Application Service Provider (ASP)
A company which provides the technology to broadcast an email campaign but requires the client company to carry out the broadcast by accessing the technology via the web.
Applications
Programs that function and are operated by means of a computer, with the purpose of supporting or improving the software user’s work.
Audio/Visual (AV)
Refers to equipment and applications that deal with sound and sight.
AV Material
Audio/visual materials in non-print form, such as CDs and DVDs
Bitmap
A computer method of storing graphic files.
Bonded Sender
Anti-Spam system in which legitimate email marketing companies pay a bond to the ISP as a guarantee that they will not breach the ISP’s guidelines on Spam, in return for which the ISP guarantees to deliver their emails.
Bounce
An email that is unable to be delivered to the intended recipient because of a temporary problem, such as a full mailbox (‘soft bounce’), or a permanent error such as an incorrect email address (‘hard bounce’)
Bounce Management
The process of tracking emails that bounce and indentify why they have bounced in order to attempt to redeliver them.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
Style sheets that enable website designers to define how different elements of a site will appear on each page.
Challenge Response
Anti-Spam authentication process which requires the sender of an email to prove their legitimacy before being added to the recipient’s Buddy List for simple delivery of subsequent emails.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
The number of people who click on a link in a marketing email or on an online advertisement, to take the through to a website, expressed as a percentage of the total number of people the email was sent to.
Co-registration
The practice of inviting consumers to register with their details with a company while they are in the process of registering their details with another company, for instance when they are opening a web based e-mail account. Co-registration is popular because it enables the consumer to register their details with multiple companies, while completing personal information only once.
Comment tags
Tags in HTML code which enable designers and programmers to make comment or remarks for later navigation.
Conversations
The number of people who, having clicked through to an offer on a website, go on to make a purchase.
Cookie
A small piece of code embedded within an email which enables the sender to match recipients of the email with consumers who subsequently click through to a website from the email, or who subsequently visit the website independently of receiving the email.
Cost Per Impression (CPI)
A form of online advertising related to web traffic which measures the worth and cost of a specific e-marketing campaign.
Data Profiling/Segmentation
The process of analysing a database to identify clusters of people who share similar characteristics (age, income, number of children etc.) in order to break the database down into segments that can be targeted with different marketing messages appropriate to each segment of the database.
Deliverability
The success with which a company or an email broadcaster is able to deliver emails to the intended recipients.
DHTML
Dynamic HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). A combination of HTML, style sheets and scripts that make a web page dynamic.
Digital Strategy
The process of specifying an organization’s vision, initiatives and processes in order to deploy their online assets, including web sites, mini-sites, mobile sites, digital audio and video content, rich Internet applications, community groups, banner ads, search engine marketing, affiliate programs, etc., in a manner which maximizes the business benefits they provide to the organization.
Domain Keys
Anti-Spam technology relying on a combination of public and private digital keys to verify the identity of the sender and to verify that the email has not been altered in transit.
Domain Name Server (DNS)
A system for translating easy-to-remember domain names into a numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address.
Double Opt-in
Where a consumer gives their explicit consent for a company to send them marketing emails and is then required to confirm that consent by replying the first email sent to them by the company.
Dynamically- generated Content
Email content that is amended in real time according to rules which have been set up relating to the recipient’s previously-expressed preferences or past online behaviour recipient.
E-Commerce
The buying and selling of products or services over the Internet or other electronic systems.
E-Marketing
The marketing of products or services over the Internet in a manner that incorporates design, development, advertising, sales, media, and strategy.
Email Appending
The process of adding email address details to offline data flies, enabling online marketing activity.
Email Broadcasting
The practice of sending an email to multiple (hundreds, thousands, or hundred of thousands) of recipients, simultaneously or in staggered batches.
Email Marketing Database
A collection of names and email addresses residing in an organisation and used for marketing purposes.
Email Parser
Generic description for mechanism that processes emails, such as, the campaign software or custom like EASe.
EmailMonitor
EmailBureau’s suite of products which improve the deliverability of an email campaign by checking the format and content of the email, checking the accuracy of the addresses on your email database, tracking the delivery of your email, and checking for IP blocking by the ISP’s.
False Positive
When an ISP arbitrarily junk or “absorbs” a marketing email without sending a bounce notification, leaving you with the impression that an email has been delivered when in fact it hasn’t reached its intended destination.
Flash
A software plugin that enables browsers to play multimedia animations. Some rich media advertisements require users to have this plugin.
Frames
A method of presenting web pages in multiple views, so that one “view” such as a menu bar, can remain visible while the others are scrolled or closed.
Frequency
The length of time between each of several pre-planned communications, such as a daily, weekly or monthly email newsletter, for example.
Friend-get-friend/Member-get-member scheme
Viral marketing campaign by which companies ask registered users or customers to give them the email addresses of their friends so that they can invite them to register their details with the company. Since the introduction of the Privacy in Electronic Communication (Directive) Regulations 2003, such as schemes are no longer legal, through a company can still legally ask registered users to invite their friends to visit its website to take advantage of a special offer or other incentive.
Hard Bounce
An email which is unable to be delivered to intended recipient because of a permanent error, such as an incorrect email address.
HTML
The authoring language used to create web pages and many marketing emails.
HTML Validation
The process of checking HTML code for errors which would prevent a web page or an HTML email from rendering correctly on a user’s PC.
Image Map
An image containing multiple links.
Interactive Multimedia
Two-way interaction with multimedia, involving direct responses as opposed to one-way communications from TV, video or other non-responsive media, commonly including data or text entry, mouse input, touch screens, voice commands, video capture and real-time interaction.
IP Address
A means of identifying the location of a computer on a TCP/IP network. In email broadcasting, the IP address is used by the ISP to identify the sender of the email.
IronPort
A brand of advanced mail servers which have several advantages over standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) mail servers for multi-client, multi-campaign broadcasting.
ISP
Internet Service Provider. A company which provides access to the internet.
Java
A platform-independent programming language created by Sun Microsystems, and used to create small applications that enhance a web page’s functionality.
JavaScript
An opening scripting language used in the creation of interactive websites.
JPEG
A graphic file format.
Landing Page
The page on a website to which visitors are automatically taken when they click on a link in a marketing email inviting them to register their name and email address details.
Legacy List
A list of email addresses which was complied before the introduction of the Privacy in Electronic Communication (Directive) Regulations 2003 and which therefore may not be opted in, since prior to the introduction of the legislation there was no requirement that any such list should be opted in.
List Hygiene
The process of checking the names and email addresses on an email marketing database for address accuracy, and correcting any errors, at the same time as suppressing any incorrect addresses that cannot be fixed.
List Management
The practice of maintain, updating and cleansing a mailing list.
Macro-level measurements
Top-line results from an email marketing campaign providing statistics on the number of people mailed open and click through rates, and ROI.
Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)
Software or an application responsible for receiving, routing and delivering email messages.
Managed Service Provider (MSP)
A company which provides the technology and bandwidth for broadcasting an email campaign, and carries out broadcast.
META tag
An HTML tag that provides information about the content and other elements of a web page.
Micro-level measurements
Granular measurements from an email campaign, looking at the behaviour of individuals who received the email, in terms of the link they clicked and what they did if they clicked through the website.
Microsite
A small website to which consumers are invited to click through to register their name and email address details by means of an incentive, such as a prize draw or money-off offer, promoted on a website via a marketing email or by other methods.
Mobile Phone Media
An interactive media enabling user’s full capitalization on digital communication and social networking through a combination of visual and audio components available via mobile phones.
Numeric & named entities
Special characters that exist outside of the current “codeset”, or characters which require special encoding to avoid confusing STML clients. For instance,
Open rate
The number of people who open a marketing email, expressed as a percentage of the total number of people the email was sent to.
Opt In
Where a consumer gives their explicit consent for a company to send them marketing emails
Opt Out
When a consumer receives marketing emails because they did not positively opt out of doing so. Best practice, and new regulations which came into force in December 2003, suggest that all new email addresses should be collected on an opt in, rather than opt out, basis.
PAF Validation
The process of checking a consumer’s postal address for accuracy with reference to the Royal Mail’s Postal Address File (PAF), which contains the addresses of over 27 million UK households.
Parse
In email marketing terms, to break down an individual’s click through activity into small components for detailed analysis.
Post-click Analysis
The practice of analysing website activity which takes place some time after a consumer received a marketing email.
Preview
A simulation and final proofing of the actual email broadcast, prepared to check that everything is correct before the actual broadcasts take place.
Privacy Statement
Copy on a website which explains in detail how the data which a company holds on registered visitors is held and used.
Radio Buttons
“Multiple choice” style tick boxes which consumers are invited to tick in order to give answers to an online survey, or to give personal information when registering their details with a company.
Rich Media
Banners (or popups, skyscrapers, interstitials, etc.) which are constructed using dynamic tools such as Flash, html forms, Java, ASP, Shockwave, Javascript, or other languages or applications that increase the appearance and/or functionality of the ad beyond that which can be achieved with a static or animated image.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
A form of online marketing, search engine optimization (or search engine marketing) is the process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.
Seeding
The process of including known names and email addresses on a rented list of email addresses in order to check that the renter is not using the list more times than they are entitled to use it.
Sender ID
Anti-Spam technology which relies on the sender of the email to identify themselves as a legitimate sender in the message headers of the email.
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. A protocol for sending emails from server to the next, but one with significant drawback for use in multi-client, multi-campaign broadcasting.
Social bookmarking
The ability to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others online. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others.
Soft Bounce
An email which is unable to be delivered to intended recipient because of a temporary problem such as a full mailbox, or an overloaded server.
Spam
Unsolicited bulk email sent out randomly to consumers who have not given the sender permission to communicate with them via email. Incidentally, the generally accepted source of the term is that it comes from the Monty Python sing, “Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…” Like the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text.
Some say however, that it comes from the computer group lab at the University of Southern California who gave it the name because it has many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat: No one wants it or asks for it, no one ever eats it but sometimes its actually tasty, like 1% of junk mail that is really useful to some people.
Spam Filter
Method used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to identify commercial email that looks like Spam by reference to the content of the email, in terms of specific words or phrases used in the subject line, body copy or graphic images.
Subject Line
Copy used in the “Subject” field of an email to identify the subject of the email.
The “Fold”
Borrowed from the fold in newspapers, this is the bottom of the PC screen, so everything “above the fold” means everything the user can see on screen without scrolling.
Timing
The day and date on which a marketing email is delivered. There are many theories as to what represents the best and worst days of the week and times of the day to send marketing email.
Tracking and analysing
The practice of monitoring the performance of an email campaign to see if open and click through rates are at the expected level.
Traffic
The rate at which a site is visited.
Unicode
Coding system that provides a unique number for every character, irrespective of platform, programme, or language.
Unsubscribe
The means by which a consumer can ask to be removed from a company’s email marketing list. By law in the UK, every marketing email sent to a consumer must carry clear, easy-to-follow instructions explaining how the consumer can unsubscribe from the mailing list.
URL- Uniform Resource Locator
Standard way of representing the location of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
Video Feeds
The technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion for online media including pre-recorded and live images.
Web Design
The selection and coordination of available components an visual elements including page layout, background and spot imagery, colour scheme, typography, navigation buttons, etc. to create the look, feel and structure of a Web page.
Web Development
Any activities related to developing a web site for the World Wide Web or an intranet. Includes e-commerce business development, web design, web content development, client-side/server-side coding, internet applications, electronic business, social network services, and web server configuration.