Queue

Where the email goes after the email marketer sends the message to his or her list, but before the email server delivers the message to the group.

Read Rate

An important metric measured by the length of time that an email message is opened by each recipient.  Listrak labels a message as “read” if the recipient holds the message open more than five seconds.  To calculate the read rate, divide the total number of read messages by the total number of emails sent.

Registration

The process of subscribing to an email list.

Reverse DNS
Also: rDNS

The process of looking up an IP Address to identify the domain name associated with it.

Rich Media

Email messages that contain creative such as video, sound, or animation.

ROKSO
Register of Known Spam Operators

A list of spam operators that have been thrown off at least three ISPs (www.spamhaus.org/rokso)

Routing Information

One or more lines contained in the header of an email message that describes the path of the message from the sender to the recipient.

RSS
Real Simple Syndication

A group of web feed formats used to publish and easily distribute frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds, or podcasts. 

Seed Emails

Email addresses that are placed on a list to evaluate the sender’s service.

Segment

The ability to select a subset of the list according to attributes of the recipients, such as location or product preference.

Selective Unsubscribe

Removal process that allows the subscriber to opt-out of receiving some emails from a company while remaining on the list to receive other emails from that same company.

SEM
Search Engine Marketing

A set of marketing methods, such as pay per click, that increases the visibility or ranking of a website on search engines’ result pages.

Sender ID

An anti-spam program made up of Sender Policy Framework and CallerID that authenticates email senders and blocks email forgeries and faked addresses.

SEO
Search Engine Optimization

The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines.

Signature File
Also: Sig File

A tagline at the end of an e-mail message used to identify the sender and provide additional information, such as company name, contact information, or a marketing call to action.

SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

The most common protocol for sending email messages between email servers.

Soft Bounce

A message that was undelivered due to a temporary problem, such as a full mailbox.

Spam
Also: Unsolicited Commercial Email, Unsolicited Bulk Email, Junk Mail, Gray Mail

Email messages that are sent to recipients that did not subscribe to a list.

Spoofing

The act of forging another person's email address to get users to open a message.

Subscribe

The act of registering for a mailing list.

Subscriber

The person who has requested to be added to a mailing list.

Suppression File
Also: Do Not Email List

A list of email addresses of the subscribers that have opted-out of your list.

Targeted Messaging

The act of sending relevant emails to a segmented group of subscribers.

Teaser

A brief email message designed to arouse curiosity and interest, but without revealing too much detail in itself.

Throttling

The act of regulating the number of email messages an email marketer sends to an ISP or mail server at a time.

Tracking

The act of collecting and evaluating the statistics from which one can measure the effectiveness of an email or an email campaign.

Transactional Emails

A creative format where the recipient can enter a transaction in the body of the email itself without clicking to a web page first, such as responding to a survey.

UCE
Unsolicited Commercial Email
Also: Spam, Unsolicited Bulk Email, Junk Mail, Gray Mail

Email messages that are sent to recipients that did not subscribe to a list.

Unique Click

The actual number of subscribers that clicked on a call to action button in an email.  It is the measurement of a single click by a single user.

Unique Reference Number

An exclusive number assigned to each subscriber so the ESP can track individual emails.

Unsubscribe

The act of opting-out of an email list.

URL
Uniform Resource Locator

The Internet Address for a website, web page, or other online resource.

Verification

A program that confirms that an email came from the sender listed in the envelope sender header.

Viral Marketing

A type of marketing that occurs when a message starts spreading from person to person rapidly and uncontrollably.

WASP
Wireless Application Service Provider

A company that provides wireless, web-based access to applications and services that would otherwise have to be stored locally.

Welcome Message

Message sent automatically to new list members as soon as they successfully subscribe to the email list.

Whitelist
Also: White List

Lists of sites with which ISPs have built good relationships and allow emails from.

Worm

A piece of malicious code, often delivered via an executable attachment in email or over a computer network.

Word of Mouth Marketing
Also: WOM Advertising

A term used in the marketing industry to describe activities that companies undertake to generate favorable publicity about products and services that is passed on from person to person without interference from the marketing company.

WSP
Wireless Service Provider

A company that offers transmission services to users of wireless devices, such as PDAs, through radio frequency signals rather than through end-to-end wire communication.

XML
Extensible Markup Language

An open standard for exchanging structured documents and data over the Internet.