marketing terms I-Z

Question 1

Inbox Placement Rate

Answer 1

The percentage of emails sent by a brand or from an IP address that reaches their intended recipients’ inboxes, as opposed to being blocked or junked. The IPR is calculated by dividing the number of emails delivered to the inbox by the total number of emails sent.

Question 2

Inbox Previewer aka Litmus

Answer 2

A tool that generates screenshots of how your email campaign will appear in different email clients & on various devices. It allows you to test your email code on over 70 different email clients/devices before you send it– so you can iron out any issues before the ESP hits “SEND”. It does not allow you to test dynamic content or animation as the previewer tool shows a static screenshot.

Question 3

Inbox Provider

Answer 3

Providers of web-based, desktop, and mobile email inboxes that send, store and organize messages for users and manage and block spam (e.g. gmail, outlook etc). Sometimes referred to as the ISP (internet service provider).

Question 4

Journey

Answer 4

As opposed to newsletters and one-off campaigns that you create and send to a whole list of people in one go, customer journeys are set up once, and then sent out each time a subscriber meets your pre-defined trigger. They typically use Marketing Automation software.

Question 5

Kinetic

Answer 5

Kinetic emails use special code & design functionality to prompt the reader to interact with them eg hover-over animations, rotating banners, carousels, sliders, interactive shopping carts, and games - they can add the wow factor to emails and deliver higher numbers of clicks. But not every email client supports this interactivity therefore they have to be coded with ‘fallback’ views for these clients.

Question 6

Link Wrapping

Answer 6

Process that allows for onsite behavior to be tracked after the user has left the email.

Question 7

List Churn

Answer 7

List churn is an umbrella term for all the ways people can disengage from a list. That could be changing their email address, not opening emails anymore, or any other cause of inactivity.

Question 8

List Fatigue

Answer 8

Declining engagement that occurs over time after an email list has been mailed to too frequently.

Question 9

List Growth

Answer 9

How quickly you are adding new subscribers to your list. List growth also takes list churn into your account. So list growth refers to how much larger your list is getting, even after the effects of list churn.

Question 10

Live Content aka Dynamic Content

Answer 10

Images and other content that vary based on when the email is opened, what kind of device its opened on, and other factors.

Question 11

Live Text

Answer 11

A key best practice for email is to ensure all copy is saved as Live Text - which means it is universally supported across email clients and can be viewed regardless of which client the reader is using. ‘Graphical text’ is when the copy has been saved as part of the image - not a good idea since images can be blocked.

Question 12

Marketing Automation aka Triggers

Answer 12

Marketing automation is the process that takes place when software automatically sends campaigns to your customers and prospects based on triggers, behaviors or events you define. You can create a card member journey (e.g. welcome onboarding series) using this software.

Question 13

Message ID

Answer 13

US only: 64 byte SFMC identifier that is unique per deployment per subscriber

Question 14

MI aka Movable Ink

Answer 14

3rd party platform we use that leverages API’s and logic to serve up real time images at time of email open.

Question 15

Mobile First Design

Answer 15

Starting the design process by solving for the smallest screen (mobile) which has more limitations and then expand to tablet and desktop.

Question 16

Module

Answer 16

A content box where you add an image & text that form the body of your email. Our Email Design System consists of lots of modules which are utilized to create the finished design.

Question 17

Multi-Variate Testing

Answer 17

Strategy for testing several variables at once, determines which combination of variations perform the best out of all of the possible combinations

Question 18

One Off aka Standard

Answer 18

Standard form of communication used for marketing initiatives to a varied audience

Question 19

Open

Answer 19

When the images in an email are loaded or rendered, which typically happens when a subscriber views an email with images enabled

Question 20

Preheader Text

Answer 20

The window where a recipient will first view the email in their email client - they see the section that is ‘above the fold’

Question 21

Preview Text

Answer 21

Part of an email message that appears right next to/below the subject line when viewed in an inbox. It should be utilized to support the subject line (not repeat it) and tempt subscribers to open your email. Different email clients display different lengths of Preview Text. It is pulled in from the ‘Preheader’ inside the email (see above).

Question 22

Progressive Enhancement

Answer 22

Progressive enhancement is a strategy for design/development that emphasizes core email content first. This strategy then progressively adds more nuanced and technically rigorous layers of presentation and features on top of the content as the end-user’s email client/browser/OS/device/data connection/internet connection allow(s).

Question 23

Query Parameter

Answer 23

Pair with merge tags to create personalization. This informs the merge tag which data to pull into the URL.

Question 24

Read Rate

Answer 24

Your ‘read rate’ is when someone opens your email and views it without enabling images - it tends to be higher than your open rate, as an ‘open’ only counts when someone opens your email with images automatically enabled or click to enable the images . As you can imagine this user is still engaging with your content and may click on links without registering as an email open.

Question 25

Relevance

Answer 25

How valuable a subscriber thinks your emails are- which is largely determined by how many emails you send, when they arrive, their content, and how they look and function within whichever email client is being used

Question 26

Remail aka Re-send

Answer 26

The email marketing technique where you send the same email a second time to try to get more people to respond to it, typically changing small elements such as the subject line or hero image.

Question 27

Rendering

Answer 27

How an email displays and functions in a particular email client; this can vary widely from email client to email client

Question 28

Reply Mail Management (RMM)

Answer 28

Manages replies from subscribers to the marketing emails sent from an ESP. RMM processes the reply requesting to opt-out or unsubscribe automatically, if appropriate.

Question 29

Responsive Email Design

Answer 29

A type of email coding that uses media queries to control the formatting, layout and display of the email content depending on the reader’s screen size

Question 30

Salt List aka Proof List

Answer 30

List of email addresses that you will send an email to before you send the email out to everyone on your list. A salt list allows you to test the email across different email clients and devices. (Marketing determines who is on this list).

Question 31

Scale

Answer 31

Refers to the size of an object on a page, and in turn, its visual relationship to the size of other page elements. Sizing objects on a page is a common method of attracting visual attention or organizing elements based on relative importance.

Question 32

Scrubbing

Answer 32

Filtering an email address list by matching it against a suppression list consisting of addresses that have opted to unsubscribe from communications or should not be used for some other reason (invalid email address, Customers with overdue accounts, etc.).

Question 33

Seed List

Answer 33

List of email addresses that are included on any live deployment sent by an ESP for proofing/confirmation of send purposes.

Question 34

Sender Reputation

Answer 34

A reflection of your trustworthiness as an email sender that is affected by spam complaint rates and other factors that inbox providers user to determine whether to deliver, junk or block block your email

Question 35

Spam Trap

Answer 35

There are two types of spam traps. Pristine traps are email addresses created for the sole purpose of catching spammers. These addresses were never owned by a real person and are often found as embedded links hidden in the background of websites. Recycled traps are email addresses that were once active addresses but have since been abandoned and are no longer in use. After spending time as unknown users, mailbox providers convert these discarded addresses into spam traps to catch senders who continue to send to unengaged senders.

Question 36

Statistical Relevance

Answer 36

A term used in A/B split-testing. Before you call a winner in an A/B split test, you need to know your results are statistically valid.

Question 37

Suppression List

Answer 37

A list of subscribers to whom you don’t want a particular message to be sent

Question 38

System of Record (SOR)

Answer 38

a data management term for an information storage system.

For the EDIS product to function it leverages many SORs; for example, Membership Rewards points are stored in a SOR.

Question 39

Text Version aka plain-text

Answer 39

Plain-text emails are just that—plain text. They are the email equivalent to a letter written on a typewriter—no images, no pretty fonts, no hyperlinks. While they may not be nearly as attractive as HTML-based emails, they play a significant role in a well-rounded email marketing strategy, if an email campaign does not have an accompanying Text Version some ISPs will highlight your message as potential SPAM.

Question 40

Throttling

Answer 40

When an ESP manages the rate or volume at which they send emails to an inbox provider.

Question 41

Total Weight aka loaded weight

Answer 41

The file size of the HTML coding of an email plus the total file size of all images used in the email. Best practice is to keep below 1.5MB

Question 42

Transactional Email aka Servicing

Answer 42

A message sent to a current or former customer or user, regardless of whether they are a subscriber, in response to a transaction or administrative request made by that person or in response to a security, legal or other company situation that may affect that person.

Question 43

Trigger aka RTC (Round the Clock) trigger)

Answer 43

A message sent to an individual in response to an action taken by that person (e.g. travel booking), to a lack of action (e.g. reegagement), to the arrival of an event (e.g. birthday), or to the requirements or instructions of a device. (Also see Marketing Automation above)

At Amex, we have 2 frequencies that triggers are sent: 1) Weekly (Batch Triggers) + 2) Hourly (Round the Clock or RTC Triggers)

Question 44

Unique Click thru Rate (CTR)

Answer 44

How many individual subscribers have clicked on links in your emails divided by the number of emails opened. It is more specific than overall click-through rate, which just shows how many times your emails were clicked.

Question 45

Unique Clicks

Answer 45

Some subscribers will click an email more than once. Unique clicks shows how many individuals have clicked your emails, not just how many times your emails were clicked.

Question 46

Unique Opens

Answer 46

Some subscribers will open an email more than once. Unique opens shows how many individuals have opened your emails, not just how many times your emails were opened.

Question 47

URID (unqiue reference identifer)

Answer 47

International Only: Unique User Identifier used to power EDIS. Using this merge tag lets Movable Ink provide users with a consistent experience when opening the same email multiple times across devices, and enables accurate behavior and conversion tracking.

Question 48

UUID (unique user identifier)

Answer 48

US Only: Unique User Identifier used to power EDIS. Using this merge tag lets Movable Ink provide users with a consistent experience when opening the same email multiple times across devices, and enables accurate behavior and conversion tracking.

Question 49

View in Web Link

Answer 49

URL that is required above the header in emails - it gives subscribers the option to view the full version of your email in a webpage for a better user experience.

Question 50

Visual Balance

Answer 50

The distribution of an object’s “visual weight” (often used in relation to positive and negative space on a site). Visual balance can also refer to the overall arrangement of the objects on a web page.

Question 51

White Space aka space

Answer 51

Speaking to design - also called ‘negative space’ where there is no content on the page - white space is important in email as it lets the message ‘breathe’ and stops the email from being too cluttered.