Whether you’re new to the email marketing game or an old hand at it, WizEmail probably has more features than you’re used to because it’s the most advanced and effective system on the market today.
And while this will bring you bucket loads of benefits, there may be a few email marketing terms that you're not familiar with, so have a look below for explanations on these.
Of and if for some reason there are any terms NOT on this list that you would like an explanation for, please drop us an email at support@wizemail.co.uk and we'll not only answer that for you but also add it to the list.
A
Alias
A unique and usually shorter URL (link) that can be distinguished from other links even if they go to the same Web page. This makes it possible to track which message led viewers to click on the link. Awesome for analysis.
Attachment
An audio, video or other data file that you attach to an email message.
Authentication
How do you fight spam and spoofing? Authentication standards, such as Sender ID, SPF and DomainKeys/DKIM, are used to make sure that an email has been truly sent from the domain and person that it claims to be.
Auto-responder
A computer program which automatically responds with a pre-written message to anyone emailing a particular email address or using an online feedback form. Saves you having to do it yourself!
B
B2B
(Business-to-Business) The exchange of information, products or services between two businesses, not a business and a consumer (B2C).
B2C
(Business-to-Consumer) The exchange of information, products or services between a business and a consumer – not between two businesses (B2B).
Bounces
Email messages that don’t get through into your customer’s inbox. ”Hard” bounces are caused by invalid email addresses, while ”soft” bounces come from temporary conditions, like overloaded inboxes. You can always try again with a soft bounce.
C
Click-through Rate
The percentage of recipients who clicked on a particular link within an email message. A vital statistic to find out after running a campaign.
Click-through Tracking
The process of tracking how many people clicked on a particular link in an email message. If you want to know how successful your campaign was, this is key. Which you do, don’t you?
CRM
Customer Relationship Management – The methodologies, software, and internet capabilities that help a company manage customer relationships in an efficient and organized manner. At WizEmail, for example, we’re experts.
D
Deliverability
The likelihood that your emails will end up in your customers’ inboxes, and not blocked by ISPs and spam filters. We’ll make sure you follow all the best practices and authentication techniques, to maximize the deliverability of your emails. Because there’s no point firing out blanks!
DNS
Domain Name Server (or system) – An Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses.
Domain Name
A name that identifies one or more IP addresses. Domain names always have at least two parts that are separated by dots (E.g, wizemail.co.uk). The part on the left is the second-level domain (info@), while the part on the right is the top-level domain (.co.uk). You’ve probably got your own.
Domain Throttling
Not as violent as it sounds! This is a technique which allows you to limit the number of email messages sent to a domain within a certain time frame. It is used to comply with ISPs and to avoid tripping spam filters. Many ISPs have their own policies and preferred limits.
DomainKeys/DKIM
‘DomainKeys’ or ‘DomainKeys Identified Mail’ are cryptographic authentication solutions which add signatures to email messages. This allows recipient sites to confirm that the message was sent by an authorized sender and not tampered with on the way in.
Double Opt-In
The recommended way to subscribe email recipients to an email list or newsletter. Once a person requests to subscribe to a list, a confirmation email message is auto-sent to their email address asking them to confirm a second time that they’re happy to be on it. Better to be safe than sorry.
E
Email allows you to send and receive text, HTML, images and other data files over the Internet. Email is one of the most popular online things to do and has become a vital tool for electronic commerce. Come on, you know this one!
Email Bounces
Email messages that don’t get through into your customer’s inbox. ”Hard” bounces are caused by invalid email addresses, while ”soft” bounces come from temporary conditions, like overloaded inboxes. You can always give it another go with a soft bounce.
Email Client
The software that recipients use to read email. Like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook etc. Some email clients have better support for HTML email than others. It’s worth testing your emails on all of them, before running your campaign.
H
Hard Bounces
Email messages that don’t get into a recipient’s inbox because of a permanent error, like an invalid or non-existing email address.
HTML
Hyper Text Mark-up Language – The most commonly used coding language for creating web pages. HTML can also be used in email messages.
I
IP Address
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique identifier for a computer on the Internet. It is written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can range from 0 to 255. Before connecting to a computer over the Internet, a Domain Name Server translates the domain name into its corresponding IP address. Comprende?
ISP
Internet Service Provider – A company that provides access to the Internet, including the World Wide Web and email, usually for a monthly fee. You probably have one.
M
Mail-Merge
A process which allows you to deliver personalized messages to loads of recipients at a time. It’s usually done through email list management software working together with a database.
O
Open Rate
The percentage of recipients who opened their email messages. Really useful for measuring the success of an email campaign.
Operating System
A program that manages all other programs in a computer, like Windows. You won’t get very far without an operating system!
Opt-In
An approach to email lists where subscribers explicitly request to be included in an email campaign or newsletter. You can’t just whack them on there, without them asking first.
Opt-Out
An approach to email lists where subscribers are included in email campaigns or newsletters until they specifically ask to be taken off the list. We don’t recommend this cheeky method, and in some cases it might be illegal.
Out-of-Office Replies
Automatic email reply messages triggered by incoming email to a user’s inbox, usually set up when users are on holiday or some kind of leave. In other words: you’re in France for 2 weeks and anyone who sends you a work email will get an automatic ‘out-of-office’ reply. So they know you’re not ignoring them!
P
Personalisation
Inserting personal greetings in email messages (for instance ”Dear John” rather than the generic ”Dear Customer”). Personalisation requires email list management that allows for so called mail-merge operations. It’s an awesome feature.
Plain Text
Just plain, regular text in an email message that has no formatting elements.
Q
Query
A subset of records in a database. Queries are really useful for creating highly specified demographics in order to target the right people with the right messages. Great for maximizing your conversion rates.
S
Sender ID
Sender ID is an authentication protocol used to confirm that the IP address which sent the email is authorized to do so, from the domain name written in the ‘from’ or ‘sender’ line. Sender ID is used to prevent spoofing and to identify messages with visible domain names that have been forged. Good way to catch those fraudsters!
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol – A protocol used to send email on the Internet. SMTP is a set of rules about the interaction between a program sending email and a program receiving email.
Soft Bounces
Email messages that don’t get into a recipient’s inbox because of a temporary error, like a full mailbox. Try again and you might get lucky.
SPF
Sender Policy Framework – An authentication protocol used by recipient sites to confirm that the ‘mail from’ IP address is authorized to send email for the domain name they claim to be. SPF is used to identify messages with forged ”MAIL FROM” addresses. Let’s catch those imposters!
Spoofing
A dodgy and often illegal act of faking the sender email address to make it look like an email message came from somewhere else. Usually to spam you with some kind of random sales offer.
Subject Line
The part of an email message where senders type what the email message is about. These are important. Why? Because if you get it wrong, your customers won’t even bother to open your email.
U
URL
Uniform Resource Locator – The address of a file or Web page accessible on the Internet (e.g. https://wizemail.co.uk).
User Interface
A set of controls, such as buttons, commands and other devices that allow you to operate a computer program. You’re probably using one right now!