MailGraf and email marketing glossary
Plain-language definitions of the MailGraf, email marketing, sending and measurement terms you are likely to meet.
You do not need to read this glossary from beginning to end. Keep it as a reference for the MailGraf, email marketing and sending terms that appear in the app and its guides.
Contacts and consent
Contact
A record that holds an email address and the consent, tags, fields and engagement information connected to it.
List
A fixed group of contacts brought together for a particular purpose, such as a newsletter or customer update.
Segment
An audience selected by rules. Its members change automatically as contact information and behaviour change.
Tag
A short label attached to a contact so you can group, find or target similar people later.
Custom field
A field you create to store information that MailGraf does not include by default, such as membership level or preferred location.
Consent
Permission from a person to receive marketing emails. Having an email address is not, by itself, consent.
Consent status
The contact's current permission state, used to decide whether marketing email can be sent to them.
Single opt-in
A sign-up method that records consent as soon as the form or import is completed, without a separate confirmation email.
Double opt-in
A sign-up method that becomes confirmed only after the person clicks the link in a confirmation email.
Confirmation record
The evidence kept for a confirmed sign-up, including when and how the confirmation happened.
Campaigns and content
Campaign
A marketing email prepared for a chosen audience and sent once, either immediately or at a scheduled time.
Subject line
The main line recipients see for the email in their inbox.
Preview text
The short supporting line many inboxes show beside or below the subject line.
Sender
The name and email address shown in the email's From field.
Email template
A reusable starting design for new campaign or automation emails.
Personalisation
Content that changes for each recipient by using contact information, such as a first name or custom field.
Test email
A copy sent to you or your team for checking. It does not send the campaign to its real audience.
Automations and growth tools
Automation
A sequence that runs when its starting condition is met and carries out steps without a manual campaign send.
Trigger
The event or condition that starts an automation, such as a confirmed sign-up or a contact joining a list.
Automation step
One action or wait inside an automation, such as sending an email, delaying the next action or checking a condition.
Form
A set of fields used to collect contact information and consent from people.
Popup
A form or message that appears over a website page when its display rules are met.
Landing page
A standalone page created for one focused action, such as joining a list or registering interest.
Sending and email health
Sending domain
The domain authorised to send your MailGraf emails and identify them as coming from your organisation.
SPF
A DNS record that says which services are allowed to send email for a domain.
DKIM
A digital signature that lets receiving providers check that an email is authorised and has not been changed in transit.
DMARC
A domain policy that tells receiving providers how to handle email that fails SPF or DKIM checks and where to send reports.
Deliverability
The ability of email to reach recipients' inboxes rather than being rejected or placed in spam.
Bounce
A delivery failure. A hard bounce is usually permanent, while a soft bounce may be temporary.
Complaint
A signal returned when a recipient marks an email as spam.
Block list
Email addresses MailGraf excludes from future sends after an unsubscribe, hard bounce, complaint or manual block.
Email verification
A check that estimates whether an email address is correctly formed and able to receive mail before you send to it.
Measurement and integrations
Open rate
The percentage of delivered emails recorded as opened. Privacy features can affect this measurement, so it is not exact proof that someone read the email.
Click rate
The percentage of delivered emails that recorded at least one tracked link click.
Unsubscribe rate
The percentage of delivered emails that led to a recorded unsubscribe.
UTM parameters
Short values added to a link so analytics tools can attribute a website visit to the right campaign and source.
Engagement score
A value from 0 to 100 based on how recently and how often a contact opens your emails or clicks their links.
API
A structured way for another application to read from or send data to MailGraf.
API key
A secret credential an application uses to prove that it is allowed to make API requests for an account.
Webhook
An automatic message sent to another system when a particular event happens in MailGraf.
Endpoint
A specific API address used for one kind of request, such as creating a contact or reading a list.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to learn all of these terms before I start?
No. Use this page when you meet an unfamiliar term. The guides explain each task in context.
What if the wording in MailGraf is different?
Follow the wording on the screen. Product labels can change as a feature develops, while this glossary explains the underlying idea.
Does every term describe a separate MailGraf feature?
No. Some are general email marketing standards or measurements that help explain how sending works.
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