GTM Glossary
The definitive dictionary for Go-To-Market terminology.
C
CRM Hygiene
CRM hygiene is the ongoing practice of keeping account, contact, and pipeline data clean, deduplicated, structured, and trustworthy.
Cold Email Fatigue
The declining engagement and response rates that occur when a prospect receives too many cold outreach messages over a short period, leading to increased unsubscribes, spam complaints, and deliverability damage.
D
Deliverability
Deliverability is the practical ability to consistently land outbound email in the inbox instead of spam, shaped by authentication, reputation, list quality, and sending behavior.
Domain Reputation Score
Domain reputation score is a practical shorthand for how much mailbox providers trust your sending domain based on complaints, bounces, engagement, and authentication.
Domain reputation
Domain reputation is the trust score email providers assign to your sending domain based on engagement, bounces, complaints, and authentication, which determines inbox vs spam placement.
Data Decay
The gradual degradation of contact data quality over time as people change jobs, companies update their information, and enrichment data becomes outdated.
DKIM (DKIM)
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that adds a digital signature to emails, proving they were sent by you and haven't been tampered with.
DMARC (DMARC)
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that gives domain owners the power to protect their domain from unauthorized use.
E
Email List Decay Rate
Email list decay rate is the speed at which contact data becomes outdated as people change jobs, companies, inboxes, or buying relevance over time.
Email authentication
Email authentication proves your domain is allowed to send email and prevents spoofing, using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC alignment to improve trust and deliverability.
Email deliverability
Email deliverability is the ability for your emails to reach the inbox (not spam), driven by authentication, reputation, content signals, and list quality.
Email verification
Email verification checks whether an email address is valid and deliverable before you send, reducing bounces and protecting domain reputation.
Email Throttling
A velocity control practice that limits sending volume per mailbox/domain to protect reputation and keep inbox placement stable.
F
Firmographic Segmentation
Firmographic Segmentation is the practice of grouping companies by attributes like industry, company size, revenue, and geography to improve targeting and messaging.
Firmographics
Company attributes used in B2B targeting and segmentation, like industry, headcount, revenue, geography, and tech stack.
H
Hand-Raiser Lead
A Hand-Raiser Lead is a prospect who shows explicit buying interest through actions like booking a demo, requesting pricing, or asking for next steps.
HubSpot hygiene
The ongoing rules and maintenance that keep HubSpot usable for outbound: clean properties, consistent lifecycle logic, dedupe, and tight automation so pipeline data stays trustworthy.
I
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
An ideal customer profile is a clear definition of the company types most likely to buy, succeed, and expand based on shared characteristics and real buying patterns.
Inbox Placement Rate
Inbox placement rate is the percentage of delivered emails that reach the inbox instead of spam, junk, or promotions.
ICP-Intent Fit
The alignment between a company's profile (ICP) and current buying signals (intent). High ICP-intent fit = the right company at the right time to buy.
Intent Data (Intent Signals)
Digital signals that indicate a prospect is actively researching, considering, or ready to buy a solution. Examples include website visits, content downloads, search queries, and competitor research.
ICP Scoring (ICP)
Quantifying how well a prospect matches your Ideal Customer Profile. ICP scoring reduces noise by filtering accounts before outreach, improving conversion rates and meeting quality.
Inbox Placement
The percentage of your sent emails that actually land in the primary inbox, versus the spam folder or promotions tab.
Intent Signals
Behavioral data points that indicate a prospect is actively researching or interested in buying a solution like yours.
L
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is a method of ranking prospects based on predefined criteria (engagement, firmographics, behavior) to prioritize which leads are most likely to convert into revenue. High-scored leads move faster through sales cycles and reduce cost per meeting.
List Fatigue
The degradation in email response rates that occurs when the same audience receives repeated outbound campaigns over time, causing increased unsubscribes, spam complaints, and lower engagement metrics.
Lead Enrichment
The process of enhancing raw lead data (e.g., just an email) with additional context like job title, company size, revenue, and tech stack.
S
Signal Before Scale Outbound
Signal before scale outbound is the practice of validating targeting, list quality, and messaging on a smaller sample before increasing send volume.
Spam Complaints
Spam complaints happen when recipients mark your email as spam or junk, sending a strong negative trust signal to mailbox providers.
Spam trap
A spam trap is an email address used by mailbox providers and anti-spam systems to identify senders with poor list hygiene, often harming deliverability and reputation.
Spam Complaint Rate (Complaint Rate)
The percentage of recipients who mark your email as spam/junk. A key metric for domain reputation—rates above 0.1% signal serious deliverability issues.
Spam Trigger Words (Trigger Words)
Words and phrases that automatically flag emails as spam in ISP filters. Using them in subject lines or body copy dramatically reduces inbox placement.
Seed List
A controlled set of inboxes (across providers) used to monitor inbox placement and catch deliverability failures before they show up in pipeline.
SPF (SPF)
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record that lists every server authorized to send email for your domain, preventing spoofing and ensuring deliverability.
W
Warm-up (Email Warm-up)
The process of gradually building sender reputation and inbox placement on a new domain or mailbox by sending emails to engaged addresses before launching cold campaigns.
Waterfall Enrichment
A method of finding contact data by cascading through multiple data providers (like Apollo, ZoomInfo, and Clay) sequentially until a match is found, ensuring higher coverage and accuracy.