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If you have ever felt out of your depth in a discussion
about email marketing, rest assured you are not alone. The top twenty
common email marketing terms and definitions below will help you expand
your email marketing vocabulary and make you look and feel like
an expert.
Above-the-fold
The part
of a web page that is visible without scrolling. It is generally more
desirable placement on a Website because of its visibility.If you
have a "join our mailing list" tag on your Website, you should place it
"above the fold" making it easy for visitors to opt-in.
CPM (or Cost per thousand)
In e-mail
marketing, CPM commonly refers to the cost per 1000 names on a given
rental list. For example, a rental list priced at $250 CPM would mean
that the list owner charges $.25 per e-mail address.
CTR (or Click-through rate)
The
percentage (the number of unique clicks divided by the number that were
opened) of recipients that click on a given URL in your e-mail.
Conversion rate
The number
or percentage of recipients who respond to your call-to-action in a
given e-mail marketing campaign or promotion. This is the measure of
your e-mail campaign's success. You may measure conversion in sales,
phone calls, appointments etc.
E-mail blocking
E-mail
blocking typically refers to blocking by ISPs. E-mails that are blocked
are not processed through the ISP and are essentially prevented from
reaching their addressed destination. ISPs actively block email coming
from suspected spammers.
Email newsletter ads or sponsorships
Buying ad
space in an email newsletter or sponsoring a specific article or series
of articles. Advertisers pay to have their ad (text, HTML or both
depending on the publication) inserted into the body of the email.Email
newsletter ads and sponsorships allow advertisers to reach a targeted
audience driving traffic to a website, store or office, signups to a
newsletter or sales of a product or service.
Hard bounce/Soft bounce
A hard
bounce is the failed delivery of an e-mail due to a permanent reason
like a non-existent address. A soft bounce is the failed delivery of an
e-mail due to a temporary issue, like a full mailbox or an unavailable
server.
House list (or Retention List)
A
permission-based list that you built yourself. Use it to market, cross
sell and up-sell, and to establish a relationship with customers over
time. Your house list is one of your most valuable assets because it
is 7 times less expensive to market to an existing customer than it is
to acquire a new one. Use every opportunity to add to it and use it.
HTML e-mail
An e-mail
that is formatted using Hypertext Markup Language instead of plain text.
HTML makes it possible to include unique fonts, graphics and background
colors. HTML makes an e-mail more interesting and when used properly
can generate higher response rates than plain text.
Open rate
The
percentage of e-mails opened in any given e-mail marketing campaign, or
the percentage opened of the total number of e-mails sent.
Opt-in (or Subscribe)
To opt-in
or subscribe to an e-mail list is to choose to receive e-mail
communications by supplying your e-mail address to a particular company,
website or individual thereby giving them permission to e-mail you. The
subscriber can often indicate areas of personal interest (e.g. mountain
biking) and/or indicate what types of e-mails she wishes to receive from
the sender (e.g. newsletters).
Opt-out (or Unsubscribe)
To opt-out
or unsubscribe from an e-mail list is to choose not to receive
communications from the sender by requesting the removal of your e-mail
address from their list.
Permission-based e-mail
E-mail
sent to recipients who have opted-in or subscribed to receive e-mail
communications from a particular company, website or individual.
Permission is an absolute prerequisite for legitimate and profitable
e-mail marketing.
Privacy policy
A clear
description of a website or company's policy on the use of information
collected from and about website visitors and what they do, and do not
do, with the data.Your privacy policy builds trust especially among
those who opt-in to receive e-mail from you or those who register on
your site. If subscribers, prospects and customers know their
information is safe with you, they will likely share more information
with you making your relationship that much more valuable.
Rental list (or Acquisition list)
A list of
prospects or a targeted group of recipients who have opt-in to receive
information about certain subjects. Using permission-based rental lists,
marketers can send e-mail messages to audiences targeted by interest
category, profession, demographic information and more. Renting a list
usually costs between $.10 and $.40 per name.
Signature file (or sig file for
short )
A tagline
or short block of text at the end of an e-mail message that identifies
the sender and provides additional information such as company name and
contact information.Your signature file is a marketing opportunity.
Use it to convey a benefit and include a call-to-action with a link.
Spam or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial
E-mail)
E-mail
sent to someone who has not opt-in or given permission to the sender.
Do you get spam? (a rhetorical question, to be
sure)
Targeting
Selecting
a target audience or group of individuals likely to be interested in a
certain product or service. Targeting is very important for an
e-mail marketer because targeted and relevant e-mail campaigns, yield a
higher response and result in fewer unsubscribes.
URL (or Universal Resource Locator)
A website,
page or any other document address or location on the Internet. URLs
indicate the location of every file on every computer accessible through
the Internet.
Viral Marketing
A type of
marketing that is carried out voluntarily by a company's customers. It
is often referred to as word-of-mouth advertising. Email has made this
type of marketing very prevalent. Tools such as "send this page, article
or website to a friend" encourage people to refer or recommend your
company product, service or a specific offer to others. |
