cost Per Click (CPC)
A fee that a website publisher charges to serve your display ads on its site. Instead of p… [Read more]
CPA
Cost per Action (also can be Acquisition). A method of paying for advertising, or calculat… [Read more]
CPC
Cost per Click. A method of paying for advertising. Different from CPA because all you pay… [Read more]
CPM
Cost per thousand impressions of an online ad. When an ad is served to a user, it’s counte… [Read more]
Creative
An email message’s copy and any graphics.
Creatives
The products of copywriters, graphic designers, and other creative advertising people—or s… [Read more]
CRM
The practice of customer relationship management (CRM). The goals of CRM are to retain cur… [Read more]
Cross-campaign profiling
A method used to understand how email respondents behave over multiple campaigns.
Cross-post
To send the same email message to at least two different mailing lists or discussion group… [Read more]
CSS
Cascading style sheet (CSS), a language that dictates how a web page looks. It covers layo… [Read more]
CTR
Clickthrough Rate. Slightly inexact because some clicks “get lost” between the… [Read more]
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the amount of money a company spends to get a new custo… [Read more]
Customer Data Platform
A customer data platform (CDP) is a central location for customer data from a variety of s… [Read more]
Back to top
Customer Journey
Think of a customer journey as a detailed map that shows the full experience a customer ha… [Read more]
D
Database Management System
A database system that provides possibilities for users to connect LISTSERV® to a database… [Read more]
Dedicated Server
An email server used by only one sender. A dedicated server often costs more to use becaus… [Read more]
Deduplication (deduping)
The process of removing identical entries from two or more data sets such as mailing lists… [Read more]
Deliverability
A term that refers to the best practices and authentication techniques of mass email commu… [Read more]
Delivery tracking
The process of measuring delivery rates by format, ISP or other factors and delivery failu… [Read more]
Denial-of-service attack (DOS)
An organized effort to disrupt email or Web service by sending more messages or traffic th… [Read more]
Deploy
The act of sending the email campaign after testing.
Digest
A shortened version of an email newsletter which replaces full-length articles with clicka… [Read more]
Digital Marketing
Any marketing that uses electronic devices to convey promotional messaging and measure its… [Read more]
Direct Mail Marketing
A type of direct marketing that’s delivered physically to a prospect’s mailbox through the… [Read more]
Direct Marketing
Marketing that is delivered directly to the customer via the company selling a product. It… [Read more]
Discussion group
An email service in which individual members post messages for all group members to read (… [Read more]
Display Ads
A type of online advertisement that combines text, images, and a URL that links to a websi… [Read more]
Distribution Channel
The path a product or service takes as it travels from where it is created to the person w… [Read more]
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) is a widely reco… [Read more]
DNS
A domain name system (DNS) takes a human-friendly internet address, such as Website.com, a… [Read more]
Domain
A domain or domain name is what comes between the @ in your email address and the .com, .o… [Read more]
Domain name
A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. Domain names always have at least two par… [Read more]
Domain Name System
How computer networks locate Internet domain names and translate them into IP addresses. T… [Read more]
Domain Throttling
A technique that allows you to limit the number of email messages sent to a domain within … [Read more]
DomainKeys
An anti-spam software application being developed by Yahoo and using a combination of publ… [Read more]
Double opt-in
A process that requires new list joiners to take an action (such as clicking on an emailed… [Read more]
Download
To transfer a copy of a file from an Internet server to one’s own computer.
Drip Campaign
A series of automated emails sent to people who take a specific action. For any given acti… [Read more]
Dropshipping
An e-commerce model where the seller doesn’t own any inventory or handle any of the shippi… [Read more]
Back to top
Dynamic content
Email-newsletter content that changes from one recipient to the next according to a set of… [Read more]
E
E-commerce
E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services using the internet. It starts w… [Read more]
E-commerce Website
A website that allows people to buy and sell physical goods, services, and digital product… [Read more]
ECOA
Email Change of Address. A service that tracks email address changes and updates.
Effective rate
Metric that measures how many of those who opened an email message clicked on a link, usua… [Read more]
Email
Email allows you to send and receive text, HTML, images and other data files over the Inte… [Read more]
Email address
The combination of a unique user name and a sender domain (JohnDoe@anywhere.com). The emai… [Read more]
Email appending
Service that matches email addresses to a database of personal names and postal addresses…. [Read more]
Email Automation
The use of predefined rules to trigger email messages based on specific actions customers … [Read more]
Email bounces
Email messages that fail to reach their intended destination. “Hard” bounces a… [Read more]
Email client
The software that recipients use to read email. Some email clients have better support for… [Read more]
Email Domain
Aka Domain. The portion of the email address to the right of the @ sign. Useful as an emai… [Read more]
Email Filter
A software tool that categorizes, sorts or blocks incoming email, based either on the send… [Read more]
Email Friendly Name Aka Display Name, From name.
The portion of the email address that is displayed in most, though not all, email readers … [Read more]
Email harvesting
An automated process in which a robot program searches Web pages or other Internet destina… [Read more]
Email header
The section of an email message that contains the sender’s and recipient’s ema… [Read more]
Email List
A list of email addresses that your business can send marketing emails to. Email lists are… [Read more]
Email Marketing
The use of email to promote a business’s products and services. Email marketing can make t… [Read more]
Email Newsletter
Content distributed to subscribers by email, on a regular schedule. Content is seen as val… [Read more]
Email Prefix
The portion of the email address to the left of the @ sign.
Email Vendor
Another name for an email broadcast service provider, a company that sends bulk (volume) e… [Read more]
End User
The person who uses a product or service. If you make T-shirts, a person wearing your shir… [Read more]
Enhanced whitelist
A super-whitelist maintained by AOL for bulk emailers who meet strict delivery standards, … [Read more]
Error 404
File not found, an error your web browser flags. A 404 error message can be the fault of t… [Read more]
Event triggered email
Pre-programmed messages sent automatically based on an event such as a date or anniversary… [Read more]
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
A human- and machine-readable coding language that adds structure, meaning, or context to … [Read more]
Eye Tracking
Measuring and recording the movement of eyes as they look at a web page. In digital market… [Read more]
Back to top
Ezine (also e-zine)
Another name for email newsletter, adapted from electronic ‘zine or electronic magazine.
… [Read more]
F
Facebook Ads
Ads that run exclusively through Facebook’s advertising platform. They can appear in Faceb… [Read more]
Facebook Ads Manager
Basically, mission control for your Facebook ads. This is the interface where you select y… [Read more]
Facebook Business Page
Your business’s home on Facebook. At a minimum, it includes a name, description, profile, … [Read more]
Facebook Profile
Your personal home on Facebook. This is similar to a Facebook business page but designed f… [Read more]
False positive
A legitimate message mistakenly rejected or filtered as spam, either by an ISP or a recipi… [Read more]
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a United States government agency that regu… [Read more]
Featured Snippet
A section of Google’s search engine results page that tries to answer a question without a… [Read more]
Filter
See email filter.
Firewall
A program or set of programs designed to keep unauthorized users or messages from accessin… [Read more]
Footer
An area at the end of an email message or newsletter that contains information that doesn’… [Read more]
Forward (also Forward to a Friend)
The process in which email recipients send your message to people they know, either becaus… [Read more]
Forward DNS Lookup
A Forward DNS Lookup, or just DNS Lookup, is the process of looking up and translating a d… [Read more]
FQDN
Fully Qualified Domain Name – A name consisting of both a host and a domain name. For exam… [Read more]
Freeware
A free computer program usually made available on the Internet or through user groups.
From
Whatever appears in the email recipient’s inbox as your visible “from” n… [Read more]
FTC
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is tasked with promoting competition in the United Stat… [Read more]
FTP
File Transfer Protocol – Used for uploading or downloading files to and from remote comput… [Read more]
Back to top
Full-service provider
An email vendor that also provides strategic consulting and creative support, in addition … [Read more]
G
Gateway
This is a hardware or software set-up that functions as a translator between two dissimila… [Read more]
Gmail
A new, free email service offered by Google, giving users 1GB of storage space, email sear… [Read more]
Goodbye message
An email message sent automatically to a list member who unsubscribes, acknowledging the r… [Read more]
Google Ads
Google Ads is the software platform Google uses to power its ad network. Advertisers choos… [Read more]
Google Algorithm
Algorithms are a list of mathematical calculations and if/then statements that decide what… [Read more]
Google Analytics
A platform that measures and reports on website traffic. It provides information about how… [Read more]
Google My Business
A free service that lets you provide more detail about your business when it appears in se… [Read more]
Google Remarketing
Also called retargeting, Google remarketing is the technology that enables your Google Ads… [Read more]
Google Search Console
A Google tool that helps you optimize your website content to improve its performance and … [Read more]
Back to top
Gross Rating Points
A math equation that multiplies the number of times an ad is run by the percentage of the … [Read more]
H
H1
An HTML tag used to identify the highest level of information on a page. In practice, page… [Read more]
Hard Bounce
An email that is rejected by an email server for a permanent reason. An email may hard bou… [Read more]
Hashtag
A hash or pound sign (#) used after a word or phrase to label content and make it easier t… [Read more]
Header
Routing and program data at the start of an email message, including the sender’s na… [Read more]
Heat Map
A visual representation of data that uses color to communicate areas of highest use or lik… [Read more]
Host
When a server acts as a host it means that other computers on the network do not have to d… [Read more]
Host name
The name of a computer on the Internet (such as www.lsoft.com).
House list
The list of email addresses an organization develops on its own. (Your own list.)
Hreflang Tags
An HTML tag that helps search engines find and display content in a specific language when… [Read more]
HTML
Hypertext markup language (HTML) is the coding language used to create web pages. With the… [Read more]
HTML message
Email message which contains any type of formatting other than text. This may be as simple… [Read more]
HTTP (HTTPS)
Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is the application (or program) that a web browser uses… [Read more]
Hygiene
The process of cleaning a database to correct incorrect or outdated values. See also List … [Read more]
Back to top
Hyperlink
A piece of text or an image on a website that takes you to another web page when you click… [Read more]
I
Iframe
An iframe is a section of a web page that contains content that comes from another page. I… [Read more]
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol – A protocol used to retrieve email messages. Most email … [Read more]
Impression
A single view of one page by a single user, used in calculating advertising rates.
In-house list
A list of email addresses that a company has gathered through previous customer contacts, … [Read more]
Inbound Marketing
A marketing strategy that encourages people to actively seek out and engage with your bran… [Read more]
Index Page
The homepage of a website. Sometimes people refer to pages that collect all of a website’s… [Read more]
Instagram Ads
Instagram posts that promote a business’s products or services. The posts can appear in an… [Read more]
Integrated Marketing
The practice of aligning all marketing tactics to the same core messaging for a consistent… [Read more]
Internet
The largest worldwide computer network.
Intranet
Contrary to the public Internet, an intranet is a private network inside a company or orga… [Read more]
IP Address
Internet protocol (IP) address, a unique number much like your street address that uses co… [Read more]
Back to top
ISP
Internet Service Provider – A company that provides access to the Internet, including the … [Read more]
J
JavaScript
A coding language that works with HTML to make dynamic web page content possible. Contact … [Read more]
Back to top
Joe job
A spam-industry term for a forged email, in which a spammer or hacker fakes a genuine emai… [Read more]
K
Key Success Factors
The 5 elements that determine whether or not a company will be effective in capturing its … [Read more]
Keyword
A word or phrase in the content of your web pages that matches the words and phrases users… [Read more]
Keyword Density
The number of times a keyword is used on a web page out of the total number of words on th… [Read more]
Back to top
KPI
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable measures that help businesses evaluate … [Read more]
L
LAN
Local Area Network, which is a computer network, although geographically limited, usually … [Read more]
Landing Page
A standalone web page that potential customers can “land” on when they click through from … [Read more]
Leads
A person who has shown interest in your company’s product or service. “Lead” is a te… [Read more]
LinkedIn Advertising
A platform for promoting your company’s products or services on LinkedIn. Several formats … [Read more]
LinkedIn Profile
Your individual landing page on LinkedIn. Like a resume, professional bio, or CV, the purp… [Read more]
Linkrot
What happens when links go bad over time, either because a Web site has shut down or a sit… [Read more]
List
The list of email addresses to which you send your message. Can be either your house list … [Read more]
List Broker
A business that specializes in sourcing contact lists that direct marketers can rent for a… [Read more]
List fatigue
A condition producing diminishing returns from a mailing list whose members are sent too m… [Read more]
List host
See email vendors.
List hygiene
The act of maintaining a list so that hard bounces and unsubscribed names are removed from… [Read more]
List management
How a mailing list is set up, administered and maintained. The list manager has daily resp… [Read more]
List owner
The owner of an email list defines the list’s charter and policy (i.e. what the list… [Read more]
List rental
The process in which a publisher or advertiser pays a list owner to send its messages to t… [Read more]
Back to top
List sale
The actual purchase of a mailing list along with the rights to mail it directly. Permissio… [Read more]
M
Mail bomb
An orchestrated attempt to shut down a mail server by sending more messages than it can ha… [Read more]
Mail loop
A communication error between two email servers, usually happening when a misconfigured em… [Read more]
Mail-merge
A process that enables the delivery of personalized messages to large numbers of recipient… [Read more]
Mailing list
A list of email addresses that receive mailings or discussion-group messages.
mailto
A HTML code to make an email address in either a text or HTML email immediately clickable … [Read more]
Mainframe
A high-level computer often shared by multiple users connected by individual terminals.
Market Share
The percentage of the market for your product or service that you want to capture. The for… [Read more]
Marketing Analytics
A math-based discipline that seeks to find patterns in data to increase actionable knowled… [Read more]
Marketing Automation
A process that enables technology to take over repetitive marketing tasks from people, fre… [Read more]
Marketing Collateral
Digital or print materials that accompany a primary advertising campaign. Before the inter… [Read more]
Marketing Mix
The 4 “P”s: price, product, promotion, and place (point of sale). Your marketing mix cover… [Read more]
Marketing Objectives
What you want a marketing initiative such as an advertising campaign to accomplish for the… [Read more]
Marketing Research
Gathering and analyzing information about a market to inform how best to offer a product o… [Read more]
Merge-purge
The act of removing duplicate email addresses from a coalesced list that is composed of tw… [Read more]
Meta Description
A brief summary of what a web page is about in the HTML code of the page. Character counts… [Read more]
Meta Keywords
Words and phrases in the HTML meta keywords tag of a web page. Meta keywords help search e… [Read more]
Meta Tags
HTML code that helps search engines understand, evaluate, and rank web pages. Meta tags in… [Read more]
MIME
Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions – An extension of the original Internet email stand… [Read more]
Moderated list
Moderators must approve any message posted to an email list before it is delivered to all … [Read more]
MSP
Mail service provider, such as Hotmail.
MTA
Mail Transfer Agent. A computer that forwards email from senders to recipients (or to rela… [Read more]
MUA
Mail User Agent (see email client).
Multi-part MIME
Also known (confusingly) as an “email sniffer.” Message format which includes … [Read more]
Multi-threading
A process though which a mail server can perform multiple concurrent deliveries to differe… [Read more]
Multipart/alternative
A message format that includes both text and HTML versions. Recipients can then open the m… [Read more]
Back to top
MX
Mail Exchange Record
N
Narrowcasting
Sending a media message to a highly targeted audience. The opposite of broadcasting, narro… [Read more]
Nofollow
A meta tag in the HTML code of a web page that tells search engines to disregard the page…. [Read more]
Nonprofit Marketing
Marketing with objectives that advance a nonprofit organization’s cause versus driving a b… [Read more]
Back to top
Nth name
The act of segmenting a list for a test in which names are pulled from the main list for t… [Read more]
O
ODBC
Open DataBase Connectivity – A Microsoft standard for accessing different database systems… [Read more]
Offload
To assume part of the processing demand from another device.
Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing creates a cohesive, integrated shopping experience across a brand’s … [Read more]
Open rate
The number of HTML message recipients who opened your email, usually as a percentage of th… [Read more]
Open relay
An SMTP email server that allows outsiders to relay email messages that are neither for no… [Read more]
Open-relay
Open-relay is the third-party relaying of email messages though a mail server. Spammers lo… [Read more]
Open-up rate
The percentage of recipients who opened their email messages. The open-up rate is often us… [Read more]
Open-up tracking
The process of tracking how many recipients opened their email messages as part of an emai… [Read more]
Operating system
A program that manages all other programs in a computer, such as Windows or Unix.
Opt-in
A specific, pro-active, request by an individual email recipient to have their own email a… [Read more]
Opt-out
A specific request to remove an email address from a specific list, or from all lists oper… [Read more]
Organic Search
The natural and unpaid results users receive after making search queries. Search engines, … [Read more]
Out-of-office replies
Automatic email reply messages triggered by incoming email to a user’s inbox, typica… [Read more]
Back to top
Outsourcing
An arrangement where one company provides services to another company that would otherwise… [Read more]
P
Paid Search
Online advertising that is triggered when users perform searches using keywords that a com… [Read more]
Pass-along
An email recipient who got your message via forwarding from a subscriber. (Some emails off… [Read more]
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
An online advertising campaign that a company pays for only when users interact with the a… [Read more]
PDF
A Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file that looks like a printed document and is compa… [Read more]
Permission
The implicit approval given when a person actively requests to have their own email addres… [Read more]
Personalization
A targeting method in which an email message appears to have been created only for a singl… [Read more]
Personalized Marketing
The practice of using analytics to make advertising messages and product experiences feel … [Read more]
Personalized Product Recommendations
Suggestions to customers for products they may be interested in based on products they’ve … [Read more]
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)
Software used to encrypt and protect email as it moves from one computer to another and ca… [Read more]
Phishing
A form of identity theft in which a scammer uses an authentic-looking email to trick recip… [Read more]
Plain text
Text in an email message that includes no formatting code. See HTML.
POP
Post Office Protocol – A protocol used to retrieve email from a mail server. Most email cl… [Read more]
Postmaster
Whom to contact at a Web site, ISP or other site to request information, get help with del… [Read more]
Preferences
Options a user can set to determine how they want to receive your messages, how they want … [Read more]
Preview pane
The window in an email client that allows the user to scan message content without actuall… [Read more]
Privacy
A major concern of Internet users that largely involves the sharing of personally identifi… [Read more]
Privacy policy
A clear description of how your company uses the email addresses and other information it … [Read more]
Product Differentiation
What makes your product or service different and more appealing to customers than other op… [Read more]
Product Lifecycle
The stages a product goes through during its time on the market. There are 4 stages: intro… [Read more]
Product Positioning
The image of your product or service that you want members of your target audience to have… [Read more]
Product Range
A set of versions of one product from the same brand, each tweaked to appeal to a differen… [Read more]
Promotional Mix
The combination of promotions (advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity) … [Read more]
Promotions
Marketing communications designed to inform target audiences about products or services an… [Read more]
Protocol
The set of formal rules that describe how to transmit data, especially across a network of… [Read more]
Back to top
Psychographics
Your target audience’s values, beliefs, and behaviors that are relevant to your product or… [Read more]
Q
Quality Score
A Google Ads metric that rates how relevant your pay-per-click (PPC) ads and landing pages… [Read more]
Query
A subset of records in a database. Queries may be used to create highly specified demograp… [Read more]
Questionnaire
A set of questions about a topic that’s used for research purposes. Questionnaires are com… [Read more]
Back to top
Queue
Where an email message goes after you send it but before the list owner approves it or bef… [Read more]
R
Read email
Not measurable. Only opens and clicks are measureable in any way. You can never know if a … [Read more]
Redirect
Sending a user to a different web page than the one they requested with a URL. Redirects s… [Read more]
Referral
When a website sends traffic to another website. Tracking referrals can help you understan… [Read more]
Registration
The process where someone not only opts in to your email program but provides some additio… [Read more]
Relationship email
An email message that refers to a commercial action — a purchase, complaint or custo… [Read more]
Reply-to
The email address that receives messages sent from users who click “reply” in their email … [Read more]
Responsive Web Design
An approach to website design that enables a single page to be displayed comfortably wheth… [Read more]
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
The ratio of the amount of revenue generated by an ad campaign to its cost. If you generat… [Read more]
Return on Investment (ROI)
A calculation of the monetary value of an investment versus its cost. The mathematical for… [Read more]
Return Rate
Number of hard/soft bounces divided by the number of emails sent. This is an inexact numbe… [Read more]
Reverse DNS
The process in which an IP address is matched correctly to a domain name, instead of a dom… [Read more]
Reverse DNS Lookup
A Reverse DNS Lookup is the process of looking up and translating an IP address into a dom… [Read more]
Rich Media
Creative that includes video, animation, and/or sound. Rich-media emails often collect hig… [Read more]
Robots.txt
A file placed on a web server that gives instructions to search engine crawlers, which are… [Read more]
Router (Routing System)
The role of a route can be described as a bridge between two or more networks. The functio… [Read more]
Back to top
RSS
Really simple syndication (RSS) takes the content of a website and packages it into a feed… [Read more]
S
Scalability
The ability of a software program to continue to function smoothly as additional volume, o… [Read more]
Schema Markup
Bits of code added to a web page that help search engines understand the content of the pa… [Read more]
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Paid advertising on a search engine results page (SERP). This is also called paid search. … [Read more]
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Changes made to the content and structure of a website to improve ranking on a search engi… [Read more]
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
The page that a search engine returns after a user submits a search query. In addition to … [Read more]
Search Engines
Software used to find information and websites on the internet. Google, Yahoo, and Bing ar… [Read more]
Search Query
The string of words users enter into a search engine to receive a result. Search queries a… [Read more]
Seed emails
Email addresses placed on a list (sometimes secretly) to determine what messages are sent … [Read more]
Segment
The ability to slice a list into specific pieces determined by various attributes, such as… [Read more]
Select
A segment of a list determined by any number of attributes, such as source of name, job ti… [Read more]
Selective Unsubscribe
An unsubscribe mechanism that allows a consumer to selectively determine which email newsl… [Read more]
Sender ID
Sender ID is an authentication protocol used to verify that the originating IP address is … [Read more]
Sender Policy Framework (also SPF)
A protocol used to eliminate email forgeries. A line of code called an SPF record is place… [Read more]
Sent emails
Number of email names transmitted in a single broadcast. Does not reflect how many were de… [Read more]
Server
A program or computer system that stores and distributes email from one mailbox to another… [Read more]
Server
A program that acts as a central information source and provides services to programs in t… [Read more]
Shared server
An email server used by more than one company or sender. Shared servers are less expensive… [Read more]
Shareware
This term refers to software available on public networks.
Signature
A line or two of information found in the closing of an email, usually followed the sender… [Read more]
Signature file
A short text file that email users can automatically append at the end of each message the… [Read more]
Sitelink
An ad extension that places more than 1 link in a paid search ad. For example, beyond your… [Read more]
Sitemap XML
A list of pages on a website that search engines should index. Written in extensible marku… [Read more]
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol – A protocol used to send email on the Internet. SMTP is a s… [Read more]
Snail mail
Traditional or surface mail sent through postal services such as the USPS.
Sniffing
A method of determining whether email recipients are capable of receiving HTML-formatted m… [Read more]
Social Media Marketing
Using social media to advertise a brand, products, or services. Social media marketing all… [Read more]
Soft Bounce
An email that is rejected by an email server for a temporary reason. An email may soft bou… [Read more]
Solo mailing
A one-time broadcast to an email list, separate from regular newsletters or promotions, an… [Read more]
Spam
The digital equivalent of junk mail. Spam can be an email, text message, social media dire… [Read more]
Spamcop
A blacklist and IP-address database, formerly privately owned but now part of the email ve… [Read more]
SPF
Sender Policy Framework – An authentication protocol used by recipient sites to verify tha… [Read more]
Sponsorship swap
An agreement between email list owners, publishers or advertisers to sponsor each other… [Read more]
Spoofing
The disreputable and often illegal act of falsifying the sender email address to make it a… [Read more]
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a method of encryption that protects data being sent between… [Read more]
Streaming media
Audio and video files transmitted on the Internet in a continuous fashion.
Subject line
Copy that identifies what an email message is about, often designed to entice the recipien… [Read more]
Subscribe
The process of joining a mailing list, either through an email command, by filling out a W… [Read more]
Subscriber
The person who has specifically requested to join a mailing list. A list has both subscrib… [Read more]
Back to top
Suppression file
A list of email addresses you have removed from your regular mailing lists, either because… [Read more]
T
Tags
A piece of HTML code that tells a web browser how to render an element on a web page. Tags… [Read more]
Target Audience
The people you want to reach with your marketing efforts. These are the consumers who will… [Read more]
Targeting
Using demographics and related information in a customer database to select the most appro… [Read more]
TCP / IP
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol – This is the protocol that defines the … [Read more]
Test
A necessary step before sending an email campaign or newsletter. Many email clients permit… [Read more]
Text newsletter
Plain newsletter with words only, no colors, graphics, fonts or pictures; can be received … [Read more]
Thank-you page
Web page that appears after user has submitted an order or a form online. May be a receipt… [Read more]
Throttling
The practice of regulating how many email message a broadcaster sends to one ISP or mail s… [Read more]
Title Tag
An HTML tag that designates the title of a page. Confusingly, the title tag isn’t responsi… [Read more]
Tracking
In an email marketing campaign, measuring behavioral activities such as click-throughs and… [Read more]
Tracking Code
A small piece of JavaScript placed on a website that sends data to Google Analytics. The t… [Read more]
Transactional email
also known as transactive email. A creative format where the recipient can enter a transac… [Read more]
Back to top
Twitter Advertising
Twitter’s advertising platform. Twitter ads are tweets that are promoted to a specific tar… [Read more]
U
UCE
Unsolicited Commercial Email, also called spam or junk mail.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
A web address. Uniform resource locators (URLs) can point to a website or any other resour… [Read more]
Unique Reference Number
A unique number assigned to a list member, usually by the email-broadcast software, and us… [Read more]
Unique Selling Proposition
The reason people should buy your product or services according to your marketing and adve… [Read more]
Unique Visitors
The number of individuals who visited your website in a defined amount of time. This is of… [Read more]
Unsubscribe
To remove oneself from an email list, either via an emailed command to the list server or … [Read more]
URL
Uniform Resource Locator – The address of a file or Web page accessible on the Internet.
… [Read more]
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The Web address for a page,.
User Experience (UX)
How a person feels about using a product or service. The discipline of user experience (UX… [Read more]
User Interface
A set of controls such as buttons, commands and other devices that allow a user to operate… [Read more]
Back to top
User Interface (UI)
The visual and audio elements on a website or app presented to a visitor. User interface (… [Read more]
V
Vendor
Any company that provides a service. See email vendors.
Verification
A program that determines an email came from the sender listed in the return path or Inter… [Read more]
Video e-mail
An email message that includes a video file, either inserted into the message body, access… [Read more]
Viral marketing
A marketing strategy that encourages email recipients to pass along messages to others in … [Read more]
Virtual hosting
A Web server hosting service that replaces a company’s need to purchase and maintain… [Read more]
Virus
A program or computer code that affects or interferes with a computer’s operating system a… [Read more]
Back to top
Vision Statement
A short description of a company’s goals for the future. Vision statements tend to be high… [Read more]
W
Web bug (also Web beacon)
A 1 pixel-by-1 pixel image tag added to an HTMLmessage and used to track open rates by ema… [Read more]
Welcome Email
A message to a new subscriber or customer. Welcome emails are a follow-up to a newsletter … [Read more]
Welcome message
Message sent automatically to new list members as soon as their email addresses are added … [Read more]
White Hat SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that benefit both websites and the people who … [Read more]
Whitelist
Advance-authorized list of email addresses, held by an ISP, subscriber or other email serv… [Read more]
Wireframe
A blueprint for a website’s user interface (UI). Wireframes are simplified sketches—often … [Read more]
Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOM Marketing)
Person-to-person conversation that promotes a product or service. For example: “Hey, I lov… [Read more]
Worm
A piece of malicious code delivered via an executable attachment in email or over a comput… [Read more]
Back to top
Worm
Malicious code that is often spread through an executable attachment in an email message.
X
Back to top
XML
Extensible Markup Language – A flexible way to create standard information formats and sha… [Read more]
Y
Yahoo Advertising
Yahoo’s ad platform. Yahoo offers various formats and placements much like other ad networ… [Read more]
Back to top
YouTube Advertising
Video ads that appear across YouTube. Since Google owns YouTube, YouTube advertising share… [Read more]