Club and Group Email Distribution Guidelines

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Email Distribution Guidelines for Clemson Clubs and Special Interest Groups rev. 11.1.14

Effective, March 28th, 2011, the Alumni Association staff will resume the responsibility of distribution of all Clemson Club and Special Interest Group emails to alumni audiences. This change is being made to:

1) improve consistency between current Club and Group access and distribution methods,
2) ensure compliance with Alumni Brand Standards and Guidelines,
3) limit liability and risk by reducing the number of individuals sending messages,
4) reduce volunteer involvement with technical troubleshooting or software/hardware issues,
5) increase visibility, control quantity, and coordinate release of ALL email messages being distributed to alumni.

This new procedure will not impact many Clubs and Groups who already depend on Alumni Staff to send out their emails.

New Procedure for Club or Group Email Communication:

1) The Club or Group President or their designee should submit a request for email distribution via the Email Distribution Request link on the Alumni Homepage www.clemson.edu/alumni. Please save this link for easy reference. Direct link follows and BBNC login is required: https://cualumni.clemson.edu/SSLPage.aspx?pid=1309

2) Complete the required fields, noting your Club/Group name and distribution criteria, and populate your email message including: subject of the message and any hyperlink URL’s. The use of acronyms and abbreviations should be avoided as much as possible. Please note, any additional graphics or images must be under 4mb and emailed directly to your assigned Engagement Director with CC: to Megan McDow mcdow@clemson.edu .

3) Please note in your request if you require a test message be sent to you prior to final distribution or if you would prefer the message go out without your review.

4) Alumni Association Staff will process your request using your branded Club or Group email header template and will distribute your message within seven business days of approval of your request or approved test message (if you request one). Please indicate in your submission your preferred delivery date and time if it differs from this timeframe.

5) Please limit your email communication to your club or group members to no more than once every week.

6) E-mails should be restricted to promoting, advertising, or communicating items of importance with direct ties to Clemson. No personal or business solicitations should be delivered to Clemson Club/Special-Interest Group members without prior approval from the Alumni Office.

  1. Emails announcing obituary information, regardless of the individual’s participation within the club/group/organization/etc., will
    not be sent through this email communication process. It is recommended that all communications about topics of this matter should
    be handled via social media or personal email accounts. Email addresses will not be provided to you in order to share this message in
    accordance with Can Spam Act laws and university email communication policies.

7) The goal of each communication should be to articulate the purpose of the correspondence in as simple, succinct, and straightforward manner as possible. Please use the following checklist when crafting a message, especially when promoting an event or activity:

  1. Who is the message targeting? Can the reader easily discern this? Will they know why they are receiving the message?
  2. Who is sending the message? In what capacity does the sender serve – why are they in a position to craft such a message?
  3. Why is the message being sent? Summed up in its simplest form, what does this message what its reader to do or learn?
  4. If promoting an event, is the time and location clearly indicated? Is the purpose of the event stated?
  5. If the reader desires more information, is it clear how the reader can obtain this?