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15 Essential Email Marketing Terms Defined to Make Your Life Easier

Beefree team
Beefree team
Jan 23, 2020
15 Essential Email Marketing Terms Defined to Make Your Life Easier
15 Essential Email Marketing Terms Defined to Make Your Life Easier

There's a lot of misinformation and confusion when it comes to email marketing terms. Many are used in the wrong context and other terms are difficult to understand.This short glossary defines the most important email marketing terms, shares use cases and gives you concrete examples you can adapt to your own needs.

1. Transactional email 

Transactional emails (also known as triggered emails) are a type of automated message triggered by events (and in some cases preferences) performed by a recipient. This type of email is independent of a company’s email marketing campaigns (though some triggered emails such as abandoned cart messages, can perform marketing functions) and deliver necessary information such as a receipt.One of the hallmarks of a transactional email is the inherent personalization. It’s sent to a specific person and contains information that would only be important or useful to the recipient.

Use cases

There are many use cases for transactional emails such as:

  • Receipts
  • Subscription notifications
  • Email address confirmation messages
  • Event registration confirmations
  • Support ticket confirmation notifications
  • Password reset 
  • Verification code in two-factor authentication 

Emails that qualify as transactional are varied. Keep in mind that they’re personalized to the recipient and are triggered in response to an action they’ve taken.

Transactional email example

The above email is triggered after someone makes a purchase through Doordash. It gives the recipient important information about their order. Though there are marketing elements like referring to a friend, that’s not the goal of the message. 

2. Email marketing automation 

Email marketing automation has become popular over the last few years but it’s an email marketing term often confused with other things. It's the process of sending timed or event-triggered emails to subscribers.The definition itself is broad and is open to interpretation. For example, a receipt sent to a new customer as well as a welcome sequence can both be considered email marketing automation.Generally, when you talk about email marketing automation, you’re sending messages that’ll move people further down your funnel, get them to specific landing pages, and encourage the sale.

Use cases 

Because the definition of email marketing automation is so broad, the use cases are also broad. Here are a few that’ll give you a better understanding of what email marketing automation is:

  • Welcome sequence
  • Cart abandonment nurturing sequence
  • Course content delivery 
  • Birthday emails
  • Significant event emails (anniversary, Valentine’s day, etc.)
  • Event promotion
  • Webinar follow-up emails
  • Product launch sequences

Email marketing automation example

The above example is taken from one of the automation we use in our business and is a bit complicated. There are many triggers that are dependent on whether someone has taken an action or not which segments them into different lists, tags, and email sequences.If you’re just starting out, a simple email campaign with a few steps may be more manageable. Work your way up to advanced automation over time.

3. SPAM

SPAM is often difficult to pin down. If you’re launching a new product line but one of your past customers isn’t interested, it can be considered SPAM (Note: you should be running regular re-engagement campaigns to prevent this). To another customer, it’s relevant and timely.In general, the CAN-SPAM Act and its counterparts in different countries define SPAM as unsolicited or unwanted commercial emails that have a primary purpose of advertising or promoting a commercial product or service.Emails classified as SPAM can have stiff penalties of over $40,000 for every email found to be in violation. The good news is that it’s not difficult to stay compliant. Build a permission-based email list and you clean it regularly to make sure you're compliant.

4. Email Open Rate

The email open rate is the percentage of the total recipients who opened the email sent out. The email open rate isn't tied to the total number of subscribers on your list. The open rate varies depending on your industry and the level of personalization you use when sending messages to subscribers.If you want to maximize your email open rates, focus on the subject line and relevance of the message. Try A/B test different subject lines so you can increase your open rate over time. Services like Moosend, ActiveCampaign, etc. make this relatively simple. Finally, it’s important to ensure your email delivery is high so you’re not getting lower open rates based on a technicality.

5. Email Click-Through Rate

The email click-through rate is the percentage of email recipients that clicked on a link in your email. This includes your main CTA as well as unsubscribe links and other secondary clickable elements.You calculate it by taking the total number of clicks and dividing it by the total number of emails sent in the campaign and expressing the final number as a percentage.Increase it by creating relevant messages and providing multiple opportunities for people to click on your links. That means you should place the same link in your email at strategic places to increase its visibility.

6. Drip Email Sequence

An email drip sequence, also known as an email drip campaign, is a predefined series of emails. They go out to a targeted group of email subscribers on a time schedule or after specific criteria have been fulfilled. The better the drip sequence the more likely they are to help you achieve your goal order to achieve a specific goal.The email marketing term describes emails that share educational content, marketing material, or even announcements in order to close a sale or achieve something important to you.For example, a website visitor signs up to get a PDF about taking care of orchids. The drip related drip sequence sends an email every two days and focuses on different aspects of orchid care. Towards the end of the drip sequence, the messages focus on selling a detailed course that covers all aspects of orchid care.

Use cases

Drip campaigns are used to promote almost anything which makes them quite versatile. The benefit is that you don’t go directly for the sale but instead focus on instilling buying beliefs and building a relationship. Use them to:

  • Welcome subscribers
  • Launch products
  • Introduce concepts
  • Teach complicated lessons or deliver a course
  • Sell existing products

Example drip sequences

7. Double Opt-in 

A double opt-in is when someone signs up for an email list and they receive a transactional email asking them to confirm their willingness to join the list. If they don’t click the link then they won’t become part of the mailing list.Double opt-ins are used to ensure contacts didn’t sign up accidentally and to comply with regulations such as GDPR. At the same time, you protect yourself from spam signups and increase the quality of your mailing list.

8. Email Newsletter

An email newsletter, as the name implies, is an email sent out to inform your subscribers about news, updates, tips, promotions, etc. related to them or your company. Use email newsletters as one-off self-contained campaigns.Email newsletters are the most common type of email and tend to be sent regularly to subscribers. The frequency you choose should be something you’re able to deliver consistently so your subscribers remain engaged with your brand.Newsletters also vary widely when it comes to design. Some of them are plain text while others follow the latest graphic design trends to create unique experiences. What you choose depends largely on your niche.

9. Email Template

An email template is a predesigned or prewritten email (usually an HTML file) that can be tweaked and reused multiple items to quickly create high-quality email campaigns. One of the major benefits of an email template is saving time. It also creates a consistent style for your brand so when people see your messages in their inbox, they have brand recall.

Use cases

Use email templates wherever emails are used but consider creating different templates for different situations:

  • Transactional emails 
  • Confirmation emails 
  • Newsletters
  • Drip campaigns

Email template example

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Take a look at more of the BEE email templates you can use to send beautiful emails.

10. Email list hygiene 

Email list hygiene is the process of checking the status of contacts on your list and removing the ones who no longer open or otherwise interact with your messages. These emails may have gone “cold” for a number of reasons but if they remain on your list your open rates will reduce and email deliverability may be impacted.Clean your email list regularly by removing bounced emails or contacts who haven’t opened your emails in months. This ensures that only the people who want to receive your messages will get them.

11. Email bounce rate

Email bounce rate is the percentage of emails sent out that are returned by the mail sender as undeliverable. In essence, the email bounces back to you without getting to the intended recipient. There are two major types of email bounces:

  • Hard Bounce. A hard bounce is an email that’s returned undelivered because it wasn’t accepted by the recipient’s mail server. In other words, the email address doesn’t exist, the domain doesn’t exist, or the server has completely blocked delivery.  
  • Soft Bounce. The recipient’s mail server sends the email back after it has been accepted. Soft bounces usually show the email address is right but something is preventing your message from getting through. Common reasons include the server is down, the inbox is full, or the email you’re sending is too large. 

12. Email lead scoring 

Lead scoring is a powerful tool that can help you identify your most engaged subscribers and customers. It’s the process of assigning a numerical score to actions your subscribers take and using that to sort and rank them. When done correctly, a higher score translates to higher interest in your products and services and a greater likelihood to purchase when you send well-designed sales emails.Develop a clear understanding of what actions deserve to be scored before you implement this strategy. You should also consider how much weight (or how many points) each action should carry.Someone opening your email won't be weighted as much as someone clicking a link. A link click won’t carry as much weight as someone who replies to an email. After someone has a high enough score, you segment them and interact with them differently going forward.

13. Email list segmentation 

Email list segmentation is the process of splitting your subscribers into different groups based on criteria important to you. Use it to increase personalization and ROI from email campaigns. You may already do this if you maintain individual lists for people who signed up for different lead magnets on your website.That’s one of the most basic forms of email segmentation and you can go much further with behavioral segmentation. It takes into consideration the pages they’re visiting on your website, the types of emails they’re opening, and the links they’re clicking on.There are countless ways to segment subscribers but it’s important to only use the factors important to you. For example, if you’re selling computers, segmenting based on gender may be irrelevant. If you’re selling clothes or accessories, gender may be extremely important. When selling software, psychographic segmentation may be more important than demographic segmentation.Think about or find the different groups in your audience and which type of email list segmentation will have the most impact on your revenue.

14. Cart abandonment email sequence

An abandoned cart email is an automated email sent to a recipient after they’ve added items to their cart but didn’t complete the checkout process before leaving the website. They’re an essential aspect of an eCommerce business because the cart abandonment rate is a high as 70%.A simple 3-part cart abandonment email sequence can recover as much as 15% of the revenue that would have otherwise been lost. It’s important to start the process quickly so you engage with subscribers while the purchase they were considering is still top of mind.

Cart abandonment email example

example of abandoned cart email marketing terms

15. Dynamic email content 

Dynamic email content is an email marketing term imagery or text that changes based on the characteristics of the recipient. These characteristics are anything that matters to you and helps you achieve your goal.For example, you can send the same email to two subscribers but one is a male and one is female. In the email sent to the female subscriber, the imagery and change to focus on high heel shoes. In the email sent to the male, the imagery and text focus on men’s brogues.Use it with templates or create it from scratch. The limitations of how you can set up dynamic content are set by your email marketing provider. Some of them are like ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact or their alternatives are extremely flexible while others don’t support it at all.

Conclusion

These email marketing terms are essential if you want to make the most of your beautiful templates and your campaigns.The list isn’t exhaustive but it’ll point you in the right direction so you can make the most of every email you send.

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Marketo Engage is a powerful tool for marketing automation, but when it comes to email design flexibility, many users find its built-in editor limiting. Creating visually compelling, mobile-responsive emails often requires custom coding or workarounds, slowing down workflow and making it harder to execute high-quality campaigns efficiently.

That is where Beefree comes in. By integrating Beefree’s no-code, drag-and-drop email design platform with Marketo Engage’s advanced automation capabilities, teams can build professional, responsive emails without coding headaches and push them directly to Marketo in just a few clicks.

This article explores:

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  • How Beefree solves these pain points
  • A step-by-step guide to integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage
  • Common FAQs and troubleshooting tips

The challenges of designing emails directly in Marketo

Marketo’s built-in email editor is useful for basic templates but presents several limitations for marketers and designers.

  • Limited design flexibility – Customizing layouts, fonts, or interactive elements can be difficult without custom HTML or Marketo’s proprietary syntax.
  • Technical barriers – Advanced customizations often require HTML knowledge or an understanding of Marketo’s email template language, which may not be ideal for non-technical teams.
  • Time-consuming manual processes – Without a centralized style kit, teams may struggle to stay on-brand and often have to manually recreate headers, footers, and other reusable content blocks for each email, adding extra steps and slowing down production.

Due to these challenges, many marketing teams turn to external email builders like Beefree, FeedOtter, or Knak to improve design efficiency and automation.

(source)

Why Beefree is the best email builder for Marketo Engage

While other external email builders like Knak and FeedOtter also integrate with Marketo, Beefree offers distinct advantages.

  • No-code drag-and-drop builder – Enables teams to design professional emails without writing any code.
  • Advanced design features – Provides more customization options beyond what Marketo’s built-in editor allows.
  • Mobile-responsive templates – Ensures emails adjust automatically for both desktop and mobile devices.
  • One-click export to Marketo – Simplifies the process of moving email designs directly into Marketo Engage.
  • Ability to update existing templates – Allows quick updates without requiring manual re-imports of HTML files.
  • Team collaboration – Enables teams to work together in real time, with built-in guardrails and approval controls to ensure error-free emails before exporting.

By integrating Beefree with Marketo, marketing teams eliminate design frustrations and manual email imports, allowing them to focus on high-performing email campaigns.

Learn more about Beefree's integration with Marketo Enagage [https://support.beefree.io/hc/en-us/articles/24837761625618-Export-Emails-to-Marketo]

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How to update existing email templates in Marketo

Instead of manually editing HTML, Beefree allows users to edit emails in Beefree and update existing ones in Marketo Engage with one click.

  1. Open the email design in Beefree.
  2. Make changes and click “Export.”
  3. Select “Update Existing” to overwrite the previous version in Marketo Engage.

This feature ensures that emails and templates remain up to date without requiring complex HTML edits or duplicates.

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Frequently asked questions on using Beefree with Marketo Engage

Can I use Beefree with other ESPs besides Marketo Engage?

Yes! You can connect Beefree to any ESP, MAP, or CRM including Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and others. To learn more about how to integrate Beefree to your sending platform watch the video below: 

For a full list of our native integrations visit [https://beefree.io/integrations].

Are there any limitations when exporting Beefree emails to Marketo?

Yes, there are a few important limitations to be aware of:

  • Charset emojis are not supported in Marketo. Including emojis in your email content may result in an error. To prevent this, Beefree automatically replaces unsupported emojis with a placeholder. For more details, refer to the [Marketo documentation on emoji support].

Preheader text is not a native field in Marketo. However, Beefree includes it by embedding the preheader directly in the email's HTML code during export.

Additional resources and links

Why you should use Beefree with Marketo Engage

By integrating Beefree with Marketo Engage, marketing teams gain a faster, more flexible way to build high-converting, on-brand email campaigns—while leveraging Marketo’s powerful automation and analytics to track performance and optimize results.

  • Design responsive, professional emails with ease.
  • Maintain brand consistency across every message.
  • Collaborate efficiently and gain insights to improve campaign performance.

Ready to elevate your Marketo email marketing? Try Beefree today and streamline your entire email creation process.

Start your 15-day free Business trial today!

(source)

What Are Email Security Gateways? A Guide to Secure Communications

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Email is king when it comes to talking directly to your customers. Sure, we might send texts or share voice notes, but we all still check our emails. It’s how we keep in touch with work and the businesses we connect with. 

As an email marketer, this puts you in prime position to get your business’s brand right into the hands of your customers. The problem, however, is that you must first get past the metaphorical guard dog known as the secure email gateway (SEG). 

SEGs use sophisticated methods to identify and block spam and phishing emails from ever entering a person’s inbox. While your email newsletters should go through, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will. That’s why businesses need to know what a secure email gateway is and how it works. Know this key info, and you’ll be able to improve the chances of your emails reaching their destination. 

What are email security gateways? 

Protecting yourself from cyber threats is the basis of all cybersecurity risk assessment services. One of the biggest gaps in any security armor is phishing emails. If they get through and someone clicks a link they shouldn’t have, it’s almost impossible to stop the damage. 

The victim could be anyone. The link could lead to a ransomware virus that holds your data captive or be the start of a data breach. It could even lead to a traditional scam that has you input your credit card details so a thief can steal them. 

For all these reasons and more, email providers consistently invest in security features to help protect their customers. One such feature is an email security gateway. 

A secure email gateway uses AI and machine learning to screen incoming emails, identify spam, and stop it from entering. If there’s any doubt, the system quarantines the email in your spam box for review. 

Why are secure email gateways important?

While we are getting better at filtering out spam emails, an estimated 45.6% of emails sent in 2023 were still spam. This poses a massive security risk for consumers, businesses, and governments alike. 

According to IBM, businesses are hit the hardest, with the global average cost of each successful phishing attack increasing to $4.88M USD. The attacks don’t just hit businesses, either, with attacks targeting individuals and even charities.

Just as phishing and spam emails have become more sophisticated, so have the tools designed to protect against them. All providers, including big names like Gmail, use SEGs to secure communications and other features, such as Gmail’s unsubscribe feature

What do SEGs flag as spam? 

SEGs continually update their parameters. This means that what they check for is constantly in flux. What SEGs look for today, for example, could include: 

  • Strange or suspicious subject lines
  • Highly urgent capitalization or excessive exclamation points
  • Strange URLs
  • Poor grammar and/or spelling
  • Generic greetings that don’t address the recipient 
  • Suspicious email addresses
  • The volume of emails sent at once
  • Attachment types 
  • Image-heavy content 

SEGs are far more advanced than just ticking boxes, but that doesn’t mean your emails can’t get blocked or sent to spam. After all, you might put together a great email campaign, but if your email is too image-heavy, it might get quarantined or sent to spam. 

The good news is that once you know what the SEGs look for, you can work to design better emails. Beefree can help you get started, with a range of templates for responsive email designs.

How to create newsletters with secure email gateways in mind 

The good news is that you can implement and send out most, if not all, of your newsletter ideas without issue. So long as the emails are well-made and are sent at a reasonable frequency, you’ll be golden. 

Start by first improving your security methods

In general, you should always look at ramping up the security measures in your business. You can use one of the top types of risk assessment matrix to understand your business's threats and how to resolve them. Then, since you already have that information, you can use it to create better newsletters and emails. 

Make sure the personalization feature works

One of the biggest red flags for an SEG is a generic greeting. Adding Dear Sir/Madam at the start isn’t going to fly in today’s world. Even if your email gets through, it’s unlikely the recipient will open it. 

That’s why you need personalization. Linking your email marketing tools to your customer relationship management system means you can offer easy personalization, like addressing your customers by name, or even offering personalized recommendations based on their order history. 

Avoid image-only emails 

Image-only emails are tempting for an email marketer. They’re striking, they look good, and you can fine-tune what they look like in Photoshop or another image editor. 

They can also be a red flag for SEGs.

Thankfully, the solution is simple: enrich your emails. The best part about this approach is that it also improves the accessibility. Improving email accessibility will help ensure that all your customers can engage with your emails on their terms. Those emails will also load faster, look great on all devices, and be more engaging. 

Align your emails with the landing pages 

SEGs look out for suspicious links. A link might be suspicious if there’s a misspelling or if the link doesn’t sound like the content in the email. So, how do you ensure that SEGs don’t see any of your links as suspicious? 

You make them predictable. 

An easy way to do this is to create a landing page from an email. On top of aligning the landing page with the content of the newsletter, you’ll want to: 

  • Make a custom URL for every link that matches the content of the page 
  • Ensure there’s no misspelling
  • Don’t use urgent language around your link

Use 2FA to boost security

Do you need 2FA to get past SEGs? No, but it’s a great way to help protect you and your customers. 

You can protect sensitive data by adding user identity verification. For example, a customer may get an order confirmation email but wants to cancel or change the delivery details. Including a two-factor authentication step ensures only the customer can request changes. 

Building in extra security features puts your customers at ease. It also protects your endpoints and, in turn, your business. So, no, you don’t need 2FA to get past SEGs, but it’s worth looking into for you and your customers’ protection. 

Avoid urgency 

Urgency can be a flag for SEGs. So: 

  • DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS
  • Minimize the use of exclamation points

Think of the copy in your newsletter as a chance to win over your audience, not scare them into clicking the link. Doing this will improve your relationship with your customers since they’ve come to you on their terms. It’s also essential to get emails past the SEG.

Key takeaways 

Secure email gateways are a primary defense against spam and phishing attacks, but they can pose a problem for email marketers. By working to understand the security risks associated with email scams, you can then understand what your email needs to make it into inboxes. 

From there, you’ll want to make your emails more personable, accessible, and secure. Once you’ve found that sweet spot, your newsletters will be more likely to get past the secure email gateway and into your audience’s inboxes. 

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