Bulk Email Marketing - Terms & Definitions

Bulk Email Marketing

Bulk email marketing is when mass email is sent to targeted email lists. The amount of email sent can range from thousands to millions.

Email Blast Software

The name of software used to send bulk email. Email blast software can be used for email prospecting to generate new leads.

Spam

In the mass email marketing industry spam is the word used for unsolicited email. Whenever you send bulk email there is a risk the recipient might consider it spam. That's why it's always a good idea to use targeted email lists so the email is relevant to the recipient. An unsolicited email can suddenly turn into a welcomed one when a targeted email list is used.

Spam Traps

Spam traps are fake email addresses that are purposely picked up by data mining bots. These bogus email addresses set off flags when they receive email and the source is tracked down and blacklisted. Whenever using email blast software it's always recommended to clean your email lists with a suppression list of known spam trap emails.

Targeted Email Lists

A targeted email list is an email list of a specific demographic, location, profession or industry.

List Management

List management is used in conjunction with mass email software. When dealing with vast amounts of data it's best to organize it however you can. Then your targeted email lists become even more specialized and you can improve the open rate of your emails.

Whitelisted

A trusted list of domain names that aren't blocked by spam filters. A whitelisted company doesn't allow you to send bulk email, also known as email prospecting. This is why deliver-ability is so low with email blast software. The IP addresses or domain names aren't whitelist.

Blacklisted

A blacklist is a list of domain names or email addresses know for email spam. This is the first line of defense for the ISP spam filters, if the incoming domain is blacklisted the email is immediately blocked. If you send bulk email make sure your not sending from a blacklisted domain, expect little to no deliver-ability.

Netblocks

Simply a block of consecutive IP addresses

550 5.1.1 entry

This is the error code received when you send bulk email and encounter problems like "unknown address" or "invalid user". However depending on the ISP this code can vary so always check the description text associated with the error.

Reverse DNS

This translates the IP address into an actual host name, for example "mysite.com". It is especially important to have a reverse DNS setup if you send bulk email because most ISP's automatically block email with no RDNS.

Internet Protocol (IP) address

An IP address is essentially the same thing as the address for your house so you can get mail delivered. It is the address or identity of a computer connected to the internet.

Recipient

A recipient is the receiver of an email message.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

This is the internet standard used for email transmission throughout the IP networks.

Sender Score

This score determines whether an email needs to be blocked or not. It's based on the reputation of the IP address being used. If the IP has spam complaints against it or is blacklisted chances are your score will be very low and most emails won't be delivered.

Hard Bounce

When an email is rejected due to an invalid send address.

Spamhaus

A collection of spam blocking databases. These lists are updated in real-time and are used by most ISP's to block a good majority of bulk email spam.

Opt-In

This is when someone voluntarily sign-ups to receive regular email updates from a business.

Opt-Out

When you opt-out you are unsubscribing from the email list that was used to send the email. You will no longer receive future emails when you opt-out of an email list.

Split Testing - A vs. B

This method of marketing is simply an experiment. Send out two different versions of a template both offering the same thing. The differences would include template layout, spacing, colors or images.

Landing Page

A page from your website that the user goes to (or lands on) when a link is clicked.