Glossary
Email and AI terms, in plain English
No jargon. Short, accurate definitions for the email and AI concepts that matter for getting messages drafted, approved, and delivered.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that attaches a cryptographic signature to each message. The signature lets a receiving server verify, using a public key in your domain's DNS, that the message genuinely came from your domain and was not tampered with in transit.
DMARC
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is an email standard that tells receiving servers what to do with messages that fail SPF and DKIM checks - none, quarantine, or reject - and sends you reports on who is sending email using your domain.
Email Warmup
Email warmup is the process of gradually building a new or cold sending address's reputation by slowly increasing how much email it sends and generating positive engagement - opens, replies, and moves out of spam - so mailbox providers learn to trust it and deliver its mail to the inbox.
Human-in-the-loop (HITL)
Human-in-the-loop (HITL) is a design pattern where a person reviews, edits, or approves an AI system's output before it takes effect. The AI does the heavy lifting; a human stays the final decision-maker, so mistakes are caught before they reach the real world.
Inbox Zero
Inbox Zero is an email management method where you process every incoming message to a decision - do it, delegate it, defer it, delete it, or archive it - so your inbox holds nothing that still needs action. The goal is not an empty inbox for its own sake but zero unprocessed attention left in it.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication standard that publishes, in your domain's DNS, the list of mail servers allowed to send email on its behalf. When a message arrives, the receiving server checks whether it came from an authorized server and uses the result to detect forgeries.