Glossary

The terms you meet in Solstral, each in a sentence or two. The ⓘ beside a term in the app says the same thing.

API key

A secret that lets another program use Solstral's API for your workspace, with the access the key was given. Keep it like a password: whoever holds it can do what it allows.

BIMI

Shows your logo beside your emails in the inboxes that support it. Inbox providers only look for it once DMARC is at quarantine or reject.

More in DKIM, SPF, DMARC and BIMI explained.

Bounce

An email that came back undelivered. A hard bounce (the address doesn't exist) stops all email to it; a soft bounce (a full mailbox, a busy server) is tried again.

Bounce address

A subdomain of yours, such as bounce.example.com, that undelivered mail is returned to. It makes SPF match your domain, so DMARC can pass on either check.

More in DKIM, SPF, DMARC and BIMI explained.

CNAME record

A DNS record that points one name at another. Most of the records you add for Solstral are CNAMEs, added wherever your domain's DNS is managed.

More in Add a domain and turn on sending.

DKIM

A signature on every email you send, so the receiving server can prove it came from your domain and wasn't changed on the way. Nothing sends from a domain until its DKIM records are published.

More in DKIM, SPF, DMARC and BIMI explained.

DMARC

Tells receiving servers what to do with mail that claims to be from your domain but fails its checks: let it through, send it to spam (quarantine) or refuse it (reject). It also asks them to send you reports.

More in DKIM, SPF, DMARC and BIMI explained.

Double opt-in

Someone joins a list only after clicking the confirmation link emailed to them, which proves the address is theirs and that they asked to join.

More in Consent, compliance footers and sending health.

Dynamic list

A list defined by conditions rather than by hand: everyone who matches is in it, and it changes as records do.

More in Segments on what people did, kept live.

Holdout

A share of people, picked at random, deliberately not sent a campaign or flow. Comparing them with everyone else shows what the marketing actually caused.

More in Measure what a campaign or flow adds: holdouts and lift.

Lead score

A number on a record made of points: some for what the record says, some for what they did lately. Its rules decide the points.

More in Lead scores: points for who they are and what they did.

MTA-STS

Tells other mail servers that email to your domain must arrive over an encrypted connection, so it can't be read or redirected on the way.

More in Requiring encryption on mail sent to you (MTA-STS).

MX record

A DNS record that says which servers receive a domain's email. Changing it on the domain your mailboxes use would move where your mail arrives.

More in Add a domain and turn on sending.

Reply-To

Where a reply goes when it isn't the From address. Solstral sets it so a reply to a send-only address reaches the CRM instead of bouncing.

More in Where replies go, and how to put them on your own domain.

Round-robin

Sharing work out in turn: each new meeting, conversation or lead goes to the next person in the rotation, so it spreads evenly.

Segment (text messages)

A text is sent in segments of 160 plain characters (153 each once it runs over one). An emoji or an accented letter switches the whole text to 70 characters a segment, and each segment costs credits.

Sender

A From name and address on a verified domain: what recipients see. Shared senders are role addresses such as sales@; personal ones are one person's own.

More in Senders and who may use them.

Smart sending

A campaign skips anyone who got a campaign from you in the last few hours (16 unless an admin changes it), so a burst of campaigns doesn't reach the same people twice.

Spam complaint

A recipient pressed "Report spam" on your email. They get no more marketing from you, and too many complaints hurt the delivery of everything you send.

SPF

A list, published in your domain's DNS, of the servers allowed to send its mail. It counts for most when it matches the address people see, which the bounce address arranges.

More in DKIM, SPF, DMARC and BIMI explained.

Sunsetting

Stops marketing to people who have shown no sign of reading your email for a long time, after one last campaign asks if they still want it. Nothing is deleted, and any sign of life brings them straight back.

Suppression list

Addresses Solstral won't email. One that bounced for good gets nothing at all; someone who unsubscribed or reported spam gets no more marketing.

UTM tags

Tags added to a link, such as utm_source and utm_campaign, so analytics can tell which campaign or post brought a visitor.

Warm-up

A new sending domain's daily campaign volume starts small and grows on a schedule, so inbox providers learn to trust it before it sends at full volume.

Webhook

A web address of yours that Solstral calls the moment something happens, such as a record created or a form filled in, so another system can act on it straight away.