Cold Email & B2B Outreach Glossary
Clear definitions of every term you need to understand cold email, email deliverability, AI outreach, and governed outbound.
Fundamentals
Cold Email
An unsolicited email sent to a prospect with whom the sender has no prior relationship, used for B2B outreach and lead generation.
B2B Lead Generation
The process of identifying and attracting potential business customers (leads) who may be interested in a product or service.
Outbound Sales
A sales approach where the seller proactively initiates contact with potential buyers through cold email, cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, or other proactive channels.
Deliverability
Email Warmup
The process of gradually increasing sending volume from a new email domain or address to build sender reputation with mail servers.
Email Deliverability
The ability of an email to reach the recipient's inbox rather than their spam folder or being rejected entirely by the mail server.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
Three DNS-based email authentication standards that prove to receiving mail servers that your emails are legitimate and authorised.
Email Bounce Rate
The percentage of sent emails that are returned by the recipient's mail server, either permanently (hard bounce) or temporarily (soft bounce).
Strategy
Governed Outbound
A model of B2B email outreach where AI generates sequences but a human must approve every batch before delivery, with a full audit trail.
Email Cadence
The structured timing and sequence of emails sent to a prospect over a defined period, including initial outreach, follow-ups, and a breakup email.
ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
A detailed definition of the type of company and decision-maker most likely to buy your product, used to target outbound outreach and prioritise inbound leads.
Email Sequence
A series of pre-written emails sent to a prospect over time, with each email building on the previous to move the prospect toward a conversion action.
Sales Cadence
A structured, multi-channel outreach plan that sequences emails, calls, LinkedIn touches, and other contact points over a defined period to engage a prospect.
Metrics
Cold Email Open Rate
The percentage of delivered cold emails that are opened by the recipient, used to measure subject line effectiveness and initial deliverability.
Cold Email Reply Rate
The percentage of sent cold emails that receive a reply from the recipient — the primary metric for measuring cold email campaign effectiveness.
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