Messages should be formatted and all set to go when you submit them to the Broadcast Message System. You can format the message on your own, use a template, or adapt a previously used message\/template, as described below.<\/p>\n
NOTE: The Broadcast Message System has a size limit of 1 MB that prevents sending attachments, including large embedded images. With that in mind, you’ll want to link to documents, videos, etc. on the web, rather than trying to include them in the body of your message. You’ll also want to use logos and images that are sized for viewing online.<\/p>\n
It is recommended<\/strong> that you use a standard template<\/a> available from the Marketing & Communication’s Brand site<\/a>. To use these templates:<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Information Services & Technology\u00a0has developed an exclusive\u00a0online HTML editor<\/a> that can help you format a Broadcast message (no HTML knowledge required). It includes built-in BU branded layouts, banner photos, and even has a dynamic preview as you edit your message – you can also submit your Broadcast directly from the site! You can find more information about it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n BU’s office of Marketing & Communications can assist you with the development of an email message template as needed to align with marketing or communication goals you might have that go beyond what’s provided by their standard templates<\/a>. Contact them via www.bu.edu\/marcom<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Your group or department might already have a template that’s all set to go and just needs to be adapted for use with a new message. To do that:<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n You can also develop your own message in the same way that you would any other web page. You would create the message using a page editor such as Dreamweaver OR, if you are familiar with HTML, you can set one up entirely on your own. (Our pages on\u00a0basic HTML<\/a> will be helpful.) Generally the steps you’ll want to take are:<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Email from University departments to members of the community is understood not to be spam. However, it is important to realize that most email users receive plenty of unwanted mail and this potential “guilt by association”\u009d with spam can result in legitimate email being ignored, regardless of its origin. This page contains information to help senders manage audience selection, message format, and frequency of mailings in order to avoid their messages having the appearance of spam.<\/p>\n An unfamiliar “From” address triggers an immediate suspicion among many users that a message may be spam. To avoid this, we require specifying an easily recognized name, e.g., a department name, as the originator of a message instead of a valid but obscure BU email address. For example, it is preferable to send a message that reads “From: Department of XYZ” rather than “From: obscure-user@bu.edu.” It is possible to specify an alias by using the syntax in the following example (quotes and angle brackets are required):<\/p>\n “Department of XYZ” <validaddress@bu.edu><\/strong><\/p>\n This associates the alias “Department of XYZ”\u009d with an actual email address, in this case validaddress@bu.edu.<\/p>\n Note: All Out of Office messages will be delivered to the originating address.<\/em><\/p>\n Selecting an appropriate audience to receive particular information is an important part of insuring a message’s effectiveness, so care should be taken to identify a collection of recipients that is neither too narrow, in which case some who should be receiving that information are excluded, nor too broad, which can result in the perception among those erroneously included that the message is irrelevant or, worse, annoying.<\/p>\n If an audience perceives that it is receiving unsolicited messages too often from a particular source, the effectiveness of those messages may be reduced. In general, frequency of mailings should be determined by the messages’ relevance and importance to the recipients. Alerts or warnings, for example, would merit higher frequency messages than would notices of a more general nature.<\/p>\n Email messages should be no more than a few reasonably short paragraphs in length. Concise messages are typically much more effective than long notes that contain a lot of detail. When it is necessary to communicate a large amount of information, send a brief message that includes the main point(s) and a reference to a web page that contains the bulk of the detail. This is preferable to a multi-page email and, because web pages allow the use of graphics and formatted text, information presentation is potentially simpler and more powerful.<\/p>\n Specify no more than one or two URLs. If an email message refers to information on more than one web page, best practice is to specify a single, top-level URL in the message. The page referred to can in turn point to the other pages, as required. This simplifies navigation for the message recipient and makes it easier for them to refer back to the Web information later.<\/p>\n URLs that link directly to BU Weblogin pages are strictly prohibited<\/strong><\/span><\/em>. Any links to resources that would normally require Weblogin must first link to an informational page that contains the link to the resource. From there users can click the link to be directed to the Weblogin screen.<\/p>\n A short URL is preferable to a long one. While most email programs recognize a URL as a link to a web page, some have difficulty handling long addresses that span more than one message line. This forces some recipients to cut and paste the page address into their Internet browser, a sometimes tedious process.<\/p>\n If a Web reference is to be included in a message, the preferred form of the address includes “http:\/\/” or “https:\/\/”\u009d. This is suggested because not all email programs recognize addresses that do not contain “http:\/\/” as Web addresses. Adding the HTTP prefix insures that most email programs will correctly interpret the address. For example, use http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng instead of www.bu.edu\/eng<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Messages should be formatted and all set to go when you submit them to the Broadcast Message System. You can format the message on your own, use a template, or adapt a previously used message\/template, as described below. NOTE: The Broadcast Message System has a size limit of 1 MB that prevents sending attachments, including…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21996,"featured_media":0,"parent":146163,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21996"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146152"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153637,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146152\/revisions\/153637"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
With the Boston University 'HTML Email Makr'<\/h3>
With a template developed specifically for you by Marketing & Communications<\/h3>
By adapting a message or template that you've used before<\/h3>
\n
\nIf your message is forwarded with an indented quote level, select the entirety of the message and choose the option to outdent (usually a button with a block of text and left-pointing arrow).<\/li>\nOn your own with an HTML editor<\/h3>
\n
Guidelines<\/a><\/h1>\n
Appropriateness<\/h2>\n
Originating address<\/h3>\n
Target audience<\/h3>\n
Frequency<\/h3>\n
Message Form<\/h2>\n
Message brevity<\/h3>\n
Inclusion of web page addresses (URLs)<\/h3>\n