Glossary
Cold email has a lot of jargon. Here’s what each term means, in a sentence or two, with a link to the guide that covers it in more detail.
Blacklist: A public list of domains or servers that have been reported for sending spam. Many mail servers block or filter email from anything on it. See Common errors.
Bounce: An email that comes back undelivered, usually because the address doesn’t exist. Too many bounces damage your domain’s reputation. See List hygiene.
Catch-all: A domain set up to accept email for any address, real or not, so a verification tool can’t confirm whether a specific person exists there. Treat these addresses as risky. See List hygiene.
Cold email: An email to someone who doesn’t know you yet, usually to start a business conversation. See Cold email basics.
Diversified stack: A Maildeck plan that mixes Outlook, Google and SMTP inboxes, so your sending doesn’t depend on one email provider. See Diversified stack.
DKIM: A digital signature added to every email you send, which lets the receiving server check the email really came from your domain and wasn’t changed on the way. We set it up for you. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
DMARC: A DNS record that tells receiving servers what to do with an email that fails the SPF or DKIM checks, for example send it to spam. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
DNS: The settings attached to a domain that tell the internet where its website and email live. SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX records are all DNS records. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Domain: The part of an email address after the @, like getyourbrand.com. For cold email you use brand variations, never
your main company domain. See Domains.
Enrichment: Filling in the details about a contact, such as their work email, job title and company. See LeadSonar.
EU reverse charge: How VAT works when an EU business with a verified VAT number buys from us: we don’t add VAT to the invoice, and you account for it in your own country. See Billing, VAT and invoices.
Follow-up: A later email in the same sequence, sent to someone who hasn’t replied yet. See Follow-ups.
ICP (ideal customer profile): A description of the kind of company and person you sell to, such as industry, company size and job title.
Inbox (mailbox): A single email account you send from, like jane@getyourbrand.com. Each inbox has a safe daily sending limit. See
Inbox types.
MX record: A DNS record that says which mail server receives email for a domain. Without the right MX record, a domain can’t receive email. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Open tracking: A tiny invisible image added to an email so the sender can see when it’s opened. Turn it off for cold email, especially on Outlook. See Writing for Outlook.
Outlook tenant: A Microsoft 365 account for one domain, which can hold up to 100 mailboxes. Outlook plans are priced per tenant. See Inbox types.
Positive reply: A reply that shows interest, such as “tell me more” or “let’s talk”, as opposed to “not interested” or an out-of-office. As a rule of thumb, expect about 1 per 200 cold emails. See Choosing a plan.
Pre-warmed tenant: An Outlook tenant built on one of our own already-warmed domains, so you don’t need to bring domains. Availability varies, so ask the team. See Inbox types.
Quick Start: The step-by-step order form in the Maildeck app sidebar, where you pick products, connect domains, choose your sequencer and pay. See Your first order.
Registrar: The company you buy and manage a domain with, such as Porkbun, Namecheap or GoDaddy. See Connect your registrar.
Role account: A shared address like info@ or sales@ rather than a named person. Best removed from cold email lists. See
List hygiene.
Sender reputation: How much email providers trust your domain and inboxes, based on how you’ve sent in the past. Good reputation means more of your emails reach the inbox. See Warmup.
Sequencer: The tool that sends your campaigns and follow-ups on a schedule, such as Instantly, Plusvibe, Smartlead, EmailBison or Manyreach. You sign up with the vendor; we connect your inboxes to it. See Connect your sequencer.
SMTP: The standard way email is sent between servers. At Maildeck, “SMTP inboxes” are low-cost inboxes on private mail servers, rather than on Outlook or Google. See Inbox types.
Spintax: A way to write several versions of a phrase in one template, so each email comes out slightly different, for example “Hi” in one and “Hello” in another. It helps avoid looking like a mass mailing. See Writing for Outlook.
SPF: A DNS record that lists which servers are allowed to send email for your domain. We set it up for you. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
SRT (Scaling Room EcoTokens): The tokens you earn through the referral programme, worth one dollar each. See Referral programme.
Unsubscribe: When someone asks you to stop emailing them. Remove them from every campaign straight away. See List hygiene.
Verification: Checking each address on a list before you send, to remove ones that don’t exist or are risky. See EmailShield.
Warmup: A period where new inboxes send and receive a small, growing number of friendly emails, so providers learn to trust them before you start cold sending. We run it for you. See Warmup.