Breaking Down Common Email Marketing Terms

Definition: In email, Alt Text, or "Alternative Text," is a description added to characterize an image within the email.

Definition: Bounce rate is the percentage of emails that do not successfully reach the recipient's inbox.

Definition: The call-to-action, or CTA, is the next step you want subscribers to take after reading your email. This is typically presented as a button or hyperlinked text.

Definition: Click-Through Rate, or CTR, is the percentage of recipients who clicked on one or more links within an email. It's calculated by dividing the number of unique link clicks by the number of people who received that email.

Definition: Dark mode is a display setting that allows users to view email content with a dark background instead of a white one, which is often easier on the eyes and can help conserve device battery life.

Definition: Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to successfully reach the recipient's inbox, avoiding spam folders or rejections.

Definition: Double opt-in is a subscription method where new subscribers must confirm their email subscription by clicking a link in a confirmation email or by responding to it.

Definition: Dynamic content refers to elements within an email that automatically change based on specific subscriber information or preferences.

Definition: A hex code is a six-digit alphanumeric code used to represent specific colors in digital formats.

Definition: A honeypot is a hidden link or field set up by email marketers to combat spam and/or automated bots by catching suspicious activity.

Definition: IP Warming is the process of gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address to build its reputation with internet service providers (ISPs).

Definition: A landing page is a standalone web page where a user arrives after clicking a call-to-action in an email. These pages are typically designed for lead capture, offering free demos, assets, webinar registrations, or directing to purchase pages.

Definition: List fatigue occurs when subscribers stop engaging with your email content due to factors such as excessive sending frequency, irrelevant content, poor list hygiene, or improper send timing for your audience.

Definition: Multipart emails are messages that contain multiple distinct parts within a single email, such as both HTML and plain text versions, allowing email clients to display the most appropriate format.

Definition: Open rate is the percentage of subscribers who open a specific email. Learn more about email open rate.

Definition: Opting-out is synonymous with unsubscribing, referring to a subscriber's action of choosing to no longer receive emails from a sender.

Definition: Personalization involves including specific elements within an email based on information you already know about a subscriber, such as their name, preferences, or past behavior.

Definition: A plain text email contains only text, without any formatting, images, or other multimedia elements.

Definition: A preheader is a short, descriptive sentence or phrase that often displays in the recipient's inbox alongside or below the subject line, summarizing the email's content.

Definition: A privacy policy, typically located at the bottom of an email or linked from it, is a statement outlining how an organization collects, uses, and manages the personal data of its email subscribers.

Definition: Responsive design is an email design technique that ensures your emails are easy to read and navigate on all types of devices, including desktops, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, by adapting their layout to the screen size.

Definition: List segmentation is the practice of dividing your email subscriber list into smaller, targeted groups based on shared characteristics, allowing you to send more relevant email messages to each segment.

Definition: A Sender Score is a metric that grades the reputation of outgoing mail servers based on various data points, influencing email deliverability.

Definition: A suppression list is a list of email addresses that should be excluded from future email sends. This query can be set up in an Email Service Provider (ESP) to prevent deliverability to certain emails, often for compliance reasons (e.g., unsubscribes).

Definition: A tracking pixel is a tiny, often transparent image or piece of code embedded in an email that, when loaded, allows marketers to track how a subscriber engages with the email (e.g., opens, clicks).