Get Your E-mail Out!
Follow the steps below for a comprehensive guide to distributing mass e-mail. Click the jump links to go directly to a specific section of the guide.
Generic Accounts
How to distribute your document without attachments
Footers
Introductory headers
Plain text view
Subject line conventions
Creating an opt-in list
Commonly used internal lists (and when to use them)
Alternative message routes (is e-mail the best way to reach your audience?)
Schedule your mass e-mail
1. Generic Accounts
If you regularly send to large groups, you should have one or more “generic” accounts. Messages to mass e-mail lists may not be sent from an individual. Generic accounts may be managed by one individual or several through proxy access in GroupWise.
You can get a new account by contacting the HelpDesk at itshelp@hamline.edu or x2220.
How to use proxy access to manage your generic account
- Log into the new account
- Go to Tools: Options: Security
- Click on Proxy Access tab
- Enter your name (and any other names that need access)
- Click Add user
- Scroll to the box where you see your name, and highlight your name
- Now you should see several check boxes lighted up - Mail, Appointments, etc, each with "read and write" options
- You want to be able to read and write mail/phone. This is all you need to send and receive messages.
- Do this for each user
- Click appropriate Ok boxes and exit out
Now, go back to your own account.
- At the top left of the screen, you see a little envelop and person icon, next to the word "online"
- Click on it and choose "Proxy" from the drop-down menu
- A box should pop up. Type the name of your new account in the top box, and it will fill in. Highlight it and click any OK boxes
- Now you should be in the new generic account
- To get back to your account, go back to the envelope/person icon and choose your name. Both your name and the generic account should be in there
- From now on, you can just login to your account and "toggle" back and forth between the two
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2. How to distribute your document without attachments
Content can be pasted into the body of the e-mail. Make sure you paste in “plain text” view and proof carefully for mistranslated line breaks or characters.
You may also place your content or document on the Web site and a provide link in the e-mail.
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3. Footers
If the list is unsubscribable, this footer will automatically appear. (Note: Automatic footers only appear if the message is viewed in “Plain Text” format).
Hamline University List: LISTNAME
Click here to unsubscribe: mailto:LISTNAME-unsub@hamline.edu. This will create an e-mail message automatically, just hit “send.”
Each list can have custom text inserted into the footer, and should. Example:
Hamline University List: [all-employees-announce]
As an employee of Hamline University, you are automatically subscribed to this list. You can unsubscribe if you wish. You may address any concerns about the content of this list to the list owner, [NAME NAME] at e-mailaddress@hamline.edu.
Click here to unsubscribe: [mailto:all-employees-announce-unsub@hamline.edu] This will create an e-mail message automatically, just hit “send.”
List managers can insert custom text for your lists. Please contact Kristen Neurer, internal marketing manager, for assistance with this.
If the list is not unsubscribable, include the following with a contact person in the body of your message.
You are a member of this list due to your association with Hamline University as [XXXX]. For more information, contact [NAME at PHONE NUMBER or E-MAIL]
(Note: only "internal" lists automatically generate a footer. For "external" and "ad-hoc" lists, the sender should include the above text in the body of the message).
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4. Introductory Headers
If you are going to send a series of mass e-mails or a periodic mass e-mail (like an e-newsletter), your first message should include an introductory header, such as the example below. It is a good idea to include this header in each subsequent posting, though it is only required for the first message.
Dear [XXXX],
You are receiving this e-mail because you are [AN ALUM OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION]. We will be sending this [E-NEWSLETTER] to you monthly and hope you enjoy hearing from us.
If you would like to unsubscribe from this [E-NEWSLETTER], please follow the instructions at the bottom of this message. You may also contact [NAME, TITLE, at PHONE NUMBER, or E-MAIL ADDRESS] for information or assistance.
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5. Scheduling your mass e-mails to external lists
To schedule mass e-mail to addresses outside of the Hamline community, contact Mary Ellen Griffith, Online Marketing Manager, at 651-523-3093.
6. Plain text view
All mass e-mails should be composed in “plain text” view. Messages should not include colors or images, as they are not universally displayed on various computer systems. Further, the automatically appended footer text will not appear in HTML viewers.
Within plain text view, it is a good idea to add characters to separate items (as in newsletter). You can also add bold and italics in plain text, but no other formatting.
Here’s an example:
Your E-mail Headline
Text of your e-mail. This is text. This is text of my item. This is text. This is text. This is text of my item. This is text. This is text. This is text of my item. This is text. This is text. This is text of my item. This is text.
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7. Subject line conventions
- Subject lines should include the words Hamline and your school or unit
- Do not simply forward another e-mail, leaving Fwd: or Re: in the line
- Be as descriptive as possible
- Do not use acronyms or jargon that others won’t immediately understand
Example: Registration information for Hamline Graduate School of Management students
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9. Creating an opt-in list
You can create opt-in lists for any topic using the list processor software. There is an online request form and instructions/documentation at http://listproc.hamline.edu/.
Commonly used internal lists (and when to use them)>
Alternative message routes>
10. Schedule your mass e-mail
Before sending your mass e-mail (100 recipients or more), you must ensure no other mass e-mail projects are scheduled to go out the same day.
To schedule mass e-mail to addresses outside of the Hamline community, contact
Nuria Sheehan at 651-523-2673.
To schedule mass e-mail to the Hamline Community, contact
Jen Thorson at 651-523-2874.
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