Email Messaging Guide

Your guide to crafting and sending effective email messages

The IUAA partnership with Encompass (iModules) is a great opportunity to be directly in touch with your alumni group.

Your messages will be received in the personal inboxes of alumni and friends of Indiana University. You’ll be playing an important role in their views and perceptions of IU. You’re helping to maintain IU’s brand and the IUAA’s reputation.

We’ve placed only a few “official rules” on these accounts. For example, limiting the number of sends and using an approved email template and data list. Otherwise, we trust you to adhere to policies and to use best practices.

Using artwork and photography

Policies

We’re asking you to keep some important policies in mind when sending emails and promoting your group. Event promotion and other sensitive issues are governed by the following policies.

  • Religious holidays
  • Promoting third-party events and events that involve alcohol
  • Political activity under the IU name
  • Soliciting monetary support
  • Promoting events with a Big Ten Affiliation

When in doubt, contact Advancement Marketing’s Digital User Experience team for assistance at advux@iu.edu.

Lists

Our subscribers are our most important asset. Now you have a role in protecting them. To be given access to alumni information, you follow the IU Volunteer Access to Data policy. In addition, you must adhere to the following best practices:

Testing, testing …

No one is perfect, and no one wants to make mistakes publicly. Establish a system for sending and create an internal test list so that an extra set of eyes is looking at your email before it sends. Your IUAA liaison may be willing to help you with this.

Following this process can help you avoid mistakes:

  1. Draft
    • Select a template
    • Set up and design content, images, and hyperlinks
  2. Proofread and review
    • Look for grammatical errors
    • Double-check dates, times, and locations
    • Verify all names
  3. Test
    • Before final send, send the email to a test list.
    • Send to yourself and establish one or two other “test” addresses
    • Look at the email in your various test accounts inbox to be sure it’s coming through correctly.
  4. Final changes …
    •  if needed, and final review
  5. Send
  6. Review
    • Look at statistics one week after send, to see engagement with the email.
    • Look for opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.
    • Apply what you learn to future emails.