Deliverability terms every marketer should know

I know we said last week’s Why Email Deliverability Matters: Email Send Frequency was the end of our Deliverability series, but here’s one more resource for good luck! Favorite and/or share this convenient glossary of important deliverability terms so that you have it for later, and for more information on how Emma assists customers with improving their deliverability, request a demo.

Do you speak deliverability? Here is a  glossary of important terms to know: 

Blocklists – Lists of IP addresses or domains  suspected of sending spam. Maintained by ISPs  and service providers such as Barracuda, Frontbridge,  Invaluement, Spamhaus, etc. Bounce Rate – The percentage of email messages  that failed to reach recipients. Divided into a) soft bounce: email address is temporarily  unavailable (e.g. mailbox is full, server is down) and b) hard bounce: address is permanently unreachable  (e.g. mailbox non-existent, typo in address). California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – In  place since January 1, 2020, enhances privacy rights  and consumer protection for residents of California,  United States. CAN-SPAM – The 'Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of  2003' defines legal boundaries for the commercial  usage of email, including consumers' rights to opt-out/unsubscribe at any time. Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Percentage of how  many successfully delivered emails garnered at least  one click. This number shows whether or not your  audience finds the emails you send relevant enough  to click through for more. Click to Open Rate (CTO) – Percentage of people  who open an email at least one time. Also named  Reactivity Rate. This number indicates how effective  the performance of the email was and if it created a  level of interest by the recipient to click through and  learn more about the content within the email. Complaints – Number of times users report  messages from a domain as spam (also known as  Spam Reports). Seriously hurts sender reputation all  the way to blocklisting. Delivered Rate – Percentage of messages accepted  by an Internet Service Provider. Indicates messages  were not rejected but does not imply delivery to  inbox. Delivery Rate – Percentage of messages successfully leaving ESP servers. Important: Not the number of  messages actually reaching recipients’ inboxes. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) – The digital  signature proving that a message actually originated  from the domain name in its email address. Domain-based Message Authentication (DMARC) – Protects the owner of the domain against phishing. Domain Reputation – A record of sender behavior  logged by their domain name (as opposed to  IP address). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Regulates data protection for individuals within the  European Union, with enhanced rules on consent to  marketing participation. IP Reputation – Trustworthiness of senders  determined by tracking traffic sent from their  IP address. List Hygiene – Continuous process of maintaining  email lists with valid addresses, e.g. by deleting hard bounces, non-respondents, and opt-outs. Open Rate – Percentage of your audience that  opens the emails you send them. A great view rate  usually indicates that subject lines resonate with  your audience. Sender Score – Measure of trustworthiness of an IP  address assigned by an email provider or filtering  system. IPs with Sender Scores below 70 points are  likely to see all sent emails filtered/blocked; above 70  points, individual emails/campaigns are filtered. Spam – Unsolicited email, also known as “junk” email,  often sent in bulk and with malicious intent. Spam Trap – After receiving continuous hard bounces to an invalid email address, ESPs can turn that address  into a spam trap and report senders targeting the  “dead” address as spammers (avoided by list hygiene). SPF (Sender Policy Framework) – Official Domain  Name Server (DNS) record indicating an IP address  has permission to send your email. Messages without  SPF authentication will be blocked categorically. Unsubscribes – Number of users who choose to opt-out of email list.

About the Author

Brianna Glenn is a Content Manager on Emma's marketing team. The only thing she loves more than writing is food, which she often experiments with in her spare time. She has a pretty well-known sidekick (her toddler, Miguel) who dances his way into virtual meetings and is famous for making funny faces on camera.

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