Email marketing glossary.

Short, plain definitions of the email terms ecommerce brands run into, each on its own page with what to do about it.

Deliverability

  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC

    SPF, DKIM and DMARC are three DNS records that prove an email really came from your domain, which mailbox providers like Gmail and Outlook check before deciding where to deliver it.

  • Email deliverability

    Email deliverability is the likelihood that an email you send reaches the recipient’s inbox rather than the spam folder or being blocked.

  • Sender reputation

    Sender reputation is the trust mailbox providers assign to your sending domain and IP address based on how recipients and receivers have treated your past email.

  • BIMI

    BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is a standard that lets your brand logo appear beside your emails in mailbox providers that support it.

  • Bounce rate

    Bounce rate is the percentage of sent emails that were rejected by the receiving server and not delivered.

  • Spam complaint rate

    Spam complaint rate is the percentage of delivered emails that recipients report as spam.

  • IP warming

    IP warming is gradually increasing the volume you send from a new IP address or domain so mailbox providers learn to trust it.

  • Sending domain

    A sending domain is the domain name used in the technical authentication of your emails, often a subdomain of your main site.

  • One-click unsubscribe

    One-click unsubscribe is a technical header that lets a mail client show an unsubscribe button that works instantly, without opening a web page.

  • Spam trap

    A spam trap is an email address that belongs to no real subscriber and exists only to identify senders who mail people without permission or who never clean their lists.

  • Feedback loop

    A feedback loop is a service offered by some mailbox providers that notifies a sender when a recipient reports one of their messages as spam, so that person can be removed from future sends.

  • Hard bounce vs soft bounce

    A hard bounce is a permanent delivery failure, such as an address that does not exist, while a soft bounce is a temporary failure, such as a full mailbox or a server that is briefly unavailable.

  • DKIM selector

    A DKIM selector is a label placed in a DNS record name so a receiving server knows which public key to use when checking the DKIM signature on an email.

  • Google Postmaster Tools

    Google Postmaster Tools is a free dashboard from Google that shows how Gmail rates your sending domain, including reputation, spam rate and authentication results.

  • Shared vs dedicated IP

    A shared IP is sent from by many brands at once, so reputation is pooled, while a dedicated IP is used only by you, so reputation depends entirely on your own sending.

  • Reply-to address

    A reply-to address is the email address that receives a reply when a subscriber hits reply, and it can be different from the address the message was sent from.

  • DMARC policy

    A DMARC policy is the instruction in your DMARC record that tells receiving servers whether to deliver, quarantine or reject mail that claims your domain but fails authentication.

  • MX record

    An MX record is a DNS entry that names the mail servers responsible for receiving email sent to a domain, together with their order of priority.

  • List-Unsubscribe header

    The List-Unsubscribe header is a line of hidden code in a marketing email that lets mailbox apps show their own unsubscribe link or button near the sender name.

  • Blocklist

    A blocklist is a database of IP addresses or domains reported for sending unwanted or abusive email, which receiving servers consult to decide whether to reject or filter a message.

  • Inbox placement test

    An inbox placement test sends a message to a panel of test mailboxes at different providers to see whether it lands in the inbox, a tabbed view, the spam folder or nowhere.

  • Seed list

    A seed list is a group of test email addresses, held at different mailbox providers, that you include in a send so you can check where the message arrives.

Flows and automation

  • Welcome flow

    A welcome flow is an automated series of emails sent to a new subscriber, introducing the brand and guiding them to a first purchase.

  • Abandoned cart flow

    An abandoned cart flow is an automated email sequence sent to a shopper who added items to their cart but did not complete checkout.

  • Winback flow

    A winback flow is an automated email sequence aimed at past customers who have not purchased for longer than their usual reorder window.

  • Browse abandonment flow

    A browse abandonment flow is an automated email sent to an identified visitor who viewed products but left without adding anything to their cart.

  • Post-purchase flow

    A post-purchase flow is an automated series of emails sent after a customer buys, to help them use the product and set up the next order.

  • Replenishment flow

    A replenishment flow is an automated email sent shortly before a customer is likely to run out of a consumable product, prompting them to reorder.

  • Back in stock flow

    A back in stock flow is an automated message sent to people who asked to be notified when a sold-out product is available again.

  • Event trigger

    An event trigger is a customer action or data change, such as placing an order or starting checkout, that starts an automated flow for that person.

  • Flow filter

    A flow filter is a rule on a flow that decides which people are allowed to enter it or continue through it, such as excluding anyone who has already purchased.

  • Cross-sell email

    A cross-sell email recommends products that go well with something a customer has already bought, rather than repeating the same item.

  • Conditional split

    A conditional split is a branching step in a flow that sends each person down a yes or no path depending on a condition, such as whether they have placed an order.

  • Smart sending

    Smart sending is a setting that skips sending a message to a person who has already received another message within a set recent window.

  • Birthday and anniversary flow

    A birthday or anniversary flow is an automated email sent on a date stored in a customer profile, such as a birthday or the anniversary of a first purchase.

Metrics and reporting

  • Open rate

    Open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that registered an open, usually measured by a tiny tracking image loading.

  • Click-through rate

    Click-through rate is the percentage of email recipients who click at least one link, usually calculated against delivered emails.

  • Unsubscribe rate

    Unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who opt out of your list after receiving an email.

  • Apple Mail Privacy Protection

    Apple Mail Privacy Protection is an Apple feature, introduced in 2021, that pre-loads the images in emails so senders cannot tell whether a person actually opened them.

  • Revenue per recipient

    Revenue per recipient is the attributed revenue from an email or flow divided by the number of people who received it.

  • Attributed revenue

    Attributed revenue is the revenue your email platform credits to an email because the customer opened or clicked it before buying within a set time window.

  • Klaviyo metric

    A Klaviyo metric is a named type of event the platform records for a profile, such as Placed Order, Started Checkout or Opened Email.

  • Holdout group

    A holdout group is a randomly chosen set of contacts who are deliberately not sent an email so their behaviour can be compared with those who were.

  • Predictive analytics

    Predictive analytics uses a customer's past behaviour to estimate what they are likely to do next, such as when they will order again or whether they are likely to stop buying.

  • UTM tagging

    UTM tagging is adding standard parameters to the links in your emails so web analytics can attribute visits and sales to a specific campaign or flow.

  • Cohort analysis

    Cohort analysis is grouping customers by a shared starting point, such as the month of their first order, and tracking how each group behaves over time.

Lists

  • Email segmentation

    Email segmentation is dividing your list into groups based on behaviour, purchase history or engagement so each group gets a relevant message.

  • Double opt-in

    Double opt-in is a sign-up process where a new subscriber must click a confirmation link in an email before being added to your list.

  • Sunset policy

    A sunset policy is a rule for removing or suppressing contacts who have not engaged with your emails for a set period.

  • Suppression list

    A suppression list is the set of email addresses you must not send to, such as unsubscribes, hard bounces and spam complainers.

  • Email list growth

    Email list growth is the steady addition of new subscribers who have agreed to hear from you, measured by how many are real, reachable and engaged rather than by total size.

  • Lead magnet

    A lead magnet is something of value, such as a guide, quiz or early access, offered in exchange for a person's email address.

  • VIP segment

    A VIP segment is a group of your most valuable customers, defined by measures such as total spend, order count or consistent recent purchasing.

  • RFM segmentation

    RFM segmentation groups customers by how recently they bought, how often they buy and how much they spend, so each group can receive a suitable message.

  • Signup popup

    A signup popup is a form that appears over or beside a web page to invite visitors to join your email list, often in exchange for an offer or content.

  • Engagement segment

    An engagement segment is a group of subscribers defined by how recently they opened, clicked or purchased, used to decide who receives which campaigns.

  • Engaged audience window

    An engaged audience window is the look-back period, such as the last few months, used to decide whether a contact counts as recently active and therefore safe to mail.

Strategy

  • Customer lifetime value (CLV)

    Customer lifetime value is the total revenue, or profit, a customer is expected to generate over the whole time they buy from you.

  • A/B testing in email

    A/B testing is sending two versions of an email, differing in one element, to similar audiences to see which performs better.

  • Transactional vs marketing email

    A transactional email is triggered by a customer action and is needed to complete it, such as an order confirmation; a marketing email promotes products or content.

  • Preheader text

    Preheader text is the short preview line shown after the subject line in most inboxes, taken from the start of the email unless you set it.

  • Dark mode email

    Dark mode is a display setting that shows light content on dark backgrounds, and email clients may change an email's colours to match.

  • Flow vs campaign

    A flow is an automated email sequence triggered by something a customer does, while a campaign is a one-off email sent to a chosen segment on a chosen date.

  • Dynamic content

    Dynamic content is part of an email that changes depending on who receives it, such as different blocks for different segments or product recommendations based on browsing.

  • Catalog feed

    A catalog feed is the set of product data, such as names, prices, images, links and availability, that an email platform syncs from your store to use in emails.

  • Send time optimization

    Send time optimization is a feature that chooses when to deliver a campaign to each recipient, based on when that person has historically engaged.

  • Merge tags

    Merge tags, also called personalization tags, are placeholders in an email that are replaced with stored data for each recipient, such as a first name or last product viewed.

  • Subscription churn

    Subscription churn is the loss of customers who cancel or let a recurring order lapse, and it is the main limit on the value of a subscription business.

  • From name

    The from name is the sender label displayed in a recipient's inbox next to the subject line, and it is often the first thing a person uses to decide whether to open.

  • Subject line

    A subject line is the short line of text shown in the inbox that tells the recipient what the email is about and gives them a reason to open it.

  • Call to action button

    A call to action button is the clearly styled, clickable element in an email that tells the reader the single next step you want them to take.

  • Email template

    An email template is a reusable layout with set styles, spacing and blocks, so that each new email keeps the same look without being built from scratch.

  • Responsive email design

    Responsive email design is a way of building an email so its layout, text size and images adjust to the screen it is opened on, from a small phone to a wide desktop window.

  • Alt text in email

    Alt text in email is a short written description attached to an image, shown when the image is blocked or fails to load and read aloud by screen readers.

  • Email frequency cap

    An email frequency cap is a rule that limits how many marketing messages a single person can receive within a set period, regardless of how many campaigns and flows are scheduled.

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