mass email best practices

Mass Email Best Practices

Includes:

• Invitations

• Newsletters

• Alerts

Mass Email Best Practices

• Branding makes your message trusted.

• Brevity gets your message read.

• Technical proficiency assures your message arrives intact.

Overview

Branding is a Matter of Trust.

• Difficult to establish.• Important to defend.

A Shared Relationship

• University’s reputation confers respect on your organization.

• What you do, in turn, reflects back on the University and shapes its image.

• Your communication is the University’s communication.

With this in Mind…

Resist the Impulse to be Creative With Logos

Don’t Mix it Up with New Colors.

Familiarmessagebecomesconfusing

Changing the brand dilutes the message.

Be brief.

Take a hard look at the wordsin your message.

Mass Email Best Practices

Your clients are word weary.

The number of new and unread messages was 300% higher in 2010 than it was in 2006. (Useit.com)

Most newsletters go unread.

23%

77%

Average: 23% readership 4 Years ago

ReadersNon-Readers

(It’s down to 19% today.)

The clock is ticking as soon as the newsletter is opened….

Users spendan averageof only51 seconds reading.

How Does That Look in the Case of a Real Newsletter?

Here’s an 818-wordnewsletter.

It starts here.

And goeson…

Andon …

And finally ends here.

How Much of That is Read?

Average Stopping Point Is on the first page.

How muchwas read?

“Newsletters must be designed to facilitate scanning.”

- Nielsen Norman Group Report

Easy to Scan

The LinkOffice of

Development and Alumni Relations

Another one

Comet Families

Student Affairs

Designed with same principles in mind

Technical Proficiency

Ensure That Your Message Arrives Intact

Mass Email Best Practices

Intended Message

Mass Email Best Practices

ISPs Block Images by Default• Will your message survive?• What happens when your message is

forwarded?• Big images slow to download on most

mobile platforms• Images are not searchable• Plain text is not a bad thing!

Mass Email Best Practices

Different Platforms• Are you looking at anything besides

Outlook?

From CampaignMonitor.com statistics compiled June 2011

Mass Email Best Practices

Different PlatformsShare Email Client

28% Outlook

16% iOS Devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch)

12% Hotmail

11% Apple Mail

10% Yahoo! Mail

7% Gmail

2% Windows Mail

2% Android

1% AOL

1% Thunderbird

Mass Email Best Practices

What Year Is It?

1997 Wants Its HTML Back!

Mass Email Best Practices

HTML for email vs. HTML for Web• Old 1990s HTML• Email is not friendly to images• Narrower publication width• Cannot change after distribution

Mass Email Best Practices

Tools• HTML email• List servers• UT Dallas has two• Constant Contact, Emma, etc.

• DON’T USE desktop email to send mass emails

Mass Email Best Practices

New Process• utdallas.edu/evites/checklist• Send it to

webdeveloper@utdallas.edu• Communications needs three business

days quality testing time

Mass Email Best Practices

In Summary• Brand mass email UT Dallas• Keep it brief• Be careful with images• Use a list server• Involve Communications early