Glossary
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W - Z
A
- Accreditation-based systems
- Whitelist programs that certify senders so that ISPs that those using the systems see the senders as legitimate mailers who should not be blocked.
- Alert
- Email message that notifies subscribers of an event or special price.
- Application Program Interface
- How a program (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 from the email. ColdSpark has a full API suite for its systems.
- Application Service Provider (ASP)
- a Web-based service. Clients don't have to install software on their own computers; all tasks are performed on (hosted on) the ASPs servers. ColdSpark provides an ASP model for some of its services.
- Attachment
- A text, video, graphic, PDF or sound file that accompanies an email message but is not included in the message itself.
- Authentication
- An automated process that verifies an email sender's identity through technical standards which ISPs and other mail gateway administrators can establish the true identity of an email sender. An example of authentication standard is DKIM.
- Autoresponder
- Automated email message-sending capability, such as a welcome message sent to all new subscribers the minute they join a list. May be triggered by joins, unsubscribes, all email sent to a particular mailbox. May be more than a single message - can be a series of date or event-triggered emails.
B
- Bayesian Filter
- An anti-spam program that evaluates header and content of incoming email messages to determine the probability that it is spam. Bayesian filters assign point values to items that appear frequently in spam, such as the words "money-back guarantee" or "free." A message that accumulated too many points is either rejected as probable spam or delivered to a junk-mail folder (a.k.a. content-based filter).
- B-to-B
- Business-to-business (also B2B). Any interaction between two businesses including email, transactions, partnerships etc.
- B-to-C
- Business-to-consumer (also B2C).
- 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 reject inbound email, either at the server level or before it reaches the recipient's in-box. Also Blocklist and Blackhole list.
- Blacklist, public
- A list of IP addresses believed to send spam. Public blacklists are created and maintained by third parties; sometimes used by ISPs as another filtering mechanism to block email delivery.
- Blacklist, private
- A list of IP addresses believed to send spam, compiled by an ISP based on user complaints, mail sent to spam trap addresses, and "unknown user" rates. Each receiving ISP uses its own private blacklists to block email delivery.
- Block
- A refusal by an ISP or mail server not to forward your email message to the recipient. Many ISPs block email from IP addresses or domains that have been reported to send spam or viruses or have content that violates email policy or spam filters.
- Bounce
- A message that doesn't get delivered promptly is said to have bounced. Emails can bounce for more than 30 reasons, for example: the email address is incorrect or has been closed; the recipient's mailbox is full, the mail server is down, or the system detects spam or offensive content. See hard bounce and soft bounce.
- Bounce message
- Message sent back to an email sender reporting the message could not be delivered and why. Note: Not all bounced emails result in messages being sent back to the sender. Not all bounce messages are clear or accurate about the reason email was bounced.
- 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's an inexact science at best.
- Bounce rate: Also return rate
- Number of hard/soft bounces divided by the number of emails sent.
- Broadcast
- The process of sending the same email message to multiple recipients.
- Bulk mail folder
- Folder within email clients to which questionable email is often directed. Also referred to as "Junk" or "Spam" folders in some email clients.
- Blackhole
- Term describing what happens to email that is blocked without a bounce response to the sender.
- Bulk folder (also junk folder)
- Where many email clients send messages that appear to be from spammers or contain spam or are from any sender who is not in the recipient's address book or contact list. Some clients allow the recipient to override the system's settings and direct that mail from a suspect sender be sent directly to the inbox.
C
- CAN-SPAM
- (Full name: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003). Federal legislation governing unsolicited commercial email that went into effect on January 1, 2004. This law does not prohibit unsolicited commercial email, but it does regulate how it must be sent. Lawmakers intended to protect the end user and to make prosecution of spammers easier.
- Challenge Response
- Method of approving senders to specific email addresses that asks the email sender to answer a question proving he is a real person and not a "spam cannon" attempting to send email. Primarily used by Earthlink and selected client-side filters.
- 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. ColdSpark has a full application called Inbound Processing Manager than process incoming emails to avoid the need for a catch-all.
- CGI
- Acronym for Common Gateway Interface. It is a specification for transferring information between the Web and a Web server.
- 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 by hand.
- Churn
- How many subscribers leave a mailing list (or how many email addresses go bad) over a certain length of time.
- clickthrough & clickthrough tracking
- When a hotlink is included in an email, 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, how many clicks resulted in desired actions such as sales, forwards or subscriptions.
- clickthrough rate
- Total number of clicks on email link(s) divided by the number of emails sent. Includes multiple clicks by a unique user.
- Commercial email
- Email whose purpose, as a whole or in part, is to sell or advertise a product or service or if its purpose is 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.
- Confirmed Opt-in
- An acknowledgment of a subscription or information request. "Confirmation" can be either 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.
- Content
- All the material in an email message except for the codes showing the delivery route and return-path information. Includes all words, images and links.
- Content filters
- Software filters that block email based on words, phrases, or header information within the email itself. The goal is to identify spam and filter to the Bulk or Junk mail folders, although this often results in "false positives".
- 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.
- Conversion
- When an email recipient performs a desired action based on a mailing you have sent. A conversion could be a monetary transaction.
- CPA
- Cost per Action (also can be Acquisition). A method of paying for advertising, or calculating results from non-CPA marketing.
- CPC
- Cost per Click. A method of paying for advertising. Different from CPA because all you pay for is the click, regardless of what that click does when it gets to your site or landing page.
- CRM
- Customer Relationship Management technology and systems.
- 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.
D
- Dedicated Server
- An email server used by only one sender. A dedicated server often costs more to use because the expense can't be spread among many users, but it performs better than a shared server. Email usually goes out faster, the server is more secure, and you eliminate the possibility that another sender could get the server blacklisted for spamming.
- Deduplication (deduping)
- The process of removing identical entries from two or more data sets such as mailing lists (a.k.a. merge/purge)
- 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 not.
- Delivery monitoring
- A process, usually using third party tools and techniques, to measure true delivery rates by campaign and ISP. Also tracks the amount and type of email tagged and/or blocked by server and client-side filters.
- Delivery tracking
- The process of measuring delivery rates by format, ISP or other factors and delivery failures (bounces, invalid address, server and other errors).
- Denial-of-service attack (DOS)
- An organized effort to disrupt email or Web service by sending more messages or traffic than a server can handle, shutting it down until the messages stop.
- Deploy:
- The act of sending the email campaign after testing.
- Digest
- A shortened version of an email newsletter which replaces full-length articles with clickable links to the full article at a Web site, often with a brief summary of the contents.
- Dictionary attack
- A type of spam program that bombards a mail server with millions of alphabetically generated email addresses in the hope that some addresses will be guessed correctly.
- Discussion group
- An email service in which individual members post messages for all group members to read ("many to many"). In contrast, a newsletter is a "one to many" broadcast, where comments by members or subscribers go only to the message sender (a.k.a. by the trademarked name Listserv).
- Domain
- Internet addresses made up for words that correspond to the Internet Protocol (IP) numbers computers use to find each other. Domains always have two or more parts, separated by "dots".
- 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.
- DNS
- 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. MarketingSherpa.com. See reverse DNS.
- 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.
- Dynamic content
- Email-newsletter content that changes from one recipient to the next according to a set of predetermined rules or variables, usually according to preferences the user sets when opting in to messages from a sender. Dynamic content can reflect past purchases, current interests or where the recipient lives.
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 [at] anywhere [dot] 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 delivery rates
- The percentage of email that gets delivered as intended; compiled from seedlist-based monitoring services and SMTP log files.
- Email Domain
- (a.k.a. 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 [at] aol [dot] 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 Friendly Name
- (a.k.a. Display Name, From name) The portion of the email address that is displayed in most, though not all, email readers in place of, or in addition to, the email address.
- 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. See ezine.
- 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. Also email service provider (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.
- Event triggered email
- Pre-programmed messages sent automatically based on an event such as a date or anniversary.
- Ezine (also e-zine)
- Another name for email newsletter, adapted from electronic ‘zine or electronic magazine.
- ESP
- An Email Service Provider is a company that sends and manages email campaigns for other companies as a hosted service.
F
- False-negative
- When spam filtering devices fail to detect spam and allow it to be delivered.
- 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.
- Filter
- See email filter.
- 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 thast messages from domains or users listed as suspect because of spamming, hacking or forging will not be delivered.
- 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 they 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 forwarded 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 forward to write his/her own message. AKA viral marketing.
- 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.
- Full-service provider
- An email vendor that also provides strategic consulting and creative support, in addition to sending messages. ColdSpark is a full service provider.
G
- 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.
- Greylisting
- Process of routing email to a bulk folder if it is borderline spam, as determined by a receiving ISP.
H
- 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.
- Hard bounce
- Message sent to an invalid, closed or nonexistent email account.
- Harvesting
- Process that crawls the Internet to gather email addresses from Web sites and then uses them to create lists for spamming.
- 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.
- Hygiene
- The process of cleaning a database to correct incorrect or outdated values. See also List Hygiene
I
- IP addresses
- Internet Protocol addresses. The numeric identification number that refers to a specific machine on the Internet.
- Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- Company that provides access to the Internet through connectivity services. Examples include AOL, Comcast, Earthlink, and Verizon.
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.
K
L
- Landing page
- A Web page viewed after clicking on a link within an email. Also may be called a microsite, splash page, bounce page, or click page.
- 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 host
- See email vendors.
- 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. See list owner.
- List owner
- The organization or individual who has gathered a list of email addresses. Ownership does not necessarily imply "with permission".
- 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 message's on the advertiser's behalf.
- List sale
- The actual purchase of a mailing list along with the rights to mail it directly. Permission can only be "sold" if the subsequent mailings continue to match the frequency, brand name, content, and "from" of the past owner's mailings -- and even then this is a somewhat shaky procedure on the spam-front. You are in effect buying a publication, and not just a list.
M
- Machine-learning filters
- Filters run by machines that determine whether to block email based on algorithms that point to whether the message is likely spam.
- 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. See DOS.
- Mailing list
- A list of email addresses that receive mailings or discussion-group messages.
- Mail loop
- A communication error between two email servers, usually happening when a misconfigured email triggers an automated response from the recipient server.
- mailto
- A code to make an email address in either a text or HTML email immediately clickable JohnDoe [at] anywhere [dot] com%29">(JohnDoe [at] anywhere [dot] com). When the link is clicked, it usually opens the user's email client and inserts the email address in the To: link of a blank message.
- MTA
- Mail Transfer Agent. A computer that forwards email from senders to recipients (or to relay sites) and stores incoming email. ColdSpark's SparkEngine is a powerful MTA.
- MSP
- Mail service provider, such as Hotmail and AOL.
- MUA
- Mail User Agent (see email client).
- Multi-part MIME
- 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 wound up viewing.
- MX
- Mail Exchange Record
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
- 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.
- Open proxy
- Software that exists on a server that allows the third-party relay of e-mail messages through ports other than port 25.
- 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 addresses to lists without the name's pre-approval, forcing names who don't want to be on your list to actively unsubscribe.
P
- Pass-along
- An email recipient who got your message via forwarding from a subscriber. (Some emails offer "forward to a friend" in the creative, but the vast majority of pass-alongs happen using email clients, and not that tech.) Pass-alongs can affect the formatting of the email, often stripping off HTML. Also known as viral.
- 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
- (Pronounced 'fishing') The act of forging emails that claim to be from a legitimate sender, such as a bank, for the purpose of identity theft or robbery. Phishing emails usually link to a replica of a legitimate web page that tries to trick users into submitting personal or financial information or passwords.
- Plain text
- Text in an email message that includes no formatting code. See HTML.
- POP
- Post Office Protocol, which an email client uses to send to or receive messages from an email server.
- Postmaster
- The person who manages mail servers at an organization. Usually the one to contact at a particular server/site to get help, information, or to log complaints.
- Preferences
- Options a user can set to determine how they want to receive your messages, how they want to be addresses, to which email address message should go and which messages they want to receive from you. The more preferences a user can specify, the more likely you'll send relevant email.
- Preview pane
- The window in an email client that allows the user to scan message content without actually clicking on the message. See open rate.
- 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 in form the policy should be displayed.
Q
- Queue
- Where an email message goes after you send it but before the list owner approves it or before the list server gets around to sending it. Some list software allows you to queue a message and then set a time to send it automatically, either during a quiet period on the server or at a time when human approval isn't available.
R
- 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
- The process in which an IP address is matched correctly to a domain name, instead of a domain name being matched to an IP address. Reverse DNS is a popular method for catching spammers who use invalid IP addresses. If a spam filter or program can't match the IP address to the domain name, it can reject the email.
- Rich media
- A category of web technologies that utilize streaming video, audio and other static or animated files to create an advanced media experience for viewing content.
S
- Seed list
- A list of email addresses that should be included in every email event to monitor delivery across email platforms. Can be executed in-house or through a third-party vendor.
- Sender-ID
- An authentication standard proposed by Microsoft, that compares an email sender's "From" address to the IP address authorized to send email from that domain.
- Sent emails
- Number of email names 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. See dedicated server.
- SPF
- SPF (Sender Policy Framework) compares an email sender's actual IP address to a list of IP addresses authorized to send mail from that domain. This list is published in the domain's DNS record.
- SMTP
- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a server-to-server protocol used to transfer email between computers.
- SMTP log file
- A file showing all conversations back and forth between servers during the email send and receive process. Used to uncover problems with various deliverability factors such as unknown user rates.
- Snail mail
- 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.
- 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
- Widely-used slang reference to unsolicited commercial email messages. Named after the Monty Python "Spam" song.
- Spam filter
- Systems that watch for spam and block it before it can hit the inbox. Spam filters can be complaint or content based.
- Spam-trap address
- An email address that is set up specifically to catch people who are harvesting addresses or using directory attacks to send unsolicited email. Used by Brightmail, ISPs and many in the anti-spam community.
- Spoofing
- Forged email addresses that hide the origin of a spam or virus message. Used to trick people into opening an email because they believe it has come from a legitimate source.
- 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 kept by a single organization that should not be mailed to any longer. Usually owners of the addresses on the list have specifically requested inclusion. Required by CAN-SPAM.
T
- Text newsletter
- Plain newsletter with words only, no colors, graphics, fonts or pictures; can be received by anyone who has email.
- Thank-you page
- Web page that appears after user has submitted an order or a form online. May be a receipt.
- 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.
- Transactional email
- (a.k.a 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.
U
- Unknown User
- Bounce error code generated by an ISP when an email address is not registered in its system.
- UCE
- Unsolicited Commercial Email, also called spam or junk mail.
- Unique Reference Number
- A unique number assigned to a list member, usually by the email-broadcast software, and used to track member behavior (clicks, subscribes, unsubscribe) or to identify the member to track email delivery.
- 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.coldspark.com
- Unsubscribe
- To remove oneself from an email list, either via an emailed command to the list server or by filling in a Web form.
V
- Vendor
- Any company that provides a service. See email vendors.
- Verified opt-in
- Formerly known as double opt-in. Requires secondary confirmation from an email address to confirm intended registration to receive email.
- Video e-mail
- An email message that includes a video file, either inserted into the message body, accessible through a hotlink to a Web site or accompanying it in an attachment (least desirable because many ISPs block executable attachments to avoid viruses).
- 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. See worm.
W - Z
- Web bug (also Web beacon)
- 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.
- Welcome message
- Message sent automatically to new list members as soon as their email addresses are added successfully.
- Webmail (also Web mail)
- 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.
- Whitelist
- A list of trusted IP addresses and domains that allows all mail from these addresses to be delivered, bypassing spam filters.
- 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. See virus.