Email Marketing Terms That You Must Know

Spoofing - the falsification of an email header so that the email appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual source. Illegitimate marketers use spoofing to disguise their identity in an attempt to commit fraud and avoid prosecution for sending UCE or spam. Federal law prohibits spoofing, however, until sender identity can be established, spammers will continue to escape the law.

USP or Unique Selling Proposition - your USP is the unique attribute(s) of your business that makes your company, product or service the best solution to a problem, the best way to fulfill a need or desire or the best way to achieve a goal. Your USP answers the prospect's question: "Why should I do business with you instead of someone else?"

Suppression list (a.k.a. opt-out list) - a list of email addresses whose owners have asked to be removed from an email list so that they longer receive email regarding an advertiser's products or services. A reputable email marketing service makes this process automatic, however, if you use multiple email products, or have multiple databases from which you send emails, you should use a suppression list to process all unsubscribe requests across all lists.