Best Practices for Sending Broadcast Email Messages

When preparing a message to send to a campus broadcast email list, we suggest the following best practices:

1. Know your audience. Authorizers should consult with the Broadcast Email Distribution Groups available page. Messages should be sent to populations for whom the information is relevant. Sending a message to too broad an audience may be viewed as a nuisance or even spam.

2. ITS recommends signing all messages with the name of the University party (or parties) who claims responsibility for its content.

3. Be patient. Most messages will be delivered in under 10 minutes.  Please note that broadcast email messages are not recommended as the only means of communication for disseminating emergency or particularly time-sensitive information.

4. Keep it simple. Approvers should encourage brief, text-based messages and discourage the use of complex graphics, embedded images and/or attachments. The best way to provide details is to direct recipients to a web site where they can obtain more information. Special formatting and fancy fonts may not be viewable by some recipients and should be avoided.

5. Proofread the message before clicking Send.

6. When in doubt, ask! ITS welcomes your comments about this protocol and best practices. Please share your ideas with us about how we can improve our service.