Mass Email Requirements, Guidelines, and Best Practices

Portland State University strives to use campus communications resources effectively and efficiently. Email is an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly way to communicate with large groups of people. However, non-strategic use of mass email can hinder student success, cause confusion among our community, and harm the university’s ability to deliver critical messages.

Recognizing these expectations and concerns, the university has created these requirements, guidelines, and best practices to encourage intentionality, enhance thoughtfulness, and ensure email remains an effective form of communication. This page includes the following information:

Definitions

Email is Portland State University’s primary method for sending official communications to faculty, staff, and students as stated in the PSU Email Communication Policy. A “mass email” is generally sent to more than 500 recipients, and likely falls into one of the following categories:

University-level Mass Email

Any email message sent to the entire campus, all students, all undergraduates, all graduates, or all employees. Includes Currently (staff and faculty) and Virtual Viking (student) email newsletters. Can only be sent by authorized units.

Department-level Mass Email

Any email message sent to students, faculty, or staff of a particular school, college, department, or program. Could include emails from department leadership, or announcements specific to a population. Does not include course-specific communications. Work with the person responsible for sending mass emails in your department to send these emails.

Transactional Mass Email

Any email message sent by a service unit (ex. Office of the Registrar, Student Financial Services, Financial Aid, Transportation and Parking Services, Human Resources, etc.) to a specific population of recipients related to a transaction or specific action taken by the recipient. These messages generally are essential or required based on the student or employee’s status at PSU. They are often automated, and include hold notifications, bill notifications, scholarship awards, receipts, late fees, W2 notices, etc. Can only be sent by authorized units.

Promotional Mass Email

Promotional communications intended for the entire campus, all students, or all employees should always be submitted to Virtual Viking or Currently, and not be sent as individual emails. All other newsletters, promotional content, and emails about individual courses, events, and campus job promotion should be delivered through subscriber-only communications. Recipients must opt in to receiving these communications and must be able to opt out. If departments believe an exception should be made, they should contact University Communications or Human Resources.

Crisis Response, Affinity, and Solidarity Email Communications

Any email message sent in response to a crisis at PSU or involving its community. Can only be sent by authorized units.

Appropriate Use of Mass Email

Mass email must be in line with the university’s mission of teaching, research, and service and the PSU Email Communication Policy. Mass email is appropriate for information that pertains to the majority of the recipients, is critical and/or time-sensitive, and meets one or more of the following standards:

• Alerts the campus community to situations about health and safety;
• Provides information essential to the operation or execution of business or required by state or federal law;
• Notifies the campus community about changes in governance, policy, and practice;
• Communicates important information from the president, provost, or other university senior leadership as described in the Required Approval and Authorization section below.

Inappropriate use of mass email includes, but is not limited to:

• Political activities that advocate for or against a ballot measure or candidate, as prohibited by Oregon law;
• Solicitations for contributions, charities, or participation in personal activities not related to university purposes or not sponsored by the university;
• Solicitations for non-university businesses operated by university faculty, or staff, community members who hold positions on committees or Board of Trustees; or
• Messages that are discriminatory or infringe on privacy.

Messages that do not meet the outlined standards, or are inappropriate for mass email should use other communications channels.

Required Approval and Authorization

Authorization to send mass email is automatically granted to a specific set of PSU offices and authorized units in the cases described below. Requests to send email to specific PSU populations require the approval and involvement of the roles listed below:

• Responsible
  • Responsible for sending mass emails. If you want to send an email to the population listed, contact the responsible unit for approval.
  • Accountable for the message/actions associated with the email. These departments have authority to make decisions about the message.
  • Consulted as a stakeholder or content expert in the development of the message.
  • Informed of the message content and delivery details. These departments need to be kept up-to-date because their work generally depends on the communication or the actions associated with it.

  University-level Mass Email

  Only the responsible departments below are authorized to send mass emails to the specified university populations. This is true for all message types, including surveys, announcements, events, research participant recruitment, and job postings, unless an exception is granted.

  University Population

  Responsible

  All Current Students (or all grad/all undergrads)

  All Employees or major subsets of employees

  Human Resources Human Resources

  Undergraduate = Enrollment Management

  Graduate = Relevant Department

  Transactional Mass Email

  Service units are authorized to send transactional emails that are essential or required based on the student or employee’s status at PSU. If transactional emails are being sent to more than 500 recipients, service units are encouraged to consult with University Communications or the Office of Student Success.

  Recipients who took an action or meet specific criteria

  Department Sending Communications

  (ex. Office of the Registrar, Student Financial Services, Financial Aid, Transportation and Parking Services, Human Resources, etc.)

  Department Sending Communications

  Office of Student Success

  Others, depending on the message content

  Depends on the message content

  Emails sent to more than 500 students should be added to the Student Communication Calendar

  Department-level Mass Email

  Schools, colleges, departments, units, and administrative offices are authorized to send messages to their students, faculty, or staff, in accordance with department or school guidelines and procedures. Units are encouraged to use best practices detailed below. Contact the person responsible for sending mass emails in your department for direction and/or approval.

  Crisis Response, Affinity, and Solidarity Email Communications

  Given that crisis events occur at an accelerated rate, it is imperative that leadership and the Crisis Communications Team (CCT) is able to quickly gather information, assess the situation and distribute accurate information to the campus community and identified stakeholders. In order to minimize harm, the CCT must be the first and only source of information in response to a situation. College communicators and deans can help amplify messages as needed, but alignment of messages is essential. Coordinating a single university message and controlling sources of information will ensure misinformation can be reduced.

  Required Content

  Mass messages sent to pdx.edu email addresses must include all of the following:

  • Approved PSU logo at the top or prominently placed. (Use official brand resources and templates)
  • “Portland State University” clearly identified in plain text messages such as email sent from your Gmail inbox.
  • Name of the sending unit (preferred) or the sending individual in the "from" field (e.g., Office of Academic Affairs, Portland State University
  • The intended audience for the message clearly addressed toward the beginning of the email (e.g. "Dear faculty and staff,", "Dear Honors College students,", "I am writing to you today in your capacity as required reporters. ").
    • If this is not possible, please clearly identify the intended audience for the message in a note in the footer of the email (e.g., "This message was sent to all faculty and staff")
    • If using personalization, use the appropriate Preferred Name of the individual. If you do not have the expertise to input this information correctly with a high degree of confidence, then do not use personalization.

    All content in the email must follow applicable PSU policies, including the Digital Accessibility Policy. Refer to the Standard for Accessible Digital Design and Digital Accessibility at PSU pages for support in creating accessible content.

    Best Practices Guidelines

    To promote operational efficiency and message clarity, follow the guidelines below. Before sending a mass email, determine if other communication channels such as Currently, Virtual Viking, or myPSU would be a better tool for communicating your message. Your message is more likely to be read if you include it in Virtual Viking or Currently instead of sending an individual email, which can overload student and staff inboxes. Contact University Communications (ucomm@pdx.edu) or the person responsible for sending mass emails in your department for assistance in determining the best communication method.

    Before sending an email, consider the following:

    • What specific objective do you wish to achieve by sending this email?
    • What specific audience or group are you trying to reach?
    • What action are you asking them to take?
    • What does that specific group need to know, understand and believe in order to be motivated to take that action?
    • How does this provide value to the audience?
    • How will you know that the email was successful? How will you measure and evaluate the success of the email?

    If you still think an individual email is the best way to communicate your message, follow the guidelines below:

    • A mass email message should be direct and concise. If there is a need to convey more information, the sender should link to a webpage.
    • Include a succinct subject line that conveys the email’s purpose. If it is a newsletter, include the newsletter title in the subject line.
    • Provide a link or contact information about where people may ask questions or get more information.
    • Avoid sending frequent or repeated messages. Follow-up messages or reminders should be personalized and only sent as needed to relevant individuals.
    • Collaborate with others at the university to avoid redundancy and reduce the number of messages sent. Check the Student Communications calendar to see when other mass emails are being sent to students, and add any mass student communications you send to the calendar. Connect with the person responsible for sending mass emails in your college, school, or department for assistance.
    • Do not send attachments. Link to a website instead.
    • Avoid jargon and do not use acronyms on first reference in the body of a message. For example, write out “Office of Academic Innovation (OAI)” on first reference, then use OAI on future references within an individual email.
    • Check spelling and grammar, and copy edit messages to align with the PSU Style Guide and Brand Messaging Framework. Send a test email to an additional reviewer to check the email for errors in dates, dead/correct links, correct contact information, implicit bias, and non-inclusive language. Some systems, such as Emma, do not spellcheck subject lines.
    • Senders should avoid sending emails at the end of the day, on Friday afternoons, or before University recognized holidays to prevent their message from getting “lost” during non-work hours. This also ensures that the sender has staff available to respond to potential replies.

    Additional Communication Channels

    Before deciding on an individual mass email for any communication, consider the following alternatives.

    Communication channel to consider

    An announcement, survey, story, accolade, or event with all faculty and staff

    Currently, the weekly faculty and staff newsletter.

    An announcement, survey, event, service, or story with all students

    Virtual Viking, the weekly student newsletter.

    Stories about what is happening at PSU with the entire community

    Inside Portland State blog. Visit the University Communications Publications and Communications page for how to submit ideas.

    News and events from my departmental Instagram on the Portland State account

    Viks Variety Instagram story roundup. Visit the University Communications Publications and Communications page for how to submit ideas.

    Announcements or deadlines relevant to all students

    myPSU. Email success@pdx.edu to submit content ideas.

    Events that are open to the campus community

    Events Calendar. Contact the person in your department who is responsible for website content management to post events. Content managers need syndication access to publish events on the Events Calendar.

    Events, groups, clubs, and volunteer opportunities with PSU students

    Portland State Connect. Contact SALP to publish.

    News and announcements specific to your college, school, or department.

    College, school, and departmental communications channels such as websites, list-serves, social media, or group or interpersonal communications. Contact the person responsible for communications in your unit, school or college for additional options.

    Events and announcements in physical spaces via printed fliers or digital displays

    Printed and digital signage (See Marketing Guidelines and Campus Postering Locations)

    If you have questions about any of these guidelines, contact University Communications at ucomm@pdx.edu.