It is your responsibility to use Chapman’s mass email service in an effective, ethical, and lawful manner. Violations of these guidelines may result in restriction of access to mass email resources. The University views emails as legal documents that can be subpoenaed for purposes of litigation. Remember, electronic communications exist forever, so be mindful of what you include in messages sent via university accounts.

4.1. Introduction

4.1.1. Types of Mass Email:

4.1.1.1. Internal Mass Emails are official promotional marketing emails sent to the Chapman community consisting of students, full-time and adjunct faculty, and staff. Strategic Marketing and Communications primarily handles these messages though summary emails sent on Monday and Thursday.

4.1.1.2. External Mass Emails are official promotional marketing emails sent to an external audience on behalf of a school or department. These are sent through Strategic Marketing and Communications’ email distribution software to manage distribution lists.

4.1.1.3. Independent Mass Emails are defined as internal or external mass emails from Chapman University not sent by Strategic Marketing and Communications. We do not regulate these emails, but we monitor them due to their affect on the user experience.

4.1.2. Email Distribution Lists:

4.1.2.1. Internal list: Strategic Marketing and Communications (SMC) maintains four internal distribution lists: students, adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, and staff. Each list is updated with current Chapman community members. Do not divide these internal lists into smaller audiences without approval from SMC.

4.1.2.2. External List: These lists include legally obtained email addresses of individuals outside the Chapman community. They should not include email addresses of individuals who have unsubscribed from previous email distribution lists or who were added by unsolicited means. These lists can originate from a specific department or from the university’s central database.

4.1.3. Email Distribution Software:

4.1.3.1. Official Email Distribution Software (Campaign Monitor): Strategic Marketing and Communications (SMC) uses the Campaign Monitor software to create external emails and track unsubscribers and view counts. For one-off emails, SMC creates and sends emails for the requesting department or school, but we establish a separate billing and editing account for heavy users. In doing so, billing overages per Campaign Monitor’s audience size fee will be the sole responsibility of the client, absolving SMC from any financial responsibility. Heavy users must adhere to the guidelines for maintaining an external distribution list.

4.1.3.2. Unofficial Email Distribution Software: Strategic Marketing and Communications highly discourages the use of any email system other than Chapman’s official system. If a school, college, or department uses a third party system, we will not provide design, content, or technical services.

4.2. Mass Email Usage

4.2.1. Appropriate Uses: The University provides mass email services so that students, faculty, and staff can efficiently communicate with specific audiences. The services provide:

4.2.1.1 Easy access to registration for events.

4.2.1.2 Discount codes, coupons, and other information specific to a Chapman University-affiliated event.

4.2.1.3 News about event scheduling.

4.2.2. Inappropriate Uses: There are many inappropriate uses of university email and identifying them all is simply beyond the scope of these guidelines. It is primarily a matter of common sense. Some of the uses are merely unsuitable; others are improper and even illegal. The following list contains only some of the most obvious misuses of the Chapman University email service:

4.2.2.1. Personal gain: This includes any financial scheme with the intent of making a profit.

4.2.2.2. Chain letters: A chain letter is any communication that requests or demands that the recipient forward the message to one or more individuals.

4.2.2.3. Solicitations: This includes requests for contributions to any entities not directly affiliated with Chapman University, even charitable or non-profit organizations.

4.2.2.4. Ponzi Schemes: A Ponzi scheme is any invitation to participate in an organized plan that recruits the recipient with promises of an increase in their personal wealth. These are also known as “Get rich quick” or “pyramid” schemes.

4.2.2.5. Malicious Hacking: This includes deliberate actions associated with denying, interfering with, or disrupting networking or email service such as spamming or disseminating spyware, malware, or computer viruses as attachments to email communications

4.2.2.6. Any unlawful activity: All U.S. email laws will be observed. Anything outside the law will be handled appropriately.

4.2.3. Email Limitations: The following limitations for using our email service were created to enhance your ability to communicate effectively with the recipients on your distribution lists.

4.2.3.1. Quantity: Strategic Marketing and Communications limits the number of emails sent per campaign to ensure that messaging is not counterproductive or unnecessary.

4.2.3.2. Cost and Expenditures: Strategic Marketing and Communications limits distribution list audience sizes and resource usage for email creation to prevent overspending and wasted energy.

4.2.3.3. Design: Strategic Marketing and Communications limits the use of custom designs on email to prevent wasted resources and out-of-brand marketing. Users are required to use the pre-designed and branded email templates.

4.2.3.4. Saturation: Strategic Marketing and Communications limits sending multiple emails with the same message to audiences. While marketing to your audience from different media and at different times does create awareness, oversaturation must be contained and monitored to prevent negative repercussions.

4.3. Mass Email Procedures

4.3.1. General Guidelines:

4.3.1.1. When using the mass email distribution service as an official method of communication, apply the same professionalism, discretion, and standards that you would use in written business communication.

4.3.1.2. Always contact your Strategic Marketing and Communications contact, usually an Account Manager, to discuss appropriate email options, both for internal and external communications.

4.3.1.3. Include all pertinent information explained in the Internal [3.2] and external [3.3] email procedures to avoid duplicate emails and the oversaturation that results from repeated mailings. Typically, three emails to external audiences per event are sufficient (save-the-date, primary notification, and final reminder). In rare cases, additional information may be necessary.

4.3.1.4. Consistently violating the mass email distribution guidelines or any of the federally mandated compliance requirements (including but not limited to the CAN-SPAM act of 2003) will result in a suspension of your account until we resolve all guideline and compliance issues.

4.3.1.5. Use of the Chapman designed and branded templates are required when sending official mass emails through Strategic Marketing and Communications. These templates are used to insure proper University branding, and any manipulation of the HTML code to change colors or fonts, or to alter the design, is forbidden.

4.3.1.6. You cannot not send emails that are destructive to Chapman’s overall brand, or to a sub-brand such as a school or college. Strategic Marketing and Communications will preempt such emails and take action to prevent further occurrences. This may result in a delivery delay until we can determine and approve an appropriate template.

4.3.2. Internal Weekly Emails: Strategic Marketing and Communications distributes two internal summary emails weekly, the first on Monday and the second on Thursday. Both emails are aggregate emails that link to complete articles or web pages for additional information. Individually sent internal emails are no longer accepted or sent through Strategic Marketing and Communications unless approved by an Account Manager.

4.3.2.1. Monday inside.chapman.edu Email: A summary email that pulls trending story blurbs from inside.chapman.edu and flagged stories from the Happenings blog, Chapman’s central news blog. This email is partially automated with trending stories from our blog network and partially curated by Strategic Marketing and Communications’ public relations department.

4.3.2.1.1 Inclusion is based on article popularity or at the discretion of the Public Relations department.

4.3.2.1.2 To include material in this email manually, contact the Public Relations department about creating a story for their blog.

4.3.2.2. Thursday Weekly Updates Email: A summary email that contains submissions from various schools and departments. This email is open to all official school departments. To be included in Thursday’s weekly email message, we require:

4.3.2.2.1 Submission of all email materials to the Account Manager by 5:00 p.m. the Tuesday prior to that week’s Thursday emails. Click this link to complete the submission form.

4.3.2.2.2 Approval from your Strategic Marketing and Communications Account Manager.

4.3.2.2.2.2 – Inclusion procedures (replaces multiple inclusion scenario AND 4.3.2.2.3.1)

• • • • To have an EVENT included in the weekly email, it must first be created and posted on events.chapman.edu. The listing on the email will link only to events.chapman.edu; no other source is acceptable (e.g., a blog post, website, Facebook, or PDF).
      • For subsequent listings, a blog post must be created about the event (e.g., a story about the speaker or performer). This second listing on the email will link only to that blog post, which should include a link to events.chapman.edu.
      • To have an ANNOUNCEMENT included in the weekly email, it must link to a blog post adhering to the University’s blog policy.

4.3.2.2.3 Approved content, which includes:

• • • Email Title (75 characters max, including spaces).
    • Event Date / Time (if needed).
    • Content Summary Paragraph.
    • Email send date (choose the Thursday you want this message to be included).
    • Send To (your desired delivery audiences).
    • Image (horizontal in aspect ratio).

4.3.2.2.4 If you fail to submit any of the aforementioned content by the deadline, SMC reserves the right to deny your request for inclusion in the weekly email.

4.3.3. External Mass Emails: Marketing emails sent to an outside audience from Strategic Marketing and Communications’ distribution software on behalf of a school, college, or department. Strategic Marketing and Communications requires:

4.3.3.1. Two week lead time.

4.3.3.2. A list of recipients. Note: All recipients on the list should have opted in to correspondence from Chapman University, or they should have some clear relationship to the University. Purchased mailing lists are also allowed. We do not send unsolicited SPAM.

4.3.3.3. A defined sender. For example, academic notifications come from the Chancellor’s office and marketing messages come from smc@chapman.edu. Note: We must have permission and access to send from the email address you select.

4.3.3.4. Content (images, text, and subject line) that is approved by the Account Manager.

4.3.3.5. Failure to meet all of these aforementioned guidelines, or failure to provide all necessary information, will make it impossible to complete the email request.

4.3.4. Independently Sent Emails
If schools, colleges, or departments wish to distribute mass emails independently of Strategic Marketing and Communications’ marketing efforts, they must:

4.3.4.1. Not distribute more than two mass emails to the same audience per week.

4.3.4.2. Identify a representative who distributes emails on behalf of their school, college, or department. This will ensure that all mass emails are centralized and in line with your school, college or department marketing and branding efforts.

4.3.4.3. Consolidate emails into a weekly or semi-monthly e-newsletter, if possible. This should include news and updates from all departments.

4.3.4.4. Distribute only a single newsletter each week if a school is already distributing an e-newsletter in that same week. If the school is not sending an e-newsletter, two individual emails per week to the same audience are fine.

4.3.4.5 .Never send an identical email to the same audience. If you need to deliver similar messages be sure to rework the content in a new email.

4.4. Compliance

4.4.1. All emails sent from Chapman University to internal and external audiences should be ADA compliant.

4.4.2. All emails sent from Chapman University should comply with the CAN-SPAM ACT of 2003.

4.4.3. All emails strive to comply with the most current browser recommendations and requirements.

4.4.4. All online activity (including email activity) must comply with Chapman’s IS&T policy and guidelines.

4.5. Reporting Spam

If you’ve received an email from Chapman University that you think is spam, please notify the Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) Department. They will need to know the sender, subject, and content of the email. In some cases, they may ask you to forward the email to servicedesk@chapman.edu or to call at (714) 997-6600.