Glossary of Email Marketing Terms

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This article lists common email marketing terms, as well as terms that are unique to Emma's platform.

A/B Test

Also known as split testing, an A/B test is when you test two different campaigns against each other with a portion of your audience. In some scenarios, like split testing a subject line, you can conduct a three-way, or A/B/C split test to see which performs better.

Allowlisting

Allowlisting is the practice of explicitly authorizing a specific domain and sending IP to have access to a particular privilege, like delivering emails. Allowlisting is an important authentication step and can be described as a way to ensure internal delivery or as creating a safe sender list.

Alt Text

Alt text, or alternate text, appears in place of an image before it’s downloaded in the inbox, or if the user has images turned off. It is also what is read by a screenreader, making it an important accessibility tool. While adding alt text to your image file is not required, best practice is to include it; it should simply describe what the image is.

API

An application programming interface (API) is a tool that allows communication between two different applications via software. You can generate your API key pair and use it to set up other integrations.

Assets

Assets is a collective term that refers to your templates, campaigns, images, and documents. Historically, this was used to refer to the section of tiered accounts that's now called the Brand Manager, but now it is just a general term.

Audience

All of the contacts in your Emma account are collectively referred to as your audience. Additionally, using some of your contacts to create a group can be referred to as a "target audience" when chosen as recipients for a campaign or automation.

Authentication

Authentication is an important tool for protecting your sending reputation and deliverability. Essentially, it tells receiving servers that Emma has permission to send on your behalf. For more information, please refer to "Email Authentication" below.

Automated Workflow

Emma’s automation tool lets you automatically send targeted emails to your audience based on actions that they take and important milestones in their customer journey. A workflow is the journey of your contacts through the automated experience, including the initial trigger event and any subsequent mailings. There are multiple trigger types available:

Bounce

An email message that does not get delivered to a recipient’s inbox is referred to as a bounce. A bounced status represents emails that were kicked back as undeliverable by the receiving server. Generally, there are two types of bounces:

Soft bounce: A soft bounce is a temporary failure due to an outage, full mailbox, or another issue that should resolve itself. Delivery is reattempted every 30 minutes over a 30-hour period before giving up on reaching the receiving server.
Hard bounce: A hard bounce represents a permanent obstruction to email delivery, such as a nonexistent email address, a block due to content, or the server rejecting an email as junk mail or spam. Contacts who hard bounce a mailing are deemed invalid and moved to the Error status.

Best Practices

In general, best practices refer to professional procedures that are widely accepted as being the most effective or correct for the current time. In email marketing terms, best practices represent the guidelines one should follow that will ensure the most effective results in an inbox.

Branching

A function of the automation builder, branching is the ability to split the path of a workflow. Branching can only happen after the first campaign is sent in an automation, it creates an additional action (or non-action) based on whether or not a contact opens or clicks in the previous campaign.

Brand Manager

The Brand Manager is a tool that's only available to tiered accounts. It is the location of the Style Guide, as well as where your collection of templates, campaigns, images, documents can be found. These assets can be shared to your subaccounts.

Campaign

A marketing email sent to multiple recipients at once. A campaign can also be referred to as a mailing and Emma uses the two terms interchangeably.

CAN-SPAM

Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing (CAN-SPAM) is a U.S. law that regulates commercial email. The CAN-SPAM law requires that senders must be a truthful subject using a legitimate email address, senders must also provide a way for all recipients to opt-out of future emails, as well as have a physical mailing address. For more information about privacy laws, please refer to our Privacy Hub.

Columns

In the legacy* editor, the columns section of the mailing is where you can style the body of the email, excluding the header and footer. It allows for a single column or multiple columns, to which you may drag content blocks. For more information about columns in the legacy* editor, please refer to these tips for using the legacy editor.

In the drag and drop editor, campaigns are built based on rows and each row can have a different number of columns. The number of columns in a row dictates the number of content blocks that can be placed side-by-side in that row. For more information about rows, please refer to our Drag and Drop Editor: Rows Tab article.

Contact

A single member of your audience, uniquely identified by an email address.

Contact Status

The receiving status of a given contact. Emma utilizes these three status options:

Active: Ready to receive mailings
Error: Unable to receive mailings due to a formatting issue or previous bounces
Opt-out: Contact has unsubscribed from receiving any mailings

Content Block

Draggable options containing viewable content like text, an image, or a button. For more information about content blocks, please refer to the following articles:

CSV File

A comma-separated values (CSV) file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas.

Custom URLs

A custom URL is created by pairing a privately-owned domain with one of your account landing pages, so that your viewers will see that the landing page URL is associated with your domain / business.

CYO

Code-your-own (CYO), in reference to email creation, means the capability to build an email from scratch with your own HTML code instead of using a standard or blank template with the drag and drop editor. This type of mailing is fully self-service and not supported by Emma Support.

Deliverability

In reference to email deliverability, it represents an ESP’s ability to deliver emails to their subscribers' inboxes. Maintaining good email deliverability is one of the keys to having a positive sender reputation.

DKIM

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a form of email authentication. For more information, please refer to "Email Authentication" below.

DMARC

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a form of email authentication. For more information, please refer to "Email Authentication" below.

DNS Records

Domain name system (DNS) is essentially the phonebook of the Internet. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so that browsers can load internet resources. Each website has its own DNS records that help provide important information and instructions for how the internet interacts with that site. DNS records are an essential part of setting up email authentication for your account. For more information, please refer to "Email Authentication" below.

Drag and Drop Editor

The built-in software tool that is used in the Emma app to create email campaigns. In April 2022, Emma's legacy editor was replaced with a new drag and drop editor. After this change, the former editor became known as the legacy editor and the term "drag and drop editor" is now used specifically for the new editor.

Accounts that existed prior to this change still have access to the legacy editor through their previously saved templates and campaigns, however new, from-scratch campaigns can only be created in the new drag and drop editor. Accounts that were created after this change only have access to the new drag and drop editor. Please refer to our new editor FAQ article for more information.

Dynamic Content

The ability to use your audience members' information to determine the content that is delivered to their inboxes. It's similar to personalization, but you can use it for whole sections of text, one or more content blocks, or even an entire mailing worth of content. It's a powerful tool but requires some knowledge of tag syntax. For more information, please refer to our dynamic content article.

Email Authentication

The technical process of verifying that an email is truly coming from the sender and not an entity pretending to be the sender, as in the case of spoofing or phishing scams. Authentication is required by most major inbox providers and is essential for improving your deliverability and overall sender reputation. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Email Client

The software that recipients use to read email, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, AOL, etc.

Email Marketing

The act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people that make up an audience, using email.

Engagement

The general level of positive response from your audience on a given email campaign or over time. This includes information like delivery, open, click, and conversion rates, which are the most common email engagement metrics.

ESP

An email service provider (ESP) is a paid service that companies use for email marketing, like Emma or Campaign Monitor. The ESP hosts a server that allows users to manage their contact lists, create and send marketing emails, and then track the results.

Event API

Emma's Event API is a fully self-service tool used to automate and personalize emails that are triggered by audience activities in other platforms. While it is often used to power automated workflows triggered by activities like purchases, event registration and attendance, the Event API can receive events and data of any type and from any service.

Export

The act of preparing data from one account to be downloaded or saved in a secure location outside of that account. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Filter

A software tool that categorizes, sorts, or blocks incoming email. Filters may be applied at the recipient level, the email client level, or by the ISP.

Footer

The area at the bottom of an email marketing communication or campaign that contains information such as company or contact name and an opt-out link. In addition, the footer on all Emma templates contains links to your manage preferences form and signup form, as well as a link to view the email online or in a web browser. For more information about footers, please refer to the following articles:

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is similar to CAN-SPAM, but for the EU. It gives people control over the collection and use of their personal data. For more information about privacy laws, please refer to our Privacy Hub.

Group

A user-created list of contacts in your audience. Audience groups are used to organize contacts, so each contact can be in more than one group or in zero groups, which we call being in limbo.

Header

The image at the top of an email, usually containing branding. Headers are often referred to as banners and the terms are interchangeable.

HTML

Hyper text markup language (HTML) is the technical language used to inform web browsers how to display email data and web pages. In email marketing terms, an HTML message is an email that contains any type of formatting other than just text, including images, logos, and colors.

Import

The act of preparing data from one source to be uploaded or saved in a secure location that is different from the original source. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Inbox Provider

Another term for email client.

Insights

A reporting tool included in your Emma account that tracks the performance of all of your sent mailings over time. The Insights dashboard tracks your open rates, clicks, sign-ups, and opt-outs, then displays them as either aggregate or trending metrics in informative graphs and charts.

Integration

A connection between your Emma account and another application. For a list of the integrations that Emma built and supports, please refer to our Integrations Directory. For a full list of our technology partners, please refer to our Partnerships Directory.

IP Address

An internet protocol (IP) address is a unique numerical identifier assigned to each device connected to a network.

ISP

An internet service provider (ISP) is a service that offers customers access to the internet, such as Comcast, Google Fiber, or AT&T.

Landing Page

A single webpage that appears in response to clicking a specified link, generally from a marketing email or communication. Depending on your Emma account type, you can create custom landing pages right from the application.

Legacy Editor

In April 2022, Emma's legacy editor was replaced with a new drag and drop editor. After this change, the former editor became known as the legacy editor and the term "drag and drop editor" is now used specifically for the new editor.

List Hygiene

The process of examining and maintaining a contact list so that it complies with permission standards and stays up-to-date with current email addresses.

Listserv

A method of communicating with a group of people via email. You send one email message to the reflector email address and the software sends the email to all of the group’s subscribers. Listservs are not compliant with international privacy regulations related to email marketing, so they aren’t allowed in your Emma audience.

Mailing

A marketing email sent to multiple recipients at once. A mailing can also be referred to as a campaign and Emma uses the two terms interchangeably.

Manage Preferences

Options provided by an ESP where audience members can update their personal information, manage their subscriptions, or opt-out of receiving future emails. The manage preferences link is usually found in the footer of a campaign where recipients can click on it to easily update their preferences. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Marketing Calendar

An interactive calendar on your account’s homepage that highlights dates of upcoming scheduled sends. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Opt Out

An option provided by an ESP where audience members can opt out of receiving any communications from the sender. All marketing emails should contain an opt-out link, as this is required by international privacy laws. By default, an opt-out link is automatically added to the footer of all campaigns sent from Emma.

Parent Account

All tiered accounts have a parent account. It is what the account Parent and Managers see when they log in and where they can manage global account settings. In a tiered account, the parent account is like the spine of the book, while the subaccounts are the pages of the book.

The parent account also contains a dashboard with recent mailings and high-level metrics, as well as access to all tiered account tools.

PDF

A portable document format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.

Permission-Based Sending

The act of sending relevant email content to targeted lists of people who have signed up to receive emails from a certain company or brand.

Personalization

The act of pulling individual contact information into the body of a mailing by the use of personalization tags (e.g. Dear [% member:name_first default=”first name” %]). Using personalization allows the sender to add specific information about the person or company who is receiving the email campaign to the actual content of the mailing. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Plaintext Email

An email message that includes only the text of an email’s content, excluding any type of formatting like images, fonts, or text color. Plaintext emails are generally sent as a multi-part message with any HTML email, consisting of the text-only version of the message.

Preheader

A few words about the email that appear before the header. Often, the preheader provides a link to the online version of the email and a link to the company site.

Preview

The screen in some email clients that allow you to see the beginning of an email message without displaying the whole email.

Response Data

The data that is collected from a sent campaign, organized and stored on the Response page in your account.

Rows

Segment

A tool that allows you to filter and target specific recipients based on their contact information. In your Emma account, you can segment your contacts using the segment tool in the Audience tab.

Sender Details

The email address and name that your recipients will see as the ‘from’ information in emails you send. Your sender details are important because they help to identify you to your recipients and are a crucial element to building a positive sender reputation.

Signup Form

The online form that a person fills out when they want to start receiving emails from a company or brand.

Social Sharing

A function handled by an ESP that allows recipients to forward a mailing to the email inboxes of their friends, colleagues or anyone that might be interested in the mailing’s content, or share the mailing on social media. For more information, please refer to the following articles:

Spam

Any emails that come to a recipient’s inbox that they didn’t sign up to receive. (Even if they have signed up to receive an email, those emails could end up in the spam folder, until they’ve added the sender’s “from address” to their address book or trusted senders’ list.)

Spambot

A spambot is a computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create accounts and send spam messages with them.

SPF

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a form of email authentication. For more information, please refer to "Email Authentication" above.

SSO

Single sign-on (SSO) is a user authentication tool that allows a user to log in with a single ID and password to any of several related, yet independent, software systems. This feature is not supported beyond these setup instructions; any questions or requests for assistance should be directed to your SSO provider.

Style Guide

The Style Guide refers to the section of the Brand Manager where text styles can be defined, including adding custom fonts and custom color swatches. Not all features are available to all account types.

Subaccount

A subaccount refers to the individual accounts beneath a single parent account; together the subaccounts and the parent account make up a tiered account. In a tiered account, the parent account is like the spine of the book, while the subaccounts are the pages of the book.

Subject Line

Copy that identifies what an email message is about. It is often designed to entice the recipient into opening the message. It’s also the first thing the recipient sees in the inbox, making it an important aspect of email marketing.

Subscribe / Opt In

The process of joining a mailing list, meaning an individual has agreed to receive emails from a particular company or sender.

Subscriptions

An organizational method within Emma that is similar to groups, with the distinction that your contacts have more control over the type of content they receive from you. When activated, all Manage Preferences or Opt Out links will direct your contacts to the Subscription Center, where they can adjust their content subscriptions.

Template

The design used as the base for a mailing.

Test Group

An audience group that contains up to 10 email addresses for the purpose of testing mailings before they’re sent. If you are billed for the number of emails sent, you can send to this group at no additional charge.

Test Mailing

A copy of a campaign sent from your Drafts section to a single email or test group for testing purposes before sending to your target audience.

Trigger Event

The positive action that must be taken in order to begin a contact’s journey through an automated workflow. There are multiple trigger types available:

Unsubscribe / Opt Out

The process of removing oneself from an email list, meaning that the brand is no longer legally allowed to send emails to that contact. A person can opt out at any time by clicking on the opt-out link at the bottom of an email campaign.

URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it.

Webview (Private)

The online version of a mailing, which a person can access by clicking on the "View this email online" link in the mailing in their inbox.

Webview (Public)

The online version of the mailing, which can be archived on your website or posted online. As the public version, any identifying information about the recipient as well as the preference panel are stripped out. In your Emma account, the webview URL can be accessed by clicking on the name of any mailing from your main Response page and then clicking on the webview link at the top-right of the next page.

*In April 2022, Emma's legacy editor was replaced with a new drag and drop editor. Accounts that existed prior to this change still have access to the legacy editor through their previously saved templates and campaigns, however new, from-scratch campaigns can only be created in the new drag and drop editor. Accounts that were created after this change only have access to the new drag and drop editor. Please refer to our new editor FAQ article for more information.

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Glossary of Email Marketing Terms

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