Emailing Alumnae, Parents, and Donors

In order to make the College's broadcast email communications as effective and efficient as possible, we ask that you follow these guidelines. We have narrowed the process to six simple steps for you to follow.

View a sample email request

The Process Time-line:

1. Schedule a Delivery Date (15 business days in advance)
2. Obtain Necessary Approvals (10 business days in advance)
3. Deliver the Content (10 business days in advance)
4. Proof & Revise Test Version (3 business days in advance)
5. Approve Final Version (1 business day before delivery)
6. Deliver Communication

1. Schedule the Delivery

As soon as you decide to send a broadcast email, please contact Electronic Communications (ecomm@barnard.edu) to schedule a date on which the email should be delivered. Schedule your date no less than 3 weeks in advance of delivery (15 business days). It is important to remember that there are multiple groups within the college sending email communications to alumnae, parents, and donors -- so scheduling is very important in order to keep too many communications from being sent at the same time. If your requested send date conflicts with any other large audience broadcast emails, we will suggest alternative dates.

2. Obtain Necessary Approvals

All emails sent to alumnae must be approved by Alumnae Affairs. All emails sent to parents of alumnae must be approved by the Vice President for College Relations or by Alumnae Affairs. All emails sent to parents of current students must be approved by the Dean of the College. All emails sent to donors must be approved by Development.

Be sure to obtain any and all necessary approvals for your message before it is sent out.

3. Deliver the Content

Two weeks (10 business days) prior to the delivery of your email, we ask that you deliver ALL of the content that is to be included in your communication. Please be sure that all of your content is edited and approved. This includes:

Name of Sender

From whom is this message being sent? All emails require a name for the sender as well as an email address. The name of the sender can be anything/anyone (for example: Barnard College, Class of 1957 Officers, Debora Spar, Jane Smith, etc.) and should include Barnard College.

Address of Sender

Please specify the address of the sender that should be made visible to recipients. This address can be the same or different from the address that recieves replies. It is possible that this address may receive responses even if it is not the "reply-to address" as it will be visible to recipients.

For example, a sender address may be for a department (Alumnae Affairs), while the reply-to address may be an address for an individual point person (the manager of that particular event), or vice-versa.

Reply-to address

Who should receive the replies? The email of the sender must be a working address, monitored for replies and with room for auto-responses. A message with 9,000 recipients could receive several hundred "out-of-office" replies, bounce backs, and of course, inquiries.

If an alias needs to be created, this must be done by contacting the Help Desk (help@barnard.edu) prior to requesting the email from Electronic Communications. Note: This could take several days to several weeks, so please plan accordingly.

Recipients

If the email requires a special selection of recipients, arrangements must be made with Advancement Services concurrently. Electronic Communications must receive the selection spreadsheet at least one week (5 business days) before the email is to go out. The spreadsheet should include IDs instead of email addresses.

If the selection is a preexisting group, such as class, status, region, interest, etc., and does not require a special download, please request this selection explicitly when you deliver the content. If you are unsure if your audience is a preexisting group, ask us and we will let you know if you need to make arrangements for a special selection.

Subject Line

Include the subject line you wish your email to have. These should be brief and descriptive. Most email viewers will only show about 50 characters, and so remaining within that limit is a good rule of thumb. Consider whether Barnard College should be mentioned in the subject line (it is most often recommended).

Email Body

Provide the body of the email in a Word document, exactly as you wish it to appear. The text should be proofed and ready to send. Electronic Communications is not responsible for copy-editing your message. Underline any words you wished to be hyperlinked and place in brackets the link. Avoid phrases such as "Click here to see reunion photos," and instead write something more along the lines of "View photos from reunion."

Images

If your email includes images, please provide them. If you require images to be created or altered (including title images), please give ample advanced notice. If you would like to use one of Barnard's standard stationery templates, please indicate that. If you would like to create a new stationery and/or a more complicated layout, please note that this will require a consultation with the college's web designer. Such a request should be made at least two weeks in advance of the date you would like to send.

All of this content must be delivered 10 business days in advance of the email delivery date. Any delays in providing these materials will result in delays to the send date.

4. Proof & Revise Test Version

After the email has been prepared, we will send you a test message approximately 5 business days before the send date. Please respond promptly with any changes you would like to make. In order to meet the agreed upon send date, we ask that you limit the number of rounds of proofing and revision to no more than two, and we strongly recommend that proofing be completed and approval secured 2 business days prior to sending the email.

5. Approve Final Version

Before the email is to be sent out, you must confirm by email that the communication is approved for release. We will not send it until we have your approval.

6. Email Delivered

Everyone is happy!

Sample broadcast email request:

From: Barnard Alumnae Affairs
Reply to: alumnaeaffairs@barnard.edu
Subject: Barnard Nutcracker Event
Send Date: Tuesday, 11/25/08
Stationery: Plain Barnard Stationery

To: Alumnae in New York Metro Area

Email body:

You and your family are invited to join
the Barnard Alma Maters (Sweet Mothers)
for a performance of George Balanchine’s THE NUTCRACKER™

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Reception, 3PM
Irene Diamond Education Center
Frederick P. Rose Hall
Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
Broadway at 60th Street, NYC

Curtain, 5PM
George Balanchine’s THE NUTCRACKER™
New York State Theater, Lincoln Center
$130 per person (includes ballet and reception)

Seats are first ring

Space is limited. Please respond to Alumnae Affairs at 212.854.2005 or alumnaeaffairs@barnard.edu

Presented by the Barnard Alma Maters (Sweet Mothers) part of the Alumnae Association of Barnard College [http://alum.barnard.edu]