Marketing Glossary

Marketing terms explained.

The definitive guide to every term, phrase, and acronym in the vast and complicated world of digital marketing.

Marketing terms

Explore our collection of marketing terms and concepts to enhance your understanding of digital marketing.

A/B Testing

An experiment where you show two (or more) versions of something (such as an email) to comparable audiences simultaneously and compare their outcomes to determine which version performs better.

Abandoned Cart Emails

An email that is triggered when a user fails to complete a purchase.

Acceptance Rate

The percentage of emails that are accepted by the ISP (internet service protocol).

Anti-Spam Laws

Anti-spam laws exist in various countries and territories around the world to protect consumers from receiving unwanted (unsolicited) spam emails.

Autoresponder

An Autoresponder is an automatical email sent in reply to an initial email — often used for handling customer enquiries.

BCC

BCC stands for blind carbon copy.

BIMI

BIMI – or Brand Indicators for Message Identification — is the standard for consumers to see your brand logo in the emails you send them.

Blacklist

IP addresses or email domains associated with spam.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate in email marketing describes the percentage of emails which did not reach recipients.

Can-Spam Act

A law that applies to all commercial email messages to prevent unsolicited email communication.

CC: Carbon Copy

CC stands for carbon copy.

Churn

Churn in email marketing refers to amount of users unsubscribing from an email list.

Clean Email List

A clean email list is when only active and engaged subscribers remain on an email list.

Cleantech

Cleantech (short for clean technology) refers to technology which reduces or eliminates environmental harm.

Cold Email

A cold email is an email that has been sent to someone without any prior knowledge of the sender.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage prospects.

CPM: Cost per Mille

CPM stands for cost-per-mille.

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management is a system for managing a company's interactions with current and potential customers.

CTOR: Click-To-Open Rate

Click-to-open rate (CTOR) is a metric that compares the number of unique clicks to unique opens for a given email.

CTR: Click-Through Rate

The click-through rate is an important metric in email marketing.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the vast field of using digital channels, platforms, and technologies to promote brands, products, or services.

Disengaged Subscribers

Contacts are considered as disengaged when they no longer open emails sent to them.

DKIM

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that uses digital signatures to verify that an email message was sent from an authorised domain and hasn't been tampered with.

DMARC

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication policy that helps domain owners protect their domain from email spoofing.

Double Opt-In

Double opt-in occurs when a user signs up for an email list and then receives an email with a confirmation link to click to confirm they wish to subscribe.

EcoSend

EcoSend is the world's first sustainable email marketing platform.

Email Delivery Rate

Email delivery rate measures the number of emails that arrive in your subscriber's inbox compared with the total number of emails sent.

Email Domain

An email domain describes the sections of an email address that follow the @ symbol.

Email List Scrubbing

Scrubbing an email list refers to the removal of inactive contacts.

Email Marketing Automation

Email marketing automation is the streamlining and automation of email campaign creation, sending and testing.

Email Scrapers

Email scrapers (also known as email extractors) collect email addresses from the internet so that email lists can be created.

ESP: Email Service Provider

A service that enables businesses to send email campaigns to their audience.

Forms

Forms are a lead generation tool which can be placed on a website to collect user data.

GDPR

GDPR stands for general data protection regulation.

Hard Bounce

A hard bounce in email marketing is when an email does not reach the recipient due to a permanent reason.

High Volume Email Sending

High volume email sending is also known as mass email sending.

Inactive Contacts

Contacts that haven't opened or engaged with any emails you've sent over an extended timeframe.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a strategy that involves partnering with individuals who have a strong online presence and a dedicated following to promote a brand.

Integrated Marketing

Integrated marketing is a strategic approach that combines and coordinates multiple marketing channels and tactics to deliver a consistent, cohesive message.

Landing Page

A landing page in email marketing is the destination users will be taken to when they click on links throughout your email campaign.

Open Rate

Open rate is a fundamental metric in email marketing that measures the percentage of recipients who open a specific email out of everyone who received it.

Opt Out

An "opt out" is another phrase for an "unsubscribe" — a request to be removed from an email list.

Re-Engagement Emails

A type of email campaign sent to inactive contacts to determine if they still want to be kept on the list.

ROI: Return on Investment

Return on Investment refers to the calculation to summarise how much money you "get back" from an initiative you spend money on.

Segmentation

Segmentation involves only targeting certain users with a marketing campaign.

Send Limit

The maximum amount of messages that can be sent based on the email marketing plan.

SPF: Sender Policy Framework

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method that helps prevent email spoofing by specifying which mail servers are authorised to send emails from your domain.

Subject Line

A subject line is a piece of introductory text which acts as a preview for the message contents.

Unsubscribe Rate

Unsubscribe rate in the context of email marketing refers to the percentage of recipients who opt out of receiving your emails.

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