A

Above the fold
The part of an email message or web page that is visible without scrolling. Material in this area is considered more valuable because the reader sees it first. It refers to the printing term for the top half of a newspaper above the fold, but unlike a newspaper, email and Web page fold locations are affected by a PC's screen settings, monitor size, and any headers placed by email programs like Hotmail etc.

Acquisition Cost
In email marketing, this is the cost to generate one lead, newsletter subscriber or customer in an individual email campaign; typically, the total campaign expense divided by the number of leads, subscribers, or customers it produced

Acquisition List
A rented list of prospects to which email can be sent. Prospects on a legitimate acquisition list are supposed to have opted in to the list and possess a certain set of characteristics - for example 'dog owners that shop online'.

Affirmative Consent
An active request by a reader or subscriber to receive advertising or promotional information, newsletters etc.

Agent Name Delivery
The attempt to direct Web page visitors to one page, while sending search engine spiders to another, optimized, page. This practice has fallen out of use as search engine spiders generally appear to be standard browsers.

Alert
Email message that notifies subscribers of an event or special promotion

AOL Complaint
This indicates that an AOL recipient hit the 'Report as spam' button associated with a message sent from Email Manager, which generates a complaint about the IP address that the message was sent from, which is returned via the DM feedback loop.

AOL Scomp Rate
Email Manager can track when an AOL user has clicked on the "Report as Spam" button in the AOL email browser. When an AOL user clicks this button in response to an email that has been sent from Email Manager, the action is tracked and you can report on it in Quick Totals. "AOL Scomp rate" is the percentage of emails sent, divided by the number of "Scomps" - short for "Spam complaints". Note: AOL Scomp rate is the most useful in a report of AOL specific emails. For example, when choosing "Group by domain" for your report.

Application Program Interface (API)
How an application accesses another to transmit data. A client may have an API connection to load database information to an email vendor automatically, and receive data back via email.

ASP
Application Service Provider

Attachment
A text, graphic, video, PDF or sound file that accompanies an email message but is not included in the message itself. Attachments are not a good way to send email newsletters because many ISPs, email clients and individual email recipients do not allow attachments as they are a common means of delivering viruses and other malicious code.

Authentication
An automated process that verifies an email sender's identity.

Autoresponder
Automated email message-sending capability, such as welcome message sent to all new subscribers when they join a list.

B

Bayesian Filter
An anti-spam program that evaluates header and content of incoming email messages to determine the probability that it is 'Spam'. These filters assign point values to items that appear frequently in spam - words like 'free', 'offer' and 'money-back guarantee'. A message that accumulates too many points is either rejected as probable spam or delivered to a junk-mail folder. Also known as content-basd filter.

Blacklist
A list developed by anyone receiving email - or processing email on its way to the recipient or interested third parties - that includes domains or IP addresses of any emailers suspected of sending spam. Many companies use blacklists to filter inbound email at the server level. Also called a 'Blocklist' or 'Blackhole List'.

Blast
Also called 'solo blasts' these are promotional campaigns done on a one-time basis. Distinct from ongoing communications like email newsletters.

Block
A refusal by an ISP or email server to forward your email message to the recipient. Many ISPs block email from IP addresses or domains that have been reported to send spam ir viruses, or have content that violates email policy or spam filters.

Bonded Sender
A private email-registration service, owned by email vendor IronPort, that allows bulk emailers who agree to follow stringent email practices and to post a monetary bond to bypass email filters of Bonded Sender clients. The program debits the bond for spam or other complaints from recipients.

Bounce
A message that doesn't get delivered promptly is said to have bounced. Emails can bounce for more than 30 reasons, including: the email address is incorrect or inactive, the recipient's mailbox is full, the mail server is down or the system detects spam or offensive contact. See also 'Hard Bounce' and 'Soft Bounce'.

Bounce Handling
The process of dealing with the email that has bounced. Bounce handling is important for list maintenance, list integrity and delivery. Given the lack of consistency in bounce messaging formats, it is an inexact science at best.

Bounce Message
Message sent back to an email sender reporting that the message could not be delivered and why. Not all bounced emails result in messages being sent back to the sender.

Bounce Rate
Number of hard/soft bounces divided by the number of emails sent. This is an inexact number because some systems do not report back to the sender clearly or accurately.

Broadcast
The process of sending the same email message to multiple recipients.

Bulk Folder
Also 'Junk Folder'. Where many email clients send messages that appear to be from spammers, or contain spam, or from any sender that is not in the recipient's address book or contact list. Some clients alow the recipient to override the system's settings and direct suspect mail directly to the inbox.

C

Campaign (email)
Creative content deployed to a recipient list

CAN-SPAM
US Anti-SPAM law

Catch-all
An email server function that forwards all questionable email to a single mailbox. The catch-all should be monitored regularly to find misdirected questions, unsubscribes or other genuine live email.

Certified email
A new email certification being tested that is very similar to certified direct mail

CGI
Common Gateway Interface. A specification for transferring information between the Web and Web server, such as processing email subscriptions or contact forms.

Challenge-Response-System
An anti-spam program that requires a human being on the sender's end to respond to an emailed challenge message before their messages can be delivered to recipients. Senders who answer the challenge successfully are added to an authorization list. Bulk emailers can work with challenge-response if they designate an employee to watch the sending address' mailbox and to reply to each challenge manually.

Churn
How many subscribers leave a mailing list (or how many email addresses go bad) over a certain length of time, usually expressed as a percentage of the whole list.

Clickthrough
The process of clicking on a link in a search engine output page to visit an indexed site.

Clickthrough and Clickthrough Tracking
When a hotlink is included in an email, search ad or online ad, a clickthrough occurs when a recipient clicks on the link. Clickthrough tracking refers to the data collected about each clickthrough link, such as how many people clicked it or how many clicks resulted in desired actions such as sales, forwards or subscriptions.

Clickthrough Rate
Total number of clicks on email link(s), search ads etc. divided by the number of emails sent, page views, etc. Also (CTR)

Click-to-Open Ratio
An email metric that looks at the quality of content by comparing the number of people who opened the email with those that clicked. Several factors can have a dramatic impact on CTO ratio, including filtering of images that suppress open rate, and newsletters that include only snippets of content in an email, elevating click numbers.

Client
Commonly, the user's computer, browser or application that requests information from another online application. Most client applications request information from a 'server-side' application.

Commercial Email
Email whose purpose, as a whole or in part, is to sell or advertise a product or service or to persuade users to perform an act, such as to purchase a product or click to a web site whose contents are designed to sell, advertise or promote.

Conditional Content
Use of a database to allow or block content based on user behavior. This is done with "if" and "then" statements.

Confirmation
An acknowledgement of a subscription or information request. This can either be a company statement that the email address was successfully placed on a list or a subscriber's agreement that the subscribe request was genuine and not faked or automatically generated by a third party.

Confirmed Opt-in
Inexact term that may refer to double-opt-in subscription processes or may refer to email addresses which do not hard bounce back a welcome message. Ask anyone using this term to define exactly what they mean by it.

Content-Based Filters
A type of filtration that sorts messages based on strings or keywords located within the message. Filtering can take place based upon a score assigned to some words or phrases or based on binary if/then statements, for example: Block if 'free' in subject field.

Conversion
When a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action based on a mailing you have sent. A conversion could be a monetary transaction, such as a purchase made after clicking a link. It could also include a voluntary act such as registering at a web site, downloading a white paper, signing up for a web seminar or opting in to an email newsletter.

Conversion Rate
The percentage of visitors/users who 'convert' on the action of a Web page or campaign. For example, actions may be purchasing, submitting a form, downloading content, calling a phone number or making an extended site visit.

Co-registration
Arrangement in which companies collecting registration information from users (email sign-up forms, shopping checkout process etc) include a separate box for users to check if they would also like to be added to a specific third party list.

CPM
Cost per thousand

Creative
An email message's copy and any graphics.

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 groups.

CTR (Clickthrough Rate)
Slightly inexact because some clicks "get lost" between the click and your server. Also, be sure to ask if the CTR is unique, meaning that each individual user is only counted once no matter how many times they click on a link.

D

Dedicated Server
An email server user by only one sender. A dedicated server often costs more to use because the expense isn't spread among multiple users, but it performs better than a shared server. Email usually goes out faster, the server is more secure, and it eliminates the possibility that another sender could get the server blacklisted for spamming.

De-dupe
Deduplication - the process of identifying and consolidating duplicate names/records, usually done in a merge/purge operation.

Deliverability
The degree to which emails are successfully delivered or not. Also refers to the general issues surrounding this question.

Delivered Email
Number of emails sent minus the number of bounces and filtered messages. A highly inexact number because not all receiving ISPs report accurately on which email didn't go through and why.

Delivery Tracking
The process of measuring delivery rates by format, ISP, or other factors and delivery failures (bounces, invalid address, server and other errors).

DNS
The domain name system (DNS) stores and associates many types of information with domain names, but most importantly, it translates domain names (computer hostnames) to IP addresses. It also lists mail
exchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain. In providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, DNS is an essential component of contemporary Internet use.

Domain
Internet address for a company or entity e.g. www.alterian.com

Domain Key
An email validation standard

Domain Name System
How computer networks locate Internet domain names and translate them into IP Addresses. The domain name is the actual name for an IP address or range of IP addresses. e.g. www.alterian.com

DomainKeys
An anti-spam software application being developed by Yahoo and using a combination of public and private "keys" to authenticate the sender's domain and reduce the chance that a spammer or hacker will fake the domain sending address.

Double opt-in
A process that requires new list joiners to take an action (such as clicking on an emailed link to a personal confirmation page) in order to confirm that they do want to be on the list. Sometimes interpreted incorrectly by some email broadcast vendors to mean a new subscriber who does not opt-out of or bounce a welcome message.

Drop Folder
A feature of Email Manager that lets users use any FTP client software to upload recipient lists to Email Manager via FTP.

DSN
(Delivery Status Notification) also known as a Bounce, a DSN is an automated electronic mail message from the receiver's mail system saying that the message could not be delivered.

Dynamic Content
Content that varies by recipient, based on rules or database variables

E

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, usually measured as unique responders divided by unique opens.

Email address
The combination of a unique user name and a sender domain (JohnDoe@anywhere.com). The email address requires both the user name and the domain name.

Email appending
Service that matches email addresses to a database of personal names and postal addresses. Appending may require an "OK to add my name" reply from the subscriber before you can add the name to the list.

Email client
The software recipients use to read email, such as Outlook Express or Lotus Notes.

Email Domain
The portion of the email address to the right of the @ sign. Useful as an email address hygiene tool (e.g. identify all records where the consumer entered "name@aol" as their email address and correct it to "name@aol.com").

Email filter
A software tool that categorizes, sorts or blocks incoming email, based either on the sender, the email header or message content. Filters may be applied at the recipient's level, at the email client, the ISP or a combination.

Email harvesting
An automated process in which a robot program searches Web pages or other Internet destinations for email addresses. The program collects the address into a database, which frequently gets resold to spammers or unethical bulk mailers. Many U.S. state laws forbid harvesting. CAN-SPAM does not outlaw it by name but allows triple damages against violators who compiled their mailing lists with harvested names.

Email newsletter
Content distributed to subscribers by email, on a regular schedule. Content is seen as valued editorial in and of itself rather than primarily a commercial message with a sales offer.

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) email on behalf of their clients. See 'ESP'.

Enhanced whitelist
A super-whitelist maintained by AOL for bulk emailers who meet strict delivery standards, including fewer than 1 spam complaint for every 1,000 email messages. Emailers on the enhanced whitelist can bypass AOL 9.0’s automatic suppression of images and links.

ESP
Email Service Provider (typically hosted)

Event triggered email
Pre-programmed messages sent automatically, based on an event such as a date or anniversary.

Ezine
Another name for 'email newsletter', adapted from 'electronic magazine'.

F

False Positive
A legitimate message mistakenly rejected or filtered as spam, either by an ISP or a recipient's anti-spam program. The more stringent an anti-spam program, the higher the false-positive rate.

Filezilla
This is a free, open source FTP client for Windows that supports FTP, SFTP and FTPS. It is the recommended FTP software for use with Email Manager's Dropfolder functionality.

Firewall
A program or set of programs designed to keep unauthorized users or messages from accessing a private network. The firewall usually has rules or protocols that authorize or prohibit outside users or messages. In email, a firewall can be designed so that messages from domains or users listed as suspect because of spamming, hacking or forging will not be delivered.

First-Party Cookie
A piece of code placed on the user's browser by the Web site they are currently visiting that is used to track visitor behavior

Footer
An area at the end of an email message or newsletter that contains information that doesn’t change from one edition to the next, such as contact information, the company’s postal address, or the email address the recipient used to subscribe to mailings. Some software programs can be set to place this information automatically.

Forward
The process in which email recipients send your message to people they know, either because they think their friends will be interested in your message or because you offer incentives to forward messages. Forwarding can be done through the recipient’s own email client or by giving the recipient a link to click, which brings up a registration page at your site, in which you ask the forwarder to give his/her name and email address, the name/email address of the person they want to send to and (optionally) a brief email message explaining the reason for the forward.You can supply the wording or allow the forwarder to write his/her own message. AKA 'viral marketing'.

FQDN
A fully qualified domain name (or FQDN) is an unambiguous domain name that specifies the node'sposition in the DNS tree hierarchy absolutely. To distinguish an FQDN from a regular domain name, a trailing period is added. ex: somehost.example.com. An FQDN differs from a regular domain name by its absoluteness; a suffix will not be added.

From
Whatever appears in the email recipient's inbox as your visible "from" name. Chosen by the sender. May be a personal name, a brand name, an email address, a blank space, or alpha-numeric gobbledegook. Note - this is not the actual "from" contained in the header (see below) and may be different than the email reply address. Easy to fake. AKA 'Email Friendly Name'.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. FTP is the TCP/IP standard way of transferring files across the Internet and between computers.

G

Gmail
A new, free email service offered by Google, giving users 1GB of storage space, email search and conversation threading. Gmail also uses technology to add advertisements next to messages containing keywords that match those of advertisers in its AdWords program, a policy that means promotional materials sent by one company could carry text ads of its competitors.

Goodbye message
An email message sent automatically to a list member who unsubscribes, acknowledging the request. Always include an option to resubscribe in case the unsubscribe was requested accidentally.

H

Hard Bounce
Message sent to an invalid, closed or nonexistent email account.

Hard Unsubscribe
This is when a recipient manually disables themselves from receiving further emails using the recipient preferences page.

Header
Routing and program data at the start of an email message, including the sender's name and email address, originating email server IP address, recipient IP address and any transfers in the process.

House list
The list of email addresses an organization develops on its own. (Your own list.)

HTML message
Email message which contains any type of formatting other than text. This may be as simple as programming that sets the text in a specific font (bold, italics, Courier 10 point, etc.). It also includes any graphic images, logos and colors.

Hygiene
The process of cleaning a database to correct incorrect or outdated values. See also 'List Hygiene'.

I

IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol - a standard protocol for accessing email from a server.

Impression
A single view of one page by a single user, used in calculating advertising rates.

IP Address
(Internet Protocol address) A unique number assigned to each device connected to the Internet. An IP address can be dynamic, meaning it changes each time an email message or campaign goes out, or it can be static, meaning it does not change. Static IP addresses are best, because dynamic IP addresses often trigger spam filters.

ISP

Internet Service Provider

J

Joe job
A spam-industry term for a forged email, in which a spammer or hacker fakes a genuine email address in order to hide his identity.

L

Landing page
Website that is linked to an email

Linkrot
What happens when links go bad over time, either because a Web site has shut down or a site has stopped supporting a unique landing page provided in an email promotion.

List
The list of email addresses to which you send your message. Can be either your house list or a third-party list that sends your message on your behalf.

List fatigue
A condition producing diminishing returns from a mailing list whose members are sent too many offers, or too many of the same offers, in too short a period of time.

List hygiene
The act of maintaining a list so that hard bounces and unsubscribed names are removed from mailings. Some list owners also use an email change-of-address service to update old or abandoned email addresses (hopefully with a permission step baked in) as part of this process.

List management
How a mailing list is set up, administered and maintained. The list manager has daily responsibility over list operation, including processing subscribes and unsubscribes, bounce management, list hygiene, etc. The list manager can be the same as the database manager but is not always the same person as the list owner.

List rental
The process in which a publisher or advertiser pays a list owner to send its messages to that list. Usually involves the list owner sending the messages on the advertiser's behalf.

M

Mail bomb
An orchestrated attempt to shut down a mail server by sending more messages than it can handle in a short period of time. 

Mail loop
A communication error between two email servers, usually happening when a misconfigured email triggers an automated response from the recipient server.

MTA
Mail Transfer Agent. Outbound and inbound sending engine

Multi-part MIME
Also known (confusingly) as an "email sniffer." Message format which includes both an HTML and a text-only version in the same message. Most (but not all) email clients receiving messages in this format will automatically display the version the user’s system is set to show. Systems that can’t show HTML should show the text version instead. This doesn’t always work — in particular for many Lotus Notes users. Also, no data, except HTML open rates and possibly link click tracking, is transmitted back to the sender regarding which version a recipient used to view.

MX
Mail Exchange Record is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS) specifying how Internet email should be routed. MX records point to the servers to send an email to, and which ones it should be sent to first, by priority. 

N

Nth name
The act of segmenting a list for a test in which names are pulled from the main list for the test cell by number - such as every 5th name on the list.

O

Open rate
The number of HTML message recipients who opened your email, usually as a percentage of the total number of emails sent. The open rate is considered a key metric for judging an email campaign's success, but it has several problems. The rate indicates only the number of emails opened from the total amount sent, not just those that were actually delivered. Opens can't be calculated on text emails. Also, some email clients allow users to scan message content without actually opening the message, which is falsely calculated as an open. See 'Preview pane'.

Open relay
An SMTP email server that allows outsiders to relay email messages that are neither for nor from local users. Often exploited by spammers and hackers.

Opt-in
A specific, pro-active, request by an individual email recipient to have their own email address placed on a specific mailing list. Many list renters and buyers now require list owners to provide proof of opt-in, including the actual email or IP address date and time the request was received.

Opt-out
A specific request to remove an email address from a specific list, or from all lists operated by a single owner. Also, the process of adding an email address to lists without the name's pre-approval, forcing names who don't want to be on your list to actively unsubscribe.

P

Permission
The implicit approval given when a person actively requests to have their own email address added to a list.

Personalization
A targeting method in which an email message appears to have been created only for a single recipient. Personalization techniques include adding the recipient's name in the subject line or message body, or the message offer reflects a purchasing, link clicking, or transaction history.

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)
Software used to encrypt and protect email as it moves from one computer to another and can be used to verify a sender's identity.

Phishing
Fraudulent emails used to attempt to gain passwords and account information

Plain text
Text in an email message that includes no formatting code.

POP
Post Office Protocol, which an email client uses to send to or receive messages from an email server.

Preferences
Recipient profile within the database used to drive email

Preview pane
The window in an email client that allows the user to scan message content without actually clicking on the message. Can affect 'Open rate'.

Primary Key
In database terms a primary key is a column in a table that uniquely identifies each record in that table. In Email Manager, the primary key is usually a recipient's email address or a unique reference number. Consistent use of the primary key is vital for multi-list deployments and other advanced DM functionality.

Privacy Policy
A clear description of how your company uses the email addresses and other information it gathers via opt-in requests for newsletters, company information or third-party offers or other functions. If you rent, sell or exchange your list to anyone outside your company, or if you add email addresses to opt-out messages, you should state so in the privacy policy. State laws may also compel you to explain your privacy policy, where to put the policy statement so people will see it, and even the form which the policy should take.

Propagation level
This is a DM function that enables the user to specify how column values will be updated in the recipient database. By default, all values will be updated with the most recent data uploaded for a recipient. This can be changed so that it is possible to store separate field values for a given recipient in each of the lists that the recipient belongs to.

pURL
Personalized URL, used in the digital print world for multi-channel

R

Read email
Not measurable. Only opens and clicks are measureable in any way. You can never know if a recipient simply read your email.

Registration
The process where someone not only opts in to your email program but provides some additional information, such as name, address, demographic data or other relevant information, usually by using a Web form.

Relationship email
An email message that refers to a commercial action - a purchase, complaint or customer-support request - based on a business relationship between the sender and recipient. Generally are not covered by 'CAN-SPAM' requirements.

Reply-to
The email address that receives messages sent from users who click “reply” in their email clients. Can differ from the “from” address, which can be an automated or unmonitored email address used only to send messages to a distribution list. “Reply-to” should always be a monitored address.

Reverse DNS lookup
This is a process to determine the hostname associated with a given IP address. Typically, the DNS is used to determine what IP address is associated with a given hostname; so to reverse resolve a known IP address is to lookup what the associated hostname for it. A reverse lookup is often referred to simply as reverse resolving, or more specifically reverse DNS lookups.

Rich Media
Media such as Flash, video and audio

RSS
Really Simple Syndication

S

Seat vs Accounts
An account is a database instance within Email Manager - you then have seats within an account.

Seed emails
Email addresses placed on a list (sometimes secretly) to determine what messages are sent to the list and/or to track delivery rate and/or visible appearance of delivered messages. Seeds may also be placed on Web sites and elsewhere on the Internet to track spammers' harvesting activities.

Select
A segment of a list determined by any number of attributes, such as source of name, job title, purchasing history, etc. CPM list renters pay an additional fee per thousand names for each select on top of the base list price.

Selective Unsubscribe
An unsubscribe mechanism that allows a consumer to selectively determine which email newsletters they wish to continue receiving while stopping the sending of others.

Sender ID
The informal name for a new anti-spam program combining two existing protocols: Sender Policy Framework and CallerID. SenderID authenticates email senders and blocks email forgeries and faked addresses.

Sender Policy Framework (also SPF)
A protocol used to eliminate email forgeries. A line of code called an SPF record is placed in a sender’s Domain Name Server information. The incoming mail server can verify a sender by reading the SPF record before allowing a message through.

Sent emails
Number of emails transmitted in a single broadcast. Does not reflect how many were delivered or viewed by recipients.

Server
A program or computer system that stores and distributes email from one mailbox to another, or relays email from one server to another in a network.

Shared Server
An email server used by more than one company or sender. Shared servers are less expensive to use because the broadcast vendor can spread the cost over more users. However, senders sharing a server risk having emails blocked by major ISPs if one of the other users does something to get the server's IP address blacklisted.

Signature
A line or two of information found in the closing of an email, usually following the sender’s name. Signatures can include advertising information, such as a company name, product, brand message or marketing 'call to action' (subscribe to a company newsletter with the email subscribe address or Web registration form, or visit a Web site with the URL listed).

Skin
The visual aspect of a software application's user interface. It includes colors, icons and the arrangement of the screen.

Smartlist
These are lists in Email Manager that can be saved for later use. They have two primary applications - creating lists that can be automatically refreshed, for example "All users that have registered in last 30 days" and secondly, for saving query logic for later use.

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, the most common protocol for sending email messages between email servers.

Snail mail
A common term for traditional postal mail.

Soft bounce
Email sent to an active (live) email address but which is turned away before being delivered. Often, the problem is temporary - the server is down or the recipient's mailbox is over quota. The email might be held at the recipient's server and delivered later, or the sender's email program may attempt to deliver it again. Soft-bounce reports are not always accurate because they don't report all soft bounces or the actual reason for the bounce.

Soft Unsubscribe
When a message is received from a recipient requesting that they be removed from your mailing list. 'Hard Unsubscribe' is when a recipient manually disables themselves using the recipient preferences page.

Solo mailing
A one-time broadcast to an email list, separate from regular newsletters or promotions, and often including a message from an outside advertiser or a special promotion from the list owner.

SPAM
The popular name for unsolicited commercial email. However, some email recipients define spam as any email they no longer want to receive, even if it comes from a mailing list they joined voluntarily. The term originates from a skit by the cult British comedy team Monty Python, in which a restaurant serves all its food with a large side order of the eponymous luncheon meat.

Spam Score
Functionality in Email Manager that will run your message through over 800 of the most commonly used Spam rules and generate a score indicating how likely it is your message would be inadvertently classified as Spam. Spam Score does a header analysis, text analysis, and even checks blacklists. While a message with a score of 10 or more is highly likely to be filtered as spam, some ISPs filter out messages with scores of 5 or more.

Spamcop
A blacklist and IP-address database, formerly privately owned but now part of the email vendor Ironport. Many ISPs check the IP addresses of incoming email against Spamcop’s records to determine whether the address has been blacklisted due to spam complaints.

SPF
An email validation standard

Spoofing
The practice of changing the sender's name in an email message so that it looks as if it came from another address.

Subject line
Copy that identifies what an email message is about, often designed to entice the recipient into opening the message. The subject line appears first in the recipient's inbox, often next to the sender's name or email address. It is repeated in the email message's header information inside the message.

Subscribe
The process of joining a mailing list, either through an email command, by filling out a Web form, or offline by filling out a form or requesting to be added verbally. (If you accept verbal subscriptions, you should safeguard yourself by recording it and storing recordings along with time and date, in a retrievable format.)

Subscriber
The person who has specifically requested to join a mailing list. A list has both subscribers, who receive the message from the sender, and pass-alongs.

Suppression list
A list of email addresses you have removed from your regular mailing lists, either because they have opted out of your lists or because they have notified other mailers that they do not want to receive mailings from your company. Required by CAN-SPAM. AKA Do-Not-Email list.

T

Template
HTML and text content, often containing variables and actions

Test
A necessary step before sending an email campaign or newsletter. Many email clients permit you to send a test email before sending a regular email newsletter or solo mailing, in which you would send one copy of the message to an in-house email address and then review it for formatting or copy errors or improperly formatted links. Email marketers should also send a test campaign to a list of email addresses not in the deployment database to determine likely response rates and how well different elements in the message perform.

Third-Party Cookie
A piece of code used to track user behavior that is placed on a user's browser by someone other than the Web site that they are currently visiting. Third-party cookies are used in Web analytics and ad serving.

Throttling
The practice of regulating how many email message a broadcaster sends to one ISP or mail server at a time. Some ISPs bounce email if it receives too many messages from one sending address at a time.

Thumbnail
This is a small version of an image, linked to a larger version. In Email Manager you can create a thumbnail of a creative in the Creative Editor.  

Transactional email
Also known as transactive email. A creative format where the recipient can enter a transaction in the body of the email itself without clicking to a web page first. Transactions may be answering a survey, or purchasing something.

Trigger
An automated programmatic way to send one or more emails

U

UCE
Unsolicited Commercial Email - also called 'Spam'.

Unsubscribe
To remove oneself from an email list, either via an emailed command to the list server or by filling in a web form.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The Web address for a page, always beginning with http:// (or https:// for a secure page) and followed by www. (or variations, although some URLs are set up not to include this information) and the domain name. E.g. http://www.alterian.com .

V

Verification
A program that determines an email came from the sender listed in the return path or Internet headers; designed to stop email from forged senders.

Virus
A program or computer code that affects or interferes with a computer’s operating system and gets spread to other computers accidentally or on purpose through email messages, downloads, infected CDs or network messages.

W

Web bug
A 1 pixel-by-1 pixel image tag added to an HTMLmessage and used to track open rates by email address. Opening the message, either in the preview pane or by clicking on it, activates the bug and sends a signal to the Web site, where special software tracks and records the signal as an open.

Web Services API
The programming interface into a product for integrations, automations and triggers

Webmail
Any of several Web-based email clients where clients have to go to a Web site to access or download email instead of using a desktop application. Some examples are Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail.

Welcome mesage
Message sent automatically to new list members as soon as their email addresses are added successfully.

Whitelist
Advance-authorized list of email addresses, held by an ISP, subscriber or other email service provider, which allows email messages to be delivered regardless of spam filters.

WHOIS
This is a TCP-based query/response protocol which is widely used for querying a database in order to determine the owner of a domain name, an IP address, or an autonomous system number on the Internet. WHOIS lookups were traditionally made using a command line interface, but a number of simplified web based tools now exist for looking up domain ownership details from different databases. Web-based WHOIS clients still rely on the WHOIS protocol to connect to a WHOIS server and do lookups, and command-line WHOIS clients are still quite widely used by system administrators.

Worm
A piece of malicious code delivered via an executable attachment in email or over a computer network and which spreads to other computers by automatically sending itself to every email address on a recipient’s contact list or address book.

WYSIWYG Editor
What You See Is What You Get. This is an editor that Email Manager provides that creates automatic HTML content.