Glossary: multilingual messaging explained

Plain-English definitions of the terms used in multilingual bulk messaging, AI translation and delivery reporting.

Multilingual bulk messaging: Multilingual bulk messaging is sending the same communication to a large group of people, with each person receiving it in their own language. A tool such as You To Them stores each person's preferred language and channel, translates one message into each language, and sends it by email, SMS, WhatsApp or printed letter.
AI translation: AI translation is the automatic translation of text by an artificial intelligence language model. It is fast and usually good but not perfect: names, dates, idiom and tone can go wrong. For legal, medical or safety content, have a qualified human translator check it. In You To Them every AI translation is held for your review before it is sent.
Cohort: A cohort is a named group of people who receive the same communication, such as a class, a rota, a committee or a department. People can belong to more than one cohort. You choose which cohorts a communication is sent to.
Preferred language: A preferred language is the language a person has chosen, or that you have recorded, for the messages they receive. You To Them translates each communication into every preferred language in the cohorts you send to, and lays out right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Urdu correctly.
Delivery report: A delivery report is a record of what happened to each message: delivered, opened, clicked, bounced or failed. It lets you follow up with anyone a message did not reach. Open rates are indicative only, because some mail apps load images automatically.
Bounce: A bounce is an email that could not be delivered and was returned. A hard bounce means the address does not exist and should not be emailed again. A soft bounce is temporary, such as a full mailbox.
Suppression list: A suppression list is a list of addresses that must not be sent to again, because they hard bounced, reported spam or opted out. Respecting it protects your sender reputation and keeps you within the law.
Opt-in and opt-out: Opt-in is a person's agreement to receive messages from you; opt-out is their withdrawal of that agreement. Under UK rules, marketing messages by email, SMS or WhatsApp generally need consent, and every message must make it easy to stop receiving them.
Open rate: Open rate is the share of delivered emails that were opened. It is measured with a tiny image, so it can be inflated by mail apps that load images automatically. Treat it as a guide, not an exact count.
Click rate: Click rate is the share of delivered emails in which at least one link was clicked. It is usually a more reliable measure of engagement than open rate.
Approval workflow: An approval workflow is a process in which one person prepares a communication and an authorised person approves it before it is sent. In You To Them, users prepare communications and only administrators can approve them, so nothing goes out unchecked.
Letters-only plan: A letters-only plan is using You To Them only to generate printable PDF letters for your cohorts. Printing letters has no usage charge, so a letters-only organisation pays only its plan price.