When evaluating email marketing software, it is important to know some buzz words, key words, and things to consider so that you are properly informed. As a small business owner, you will greatly benefit from email marketing, as it helps you stay in contact with your current or potential clients. It is an important service that can greatly increase sales. Therefore, it is important to be informed before making a choice on the email marketing solution you are choosing.

The following is a glossary of email marketing buzz words that you might come across, and what they mean to you and your business.

Email Authentication: These are various bits of information that identify the sender to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). It's a kind of accountability for the messages that you are sending out. The latest technologies in this field include Doman Keys, DKIM and SPF records. Any great email marketing software provider will take care of these technologies on your business' behalf, so you don't have to worry about it. If you speak to an email marketing account executive, make sure to ask if they're taking care of email authentication for you, and inquire about which technologies they're using.

Domain Keys (DK); Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM): Are signatures that are added to your emails to verify the sender (or domain) and the content within the message. This helps get your messages into your subscribers' inbox, as it is information that spam bots/filters can identify. The best email marketing organizations have this in place, so that your emails have the best possible chances of landing in your subscribers inboxes.

Spam: Is the common term for unsolicited bulk-email. When an email is sent to an address that did not opt-in (or give direct permission) to receive the email, or is sent multiple times to the same address, it is considered Spam. The most respected email marketing companies will not take on customers who are planning to send Spam messages. In fact, the top companies will catch Spam messages before they go out, and prevent the sender from sending them.

Tracking – Once you send out a message, you can track opens, clicks, forwards, and bounces: The best email marketing companies will have a comprehensive tracking beacon allowing you to see which of your subscribers have opened clicked and forwarded your emails. You will also be able to take this information and use it for future campaigns. It will provide you with a better understanding of your subscribers, and therefore allow you to develop a proper strategy to market to them accordingly. "Opens" relates to which of your subscribers have actually seen the content of your email, by clicking on it in their inbox. "Clicks" are a list of subscribers that have pressed on one of the links in the email that you have set up. Look for an email marketing software that will give you information as to who, exactly who clicked on each link, and when they did it. "Forwards" lists the subscribers that have passed your message onto other interested parties. "Bounces" are the emails that didn't arrive to the intended reader, because either the subscriber's mailbox was full, the address no longer exists, their server has timed out (meaning the end computer was not responding to the original computer's message) or because the security features on the subscribers account are set extremely high.

Make sure that you know what you are looking for in an email marketing software, so that you campaign s will be as successful as can be. Look for the email marketing software companies that give you the best possible chances to get your email into the inbox of you subscribers.