Chapter 18

Question 1

Alt Text

Answer 1

The ‘alt’ attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load.

Also called alt tag.

Question 2

Business-to-business (B2B)

Answer 2

When businesses sell products or services to other businesses and not to consumers.

Question 3

Business-to-consumers (B2C)

Answer 3

When businesses sell products or services to consumers.

Question 4

Call to action

CTA

Answer 4

A phrase written to motivate the reader to take action such assign up for our newsletter or book car hire today.

Question 5

Clickthrough rate

Answer 5

The total clicks on a link divided by the number of times that link was shown, expressed as a percentage.

Question 6

Customer relationship management

CRM

Answer 6

A strategy for managing a company’s interactions with clients and potential clients. It often makes use of technology to automate the sales, marketing, customer service and technical processes of an organisation.

Question 7

Database

Answer 7

In email marketing, the database is the list of prospects to which emails are sent. It also contains additional information pertinent to the prospects.

Question 8

Domain name system (DNS)

Answer 8

DNS converts a domain name into an IP address. DomainKeys, an email authentication system designed to verify the DNS domain of an email sender and the message integrity.

Question 9

Double opt-in

Answer 9

The act of getting subscribers to confirm their initial subscription via a follow-up email asking them to validate their address and hence opt-in again.

Question 10

Email service provider (ESP)

Answer 10

A service that helps you design and send emails.

Question 11

Hard bounce

Answer 11

The failed delivery of email communication due to an undeviating reason like a non-existent address.

Question 12

Internet Protocol (IP) Address

Answer 12

An exclusive number that is used to represent every single computer in a network.

Question 13

Internet service provider (ISP)

Answer 13

The company providing you access to the Internet, for example, MWEB, AOL and Yahoo!.

Question 14

Open rate

Answer 14

The percentage of emails determined as opened out of the total number of emails sent.

Question 15

Opt-in

Answer 15

Giving permission for emails to be sent to you.

Question 16

Opt-out

Answer 16

Also known as unsubscribe. The act of removing oneself from a list or lists so that specified information is no longer received via email.

Question 17

Return on investment

ROI

Answer 17

The ratio of profit to cost

Question 18

Sender ID

Answer 18

A method used by major ISPs to confirm that an email does originate from the domain that it claims to have been sent from.

Question 19

Soft bounce

Answer 19

The failed delivery of an email due to a deviating reason like an overloaded email inbox or a server failure

Question 20

Spam

Answer 20

Email sent to someone who has not requested or given

authorisation to receive it – EVIL!

Question 21

Unique forwarders

Answer 21

This refers to the number of individuals who forwarded a specific email on.

Question 22

White list

Answer 22

A list of accepted email addresses that an ISP, a subscriber or other email service provider allows to deliver messages regardless of spam filter settings.

Question 23

options for digital direct marketing:

Answer 23

• Promotional emails
• Newsletters
• Transactional emails
• SMS marketing

Question 24

Emails should be created and viewed as…

Answer 24

…HTML for desktop and most mobile

devices.

Question 25

Preheader

Answer 25

The preheader is a line or two of text displayed above your email header. Most commonly, it’s the line of text that will redirect you to ‘View online’. Where possible, try including your call to action in the preheader. This could be difficult, given the limited space but it does ensure that every recipient, even those who don’t necessarily open the email, but who view only the preheader within the preview pane or inbox, will still be exposed to it.

Question 26

Header

Answer 26

The header is the colourful banner or image that is included in many emails. This often contains the logo, which is important for branding, as well as a CTA or image to catch the recipient’s attention. Not every email will have a header, but these do provide added impact.

Question 27

Newsletters can offer:

Answer 27

• Humour
• Research
• Information
• Promotions
• Exclusive content

Question 28

SMS messages can offer:

Answer 28

• Special offers and discounts
• Information
• Time-dependent discounts
• Celebrations
• Contests
• Trivia or voting
• Reminders

Question 29

Key measurables for understanding the performance of direct marketing campaigns include:

Answer 29

• Number of emails or SMSs delivered (delivery rate).
• Number of bounces (this should be separated into hard bounces and soft bounces).
• Number of unique opens: a message can be delivered, but not opened.
• Unsubscribes: significant or consistent loss in subscribers is a key indication you are not meeting the needs of your subscribers.
• Pass-on rate: a high pass-on rate (forwards) indicates that your customers value the content enough to share it constantly with others. Adding a signup link to forwarded emails will organically grow the opt-in list.
• Clickthrough rates and conversion: These measure the effectiveness of a message via the links placed in the content. When a reader clicks through to a web page, these can be easily measured as a percentage against the number of delivered, opened or sent emails. It reveals which content or promotion was the most enticing for the reader.