Glossary

main account
The Alibaba Cloud account that activates the Email Push service. It owns all resources, handles payments, and manages permissions for sub-accounts.

sender domain
Serves as an identifier for your emails, representing the part of an email address after the @ symbol. Every main account must configure at least one sender domain.

• Best practice: Use a subdomain, such as mail.example.com, and use separate domains for marketing and transactional emails. This prevents a high complaint rate for one type of email from affecting the reputation of your primary domain.

from address
The Mail From address displayed when an email is delivered. It is used for both triggered (single or real-time) and bulk sending. In data analytics, you can view delivery statistics by from address.

reply-to address
The address an email client automatically populates when a recipient clicks "Reply." Use this to direct user feedback to a dedicated customer service inbox or ticketing system, rather than to an unmonitored from address.

email template
Pre-written HTML or text content for an email. You can personalize it with variables to insert custom content, such as a username or order number.

tag
A custom identifier for categorizing and tracking sent emails. You can set different tags for various business purposes, such as "Registration Verification," "Promotional Notice," or "Billing Reminder." This lets you track metrics like open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate by tag in the console.

recipient list
A collection of recipients that you import and manage. It supports CSV file import to simplify the management of bulk sending tasks. The system automatically suggests removing invalid addresses from the list.

variable
A placeholder in a template, such as ${name}, for dynamic content substitution. When you send an email, the system replaces the variable with data specific to each recipient, creating a personalized experience.

daily quota
The maximum number of emails you can send per day.

monthly quota
The theoretical monthly sending limit, typically calculated as: daily quota × 30.

reputation level
A rating that Alibaba Cloud adjusts weekly based on your email delivery quality. This quality is measured by metrics like delivery rate, invalid address rate, and spam complaint rate. Your reputation level directly determines your daily quota.

• Upgrade: High-quality sending can increase your quota.

• Downgrade: A high complaint or bounce rate can lead to a lower quota or even a suspension of service.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
Alibaba Cloud Email Push provides an SMTP interface, letting your applications send emails by connecting to Alibaba Cloud servers.

API (Application Programming Interface)
Developers can use the Alibaba Cloud OpenAPI SDK to send emails directly from their code. This method is ideal for high-concurrency, automated business scenarios.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
A type of DNS record that specifies which IP addresses or servers are authorized to send email for your domain. Configuring an SPF record is a fundamental step to prevent domain spoofing and improve your inbox placement rate.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
An email authentication method that uses a digital signature to verify that an email was not altered in transit and was sent from the claimed domain. We strongly recommend configuring DKIM to enhance your sender reputation.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
It combines SPF and DKIM results and tells receiving servers how to handle emails that fail authentication, for example, by rejecting or quarantining them. Configuring DMARC provides the highest level of security protection.

MX record (Mail Exchanger Record)
Although primarily used for receiving mail, a correctly configured MX record for your domain can help prove the domain's validity in certain verification scenarios.

open rate
The percentage of recipients who open an email. This is typically tracked by embedding an invisible tracking pixel in the email.

click-through rate (CTR)
The percentage of recipients who click a link within an email. Use this metric to measure the appeal and effectiveness of your email content.

bounce
An email that is returned to the sender because it could not be delivered. Bounces are divided into two types:

• hard bounce: A permanent delivery failure, typically caused by an invalid email address or a non-existent domain. Remove these addresses from your recipient list.

• soft bounce: A temporary delivery failure, caused by an issue like a full inbox or their server is temporarily down. The system typically attempts to resend the email.

unsubscribe list
A list of all recipients who have opted out of receiving your marketing emails, either by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link or by replying with a specific command.

spam complaint list
A list of emails that recipients have marked as "Spam" or "Junk" in their email client.