Small Business Resource Power Point Series

Guide to

E-mail Promotion Terminology

Introduction

E-mail marketing is littered with jargon. Some terms are self explanatory while others are downright obscure.

This PowerPoint offers a plain English explanation of the most commonly used terms.

Spam

The term ‘spam’ originates from the famous Monty Python sketch – the one with the Vikings!

It refers to e-mail sent to someone who has not requested, or given permission for mail to be sent to them.

Opt-in / Permission Based

Subscribing to an e-mail list or newsletter. Thus we have ‘opt-in’ mailing lists, which bring a good response rate since the people contacted have chosen to receive your information.

Opt-out is when a subscriber chooses to end his subscription.

Hard/Soft Bounce

When an e-mail is not delivered to its intended recipient it is ‘bounced’ back to you.

A soft bounce indicates a temporary problem, a hard bounce indicates a permanent matter – like a non existent address.

E-mail Blocking

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often prevent e-mail from reaching it’s intended recipient when they believe that the mail is spam, or comes from a source believed to be a spammer.

This is known as e-mail blocking.

Targeting

Targeting is the practice of selecting a group of people who are likely to be interested in your product or service, and directing your campaign at them.

For instance, if you sell pet food, you might target dog and cat owners.

CPM

Refers to the cost per 1000 names on a mailing list.

UCE

Unsolicited Commercial E-mail - another name for Spam.

CTR

Stands for Click Through Rate. This refers to the percentage of times a particular URL in your e-mail was followed.

A URL is the address you type into your web browser (or click on in a hyperlink) to bring up a particular page.

Signature File

A short text file that is added to the end of every e-mail sent out. It typically includes the senders name and company name.

It also gives another marketing opportunity. You might include a hyperlink to your web page here.

House List

May also be known as a ‘Retention List’ – it is a mailing list you have built up from existing customers.

It is used to keep in touch with your customers, send them special offers etc.

Viral Marketing

This simply means customers telling their friends about your products or services.

Including options on your web page to ‘send this page to a friend’ encourages this valuable type of marketing.

Above the Fold

Refers to the part of the web page which is visible immediately to the customer, that is, the bit you can see without having to scroll down or across.

Placing items here increases sales for that particular product.

HTML e-mail

You can send e-mail using either plain text, or text formatted with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

HTML allows different fonts to be used and graphics incorporated into your e-mails.

Open/Conversion Rate

The Open Rate is the percentage, of e-mails that were actually opened, of the total number sent out.

The Conversion Rate is the percentage of e-mails that resulted in sales.

Acquisition List

Also called a Rental List, this is a mailing list which you ‘rent’ that gives names of targeted, opted-in, customers.

Lists may be organised by the customers interests, profession, age group etc.

PowerPoint ContentAs such, the contents should not be relied upon and professional advice should be taken in specific cases.

In addition, none of the content of this PowerPoint or related publications or links will form any part of any contract between us or constitutes an offer by Strategic Marketing Ventures Ltd

Powerpoint User GuidelinesThese Power points are for the personal use of members of any of the online marketing resource centres provided by Small Business Resource Ltd.

Members may download these Power points and re-brand and amend provided the following attribution is stated at the end.

“This Powerpoint has been sourced from Small Business Resource Ltd.”

Reasons to joinTo get more PowerPoints like these

To get free downloads

To get discounts on our services

To get access to our resource centre

Many other Powerpoints in this seriesin the members area