Mass Communications

All UMass communicators must successfully complete Best Practices Training before they can start sending mass communications on any platform.

All official UMass Amherst email communications must:

• Be clearly written without grammatical or spelling errors.
• Target the correct audience.
• Meet the requirements defined in the UMass Amherst Mass Communication Policy (regardless of the UMass-supported platforms used to send messages).
• Employ the correct Marketing Cloud platform based on your audience and communication needs (see Platform Usage section below).

UMass Amherst mass emails must:

• Include the appropriate official university wordmark at the top of a message, making sure to use the appropriate extension or department lockups (see wordmark guidelines).
• Use the collegiate M or a wordmark only once in the message.
• Use a wordmark that is a minimum of 180 pixels wide.
• Follow all other applicable UMass Amherst brand guidelines.

Mass communications should be timely, relevant, and valuable to the recipient. Overuse can lead to fatigue or unsubscribes, so send only when the message is important and targeted to the right audience segment.

Use Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) data to tailor content to specific audiences—whether by role, interest, location, or engagement history—to increase relevance and response rates.

For an email to meet accessibility requirements, it must:

• Maintain a logical reading order.
• Use heading elements in code.
• Include sufficient contrast between text and background colors.
• Provide text alternatives for images.
• Feature meaningful link text.
• Keep code concise.
• Use a descriptive subject line.
• Use a 12-point or larger font size.
• Use line spacing of 1.5 or larger.

Because commercial emails are promotional in nature, and transactional emails are triggered by a specific action or relationship, each has different content requirements for the message footer.

• Both commercial and transactional emails must include the name and physical mailing address of the sending unit (e.g., “This message was sent to weekly newsletter subscribers by the Office of the Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 347 Whitmore Building, Amherst, MA 01003.”).
• Commercial emails must include an opt-out or unsubscribe link. If possible, the opt-out or unsubscribe link should state specifically what messages they will unsubscribe from (e.g., “unsubscribe from the Communication Blog”).
• Transactional messages should never have an unsubscribe link.
• Both commercial and transactional emails include a link to the university’s privacy policy.

Commercial and transactional email messages must include all the following to comply with federal CAN-SPAM regulations:

• A clear, nondeceptive “from” field using the name of the person or university unit sending the message and a umass.edu email address.
• A nondeceptive subject line that is consistent with the content in the email body text.
• A wordmark graphic at the top or prominently placed within an HTML message.
• “University of Massachusetts” clearly identified in plain text messages and in the text-only portion that accompanies an HTML message.

Personalization in email, specifically using a first name in the subject line and/or as a greeting in an email, can result in more people opening and reading your email. However, personalization should be used judiciously.

Best personalization use cases are:

• Recruitment emails to prospects in which the recipient has supplied their preferred name.
• Non-UMass email lists in which the recipient has supplied their preferred name.

Use personalization judiciously:

• People are more comfortable with personalization when it is transactional, and information pertains specifically to them, such as a letterhead-style announcement.
• Personalizing a subject line or greeting for an e-newsletter may not feel authentic and have a negative impact.
• University audience lists (Marketing Cloud data extensions) default to the primary name or campus name unless otherwise specified.
• When emailing UMass students, staff, and faculty, communicators should carefully check data extensions and/or work closely with the CRM team to determine the appropriate use of first-name personalization before sending.
• Content creators should check the subscriber preview to ensure that the appropriate name is being used in dynamic name personalization.
• A preferred name in SPIRE will not be automatically available for use in email.

View in Browser 

“View in browser” links should not be used for any other purpose than to display an email as a web page when it is received. These links are not reliable as an internal archive or for public access to past email content.

Perpetual Content

To provide access to email content perpetually, the content should be published on a public website (in HTML format and not as a PDF document), and a link to the content should be embedded in the email.

Sensitive Information

For sensitive information, the document or information should be hosted on a secure access site (e.g., SharePoint or OneDrive), and links should be configured to limit access to recipients of the email.

Marketing Cloud-Specific Link & Content Information

• Embedded links in emails sent from MC will be active for a maximum of 730 days.
• Reports and the content that was sent via MC will be accessible indefinitely.

Think about what action you need them to take when they receive your email, and plan accordingly. For example, if you have an important message for someone to read, including a long message doesn’t guarantee that they will read it. Instead, include an introduction to the message, and post it on a web page so we can measure clicks as proof that your audience is engaged.

The intent of the communication and audience dictate which platform (UR or UMAF) to use. Exceptions may include campus ticketing systems with an approved business need.  

Mass messages sent to all faculty, staff, and/or students are reserved for specific senders, such as the chancellor, and otherwise require approval from UR.

Mass messages sent within a school, college, or unit must be approved by senior leadership for the given group (such as a dean for a specific school or college, or their proxy) and should be sent from an appropriate mass communications platform.  

Email broadcasts that communicate with more than one constituent group are managed through UR Salesforce Marketing Cloud.  

UMAF uses a separate Marketing Cloud platform to manage alumni and donor communications.  

If a message is to be sent to more than one constituent group and alumni, then the message must be sent separately on the respective platforms.  

For example, a newsletter going to faculty, staff, and students would be sent from the UR instance, and the same newsletter to alumni would need to be sent via the UMAF instance.

UR Marketing Cloud

Used for academic, financial, campus, or student life initiatives for:  

• Students
• Parents
• Faculty and Staff
• Non-Alumni Affiliate Groups  

Please direct inquiries to UR at @email.  

UMAF Marketing Cloud

Used for engagement, volunteer, or fundraising initiatives for:  

• Alumni
• Donors  
• Friends  
• Parents
• Faculty and Staff

Please contact UMAF.