# Cold Outreach and Lead Generation Glossary

This glossary explains the terms used in B2B cold outreach for Russia and the CIS, from ICP and decision-makers to SPF, DMARC and reply rate. Each entry is designed to help you understand campaign reports, assess a provider and make informed decisions about your own outreach.

**Figures:** 5.93% — of companies contacted replied across our campaigns; 97.7% — of addresses accepted an email; 420 — sender inboxes in our infrastructure

## How to use this glossary

Terms are grouped by the stages of an outreach campaign: audience, deliverability, messaging, metrics and sales roles. Each definition explains what the term means, why it affects results and how to interpret it in a campaign.

A glossary explains the language, not the full operating process. If you need a campaign assessed or want to understand whether outreach fits your commercial task, start with a <a href="/en/free-audit/">free cold outreach audit</a>.

## Audience and list building: who to contact

Every campaign begins with the people and companies that will receive the message. A weak segment cannot be fixed later by better copy or technical setup.

- ICP — ideal customer profile: the industries, company characteristics and decision-maker roles that define a relevant account.
- Cold outreach and cold email — a first business contact made without a prior relationship, most often by email.
- Decision-maker — the person able to influence or approve a purchase, rather than a generic recipient who can only forward a message.
- TAM, SAM and SOM — three ways to describe the total market, the serviceable market and the realistically reachable part of it.
- Lead list and intent signals — a list of relevant companies and timely reasons to contact them, such as expansion, hiring or a new product launch.
- Catch-all address — a domain configured to accept mail for any address, which can make email validation less conclusive.

## Infrastructure and deliverability: reaching the inbox

Deliverability is often the most technical and most underestimated part of outreach. Across our campaigns, 97.7% of addresses accepted an email; that is an operational result, not a guarantee that every future message will reach the inbox.

- Deliverability and inbox placement — the difference between an email being accepted by a receiving server and appearing in the primary inbox rather than spam.
- SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX records — domain-level email authentication and routing records that help receiving systems verify a sender.
- Sender reputation — the trust associated with a sending domain, inbox or technical sending environment over time.
- Spam traps, blocklists and DNSBLs — systems and addresses that can signal poor list hygiene or harmful sending behaviour.
- Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe — mechanisms that allow a recipient to opt out and can reduce unwanted-mail complaints.

## Sequences and copy: what a decision-maker reads

- Sequence — a planned series of contacts, including the first email and follow-ups.
- Cadence — the timing and channel mix of contacts; it can include email, Telegram and LinkedIn.
- Spintax — controlled text variation used to avoid sending one identical message at scale.
- A/B test — a comparison of two message variants sent to comparable segments, used to evaluate a specific change.

For the Russian and CIS market, channel choice matters. Many decision-makers read their own email, while Telegram is also a working business channel; local inbox ecosystems differ from the tools and data sources commonly used in other markets.

## Metrics and economics: how to judge the result

A number without context is not a conclusion. Across our campaigns, 5.93% of companies contacted replied; it is a historical figure from our work, not a promise for your business.

- Reply rate — the share of contacted companies that reply. It is usually more useful for judging cold outreach than opens alone.
- Open rate — the recorded share of emails opened, often distorted by automatic image loading and privacy features in email clients.
- Bounce — a delivery failure. Hard and soft bounces have different causes, but both require attention when assessing list quality.
- CPL and ROMI — cost per lead and return on marketing investment. They should be evaluated against qualified meetings and revenue, not email opens.

## Sales roles, LinkedIn and compliance

- SDR, BDR and AE — sales roles that prospect, qualify and close opportunities, with different responsibilities at each stage.
- MQL, SQL and qualification — lead stages and the criteria used before passing a contact to sales.
- No-show — a booked meeting that the prospect does not attend.
- ABM and AI SDR — account-focused outreach and AI-assisted first-line work; both still need human judgement and clear qualification rules.
- SSI, connection rate and InMail — LinkedIn indicators and formats relevant to teams using that channel.
- Personal-data and advertising rules — the legal framework that affects how cold outreach should be planned and handled.

## When this glossary is not for you

If you need meetings rather than terminology, this is not the best starting point. Review our <a href="/en/services/">B2B lead generation services</a> or request a <a href="/en/free-audit/">free audit</a> of your current outreach.

This is also not a general sales textbook or a diagnosis of a live campaign. When outreach is already running without replies, the answer lies in your audience, domains, messages and handling process—not in a definition alone.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the difference between open rate and reply rate?**

Open rate is a technical measurement based on recorded opens, and email-client automation can distort it. Reply rate measures the share of contacted companies that respond, which makes it a more useful cold-outreach metric; across our campaigns, it was 5.93%.

**Why are there no universal market benchmarks here?**

Benchmark figures vary by country, list quality, channel, offer and measurement method. We use only verified figures from our own campaigns and do not present them as a forecast for another business.

**Where should a newcomer start?**

Start with cold outreach, ICP, decision-maker, sequence and reply rate. Then move to deliverability, SPF, DKIM and DMARC so you can read a provider’s report critically.

**Why does outreach in Russia and the CIS need its own context?**

The local market uses different email ecosystems, including Yandex 360 and Mail.ru, and many decision-makers still read their own email. Telegram is also a practical business channel, while common Western prospecting datasets may not cover the market well.

**Can I quote definitions from this glossary?**

Yes, with a link to ot9.ru. The definitions are intentionally concise so they can be used in internal documents, reports and research.

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Source: https://ot9.ru/en/glossary/ · OT9 (KAP Group) · updated 2026-08-10