GA: 3023, p. 1

MASS ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL) DISTRUBITION

Scope:

This policy applies to staff and faculty employees of the college employed full or part-time, temporary employees, student assistants, Board of Trustee members, Foundation board members, or anyone operating on behalf of the college.

Definitions:

Mass e-mail: One electronic message to 100 email addresses or more outside of the csmd.edu domain. It does not include electronic communications between a faculty member and his or her students enrolled in a course that relate to academic matters for that course.

Multiple: The term multiple means more than 100 electronic mail messages during a 24-hour period, more than 1,000 electronic messages during a 30-day period, or more than 10,000 during a 1-year period to the same email address.

Everyone Email: Emails that are sent through the college’s email system to employees of the college. For internal use only.

Transactional or Relationship message: Email communications sent as part of maintaining a business relationship between the sender and the recipient.

Policy:

The college supports and encourages the coordinated and effective use of mass e-mail distribution to communicate official information to groups of external customers in excess of 100, excluding electronic communication between a faculty member and his or her students enrolled in a Web course.Mass e-mail distribution to our customers will be centrally administered under the Marketing Department (MAR) to ensure a coordinated effort and decrease the number of multiple e-mails to the same targeted audience in accordance with CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Procedures:

In order to utilize the college’s mass e-mail function, the content must meet the specified criteria and follow the listed procedures. Regardless of the source from which an e-mail list is obtained, the following applies:

  • Requests to send a mass e-mail to a target population must be directed to MAR for approval via e-mail. The request must include a clearly defined customer

GA: 3023, p. 2

  • target audience, the purpose of the e-mail, as well as the content of the e-mail. E-mail content must meet the criteria and should be brief, making use of hyperlinks to or other Websites for additional information, products, or services. Requests can be made in the following manner:
  • E-mail to
  • Intranet
  • Customer Meeting
  • Mail and Distribution Services (MAI) will work with the requestor to prepare the e-mail and complete the necessary processes.
  • Mass e-mails will be sent during non-peak processing periods, identified as before
    9:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. daily.
  • Mass e-mails to customers will include a “Please Do Not Reply to this e-mail” message to discourage customer replies to the CSM_E-News account. Customers with questions regarding the content of the e-mail can send questions to a specific department e-mail address or to .
  • Mass e-mails to customers will include an “Unsubscribe” disclaimer, with specific instructions on how to do so.
  • Mass e-mails with validated e-mail lists will be processed within two business days.
  • The following applies specifically for Colleague generated lists:
  • For MAR to approve the request for a mass e-mail, the requestor must have developed and validated a mailing label list, production query, adhoc query, or other Colleague query (via querybuilder or other means) to accurately select the target audience.
  • Validation for the content of student-related e-mail lists will be provided by the Registrar’s Office. Other Colleague-generated lists will be sent to the respective process owner for validation. As examples, an e-mail vendor list will be sent to Procurement or a college faculty e-mail list will be sent to Human Resources.
  • Process owners need to return a validated list to MAI within three business days.
    NOTE: If a validation request occurs during a high-volume period for that process area, a delay may need to occur. The process owner will immediately furnish MAI with notification of the delay, with an anticipated date of turnaround. MAI will adjust the timeline of the send accordingly.
  • Returned ‘undeliverable’ e-mail addresses will be stored in a shared folder for each separate e-mail.
    It is the responsibility of the list owner to resolve these addresses in Colleague within 90 days of the send date. After 90 days, the shared folder will be deleted.
  • Unsubscribe requests will be managed through an automated unsubscribe utility.

GA: 3023, p. 3f.

  • The following applies to all other mass e-mail lists:
  • The list(s) will be forwarded electronically to MAI. Lists must be in Excel format and accompanied by a description of the target population.
    Unsubscribe requests will be managed through an automated unsubscribe utility.

See: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, or the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

Standards:

Mass e-mail may be used if one or more of the following criteria are met:

  • Official announcement of college policies, procedures, programs, or business activities
  • The launching or establishment of new partnerships or articulation agreements
  • Security issues / emergency notifications
  • College-sponsored events or programs
  • Financial or financial assistance information relevant to college customers
  • E-mail regarding a particular event or program will be sent only once.
  • Each customer of the college will receive no more than 5 to 10 mass e-mails in any month from the college. It is agreed that this number may be adjusted higher or lower by MAR, and that such action will be gauged by customer feedback.
  • Subject lines of all mass e-mails will contain a code at the end of each Subject line. MAR will use the following coding system:

CSM + Subject Name + (Mail Code + Send Date)

Example: CSM-- To Claim or Not to Claim (FAD062903)

  • Mass e-mail requestor must approve a draft of the e-mail prior to sending it.

All e-mails will allow for recipients to unsubscribe. Notice will be worded as follows:
You are receiving this e-mail containing pertinent information from the College of Southern Maryland. If you have received this e-mail in error or do not wish CSM to e-mail you, simply click on the link below and follow the instructions. Please allow 5 business days for the college to process this request.

CLICK LINK TO UNSUBSCRIBE:

College of Southern Maryland

8730 Mitchell Road

P.O. Box 910

La Plata, MD 20646

Contact: Marketing Director, extensión 7639

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