Writing the Message
- Make your subject line short and sweet (35 characters or fewer) with a call to action. Clever phrases may be caught in spam filters.
- The “from” line should be the name of your alumni chapter (e.g., the Wisconsin Alumni Association: Bermuda Chapter).
- Be careful not to end a sentence with a URL if using a text e-mail. (The punctuation that follows causes problems in some browsers.)
- Keep your message short! Remember, documents longer than 500 words are difficult to read on a computer screen.
- Be sure to check your spelling before you hit “send.” E-mails with typos look unprofessional and an awful lot like spam. Your message will be diluted if you make spelling mistakes.
- Give alumni a way to get in touch with your chapter, either by listing your chapter’s Web site or giving a phone number.
- Certain things don’t work in plain text e-mails. These include bolded words, italicized words, bullets and special characters, such as &, ®, © and ™.
E-mail Protocol
- Plan ahead when sending mass e-mails.
- Use good judgment about the appropriate number of e-mails to send to an audience on the same topic. At the very most, plan to send one save-the-date, and one reminder the week before the event (if RSVPs are low).
- If you want WAA to lay out an HTML e-mail and send it for you, plan to get us details a month in advance. This will ensure time to pull a list, route the e-mail through proofing and marketing managers, and schedule the message.
