Body
CAS OPERATIONS
Services Model
Communications
Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy for building relationships between the University of Delaware and external audiences. Common types of campaigns include newsletters, event announcements and fundraising initiatives.
1. Clarify purpose, audience and cadence
Define goals and objectives
Determine audiences
Alumni lists and DAR coordination
Determine cadence
2. Image Permissions
3. Accessibility requirements (non-negotiable)
Text and content hierarchy
Links and calls to action
Images and flyers
4. Preventing clipping and code bloat
Technical guardrails
How units can help
1. Clarify purpose, audience and cadence
Define goals and objectives
Clarify why you are sending your email and what success looks like. Your goals should be clear, sustainable, achievable and measurable, and you should revisit them every 2–3 years to assess return on investment and sustainability.
Examples of goals:
- Strengthen alumni relationships
- Highlight student and faculty achievements
- Support recruitment or yield
- Increase attendance at key events
Your email should have one primary goal and one primary call to action (CTA) (For example, “Read the full newsletter,” “Register for the event,” “Make a gift”).
Determine audiences
Common audiences include:
- Alumni
- Prospective students and families
- Current students
- Faculty and staff
- Community and other stakeholders
CAS Comms supports newsletters for external audiences (for example, alumni, donors, community partners). Internal newsletters for faculty, staff or current students are the unit’s responsibility, including content, cadence and distribution.
Alumni lists and DAR coordination
If your audience includes alumni:
- Submit any list requests to UD Development & Alumni Relations at least three weeks in advance.
- Submit two forms: the list request form and a confidentiality agreement. You can find both forms in the Campus Partners Resources Guide under "Donor and Alumni Data Communications."
- To provide the most up-to-date and accurate list/data of alumni, and since the lists and contact information are ever-evolving, campus partners are required to get a new list from DAR for each send.
Your unit must secure/manage all other lists (for example, prospective students, community).
Determine cadence
To maximize engagement while avoiding audience fatigue, plan a strategy for the frequency and timing of a series of email campaigns to a specific audience. CAS Comms recommends no more than one newsletter per semester (fall and spring) for a given department or program. Other types of campaigns may require careful coordination with UD units such as DAR and CAS Events.
2. Image Permissions
To include images in UD external communications, we must ensure that anyone who appears in an image has granted their consent. The following permissions protect the rights and privacy of students, faculty and visitors, and helps UD demonstrate responsible stewardship of personal information:
- Students who share images must provide a written confirmation (i.e., an email) that UD can publish the images for marketing purposes.
- UD employees who take a picture of a student or a group of students must collect a signed model release and keep this documentation for their files.
- For pictures taken at UD events: Signed model releases aren’t needed if disclaimers were present at the event to notify the audience that they may appear in UD images and videos.
3. Accessibility requirements (non-negotiable)
CAS emails must be accessible to as many readers as possible, including those using screen readers, keyboard navigation, zoom and images-off settings.
Text and content hierarchy
- Use real text, not images of text, for dates, deadlines, locations and requirements.
- Use clear, logical headings in order (title, then section headings).
- Organize content under topic headings such as “Department Highlights,” “Student News,” “Alumni News,” “Faculty News” and “Support Us.”
Links and calls to action
- Link text must be descriptive:
- Good: “Read the full newsletter” or “Register for the workshop.”
- Avoid: “Click here” or bare URLs.
- Whenever you use a CTA button, include a matching text link nearby (for example, in the sentence above the button).
Images and flyers
- Every meaningful image must include alt text (one clear sentence describing the image’s content and purpose).
- If an image is purely decorative, alt text may be empty so that screen readers skip it.
- Do not use flyers or screenshots of flyers as content, because they are not accessible and often contribute to code bloat.
- Provide photo captions and credits where appropriate.
4. Preventing clipping and code bloat
While CAS Comms manages the technical setup in Mailchimp, your content choices can help keep the email small and stable.
Technical guardrails
CAS Comms will:
- Aim to keep the newsletter’s HTML under 100 KB, below Gmail’s clipping threshold.
- Use a lean, single-column template with limited blocks and dividers.
- Test the campaign across major email platforms before sending.
How units can help
To avoid code bloat and rendering problems:
- Limit the number of sections and avoid unnecessary spacer blocks.
- Avoid multiple multi-column layouts in the content you request.
- When sending text to CAS Comms, avoid copying directly from heavily formatted Word documents or web pages. Paste plain text or use a simple Google Doc instead.
- Keep copy consistent and concise from section to section.
CAS Comms may send test emails and spot-check message file size to catch potential clipping before launch.