Mass and Graphic-rich E-mail

Mass E-mail

The use of mass e-mails, particularly graphic-rich e-mail (also known as rich-text and HTML e-mail), has become an important channel for communicating with College of Charleston constituents and affiliated groups. Anti-spam laws, e-mail server blacklisting and customer anger over receiving unsolicited e-mail, however, make it important that e-mail campaigns be conducted so as not to jeopardize the College’s reputation and brand, or its ability to send out future e-mail.

In many cases, external vendors specializing in mass e-mail campaigns are used. It is important that these vendors adhere to practices and techniques that ensure the proper delivery of e-mail and the handling of user requests to unsubscribe. Any office engaging an e-mail vendor is responsible for making sure the vendor acts in accordance to the following best practices regarding bulk e-mail:

Obtain clear and conspicuous consent to collect e-mail addresses when asking persons to provide e-mail addresses or to subscribe.
Use an additional e-mail to determine the validity of an e-mail address and to confirm the subscriber’s consent to receive messages from the sender.
Enable clear, conspicuous and easy-to-use unsubscribe options.
Process unsubscribe requests as quickly as possible.
Have a defined process for handling abuse-related complaints, and immediately honor any abuse-related complaints as if they were unsubscribe requests.
Monitor and minimize the amount of abuse-related complaints to avoid violations of any Internet or e-mail–access provider’s acceptable use policy.

Graphic-Rich E-mails

Graphic-rich e-mails fall under the branding and identity guidelines of the College of Charleston and should be designed with those guidelines in mind. Proper identification of the College and the correct use of any brand design element (such as the wordmark) are required.