Author: Loïc Bresler

You’ve just sent out your email campaign. The statistics start to come in and then, surprise: some of your emails never reached their destination. The report shows “bounces”. Some are described as “hard”, others as “soft”. And you wonder what this means in concrete terms for your next mailings.

These bounces aren’t just a line in your statistics. They tell us something about the health of your contact base and the perception e-mail providers have of you as a sender. Understanding the difference between hard bounce and soft bounce gives you the means to take action before your deliverability deteriorates permanently.

Hard bounce: when the email is definitively rejected

A hard bounce is a permanent rejection. Your e-mail will never reach this address, no matter how many times you try. The receiving server has answered categorically: this address does not exist or is no longer accessible.

Mail servers communicate with each other via response codes. A hard bounce generally results in a code of type 5XX, signifying a definitive error. The receiving server refuses to accept the message and will not reverse its decision.

There are several situations that can lead to a hard bounce. The email address contains a typo, which is more common than you might think. The account has been deleted by its owner or by the email provider after a long period of inactivity. The domain name no longer exists or has been deactivated. In some cases, the receiving server permanently blocks your domain or IP address because it considers you undesirable.

Authentication failure can also generate a hard bounce. If your SPF, DKIM or DMARC records are misconfigured, some servers will refuse your emails outright. This technical problem has become more frequent since Gmail and Yahoo tightened their requirements in February 2024.

Soft bounce: a temporary problem that can be solved

The soft bounce is different. The address does exist, the server has recognized it, but the message could not be delivered this time. This is a temporary failure.

Soft bounce response codes are generally of type 4XX. The server indicates that it cannot process the request now, but that a subsequent attempt may be successful.

The recipient’s inbox is full. It’s a classic, especially when someone goes on vacation without having set up an automatic reply. Emails accumulate until they reach saturation point. The recipient’s mail server is experiencing a temporary technical problem or is undergoing maintenance. Your email is too large and exceeds the limits accepted by the server. The content of your message has triggered a spam filter, but the server is giving you a chance to correct it.

Most emailing platforms automatically make several attempts to send the message when they receive a soft bounce. If after several attempts, generally between three and five, the message still fails to arrive, the address is treated as a hard bounce.

The fundamental difference between the two types of bounce

The distinction is simple, but the consequences are far-reaching. A hard bounce means that the address is definitively unusable. A soft bounce indicates a one-off problem that may disappear.

Features	Hard bounce	Soft bounce
Type of problem	Permanent	Temporary
Possibility of recovery	No	Possible after resolution
Recommended action	Immediate deletion	Monitoring and retries
Impact on reputation	Strong and immediate	Moderate if recurrent

In your campaign reports, the two types of bounces are generally distinguished. This separation allows you to adopt the right strategy for each category. Deleting a hard bounce is obvious. For a soft bounce, the decision depends on its recurrence.

Why bounces damage your reputation as a sender

Messaging providers keep a close eye on sender behavior. Every campaign you send helps build your reputation. A high bounce rate sends a negative signal: you’re not properly maintaining your contact base.

According to the Validity Email Deliverability Benchmark 2024 report, around one in six emails never reaches its recipient’s inbox. The overall inbox placement rate is around 84%. Bounces contribute directly to this wastage.

In fact, Gmail tightened its policies during 2024. The inbox placement rate on Gmail fell from 89.8% at the start of the year to 87.2% in the fourth quarter, following the implementation of new requirements for bulk senders.

Beyond a 2% bounce rate on a campaign, your deliverability starts to deteriorate. ISP spam filters take this rate into account when deciding whether to accept your next mailings. A high proportion of hard bounces can lead servers to consider your messages as spam. And once this label has been applied, it’s hard to get rid of.

Bounce rates vary according to your business sector

Not all sectors are equal when it comes to bounces. Mailchimp data from December 2023, based on the analysis of billions of emails, reveals significant discrepancies.

The construction sector has the highest hard bounce rate at 1.28%. At the other end of the scale, coupon and bargain sites achieve only 0.13%. E-commerce stands at 0.57%, travel and transport at 1.02%.

These differences are partly explained by address collection practices. Some sectors collect contacts via well-designed online forms with double opt-in. Others have been accumulating addresses for years without ever cleaning them up. The quality of the base is directly reflected in the bounce rate.

The B-to-B sector generally has slightly higher rates than B2C. Business addresses change more often: departures, job changes, company mergers. An address that was valid six months ago may well have disappeared since then.

Best practices for reducing your bounces

Removing hard bounces from your lists immediately is non-negotiable. Continuing to send emails to addresses that no longer exist will damage your reputation without any possible benefit. Your emailing platform should handle this automatically, but check regularly to make sure it does.

For soft bounces, adopt a differentiated approach. An isolated soft bounce is not dramatic. On the other hand, if an address generates soft bounces over three or four consecutive campaigns, it’s time to consider it a hard bounce and remove it from your list.

Double opt-in remains the best defence against bounces. By asking each new contact to confirm their registration via a validation email, you eliminate typos and fanciful registrations. Yes, you lose a few contacts who won’t confirm. But the ones that remain are of real quality.

Validate email addresses as soon as they are collected. Real-time verification tools can detect syntax errors, non-existent domains or disposable addresses before they even enter your database. It’s an investment that quickly pays for itself.

Cleaning up your e-mail database regularly should be part of your routine. At least once a quarter for active bases. Addresses that never open your e-mails for more than a year deserve a re-engagement campaign. If they still don’t respond, delete them.

The technical configuration of your sending domain is no longer optional. SPF, DKIM and DMARC must be correctly configured. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require these authentications for senders of more than 5,000 emails per day. Even below this threshold, correct configuration will improve your deliverability.

Maintaining a healthy foundation: a profitable investment

Managing bounces is not an administrative constraint. It’s a performance lever for your email campaigns.

A clean base means a better deliverability rate. A better deliverability rate means more recipients actually receive your messages. And more messages received mechanically means more opens, more clicks, more conversions.

Emailing platforms generally charge by the number of contacts or the volume sent. Keeping invalid addresses in your database means paying for nothing. Worse, it’s paying to damage your reputation.

List hygiene is not an exciting subject. Nobody gets up in the morning thinking they’re going to have a great day cleaning up their contact database. But it’s this in-depth work that makes the difference between average and excellent deliverability. Between campaigns that reach the inbox and campaigns that end up as spam.

Frequently asked questions about bounces

WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE BOUNCE RATE FOR AN EMAIL CAMPAIGN?

A bounce rate of less than 2% is considered acceptable. Below 1%, your database is in excellent health. Above 2%, it’s time to investigate and clean up your contact list to avoid deliverability problems.

SHOULD YOU DELETE A CONTACT AFTER A SINGLE SOFT BOUNCE?

No, an isolated soft bounce does not justify deletion. Wait and see if the problem recurs. After three to five consecutive soft bounces on different campaigns, you can consider the address a hard bounce and remove it.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY BOUNCE RATE IS DUE TO A TECHNICAL PROBLEM?

If your bounce rate rises sharply on a campaign when it was previously stable, first check your technical configuration. A problem with SPF or DKIM authentication can cause massive rejections. Check the detailed error codes in your platform’s reports.

DOES DOUBLE OPT-IN REALLY REDUCE BOUNCES?

Double opt-in virtually eliminates hard bounces due to data entry errors and false addresses. It’s the most effective way of ensuring that every address in your database is valid and belongs to someone who wants to receive your communications.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU CLEAN YOUR CONTACT DATABASE?

Quarterly cleaning is the minimum for an active base. If you send out very frequent campaigns, or if your base evolves rapidly, a monthly check is preferable. Remember also to clean up before each major campaign.

DO BOUNCES PERMANENTLY AFFECT MY REPUTATION?

No, sender reputation is built over time. A few campaigns with a high bounce rate may temporarily worsen your score, but by improving your practices, you can gradually build it back up. Consistency in list hygiene is the key.

WHY ARE MY EMAILS BOUNCING OFF ADDRESSES THAT USED TO WORK?

Business addresses have a limited lifespan. If an employee leaves a company, his or her address is often deleted. Inactive personal accounts can also be closed by e-mail providers. That’s why regular cleaning of your database is essential.

Is artificial intelligence revolutionizing email marketing? Software publishers and the specialized media are quick to claim so. However, beyond the hype, the reality on the ground is more nuanced. AI does not replace the fundamentals of the profession. It amplifies them. And that’s precisely what makes it so interesting for B2B professionals.

Emailing remains the most profitable direct marketing channel, with an average return on investment of 32 euros for every dollar invested, according to the DMA UK. This figure has not changed, despite the arrival of new channels. What has changed is the way in which each campaign can now be optimized using algorithms.

B2B email marketing has never been so alive

The death of email is regularly heralded. Since 2007, articles have been pitting emailing against social networks and predicting its decline. It has to be said that these predictions have not come true.

Company employees have been using e-mail since the 90s. Its use became widespread in the early 2000s, and unlike the habits of private individuals, who are evolving with instant messaging, business communication patterns remain relatively stable. A B-to-B decision-maker checks his mailbox several times a day. This is where they receive the information that matters to their business.

The average email open rate in 2024 reached 26.6%, up 6% on the previous year according to industry studies. Large companies are even reporting opening rates of 35.53%, suggesting that segmentation and personalization are paying off.

The arrival of AI in this context is not a rupture. Rather, it’s a logical evolution. Emailing platforms are gradually integrating AI functionalities to help marketers target, write and send better. According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing 2024 report, 32% of marketing organizations have already fully integrated AI, and 43% are in the experimentation phase.

What AI means for B2B marketers

Let’s get down to business. What can artificial intelligence really bring to the day-to-day work of a B-to-B marketing or sales manager?

The first benefit is time savings. According to HubSpot’s State of AI survey, AI saves 84% of professionals surveyed time on manual tasks: planning, data entry, repetitive tasks. 64% of them believe that this freed-up time enables them to devote themselves to more creative missions. Less time is spent formatting spreadsheets, and more thinking about strategy.

The second contribution concerns personalization. AI analyzes volumes of data that no human could process manually. It identifies patterns of behavior, preferences and moments that are conducive to engagement. It allows us to adapt the message to each recipient, not in a superficial way with a first name in the subject line, but in a deeper way based on the history of interaction.

The third contribution is predictive. AI doesn’t just analyze the past. It anticipates. When is the best time to send an e-mail to a given prospect? Which subject line is most likely to be opened? Which contacts are most likely to convert? These questions can now be answered in figures, even if they remain probabilities.

Personalization goes industrial

Personalization is not a new concept in email marketing. For years now, we’ve been inserting the recipient’s first name in the subject line, or adapting content according to industry sector. What changes with AI is the scale at which we can operate.

Emails with dynamic content have a conversion rate three times higher than conventional emails. AI enables this dynamic content to be generated automatically, based on the prospect’s browsing behavior, past interactions and profile.

Let’s take a concrete example. A prospect visits your site, consults a page on deliverability solutions, and downloads a white paper on the subject. AI can automatically trigger a personalized email that takes up this theme, with additional resources adapted to the prospect’s level of maturity in the sales tunnel. With no human intervention required for each mailing.

Marketers who segment their lists see up to 760% increase in revenue generated per email. With AI, audience segmentation becomes dynamic. It adjusts in real time according to observed behaviors, without the need to manually redefine criteria.

But it’s important to keep things in perspective. 93% of consumers feel that the emails they receive are not relevant enough. The bar is high. AI is a powerful tool, but not a magic wand.

Dispatch optimization becomes predictive

What time should you send your campaign? What day of the week? These questions have been on marketers’ minds for as long as they can remember. Traditional answers were based on statistical averages: Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, avoid Monday and Friday.

AI is changing the game. It analyzes the individual behavior of each contact. Pierre opens his emails on Tuesday at 9am, Marie on Thursday at the end of the day. Sending can now be optimized contact by contact, which was unthinkable a few years ago.

The results are measurable. Automated emails have 52% higher open rates than standard campaigns. Their click-through rates are 332% higher. These figures can be explained in part by the relevance of the timing, but also by the consistency of the message with the context of the recipient.

Another promising field of application is email object optimization. AI can suggest object variants, predict their performance, and even perform automated A/B testing on a large scale. Some tools report a 44% increase in sales through automatic optimization of objects and content. These figures should be taken with a grain of salt, as they are highly context-dependent.

AI-powered email marketing would deliver a 13% increase in click-through rates and a 41% increase in revenue, according to Adobe. Again, these results vary according to the maturity of each organization and the quality of the data available.

Scoring and intelligent segmentation

Behavioral scoring has long been a feature of emailing platforms. Contacts are awarded points based on their actions: opening, clicking, visiting the site, downloading. AI enhances this approach in several ways.

First, it takes more signals into account. Not just email interactions, but also website behavior, CRM data, and external signals where available. It builds a more complete profile of each prospect, a 360-degree vision as we sometimes say.

Secondly, it detects patterns invisible to the human eye. Certain combinations of behavior, certain sequences of actions, may indicate an imminent intention to buy. AI identifies these and triggers the right actions at the right time. A salesperson alerted at the precise moment when the prospect is ripe changes everything.

75% of salespeople agree that AI integrations in their CRM boost sales, according to available data. 73% say these integrations make teams more productive.

For teams looking to automate their prospecting, AI offers new possibilities. It makes it possible to prioritize contacts to be processed, identify high-potential accounts, personalize the approach on a large scale without sacrificing quality.

Limits to keep in mind

AI is not a miracle solution. A number of pitfalls lie in wait for organizations that jump in headlong without taking the time to think things through.

The first pitfall concerns data. AI is only as good as the data that feeds it. No more, no less. A poorly qualified contact base, outdated or erroneous data will produce disappointing results. According to the Salesforce report, only 31% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify their customer data sources. The rest are struggling with silos and inconsistencies.

The second pitfall is the risk of bias. Amazon had to abandon an AI-based recruitment tool after discovering that it discriminated against female applicants. Algorithms reproduce and sometimes amplify the biases present in training data. In email marketing, this can mean over-soliciting certain segments or unintentionally excluding other interesting profiles.

The third pitfall is dehumanization. B-to-B emailing is all about human relations. An email that’s too obviously machine-generated, too smooth, too perfect can arouse distrust. Recipients like to feel that a human being has taken an interest in them, that they’re not just a line in a database.

In fact, only 5% of marketers use AI to write entire articles. 96% of those who use generative AI say they have to make changes to the text before publication. Human intervention remains indispensable, and that’s probably a good thing.

How to integrate AI into your emailing strategy without turning everything upside down

Do we need to rethink everything? Not necessarily. AI can be integrated gradually, starting with the most mature and least risky functionalities.

The first step is to use AI to optimize sending times. Most emailing platforms now offer this feature. It doesn’t require any changes to your content creation processes, just activating the option and letting the algorithm do its work.

The second step is object optimization. AI can suggest variants, automatically test several versions, and identify the formulations that work best with your audience. It’s a good way to familiarize yourself with these tools without taking any major risks.

The third, more advanced stage involves dynamic content personalization. It requires good data quality and careful consideration of the different scenarios to be covered. It’s not something to be undertaken lightly, but the results can be significant.

By 2024, 81% of B2B decision-makers consider it important for their emailing software to incorporate AI functionality. The demand is there. So is the supply. What remains is to find the right balance between automation and human control.

The key is to keep control of the strategy. AI optimizes execution, it doesn’t define objectives. It’s up to you to decide what message you want to get across, to whom, and why. AI simply helps you do it more efficiently, with less repetitive effort and more relevance.

Frequently asked questions about AI and B2B email marketing

CAN IA WRITE ALL MY PROSPECTING EMAILS?

Technically yes, but not recommended. AI-generated texts almost always need tweaking to sound natural and reflect your brand tone. Instead, use AI for suggestions and a first draft that you can then rework.

WHAT BUDGET SHOULD YOU SET ASIDE TO INTEGRATE IA INTO YOUR EMAILING STRATEGY?

Most AI functionalities are now integrated into existing emailing platforms. The additional cost is often nil or marginal. What requires investment is data quality and team training in these new tools.

WILL IA REPLACE MARKETING TEAMS?

No. AI automates repetitive tasks and assists decision-making. It does not replace creativity, strategy and in-depth customer knowledge. Marketing teams that master AI become more efficient, they don’t disappear.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY EMAILS ARE PERCEIVED AS GENERATED BY IA?

An email that’s too perfect, without asperity, with consensual wording can arouse suspicion. Keep your style personal, add contextual references and vary your sentence structure. Authenticity is the best antidote to mistrust.

WHAT ARE THE MOST USEFUL IA FEATURES FOR B2B EMAIL MARKETING?

Optimization of sending times and predictive scoring offer the fastest results. Dynamic content personalization requires more maturity, but generates the best long-term returns.

DOES IA REALLY IMPROVE DELIVERABILITY?

Indirectly, yes. By sending more relevant messages at the right times, you improve your engagement rates. Messaging providers interpret these signals positively, which helps your campaigns reach the inbox.

SHOULD YOU TELL YOUR CONTACTS YOU’RE USING IA?

There is no legal obligation to do so for email marketing. Common sense suggests remaining transparent if the question arises. What really counts is the value brought to the recipient, not the method used to produce it.

Email marketing has been declared dead a good dozen times since 2010. And yet, it continues to generate results that are the envy of most digital channels. In 2026, the landscape is changing on several fronts: artificial intelligence, stronger authentication, stricter regulations. But not all the announced trends are materializing at the same pace. Here’s what really deserves your attention this year, and what needs to be put into perspective.

Email remains the most profitable marketing channel

The figures speak for themselves. According to Statista and Radicati projections, there will be 4.73 billion email users worldwide in 2026, with around 392 billion emails sent and received every day. The volume is not slowing down, quite the contrary.

When it comes to return on investment, studies converge. Litmus estimates the average ROI at 36 dollars for every dollar invested. DMA UK goes even further, with a ratio of 38:1, i.e. $38 recovered for every dollar spent. Some sectors, such as e-commerce, perform even better, up to 45:1 according to Litmus benchmarks by sector of activity.

France is no exception. With 8.3 billion emails sent daily, it ranks 4th worldwide, on a par with the Netherlands and the UK. Only the United States does better, with 9.7 billion emails per day. Email marketing remains an essential channel for French companies, and the figures for 2026 only confirm this reality.

The email marketing market itself is valued at $7.5 billion according to Statista, with a projection of $17.9 billion by 2027. An annual growth rate of 13.3% testifies to advertisers’ confidence in this channel.

AI promises much, but platforms are not there yet

There are countless articles announcing the AI revolution in email marketing. Autonomous agents, real-time personalization, automatic delivery optimization. The promise is seductive: campaigns that optimize themselves while you sleep.

The reality is more nuanced. Yes, some platforms offer predictive sending, i.e. the ability to send each email when the recipient is most likely to open it. Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign, for example, integrate these functions.

But this concerns only a minority of advertisers in the e-commerce sector. For the majority of French companies using more generalist solutions, AI remains a marketing promise rather than an operational reality.

In fact, even the most advanced software publishers recognize that their tools remain assistants rather than autonomous decision-makers. We’re talking about AI agents that suggest, recommend and propose. Not yet systems that manage an end-to-end email strategy without human intervention. That day may come, but in 2026, we’re not there yet.

What works in practice: assisted generation of subject lines, segmentation suggestions based on past behavior, and optimization of dispatch times. Real efficiency gains, but far from the revolution announced.

Hyper-customization replaces traditional segmentation

The first name in the email subject line was the personalization of 2015. In 2026, expectations have changed. According to McKinsey, 71% of consumers now expect personalized experiences based on their preferences and history. Not just their name, but content that truly matches their interests.

Behavioral segmentation takes over from demographic segmentation. Instead of targeting “men aged 35-45 in the Paris region”, we target “contacts who have opened the last 3 emails on subject X and clicked on Y”. The difference in performance is significant.

The concept of the customer lifecycle is also essential. A prospect who has just signed up does not receive the same messages as a customer who has been loyal for 3 years. Automated sequences adapt to each stage: welcome, activation, loyalty, reactivation. Open rates for these automated flows regularly exceed 50%, whereas standard campaigns plateau at around 20% in France, according to the DMA France.

For B2B acquisition emailing strategies, this approach is a game changer. We no longer bombard a list of prospects with the same generic message. Instead, we tailor content according to engagement signals, website activity and previous interactions.

Dynamic content takes this a step further. The same email can display different products according to the recipient’s profile, offers adapted to their purchase history, personalized recommendations. Platforms offering these features report a doubling of ROI compared with static emails.

AMP interactive emails: promising but virtually unusable in B2B

AMP for Email has been the talk of the town for several years now. The principle: integrate interactive elements directly into the body of the email. Functional forms, clickable carousels, surveys with submission without leaving the inbox. Tests show impressive results: 5.2 times more responses to integrated surveys than to links to external forms.

On paper, it’s revolutionary. In practice, deployment is problematic.

Gmail and Yahoo support AMP. So does Mail.ru, which is especially important for the Russian market. These three email clients account for around 40% of email opens worldwide. This average masks significant disparities between targets.

In B2B, the situation is catastrophic. Outlook, which largely dominates the professional market, does not support AMP. Microsoft had launched a test phase in 2019 before abandoning it in September 2020. Apple Mail doesn’t support it either. Yet these two clients account for the majority of mail opened in professional environments, particularly in France, where Outlook remains the benchmark in the corporate sector.

Result: if your target audience is B2B decision-makers who check their email on Outlook or Apple Mail, your AMP efforts will simply be invisible. They’ll see the fallback version, a classic email with no interactivity.

For a consumer target with a high proportion of Gmail users, AMP may be worth the investment. For B2B, it’s better to invest elsewhere. Technology remains a gimmick as long as business customers don’t follow suit.

BIMI and authentication: an investment put into perspective

Email authentication is no longer optional. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are now the minimum requirements for reaching the inbox. Messaging providers are becoming increasingly strict, and a poorly configured domain will see its messages land directly in the spam folder.

BIMI goes one step further, allowing you to display your brand logo next to your emails in compatible inboxes. Gmail, Yahoo and Apple Mail support this feature. The reported impact: up to 90% increase in recipient trust and 4-6% improvement in open rates, according to Red Sift.

But the cost of entry is high. To obtain a VMC (Verified Mark Certificate), expect to pay between $1,000 and $1,500 a year. The CMC (Common Mark Certificate), introduced in 2024-2025 for non-trademarked companies, costs around $1,100 a year. For a small or medium-sized business, this is a substantial budget.

And this is no guarantee of display. Gmail reserves the right not to display your logo even if you have the certificate. The exact criteria remain opaque. Having the certificate is a necessary but not sufficient condition.

For large companies with comfortable marketing budgets and high mailing volumes, BIMI can be justified. For more modest structures, the investment is difficult to recoup. The first step is to ensure that the foundations are solid: SPF, DKIM and DMARC correctly configured, domain reputation monitored, list hygiene beyond reproach.

Zero-party data: voluntary collection replaces third-party cookies

The marketing data landscape is changing. Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies by default. Chrome long announced that it would do away with them, but has since backed down, but the underlying trend is clear: traditional advertising tracking is becoming increasingly difficult.

In this context, email takes on a new strategic importance. It’s the ideal channel for collecting what’s known as zero-party data, information that users voluntarily share: preferences, centers of interest, purchasing intentions.

The concept was formalized by Forrester Research in 2018. Unlike behavioral data, which is deduced from users’ actions, zero-party data is explicitly communicated. An email survey, a well-designed preference center, an interactive quiz: these are all ways of collecting valuable information with the active consent of the contact.

The advantage is twofold. Firstly, the data is more reliable, as it is directly declared. Secondly, data collection naturally complies with regulatory requirements, since it is based on a voluntary approach by the user.

Brands that invest in zero-party collection mechanisms build a lasting asset. An email base enriched with declared preferences enables far more relevant personalization than segments built on behavioral assumptions.

The open rate is no longer a reliable indicator, and it’s likely to get worse

The open rate has long been the king of email marketing metrics. Simple to understand, easy to track, it made it possible to compare performance from one campaign to the next. Those days are gone.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection, launched in 2021, is a game-changer. With a 95% adoption rate among Apple users, this feature preloads email images, including tracking pixels. As a result, “opens” are counted when the recipient has never actually viewed the message. According to Litmus, Apple Mail now accounts for 49% of email opens. This means that almost half of all opening data is potentially distorted.

Traditional statistics become unusable without filtering. At Ediware, we offer an option for filtering opens and clicks generated by robots and privacy protection systems. This is the only way to retrieve usable metrics and manage campaigns based on reliable data.

But the situation could get even worse. In France, the CNIL launched a public consultation in June 2025 on a draft recommendation concerning tracking pixels. The text envisages requiring explicit and specific consent before any opening tracking. In concrete terms, two separate consents would have to be obtained: one to receive marketing emails, another for statistical tracking.

Alliance Digitale reacted strongly, estimating that acceptance rates for this double opt-in would be between 1% and 5%. Such a regulation, without equivalent in other European countries, would create a French specificity that would penalize advertisers.

The final decision is expected in early 2026. In the meantime, the advice is clear: stop steering your campaigns on the basis of open rates. Instead, focus on actual clicks, conversions and sales generated. These indicators remain reliable and reflect a concrete commitment on the part of the recipient.

TL;DR

In B2B email marketing, the conversion rate measures the percentage of recipients who have carried out the desired action after receiving an email: requesting a quote, downloading content, making an appointment. Unlike B2C, B2B conversion is part of a long sales cycle, where every interaction counts. To improve it, you need to work on the quality of your base, the relevance of your message, and optimize your campaigns iteratively rather than through classic A/B testing.

1. What “convert” really means in B2B emailing

In B2C, conversion is often binary: the recipient either buys or doesn’t buy. A promotional e-mail generates a sale within a few hours, and that’s it. Volumes make it possible to reason in terms of pure statistics.

In B2B, it’s a different story.

The purchasing cycle extends over weeks, sometimes months. Several people are involved in the decision. And above all, the act of buying is almost never done directly from an email. A small business owner is not going to order a software solution or sign a service contract at the click of a button.

As a result, the notion of conversion takes on very different forms depending on the objective of the campaign:

• Request a quote or a callback
• Download a white paper or case study
• Webinar registration
• An appointment with a sales representative
• A simple visit to a strategic product page

All these actions are valid B2B conversions. They mark a step forward in the purchasing process, even if they don’t generate immediate sales.

This is where many companies go wrong. They measure their conversion rate by counting only direct sales. The result: desperately low figures that don’t reflect the real effectiveness of their campaigns.

A prospect who downloads your practical guide is not yet a customer. But they’ve just entered your radar. They’ve expressed an interest. And if your sales people do their job properly, this contact can turn into a signed deal a few weeks later.

The real question to ask yourself before launching a campaign is: what concrete action do you want your recipients to take? It’s this action that will define your conversion, and therefore your conversion rate.

2. How to calculate your conversion rate

The basic formula is simple: divide the number of conversions by the number of emails, then multiply by 100 to obtain a percentage.

But the real question is: what number of emails should be used as a basis for calculation?

Emails sent, delivered or clicked?

Let’s take a concrete example. You send 5,000 e-mails. 4,500 arrive in your inbox (the rest are bounces or end up as spam). 450 recipients click on your link. In the end, 45 people fill in your contact form.

Your conversion rate can therefore be :

• 0.9% if you take the number of emails sent as a base (45 / 5,000)
• 1% if you take emails delivered (45 / 4,500)
• 10% if you take clickers (45 / 450)

Three very different figures for the same campaign. None of them are wrong, but they don’t measure the same thing.

The rate calculated on sends gives an overall view of performance, including deliverability problems. The rate based on emails delivered better isolates the effectiveness of the message itself. As for the rate calculated on clickers, it measures your landing page’s ability to transform interest into action.

What I recommend in B2B

To manage your campaigns on a day-to-day basis, it’s best to calculate the conversion rate for emails delivered. This allows you to compare campaigns with each other, without being affected by variations in basic quality.

On the other hand, keep an eye on the rate calculated from clickers. If many people click but few convert, the problem is on your landing page, not in your email. This is valuable information for knowing where to focus your optimization efforts.

What’s more, some emailing platforms like Ediware enable you to track these different metrics separately, and cross-reference the data with your analytics tools to get a complete picture of the customer journey.

3. B2B benchmarks

When it comes to conversion rates in B2B emailing, the first question is always the same: what’s a good rate?

The honest answer: it depends.

Market averages

The studies available give fairly wide ranges. In B2B emailing, we generally observe conversion rates of between 1% and 5% on delivered emails. Some sectors, such as IT services or consulting, show lower averages, around 1 to 2%. Other activities with shorter decision cycles can reach 5% or more.

For cold prospecting campaigns on rented or purchased files, the rates are logically lower. Getting 0.5% of contact requests from a database of prospects who have never heard of you is already a respectable result.

Conversely, on a base of existing customers or newsletter subscribers, aiming for 3-5% conversion is realistic.

Why these figures mean so little

The problem with benchmarks is that they compare incomparable things.

A campaign offering a free download of a white paper has nothing to do with a campaign requesting a sales appointment. The former requires a minimal commitment. The latter requires the recipient to block time in their diary. Naturally, the rates are different.

Similarly, sending an email to 500 highly-qualified contacts your sales reps met at a trade show is nothing like sending a mass mailing to 50,000 addresses from a prospecting database. Volumes and rates are not in the same league.

The only valid comparison

Rather than measuring yourself against abstract averages, compare your campaigns with each other. Is your conversion rate on the September campaign better or worse than that of June? Do your e-mails with a “customer benefit” subject line convert better than those with a more descriptive subject line?

This iterative approach is the key to progress. External benchmarks give you an order of magnitude so that you’re not completely off the mark. But your real reference is your own track record.

4. The levers that really make a difference

Improving your conversion rate isn’t magic. It requires a methodical approach to a number of elements which, taken together, make the difference between a campaign that generates contacts and one that goes unnoticed.

The quality of the contact database

It’s the starting point for everything. You can have the best message in the world, but if you send it to the wrong people, it won’t convert.

In B2B, the quality of a database is measured by several criteria: are the addresses valid and up to date? Do the contacts correspond to your target? Are they decision-makers or influencers on your subject?

Sending an offer for accounting software to technical directors is a waste of time. The same applies if your file contains 30% obsolete addresses. Before trying to optimize your messages, make sure your database is clean and well-targeted.

Regular verification of email addresses via a dedicated service eliminates NPAI and mechanically improves your deliverability. And better deliverability means a greater chance of conversion.

Message and offer relevance

An email that converts is an email that responds to a concrete problem of its recipient. Not one that talks about you and your great products.

The question is: what’s in it for my recipient? What problem am I helping them solve? What tangible benefit will they gain by clicking?

A white paper entitled “Our innovative solutions” is of no interest to anyone. The same content presented as “How to reduce your invoice processing time by 30%” speaks directly to the concerns of your target audience.

Personalization plays an important role here. Mentioning the recipient’s sector of activity, their job title, or referring to a specific issue in their profession significantly increases the message’s impact. Emailing platforms allow you to integrate personalization variables in the body of the message, and even in the subject line.

The CTA and the landing page

Your recipient has opened the email. He has read your message. They’re interested. Now they need to take action.

The call to action must be clear, visible and inciting. “Click here” says nothing. “Download the guide” or “Book my slot” tells you exactly what’s going to happen.

And then there’s the landing page. Too many companies neglect this step. The recipient clicks, arrives on a confusing page with too much information, and gives up. The landing page should be a natural extension of the email message, with a simple form and a fluid conversion path. Every additional field in your form lowers the conversion rate. In B2B, asking for name, email and possibly company name is usually enough for a first contact.

Timing and recovery

Timing matters, even if its impact is often overestimated. In B2B, mid-week mailings on Tuesday or Thursday mornings generally produce the best results. Avoid Mondays, when mailboxes are overflowing, and Friday afternoons, when people’s minds are already on the weekend.

But the real lever is the follow-up. A prospect who hasn’t reacted to your first email isn’t necessarily indifferent. Perhaps he was busy, distracted, or your message came at the wrong time. A well thought-out follow-up, a few days later, with a slightly different angle, often recovers conversions that would otherwise have been lost. For more on this subject, read our article on automatic follow-ups.

5. Test under real conditions rather than in the laboratory

In B2C, A/B testing is king. We send two versions of an email to samples of 10,000 people, measure which performs better, and generalize. The volumes involved mean that statistically reliable results can be obtained in a matter of hours.

In B2B, this approach rarely works.

Why classic A/B testing reaches its limits

The problem is mathematical. When you send a campaign to 2,000 contacts, dividing it into two groups of 1,000 people doesn’t give you enough volume to draw solid conclusions. If you get 12 conversions on one side and 15 on the other, is that a real difference or just statistical noise? It’s impossible to say.

And then there’s the reality of the field. In B2B, prospecting bases are not infinite. Your targeted contact files represent a limited number of companies. Using half of your base for a test campaign means that many prospects won’t receive your best message.

Not to mention long decision cycles. A recipient may convert three weeks after receiving your e-mail. Waiting for the final results of an A/B test before launching the rest of your campaign means wasting precious time.

The iterative approach: learning campaign after campaign

Rather than testing two versions in parallel, test on successive campaigns. Change one element at a time between two mailings, and observe how your results evolve over time.

For example, on your January campaign, you use an object focused on the customer problem. In February, you test a benefit-oriented object. In March, you try a more direct approach with a question. After a few months, you have a clear vision of what works with your target audience.

This method requires rigor. You need to document what you’re changing, note your assumptions, and track your metrics over time. But it’s in keeping with the reality of B2B: modest volumes, long cycles, and a fine-tuned knowledge of your target that builds up gradually.

What to test first

Not all elements have the same impact on conversion. Focus your tests on what really counts:

The subject line, because it determines whether the email is opened, and therefore everything else. The offer, because a white paper doesn’t generate the same commitment as an appointment request. The message format, whether short and punchy or more detailed and well-argued. And the landing page, which is often the weakest link in the chain.

On the other hand, spending hours testing the color of a button or the exact position of an image makes little sense when your volumes don’t allow you to measure subtle deviations.

6. Linking emailing to the B2B buying process

A B2B prospecting email almost never generates an immediate sale. That’s not its role. It’s part of a longer process, with several points of contact before signature.

Understanding where email marketing fits into this journey enables us to define realistic conversion targets and optimize each stage.

Email as a trigger, not a finisher

In B2B, the role of email is to open a door. Grab a prospect’s attention, arouse their interest, get them to take the first step towards you. The rest is up to your sales team, your content and your appointments.

A prospect who downloads your white paper following an email is not a customer. It’s a contact who has expressed an interest. They’ve entered your pipeline. All you have to do is move them on to the buying decision.

This distinction is important if you want to measure your conversion rate correctly. If you expect direct sales from your email campaigns, you’re bound to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you measure the leads generated and their progression through the sales tunnel, you’ll have a fair view of the effectiveness of your emails.

Nurturing: converting over time

Not all prospects are ready to buy the moment they receive your email. Some are on standby. Others have a medium-term project. Still others don’t yet know they have a need.

This is where nurturing comes in. The idea is to maintain contact with these prospects over time, by regularly sending them useful content, until they are ready to take action.

In concrete terms, this can take the form of a sequence of automated emails after an initial download. Or a monthly newsletter that adds value without being overly commercial. Or targeted reminders based on contact behavior, such as a specific email to those who have visited your rates page.

The conversion rate is no longer measured on the basis of a single campaign, but over the entire sales process. A prospect may receive five or six emails before finally requesting an appointment. This is normal in B2B. And it’s profitable, provided you have the resources.

Synchronize emailing with sales action

B2B emailing doesn’t work in a vacuum. The best results are achieved when it’s combined with the work of your sales team.

A classic example: you send an email to 2,000 prospects. 50 click on the link and visit your product page. Of these, 10 fill in the contact form. But the other 40? They showed an interest but didn’t follow through. Recovering the list of these clickers and passing it on to your sales team for a follow-up call can double or triple your final conversions.

Emailing platforms like Ediware can extract the list of openers and clickers in real time, along with their full contact details. Synchronized with your CRM, this data feeds directly into the work of your sales teams.

7. Measure and track conversions effectively

A good conversion rate is good. Knowing where it’s coming from and how it’s evolving is even better. Without rigorous monitoring, it’s impossible to identify what’s working and what needs improvement.

Essential tools

The first tool is your emailing platform. It gives you the basic metrics: emails delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes. At Ediware, these statistics are available in real time, with the option of extracting detailed files by campaign.

But the emailing platform only sees what happens up to the click. To measure real conversion, you need to track what happens afterwards, on your site.

This is where Google Analytics comes in. By adding UTM parameters to your links, you can precisely track visitors coming from your email campaigns and measure their actions: pages visited, forms filled in, downloads carried out. Most emailing platforms automatically add these tracking parameters to your links.

Finally, your CRM plays a central role in linking conversions to signed deals. A lead generated by e-mail in January becomes a customer in April – this is precious information. It enables you to calculate the true return on investment of your campaigns, beyond the simple immediate conversion rate.

Metrics to monitor

The gross conversion rate is not enough. To effectively manage your campaigns, track several complementary indicators.

First of all, the deliverability rate, because an email that doesn’t reach the inbox will never convert. If this rate drops, there’s no point looking elsewhere for the problem.

Then there’s the open rate, which measures the effectiveness of your subject line and your reputation as a sender. A low open rate indicates either a targeting problem, a subject that doesn’t catch on, or poor deliverability.

The click rate, which indicates whether your message makes people want to find out more. And the reactivity rate, which relates clicks to opens and measures the quality of your content independently of deliverability.

Finally, the conversion rate itself, calculated according to the method that makes sense for your business.

What the statistics don’t say

The figures give a partial view of reality. There are a few points to bear in mind.

Firstly, opening rates are becoming increasingly unreliable. The confidentiality protections of Apple Mail and certain webmails artificially inflate open rates by preloading images. Conversely, messaging systems that block images by default prevent the detection of certain real openings. Take this figure as a trend, not as an absolute truth.

Secondly, a click is not always a human click. Some companies’ spam filters analyze links in e-mails and generate automatic clicks. On B2B campaigns targeting large organizations, this phenomenon can significantly distort your statistics. Advanced platforms integrate mechanisms to filter out these robot clicks and give you figures that are closer to reality.

Thirdly, the final conversion may take place via another channel. A prospect receives your email, visits your site, then calls you directly without filling in a form. In your statistics, this campaign shows zero conversions. In reality, it has generated a lead. By cross-referencing emailing data with your sales reps’ field feedback, you can avoid missing out on these invisible conversions.

8. Frequently asked questions

WHAT IS A GOOD CONVERSION RATE IN B2B EMAILING?

In B2B prospecting, a rate of between 1% and 3% on delivered emails is considered correct. On a base of existing customers or committed subscribers, you can aim for 3% to 5%. These figures vary according to the sector, the type of offer and the level of commitment required from the recipient.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONVERSION RATE AND CLICK-THROUGH RATE?

The click-through rate measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your e-mail. The conversion rate measures those who completed the desired final action after the click: form filled in, download carried out, appointment booked. A good click-through rate with a low conversion rate indicates a problem on the landing page.

HOW TO IMPROVE THE CONVERSION RATE WITHOUT CHANGING THE MESSAGE?

Work on your landing page. Simplify the form by reducing the number of fields. Make sure the page loads quickly and displays correctly on mobile. Make sure the page content naturally extends the email promise. These technical adjustments can significantly improve your results without affecting the message itself.

IS IT NECESSARY TO MEASURE CONVERSIONS ON EMAILS SENT OR DELIVERED?

Use delivered emails to compare your campaigns. This calculation isolates the effectiveness of your message without being affected by deliverability problems. On the other hand, keep an eye on the rate calculated since delivery to get an overall view, including the quality of your contact base.

WHY IS MY CONVERSION RATE LOW DESPITE A GOOD CLICK-THROUGH RATE?

The problem probably lies after the click. Your landing page may be too slow, poorly adapted to mobile, or too far removed from the email message. A long form also discourages conversions. Analyze the post-click user journey to identify the friction point.

HOW DO YOU TRACK CONVERSIONS VIA THE TELEPHONE?

Systematically ask your sales reps where incoming calls come from. You can also use a dedicated phone number for your email campaigns, or add a “How did you hear about us?” field to your forms. This manual data complements the automatic tracking for a more complete picture.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU ANALYZE YOUR CONVERSION RATES?

Analyze each campaign individually in the days following dispatch, then review monthly or quarterly to observe trends. In B2B, conversions can occur several weeks after the mailing. Give prospects time to react before drawing definitive conclusions.

9. Things to remember

The conversion rate remains the ultimate indicator of the effectiveness of your email campaigns. But in B2B, it requires a reading adapted to the realities of the field.

Converting doesn’t necessarily mean selling. It’s about getting a prospect to take a step in their buying journey. Downloading content, requesting a callback, registering for an event. Every action counts and deserves to be measured.

Benchmarks give an order of magnitude, nothing more. Your real reference is your own history. Compare your campaigns with each other, identify what’s progressing and what’s regressing, and make ongoing adjustments.

The levers for improvement are well known: quality of the base, relevance of the message, clarity of the call to action, fluidity of the landing page. Nothing revolutionary, but methodical work on each of these points makes all the difference.

Forget about A/B testing as practiced in B2C. Your volumes don’t allow it. Test on successive campaigns, changing one element at a time, documenting what you learn. This iterative approach is in line with B2B reality.

Above all, don’t measure emailing in isolation. Articulate it with the work of your sales force, synchronize data with your CRM, and follow leads through to signature. That’s where the real return on investment comes in.

Email remains the most profitable outbound marketing channel in B2B. Provided you know what you’re measuring and why.

TL;DR

This glossary brings together over 80 essential B2B email marketing terms. From deliverability to authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), performance metrics and RGPD compliance, each definition is explained simply with concrete examples. A reference tool for marketing professionals who want to master the technical vocabulary and optimize their campaigns.

Introduction

E-mail marketing is a world full of technical terms that can confuse even the most seasoned of marketers. Between the acronyms linked to authentication, performance indicators and deliverability gobbledygook, it’s not always easy to find your way around.
Since 2002, Ediware has been helping French companies with their B2B e-mail marketing campaigns. Over the years, we’ve noticed that one thing often makes the difference between a successful campaign and one that ends up in the spam folder: mastery of technical vocabulary.
This glossary is designed to give you that mastery: it contains over 80 definitions, classified by theme. For each term, we try to explain it in simple terms, illustrate it with a concrete example and give you a best practice to remember. Whether you’re a marketing or sales manager, or the head of an SME, you’ll find here the keys to understanding and succeeding in your e-mail marketing campaigns.

Deliverability & Infrastructure

BLACKLIST

Definition: A blacklist is a list of IP addresses or domains identified as sources of spam. Email providers and spam filters consult these lists to decide whether or not to block an incoming email. There are dozens of blacklists, some of them highly influential, such as Spamhaus and Barracuda.

Example: Your email campaign suddenly shows a plummeting deliverability rate. Checking mxtoolbox.com, you discover that your sending IP has been blacklisted by Spamhaus following a spike in complaints.

Remember: regularly monitor your sending IPs with tools like MXToolbox. A blacklisted IP can ruin your performance in a matter of hours.

See also: Whitelist | Sender reputation | Spam trap

Further information The Backscatterer blacklist

BIMI

Definition: BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is a standard that enables your company logo to be displayed next to your e-mails in the recipient’s inbox. To work, BIMI requires a strict DMARC policy and a VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) issued by a recognized authority.

Example: La Poste emails display their yellow and blue logo directly in Gmail. This immediate visibility reinforces the recipient’s trust and improves the open rate.

Remember: BIMI represents a substantial investment (certificate to be renewed every year) and is not suitable for email prospecting. In the event of spam alerts, the logo cannot be guaranteed to be displayed, particularly in Gmail.

See also: DMARC | DKIM | SPF

BOUNCE

Definition: A bounce is an e-mail that has failed to deliver and returns to the sender with an error message. There are two types of bounce: hard bounce (permanent failure) and soft bounce (temporary failure). The bounce rate is a key indicator of the quality of your database.

Example: You send a campaign to 10,000 contacts. 250 emails are returned in error, representing a bounce rate of 2.5%. Of these, 180 are hard bounces (invalid addresses) and 70 are soft bounces (full boxes).

To remember: A bounce rate above 2% indicates a list hygiene problem. Clean up your database regularly to preserve your reputation as a sender.

See also: Hard bounce | Soft bounce | NPAI

DELIVERY

Definition: Deliverability measures the ability of your emails to reach your recipients’ inboxes, not their spam folders or a complete block. It depends on many factors: sender reputation, technical authentication, content quality and recipient engagement.

Example: Your emailing platform reports 95% of emails delivered. But in reality, 20% of these emails end up as spam. Your actual inbox deliverability is therefore only 75%.

Remember: An email delivered is not necessarily an email seen. The true measure of success is arrival in the main inbox.

See also: Sender reputation | SPF | DKIM

To find out more : Deliverability in B2B emailing: how to stay in the inbox

DKIM

Definition: DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an authentication protocol that adds a cryptographic signature to your e-mails. This signature enables the recipient server to verify that the message really does come from the domain displayed, and that it has not been altered in transit.

Example: You configure DKIM for your entreprise.fr domain. Every e-mail you send now contains a unique signature. Gmail checks this signature and displays a verification checkmark, improving your deliverability.

To remember: Since February 2024, DKIM has been mandatory for sending to Gmail and Yahoo. Without it, your e-mails risk ending up in the spam folder.

See also: SPF | DMARC | Deliverability

DMARC

Definition: DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is a security policy that tells recipient servers how to handle emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks. DMARC also enables you to receive reports on attempts to spoof your domain.

Example: You configure a DMARC policy in “quarantine” mode for your domain. Emails that fail authentication are automatically placed in spam rather than delivered as normal.

Remember: Start with a DMARC policy in “none” mode to analyze reports, then gradually switch to “quarantine” and then “reject” once your configuration has stabilized.

See also: SPF | DKIM | BIMI

DNS

Definition: DNS (Domain Name System) is the Internet directory that translates domain names into IP addresses. In email marketing, your domain’s DNS records host authentication configurations (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and tell servers where to deliver emails via MX records.

Example: When you send an email to contact@entreprise.fr, the sending server queries DNS to find the MX record for entreprise.fr and find out which mail server to route the message to.

Remember : Your DNS records must be correctly configured before sending. A DNS error can block the deliverability of all your campaigns.

See also: MX (Mail Exchanger) | SPF | DKIM

SHIPPING AREA

Definition: The sending domain is the domain name used in the sender address of your e-mails (the part after the @). This is the domain on which your sender reputation is based, and on which SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication is configured.

Example: You send your campaigns from newsletter@votreentreprise.fr. The sending domain is yourcompany.com. The reputation of this domain largely determines your deliverability.

Remember: Avoid free addresses (gmail.com, orange.fr) for your professional campaigns: they systematically fail authentication checks. At Ediware, we offer a sender domain name dedicated to your account by default, to preserve the reputation of your main domain. We can also use your own domain name as sender, with the procedure for configuring SPF, DKIM and possibly DMARC.

See also: Sender reputation | DKIM | SPF

FEEDBACK LOOP (FBL)

Definition: A feedback loop is a mechanism by which e-mail providers (Orange, Microsoft, Yahoo…) notify the sender of e-mails marked as spam by their users. This feedback enables you to identify unhappy recipients and remove them from your mailing lists.

Example: A recipient clicks on “Report as spam” in Outlook. Thanks to Microsoft’s feedback loop, your emailing platform receives this information and automatically unsubscribes this contact from future campaigns.

Remember: sign up for feedback loops from major suppliers. It’s free and saves you from having to keep sending emails to contacts who no longer want to read you.

See also: Sender reputation | Blacklist | Deliverability

GREYLIST

Definition: Greylisting is an antispam technique that temporarily rejects an e-mail from an unknown sender. The recipient server sends back a message asking you to try again later. Legitimate servers retry and pass, while many spammers give up.

Example: Your first email to a new prospect is temporarily rejected with a code 451. Your emailing platform automatically retries the sending 15 minutes later and the email goes through without a hitch.

To remember: Greylisting can delay the delivery of your emails from a few minutes to a few hours during the first contact. A professional emailing platform automatically handles these retries.

See also: Soft bounce | Deliverability | Throttling

HARD BOUNCE

Definition: A hard bounce is an email that cannot be delivered permanently. The main causes are an invalid email address, a non-existent domain or a server that permanently rejects the message. Unlike a soft bounce, a hard bounce will never be resolved.

Example: You send an email to jean.dupont@entreprise-fermee.fr but the company has ceased trading and the domain no longer exists. Your server receives an error code 550 “User unknown”.

Remember: remove hard bounces from your list immediately. A bounce rate of more than 2% seriously damages your reputation as a sender and could get you blacklisted.

See also: Soft bounce | Bounce | NPAI

DEDICATED IP

Definition: A dedicated IP is an IP address reserved exclusively for sending your e-mails. Unlike a shared IP shared by several senders, you alone are responsible for its reputation. This is an advantage for companies sending large volumes of mail on a regular basis.

Example: Your company sends 200,000 emails a month. With a dedicated IP, your performance no longer depends on the practices of other platform users. You build your own reputation.

To remember: A dedicated IP requires a regular sending volume to maintain its reputation. Below 50,000 emails per month, a quality shared IP is often preferable. Ediware provides a pool of dedicated IPs for all accounts with a subscription.

See also: Shared IP | IP warming | Sender reputation

MUTUALIZED IP

Definition: A shared IP is an IP address shared by several senders on the same emailing platform. The reputation of this IP depends on the practices of all the users who use it. This is the standard solution for companies with moderate sending volumes.

Example: Your company sends 15,000 e-mails per month via a shared IP. The platform ensures that all users of this IP respect best practices to maintain a satisfactory collective reputation.

Remember: choose an emailing platform that is rigorous about the quality of its senders. A poorly managed shared IP can penalize your deliverability due to the bad practices of other users.

See also: Dedicated IP | Sender reputation | Deliverability

IP WARMING

Definition: IP warming is the process of gradually increasing the volume of mail sent from a new IP address. This gradual increase in volume helps to build a reputation with e-mail providers and avoid being identified as a spammer.

Example: You migrate to a new platform with a dedicated IP. Instead of immediately sending your 100,000 emails, you start with 5,000 the first week, then 15,000, then 30,000, until you reach your usual volume in 4 to 6 weeks.

Remember: Never rush the warm-up for a new IP. During this period, give priority to your most committed contacts to maximize openings and build a good reputation.

See also: Dedicated IP | Sender reputation | Deliverability

MX (MAIL EXCHANGER)

Definition: An MX (Mail Exchanger) record is a DNS entry that indicates which server is responsible for receiving e-mails for a given domain. When you send an e-mail, the sending server consults the MX records of the destination domain to find out where to deliver the message.

Example: The MX record of entreprise.fr points to mail.entreprise.fr with priority 10. All emails sent to @entreprise.fr are routed to this mail server.

Remember: A domain without a valid MX record cannot receive e-mails. When validating addresses, MX records are used to detect non-existent domains.

See also: DNS | Hard bounce | Deliverability

NPAI

Definition: NPAI stands for “N’habite Pas à l’Adresse Indiquée”. In email marketing, this term refers to invalid email addresses that generate a permanent error return. NPAIs include hard bounces: deleted accounts, non-existent domains, misspelled addresses.

Example: After a campaign, your emailing platform identifies 150 undeliverable addresses. These addresses are automatically marked as invalid and excluded from future mailings to preserve your reputation.

Remember: Extract and delete your NPAIs regularly. At Ediware, NPAI processing is automatic: addresses in permanent error are removed from your next mailings without any intervention on your part.

See also: Hard bounce | Bounce | Deliverability

SENDER REPUTATION

Definition: Sender reputation is a score assigned by email providers to your domain and sending IPs. This score, calculated from your complaint rates, bounces, recipient engagement and sending history, determines whether your emails arrive inbox or spam.

Example: Your campaigns generate a complaint rate of 0.05%, a bounce rate of 1% and a good open rate. Gmail considers you a reliable sender and places your emails in the main mailbox.

To remember: Reputations are built over the long term, but can be destroyed in a few messages. Prioritize the quality of your lists and the relevance of your messages over volume.

See also: Deliverability | Blacklist | Feedback loop

To find out more : Deliverability in B2B emailing: how to stay in the inbox

SOFT BOUNCE

Definition: A soft bounce is an e-mail that has temporarily failed to deliver. The main causes are a full inbox, a momentarily unavailable server or a message that is too large. Unlike a hard bounce, a soft bounce can be resolved on a subsequent attempt.

Example: You send an email to marie.martin@entreprise.fr, but his mailbox is full (quota exceeded). Your emailing platform receives an error code 452 and automatically retries the sending a few hours later.

Remember: Don’t immediately remove soft bounces from your list. On the other hand, an address that generates repeated soft bounces over several campaigns should be considered inactive and removed.

See also: Hard bounce | Bounce | Greylist

SPF

Definition: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an authentication protocol that lists the servers authorized to send e-mail for your domain. This list is published in a DNS record. The receiving server checks that the e-mail has come from an authorized server before accepting it.

Example: You set up an SPF record for yourcompany.com that authorizes Ediware servers. When Gmail receives an e-mail from your domain, it checks that the sending server is listed in your SPF before delivering it.

Remember: SPF has been mandatory since February 2024 for sending to Gmail and Yahoo. Check that your SPF registration includes all services that send emails on your behalf (emailing platform, CRM, etc.).

See also: DKIM | DMARC | DNS

SPAM TRAP

Definition: A spam trap is an e-mail address created specifically to detect spammers. These addresses do not belong to any real user and cannot receive legitimate e-mails. Sending an e-mail to a spam trap signals to e-mail providers that you are using low-quality lists.

Example: You purchase an unverified database containing a spam trap address from Spamhaus. As soon as you send the first message, your IP is identified and your reputation falls drastically.

To remember: Spam traps can be found in purchased lists, old uncleaned databases and addresses collected by scraping. The only effective protection is to send only to contacts who have explicitly given their consent.

See also: Blacklist | Sender reputation | Deliverability

THROTTLING

Definition: Throttling is a technique for limiting the rate at which emails are sent. It consists in spacing out messages rather than sending them all at once. This avoids saturating recipient servers and triggering temporary blockages.

Example: You need to send 50,000 emails. Instead of sending everything in 10 minutes, your emailing platform spreads the sending out over 2 hours at a rate of 400 emails per minute, thus avoiding rejection by Microsoft or Google servers.

To remember: Throttling is particularly important for high volumes and new IPs. A professional emailing platform automatically adjusts throughput according to the responses of the destination servers.

See also: IP warming | Deliverability | Greylist

WHITELIST

Definition: A whitelist is a list of senders considered reliable and whose emails are automatically accepted. A recipient can add your address to their personal whitelist to ensure they receive your messages. Some e-mail providers also manage whitelists as part of their infrastructure.

Example: Your customer adds newsletter@votreentreprise.fr to his Outlook contacts. Your next emails escape spam filters and arrive directly in your main inbox.

Remember: Encourage your recipients to add your address to their contacts. A simple message in your welcome email can considerably improve your deliverability in the long term.

See also: Blacklist | Deliverability | Sender reputation

Here’s the second theme: Compliance & Legal (8 terms).

CAN-SPAM

Definition: The CAN-SPAM Act is the American law that has governed the sending of commercial e-mails since 2003. It imposes rules such as clear identification of the sender, the presence of a physical address, a non-misleading subject line and a functional unsubscribe mechanism within 10 days.

Example: You’re sending campaigns to American prospects. Your emails must contain your postal address and a visible unsubscribe link, or you’ll be fined up to $50,000 for each email in breach.

To remember: CAN-SPAM applies as soon as you send emails to the United States, even from France. In practice, complying with the RGPD puts you in line with most of CAN-SPAM’s requirements.

See also: RGPD emailing | Opt-out | LCEN

EXPLICIT CONSENT

Definition: Explicit consent is a clear and unambiguous authorization given by a person to receive commercial communications. Consent must be free, specific, informed and unambiguous. A pre-ticked box or silence does not constitute valid consent.

Example: On your registration form, the Internet user voluntarily checks a box with the text: “I agree to receive commercial offers from company X by e-mail”. This action constitutes explicit consent.

Remember: in B2C, explicit consent is required before any commercial message is sent. In B2B, legitimate interest may suffice if the message relates to the recipient’s professional activity.

See also: Opt-in | Double opt-in | RGPD emailing

DOUBLE OPT-IN

Definition: Double opt-in is a two-step registration process. After filling in a form, the user receives a confirmation e-mail containing a link that must be clicked to definitively validate the registration. This method guarantees that the e-mail address is valid and belongs to the person concerned.

Example: A visitor subscribes to your newsletter. He immediately receives an e-mail asking him to confirm his subscription by clicking on a link. Until he clicks, he is not added to your mailing list.

To remember: Double opt-in reduces the number of subscribers, but considerably improves the quality of your list. You avoid incorrect addresses, spam traps and malicious registrations.

See also: Single opt-in | Opt-in | Explicit consent

LCEN

Definition: The LCEN (Loi pour la Confiance dans l’Économie Numérique – Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy) is the French law of 2004 that transposes the European directive on e-commerce. In particular, it requires that the sender be identified, that the commercial nature of the message be mentioned and that it be easy to unsubscribe.

Example: Your commercial e-mails must clearly identify your company (name, address, SIREN number) and provide a functional unsubscribe link. Failure to comply with these obligations may result in sanctions by the CNIL.

To remember: The LCEN applies to all commercial emails sent from France or to French recipients. It complements the RGPD on aspects specific to electronic prospecting.

See also: RGPD emailing | CAN-SPAM | Opt-out

OPT-IN

Definition: Opt-in refers to an Internet user’s agreement to receive commercial communications. This is the fundamental principle of permission marketing: you can only send emails to people who have agreed to receive them.

Example: A visitor fills in the contact form on your site and ticks the “I’d like to receive your news by email” box. He has just made an opt-in and you can legitimately add him to your mailing list.

Remember: in B2B, opt-in is not always compulsory if you can justify a legitimate interest. But a base built on opt-in will always generate better performance than a cold prospecting base.

See also: Opt-out | Double opt-in | Explicit consent

To find out more : Emailing and data protection: it’s easy to understand

OPT-OUT

Definition: The opt-out is the mechanism that allows a recipient to unsubscribe from a mailing list. All commercial e-mails must contain a functional unsubscribe link. The unsubscribe request must be processed quickly, without conditions or obstacles.

Example: A recipient clicks on the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of your newsletter. They are immediately removed from your list and will no longer receive future campaigns sent to this address.

Remember: Never make it difficult to unsubscribe (no login required, no excessive delay). Difficult opt-outs generate spam complaints that are far more damaging to your reputation than a clean unsubscribe.

See also: Opt-in | Feedback loop | RGPD emailing

RGPD EMAILING

Definition: The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the European regulation that has governed the collection and processing of personal data since 2018. In email marketing, it imposes consent or legitimate interest, the right of access and rectification, and the possibility of deleting data.

Example: A contact asks you what data you hold on him and demands that it be deleted. You must be able to provide him with this information and delete his data from all your systems within a reasonable period of time.

To remember: In B2B, the RGPD authorizes prospecting without prior consent if the message is related to the recipient’s professional function. But the right to object must always be respected from the first request.

See also: Explicit consent | Opt-in | LCEN

To find out more : Emailing and data protection: it’s easy to understand

SINGLE OPT-IN

Definition: Single opt-in is a one-step registration process. The Internet user fills in a form and is immediately added to the mailing list, without a confirmation e-mail. This method is simpler, but offers fewer guarantees as to the validity of the addresses collected.

Example: A visitor enters his email address in your white paper download form. They are added directly to your database and receive the document without any additional confirmation step.

To remember: Single opt-in maximizes the number of subscribers, but exposes more people to invalid or misspelled addresses. In B2B prospecting, this is often the mode used because friction must be kept to a minimum.

See also: Double opt-in | Opt-in | Explicit consent

CTR (CLICK-THROUGH RATE)

Definition: CTR (Click-Through Rate) measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on at least one link in your e-mail, in relation to the total number of e-mails delivered. It’s a key indicator of the engagement and relevance of your content.

Example: You send a campaign to 10,000 contacts. 9,500 emails are delivered and 475 recipients click on a link. Your CTR is 5% (475 / 9,500).

Remember: In B2B, a CTR between 2% and 5% is considered correct. Above 5%, your campaign is performing well. Below 1%, review your content or targeting.

See also: CTOR | Opening rate | Conversion

CTOR (CLICK-TO-OPEN RATE)

Definition: CTOR (Click-To-Open Rate) measures the percentage of people who clicked among those who opened the email. Unlike CTR calculated on delivered emails, CTOR specifically evaluates content performance with engaged readers.

Example: Your campaign generates 1,000 opens and 150 clicks. Your CTOR is 15% (150 / 1,000). This ratio indicates that your content is converting readers into clickers.

To remember: CTOR isolates the performance of the content from that of the object. A good open rate with a low CTOR indicates disappointing content in relation to the object’s promise.

See also: CTR | Opening rate | Conversion

CONVERSION

Definition: In email marketing, a conversion is the desired action a recipient takes after clicking on your email. This action varies according to your objectives: purchase, quote request, webinar registration, document download, appointment booking.

Example: Your email campaign offers to download a white paper. Out of 200 clickers, 85 complete the form and download the document. You’ve generated 85 conversions, i.e. a conversion rate of 42.5%.

Remember: Conversion is the ultimate goal of your campaign. A good click-through rate without conversion indicates a problem on your landing page, or a mismatch between the email promise and the actual offer.

See also: CTR | Conversion rate | ROI emailing

Further information : Definition of email marketing conversion

DISASSEMBLY

Definition: Unsubscribing is the action whereby a recipient requests to no longer receive your emails. The unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of contacts who unsubscribe after a campaign. It is an indicator of the satisfaction and perceived relevance of your communications.

Example: Out of 10,000 emails delivered, 25 people click on the unsubscribe link. Your unsubscribe rate is 0.25%.

Remember: A churn rate of less than 0.5% is normal. Above 1%, you should question the frequency of sending, the relevance of content or the quality of targeting. Unsubscribing is always preferable to a spam complaint.

See also: Opt-out | Feedback loop | Opening rate

SINGLE OPENING

Definition: A single open counts each recipient who opens your e-mail, regardless of how many times they consult it. If a contact opens your email three times, this counts as one single open, but three total opens.

Example: Your campaign recorded 1,500 total opens, but only 1,200 unique opens. This means that some recipients have opened your email several times, a sign of strong interest.

Remember : Give priority to one-time opens when calculating your open rate. The ratio between total opens and unique opens can reveal particularly interesting e-mails that recipients read again.

See also: Opening rate | Tracking pixel | CTR

TRACKING PIXEL

Definition: The tracking pixel is an invisible image (usually 1×1 pixel) embedded in the HTML code of your e-mail. When the recipient opens the e-mail and loads the images, the pixel is downloaded from the server, making it possible to record the opening.

Example: Your emailing platform automatically inserts a tracking pixel in each campaign. When Marie opens your email on her computer with image display enabled, the server records this opening along with the time and IP address.

To remember: The tracking pixel only works if the recipient displays the images. With Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), openings may be overestimated. At Ediware, our robot filtering system provides more reliable statistics.

See also: Opening rate | One-time opening | CTR

To find out more : Opening rates can be misleading

ROI EMAILING

Definition: ROI (Return On Investment) measures the return on investment of your email campaigns. It is calculated by comparing the revenue generated by your emails with the costs incurred (platform, creation, time spent). Emailing remains the digital marketing channel with the best average ROI.

Example: Your email campaign cost 500 euros (platform + creation). It generated 15,000 euros in sales. Your ROI is 2,900% ((15,000 – 500) / 500 x 100).

To remember: The average ROI for emailing is estimated at between 30 and 40 euros for every 1 euro invested. It’s the most profitable direct marketing channel, provided you work with a quality base.

See also: Conversion | Conversion rate | CTR

OPENING RATE

Definition: The open rate measures the percentage of recipients who opened your e-mail in relation to the number of e-mails delivered. It’s an indicator of the performance of your subject line, sender name and timing.

Example: You send a campaign to 5,000 contacts. 4,800 emails are delivered and 960 recipients open the message. Your open rate is 20% (960 / 4,800).

To remember: Since iOS 15, Apple has been preloading email images, which skews open statistics upwards. At Ediware, our filtering of bots and false opens enables us to obtain rates that are more representative of real engagement.

See also: Single aperture | Tracking pixel | CTR

To find out more : Clicking robots and false openings: the scourge that distorts your statistics

CLIC RATE

Definition: Click-through rate is synonymous with CTR. It measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on at least one link in your e-mail, in relation to the number of e-mails delivered. It’s the main indicator of the engagement generated by your content.

Example: Out of 8,000 emails delivered, 320 recipients click on a link. Your click rate is 4%.

Things to remember: The click rate is more reliable than the open rate for measuring real engagement. A click represents a voluntary action on the part of the recipient, unlike an open, which may be automatic.

See also: CTR | CTOR | Open rate

CONVERSION RATE

Definition: The conversion rate measures the percentage of recipients who have carried out the desired action (purchase, registration, download) in relation to the number of emails delivered or the number of clickers, depending on the calculation method chosen.

Example: Your campaign generates 200 clicks to your landing page. 30 visitors fill in the quote request form. Your conversion rate is 15% (30 / 200).

Remember: Clearly define your conversion objective before each campaign. Without a measurable objective, you won’t be able to assess the real performance of your e-mails beyond simple engagement metrics.

See also: Conversion | CTR | ROI emailing

DELIVERABILITY RATE

Definition: The deliverability rate measures the percentage of emails that have been accepted by recipient servers, relative to the total number of emails sent. It indicates the proportion of messages that have not generated a bounce, without guaranteeing that they will reach the inbox.

Example: You send 10,000 emails. 9,700 are accepted by the recipient servers and 300 bounce back. Your deliverability rate is 97%.

To remember: A deliverability rate of 97% or more is expected on a quality basis. Warning: a delivered e-mail may end up as spam. The deliverability rate does not measure arrival in the inbox.

See also: Deliverability | Bounce | Hard bounce

REBOUND RATE

Definition: The bounce rate measures the percentage of emails that could not be delivered in relation to the total number of emails sent. It is the inverse of the deliverability rate. A high bounce rate indicates basic quality or reputation problems.

Example: Out of 10,000 emails sent, 350 come back in error. Your bounce rate is 3.5%, which is above the acceptable threshold and requires you to clean up your database.

Remember: Keep your bounce rate below 2%. Beyond that, your reputation as a sender deteriorates. Clean up your database regularly and use an email validation service before sending.

See also: Bounce | Hard bounce | Soft bounce

A/B TESTING

Definition: A/B testing is the process of sending two different versions of an email to samples of your list to identify which performs better. The elements tested can be the subject, sender name, content, call-to-action or time of sending.

Example: You test two objects on 20% of your list (10% receive version A, 10% version B). After 2 hours, item A has been opened 25% times, compared with 18% for item B. You send version A to the remaining 80%.

Remember: test only one element at a time to clearly identify what makes the difference. A reliable A/B test requires a sufficient sample size: at least 1,000 contacts per version to obtain statistically significant results. In B2B, where volumes are lower, the use of a 1/B test is rarely wise. It’s better to send out several variants of a campaign and optimize them over time.

See also: Open rate | CTR | Object

MARKETING AUTOMATION

Definition: Marketing automation refers to the automation of repetitive marketing actions using predefined scenarios. In email marketing, this translates into emails triggered automatically according to the behavior or profile of the recipient, without manual intervention.

Example: A prospect downloads your white paper. He automatically receives a thank-you email, then 3 days later an email presenting a case study, then 7 days later a meeting proposal.

To remember: Automation enables you to maintain contact with your prospects at the right time, without mobilizing your teams. Start with simple scenarios (welcome, follow-up) before considering complex workflows.

See also: Workflow | Automated scenarios | Trigger email

DRIP CAMPAIGN

Definition: A drip campaign is a series of automated emails sent at regular intervals according to a predefined schedule. Unlike action-triggered emails, drip emails follow a fixed time sequence after an initial entry point.

Example: A new contact subscribes to your newsletter. They receive a welcome email on D+0, a presentation of your services on D+3, a customer testimonial on D+7, then a discovery offer on D+14.

To remember: Drip campaigns are effective for gradually educating your prospects. Space your mailings sufficiently to avoid saturating the recipient: an email every 3 to 7 days is a good rhythm in B2B.

See also: Email sequence | Lead nurturing | Automation

COLD EMAILING

Definition: Cold emailing involves sending an email to a prospect with whom you’ve had no prior contact. It’s a B2B prospecting technique designed to initiate a commercial relationship with companies that don’t yet know you.

Example: You identify 500 sales managers in your target sector via LinkedIn. You send them a personalized email presenting a problem they’re facing and proposing a 15-minute discussion.

To remember: B2B cold emailing is authorized in France if the message relates to the recipient’s professional function. Personalization and relevance are essential: a generic cold email always ends up in spam or the trash.

See also : Emailing B2B | RGPD emailing | Prospecting file

WELCOME EMAIL

Definition: The welcome email is the first message sent to a new contact after they’ve subscribed to your list. It’s a strategic email that lays the foundations of the relationship: it confirms registration, presents what the contact will receive and may propose an immediate action.

Example: A visitor subscribes to your B2B newsletter. He immediately receives an email thanking him, telling him how often you’ll send it, suggesting he add your address to his contacts and offering him a free guide to download.

To remember: The welcome email has the best open rates (often over 50%). Take advantage of this attention to make a good impression and encourage a first action.

See also: Automation | Trigger email | Email sequence

TRANSACTIONAL EMAIL

Definition: A transactional email is an automatic message sent following a specific action by the recipient: order confirmation, password reset, shipping notification, invoice. Unlike marketing emails, it does not require prior consent.

Example: A customer places an order on your site. He automatically receives a confirmation email with a summary of his order, then a notification email when the package is dispatched.

To remember: Transactional emails have very high open rates (60% to 80%). They represent an opportunity to reinforce your brand image and can include discreet marketing elements (complementary products, customer reviews).

See also: Trigger email | Automation | Deliverability

B2B EMAILING

Definition: B2B emailing refers to email campaigns aimed at professionals in a business-to-business context. It differs from B2C in its targets (decision-makers, professional buyers), content (more informative, ROI-oriented) and legal framework (legitimate interest possible without opt-in).

Example: You send a campaign to the CFOs of SMEs in your region to present your cash management solution. The message highlights the concrete benefits: time savings, error reduction, increased visibility.

Remember: In B2B, targeting quality takes precedence over volume. A relevant message sent to 500 good contacts generates more results than a generic email sent to 10,000 poorly qualified addresses.

See also: Cold emailing | Lead nurturing | Prospecting file

Further information Complete B2B email marketing guide

LEAD NURTURING

Definition: Lead nurturing is a strategy that involves maintaining a relationship with prospects who are not yet ready to buy, by sending them relevant content over time. The aim is to support them in their thinking until they are ripe for a sales approach.

Example: A prospect downloads a solution comparison from your website. Over the following weeks, he receives emails with case studies, customer testimonials and articles going into greater depth on the criteria for choice, right up to a demonstration proposal.

To remember: Lead nurturing is particularly effective in B2B, where decision cycles are long. Segment your prospects by maturity level and adapt content to each stage of their journey.

See also: Drip campaign | Email sequence | Scoring

NEWSLETTER

Definition: A newsletter is a periodic e-mail sent to a list of subscribers to share news, informative content or advice. It’s a loyalty-building tool that maintains the link with your audience between commercial solicitations.

Example: Every month, you send a newsletter to your 3,000 subscribers with the latest trends in your sector, a feature article from your blog and a selection of useful resources.

To remember: A good newsletter provides value before asking for something. Find the right balance between informative content and promotion. Stick to a regular frequency to create a habit among your readers.

See also: Open rate | Unsubscribe | Segmentation

AUTOMATIC RELAUNCH

Definition: An autoresponder is an email sent automatically to recipients who have not responded to a previous campaign (non-openers or non-clickers). It maximizes the impact of a message by giving it a second chance with a different subject line.

Example: You send a campaign on Tuesday. On Thursday, the contacts who didn’t open it automatically receive the same email with a new subject: “Did you miss our latest news?

To remember: Reminding non-openers can significantly increase the reach of your campaigns. Change the subject and, if necessary, the time of sending to test other approaches. Limit yourself to one reminder to avoid harassing your contacts.

See also: Automation | Opening rate | Automated scenario

To find out more : The art of automatic dunning

AUTOMATED SCENARIO

Definition: An automated scenario is a series of marketing actions (emails, SMS, tasks) that are triggered automatically according to predefined conditions: contact behavior, date, score, or segment membership. This is the heart of marketing automation.

Example: A contact clicks on a “rates” link in your newsletter. This click triggers a scenario: a pricing brochure is sent on D+1, an alert is sent to the sales rep on D+3 if there is no opening, then an appointment is proposed on D+7.

Remember: Start with simple, linear scenarios before adding conditional branches. A scenario that is too complex becomes difficult to maintain and optimize.

See also: Automation | Workflow | Trigger email

EMAIL SEQUENCE

Definition: An email sequence is a series of emails sent in a defined order, usually a few days apart. It can be temporal (drip) or behavioral (triggered by actions). Sequences structure the communication path with your contacts.

Example: Your onboarding sequence includes 5 emails: welcome (D+0), presentation of the platform (D+2), advice on getting started (D+5), case study (D+10), support proposal (D+15).

Remember: each email in the sequence must have a clear objective and provide value. Analyze the open and click-through rates of each email to identify weak links for optimization.

See also: Drip campaigns | Lead nurturing | Automation

TRIGGER EMAIL

Definition: An email trigger is a message sent automatically following a specific action or event: registration, click, cart abandonment, birthday, inactivity. The trigger can be behavioral, temporal or linked to profile data.

Example: A prospect consults the presentation page of your premium offer three times without requesting a demo. This behavior triggers the automatic sending of an email proposing an exchange with an advisor.

To remember: Trigger emails are sent when the contact is most receptive, which explains their excellent performance. Identify your prospects’ key behaviors and create appropriate triggers.

See also: Automation | Automated scenario | Transactional email

DOMAIN WARM-UP

Definition: Domain warm-up is the process of gradually establishing the reputation of a new sending domain with e-mail providers. As with IP warming, it involves gradually increasing volumes to build up a reliable sender image.

Example: You create a new newsletter.votreentreprise.fr domain for your campaigns. For the first few weeks, you send to your most committed contacts, in increasing volumes, before expanding to your entire base.

Remember: A new domain with no history is considered suspicious by spam filters. Warm-up is essential to prevent your first mailings from ending up as spam.

See also: IP warming | Sending domain | Sender reputation

WORKFLOW

Definition: In marketing automation, a workflow is a sequence of automated actions represented visually in the form of a diagram. It defines triggering conditions, actions to be executed, waiting times and conditional branches based on contact behavior.

Example: Your lead qualification workflow includes: enter by downloading content → wait 3 days → test “opened the email?” → if yes, send webinar invitation → if no, send reminder with new angle.

To remember: A good workflow must have a clear input, simple conditions and a defined output. Document your workflows and review them regularly to adapt them to your changing objectives.

See also: Automation | Automated scenarios | Lead nurturing

ALT TEXT

Definition: alt text is a textual description associated with an image in the HTML code of your e-mail. This text is displayed when images are blocked by the e-mail client, enabling readers to understand the image content without seeing it.

Example: Your email contains an image of your new product. You add the alt text “New inventory management solution – Simplified interface”. If images are disabled, the recipient will see this text instead of the image.

Things to remember : Many e-mail clients block images by default. A well-written alt text encourages the recipient to display images and improves the accessibility of your emails for the visually impaired.

See also: HTML email | Responsive email | Call-to-action

CALL-TO-ACTION (CTA)

Definition: The call-to-action (or CTA) is the element in your email that prompts the recipient to perform an action: click on a button, download a document, request a quote, register. It’s the conversion point of your message, the one to which all the content should lead.

Example: At the end of your email introducing a new feature, an orange button reads “Request a demo”. This CTA is visible, self-explanatory and clearly indicates what will happen on click.

Remember: An effective email contains only one main CTA. Use an action verb, create a visual contrast with the rest of the message and place your CTA above the waterline so that it’s visible without scrolling.

See also: Conversion | CTR | Click-through rate

RESPONSIVE EMAIL

Definition: A responsive email is a message whose layout automatically adapts to the size of the screen on which it is viewed. Whether the recipient opens the email on a computer, tablet or smartphone, the content remains legible and the buttons clickable.

Example: Your newsletter displays two columns on the computer. On mobile, these columns are automatically stacked into a single one to make reading easier and avoid the recipient having to zoom or scroll horizontally.

Worth remembering: More than half of all emails are opened on mobile devices. A non-responsive email generates immediate deletions and damages your image. Ediware offers over 120 ready-to-use French responsive templates.

See also: HTML email | Template email | Preheader

To find out more : Responsive emailing: the essential advantages of our software

HEADER

Definition: The header of an e-mail is the upper part of the message, generally visible before scrolling. It typically contains the company logo, a link to the web version of the message and sometimes a navigation menu. It’s the first visual element the recipient sees.

Example: Your newsletter header displays your logo on the left, the issue date in the center and a “View in Browser” link on the right. This zone remains identical from one campaign to the next, to create a recognizable visual identity.

Remember: Keep your header compact so that the main content appears quickly. Avoid headers that are too high and force the recipient to scroll before seeing your message.

See also: Footer | Template email | Preheader

FOOTER

Definition: The footer is the area at the bottom of your email containing mandatory information and utility links: company contact details, unsubscribe link, link to privacy policy and possibly links to social networks.

Example: Your footer displays your company name, postal address, an “Unsubscribe” link, a “Manage my preferences” link and your company’s LinkedIn and Twitter icons.

To remember: The footer is not only a legal obligation, it’s also a reassuring space. A physical address and complete contact details reinforce the recipient’s confidence and improve your deliverability.

See also: Header | Opt-out | LCEN

HTML EMAIL

Definition: An HTML email is a message formatted using HTML language, allowing the integration of elaborate layouts, images, colors and clickable buttons. It is the standard format for marketing emails, as opposed to plain text emails.

Example: Your promotional campaign uses an HTML template with your graphic charter: header logo, product images, colored buttons for CTAs and structured footer.

To remember: HTML email has its constraints: not all email clients interpret the code in the same way. Use an editor that generates code compatible with the main webmails and e-mail programs to avoid display problems.

See also: Plain text | Email responsive | Template email

SUBJECT LINE

Definition: The subject of an e-mail is the line of text that appears in the inbox before the message is opened. It’s the decisive element in the open rate: in a few words, it must capture attention and make you want to read the rest.

Example: To announce a new feature, rather than a generic “June Newsletter” object, you opt for “Save 2 hours a week with our new dashboard”.

To remember: A good subject line is short (40 to 50 characters to be visible on mobile), specific and benefit-oriented. Avoid spam words (free, urgent, promotion) and A/B test several versions to identify what works with your audience.

See also: Opening rate | Preheader | A/B testing

To find out more : How to write high-impact, high-performance email subject lines

PERSONALIZATION

Definition: Personalization consists in adapting the content of an email according to known data about the recipient: name, company, business sector, purchase history, behavior. It ranges from a simple first name in the subject line to fully dynamic content based on the profile.

Example: Your email starts with “Hello Jean-Pierre” and reads “As Sales Director at Dupont SA, you are undoubtedly confronted with…”. These elements are inserted automatically thanks to the personalization variables.

To remember: Personalization significantly improves open and click rates. With Ediware, you have standard variables (%name%, %firstname%) and 24 free variables to personalize your messages in the body, subject, URLs and sender name.

See also: Segmentation | Object | A/B testing

PLAIN TEXT

Definition: A plain text email is a message with no HTML formatting: no images, no colors, no buttons. It resembles a manually typed email and is displayed identically on all email clients.

Example: Your prospecting email is deliberately plain text: a few short paragraphs, a simple signature and a link to your calendar. This format gives the impression of a personal message rather than mass communication.

To remember: Plain text is particularly effective in B2B prospecting, where it passes spam filters better and appears more authentic. Previously, it was recommended to include a plain text version of your HTML emails for email clients that did not display HTML. Ediware’s emailing software manages this functionality, although it is no longer essential.

See also: HTML email | Cold emailing | Deliverability

PREHEADER

Definition: The preheader is the text that appears next to or below the object in the inbox. It’s an extension of the subject line that adds context and encourages opening. Without a preheader, the email client displays the first few words of the email content.

Example: Your subject is “Your invitation to the March 15th webinar”. Your complete preheader: “Places limited – Reserve your free access now”. The recipient sees these two elements before even opening the email.

Remember: Don’t leave the preheader to chance. A well-written preheader can increase your open rate by 10-15%. Limit it to 40-70 characters so that it displays fully on mobile.

See also: Object | Opening rate | Header

To find out more : Beyond the object: why the pre-header makes all the difference

TEMPLATE EMAIL

Definition: An email template is a reusable layout model that defines the visual structure of your campaigns: logo placement, content zones, button style, footer. It guarantees the consistency of your visual identity from one campaign to the next.

Example: You create a template for your monthly newsletters with a fixed header, three flexible content zones and a standard footer. Each month, you simply replace the content without redesigning the layout.

To remember: A good template is responsive, compatible with all major email clients and easy to modify. At Ediware, our editor offers over 120 French responsive templates and lets you create your own customized templates.

See also: Responsive email | HTML email | Header

PREVIEW TEXT

Definition: Preview text is synonymous with preheader. It refers to the short snippet of text visible in the inbox before the email is opened, just after the subject line. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to what the recipient sees, as opposed to the preheader’s technical code.

Example: In the Gmail inbox, the recipient sees: “Ediware – Your invitation to the webinar… Places are limited – Reserve now”. The first part is the subject line, the second is the preview text.

Remember: Always optimize your preview text to complement the subject line. These two elements form a duo that determines whether the recipient opens or ignores your email.

See also: Preheader | Object | Opening rate

Here’s the sixth and final theme: List Management & Data (13 terms).

EMAIL DATABASE

Definition: An email database is the set of email addresses and associated information (name, company, function, history) that you use for your campaigns. It’s the most valuable asset in your email marketing strategy: its quality directly determines your performance.

Example: Your database contains 15,000 B2B contacts, each with email address, surname, first name, company, job title, sector of activity, registration date and engagement history (opens, clicks).

To remember : A database naturally degrades by 20 to 30% per year (job changes, company closures). Maintain it regularly by deleting inactive persons and validating addresses before sending them out.

See also: List hygiene | Cleaning | Segmentation

CLEANING (LIST CLEANING)

Definition: List cleaning consists of removing invalid, inactive or high-risk addresses from your database: hard bounces, obsolete addresses, potential spam traps, contacts that have been inactive for a long time. It’s an essential hygiene operation to maintain your deliverability.

Example: Before a major campaign, you run your database of 20,000 contacts through a validation tool. Result: 1,500 invalid addresses are identified and removed, saving you from a catastrophic bounce rate.

Remember: Clean up your database at least once a year, and systematically before using an old or purchased list. At Ediware, our CleanMyList service allows you to validate your addresses and obtain a quality score for each contact.

See also: Email validation | List hygiene | Hard bounce

DEDOUBLING

Definition: Deduplication is the process of identifying and removing duplicate email addresses from your database. The same contact, present several times, receives your duplicate campaigns, generating annoyance and unsubscribes.

Example: You merge two prospect files from different trade shows. The deduplication identifies 450 contacts present in the two files and retains only one occurrence of each address.

Remember : Deduplication must be performed each time new contacts are imported. At Ediware, duplicates are automatically detected when CSV files are imported into the platform.

See also: Importing contacts | Email database | List hygiene

DATA ENRICHMENT

Definition: Data enrichment consists of filling in the missing information on your contacts from external sources: adding telephone number, job title, sector of activity, company size. This additional data enables better segmentation and personalization.

Example: Your database contains only the emails of your contacts. By using an enrichment service, you can retrieve the following information for 70% of them: company name, workforce, NAF code, telephone number and LinkedIn profile.

To remember : Enrichment improves your targeting and personalization capabilities. At Ediware, our DataProspectsdatabase enablesyou to enrich your files with French company data, updated daily.

See also: Segmentation | Personalization | Prospecting file

PROSPECTING FILE

Definition: A prospecting file is a list of contacts you haven’t collected yourself, purchased or rented from a B2B data provider. It enables you to reach new targets who don’t yet know you, and to feed your sales pipeline.

Example: You’d like to prospect the IT managers of industrial SMEs in the Paris region. You purchase a file of 2,000 qualified contacts with email, telephone and company details.

Remember : The quality of your prospecting file determines your results. Check data freshness, collection sources and RGPD compliance.

See also: Cold emailing | B2B emailing | Email validation

LIST HYGIENE

Definition: List hygiene refers to all practices aimed at maintaining a clean, high-performance email database: bounce removal, inactive removal, deduplication, address validation. Good list hygiene preserves your reputation as a sender.

Example: Every quarter, you review your database, deleting hard bounces, deactivating contacts inactive for 12 months, and checking questionable addresses via a validation service.

To remember: List hygiene is not a one-off chore, but an ongoing discipline. Integrate these practices into your routine: automatic processing of bounces, reactivation campaigns for inactives, validation before each important mailing.

See also: Cleaning | Email validation | Sender reputation

IMPORT CONTACTS

Definition: Importing contacts is the process of loading a recipient file into your emailing platform. This stage generally includes column mapping (correspondence between the fields in the file and those in the platform), format validation and duplicate detection.

Example: You export 500 new leads from your CRM in CSV format. You import this file into Ediware, indicating that column A corresponds to the email address, column B to the name, column C to the company name, and so on.

Remember : Always check your file format before importing (UTF-8 encoding, semicolon separator for French CSVs). With Ediware, import automatically validates addresses and detects duplicates with your existing database.

See also: Deduplication | Email database | Email validation

MAILING LIST

Definition: A mailing list is a group of contacts grouped together to receive the same communication. You can create several lists to suit your needs: customers, prospects, partners, newsletter subscribers. Each contact can belong to one or more lists.

Example: You manage three separate lists: “Active customers” (2,000 contacts), “Qualified prospects” (5,000 contacts) and “Webinar subscribers” (800 contacts). Some contacts belong to more than one list, depending on their history with your company.

Remember: Structure your lists logically and keep them up to date. Too many lists becomes unmanageable, too few prevents fine-tuning. Find the right balance according to your activity and types of communication.

See also: Segmentation | Email database | Contact import

SCORING

Definition: Scoring is a technique that assigns a score to each contact in your database, based on their profile and behavior. This score reflects the contact’s level of interest or maturity, and enables you to prioritize sales actions or adapt communications.

Example: Your scoring system assigns points according to actions: +10 for an email open, +25 for a click, +50 for a white paper download, +100 for a contact request. Leads exceeding 150 points are passed on to sales.

To remember: Scoring is particularly useful in B2B, where sales cycles are long. It enables you to focus sales efforts on the most committed contacts, and automate the nurturing of others.

See also: Lead nurturing | Segmentation | Automation

SEGMENTATION

Definition: Segmentation consists of dividing your contact base into homogeneous groups according to defined criteria: demographic data, business sector, purchasing behavior, email engagement. This enables you to send more targeted, and therefore more effective, messages.

Example: Rather than sending a single email to your entire database, you create three segments: “SME industry” (message focused on productivity), “ETI services” (message focused on ROI), “Key accounts” (message focused on personalization). Each segment receives tailored content.

To remember: A segmented email generates on average 50% more clicks than a mass email. Start with simple segmentations (sector, size, commitment) before refining with behavioral criteria.

See also: Customization | Mailing list | Scoring

To find out more : Segmentation in marketing: capitalizing on the advantages and mitigating the drawbacks

SUPPRESSION LIST

Definition: A suppression list (also known as a “push list”) groups together email addresses to be systematically excluded from your mailings: unsubscribers, spam complaints, RGPD requests, hard bounces, forbidden contacts. This list is automatically consulted before each campaign to avoid sending to these addresses.

Example: A contact requests the deletion of his data in accordance with the RGPD. His address is added to your push list. Even if this address reappears in a prospecting file, it will automatically be excluded from your mailings.

To remember : The opt-out list is an essential legal and technical protection. It prevents you from sending to contacts who have explicitly refused your communications or who would harm your deliverability.

See also: Opt-out | RGPD emailing | Hard bounce

EMAIL VALIDATION

Definition: Email validation is the process of checking whether an email address is valid, active and capable of receiving messages. It comprises several levels of control: syntax, domain existence, MX server verification, detection of disposable addresses and spam traps.

Example: Before sending a campaign to a new file of 5,000 contacts, you run the addresses through a validation service. Result: 4650 valid addresses, 200 invalid, 100 at risk and 50 disposable addresses to exclude.

Remember: Email validation is a worthwhile investment: it prevents bounces that damage your reputation. At Ediware, our CleanMyList.email service exploits the history of billions of mailings to assign a quality score (0-100) to each address.

See also: Email verification | Cleaning | Hard bounce

EMAIL VERIFICATION

Definition: Email verification is synonymous with email validation. It refers to all the checks carried out to ensure that an e-mail address is valid and can receive messages. The term “verification” is sometimes used to designate real-time checks during form entry.

Example: On your registration form, real-time email verification immediately detects typing errors. If a visitor types “jean.dupont@gmial.com”, the system suggests the correction “gmail.com” before validation.

Remember: Integrate email verification into your forms to avoid collecting incorrect addresses from the outset. It’s more efficient than cleaning up your database after the fact. Our CleanMyList service offers a real-time verification API.

See also: Email validation | Cleaning | Importing contacts