Deliverability Terminology You Need to Know

<p>It’s starting to look like fall in many parts of the country, so you know what that means! Pumpkin spice! Just kidding. Back-to-school! Today, we’re going to do a little vocab lesson and make sure we’re all up-to-date on the lingo being tossed around in the deliverability world. </p><p>We’re going to define each term, and if need be, point you to more in-depth resources about each one. Get your baggy sweatshirts and binders out, because this is a lecture you’ll want to listen to! </p><p><strong>Deliverability Terms</strong></p><ul> <li> <strong>Delivery</strong> — When an email is successfully delivered at the end of the email sending process.</li> <li> <strong>Deliverability</strong> — When an email reaches the inbox of a subscriber.</li> <li> <strong>Spam Filter</strong> — The algorithms and machine learning that filters emails for its users, and decides whether emails belong in the inbox, spam folder, or somewhere else.</li> <li> <strong>Complaint</strong> — When a subscriber marks a message as spam.</li> <li> <strong>Feedback Loop</strong> — The way that mailbox providers can send complaint information back to the sender.</li> <li> <strong>Mailbox Provider</strong> — The platform that a subscriber uses to host their mailbox.</li> <li> <strong>Domain</strong> — The part of an email address after the “@” symbol.</li> <li> <strong>Spam Trap</strong> — An email address that is used to catch senders with bad practices.</li> <li> <strong>Blocklist</strong> — A company or organization that compiles a database of risky domains or IP addresses.</li> <li> <strong>Authentication</strong> — Methods to help ensure that the person sending the email is who they say they are. The three types are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.</li> <li> <strong>Message Headers</strong> — The "transcript" of the email.</li> <li> <strong>MX Record</strong> — A domain record that specifies the mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a domain name.</li> <li> <strong>Open/Open Rate</strong> — Opens are tracked using an