Creating and Sending an eNewsletter
Market: Federal/State/Local, House, Senate
Description: These instructions teach users how to select an existing eNewsletter template, create the content, select the audience, review the information, and process the publication of an eNewsletter using the IQ eNewsletter Wizard.
Click any of the following links to be brought directly to the subtopic:
Selecting the Template
1.Navigate to Outreach > New > eNewsletter.
2. Select a template from the available options. A best practice is to select from the Recently Sent tab as that displays those that have been finalized and published.
1.The template is displayed along with the eNewsletter Wizard, which is automatically set to Content.
2. On the left page, change the title, attach documents as needed, and modify the settings and sections of the eNewsletter...
3. Modify the content using the menu. Hover the cursor over an icon to identify their function, as needed.
*Note: Settings applied in the above screen shot will apply as the default across all sections that are added into the eNewsletter.
4. Select Save.
1.Click Select Audience.
2. Complete the fields by selecting values for each field. To determine the size of the audience, click Review Audience Size.
*Note: If you want to set these Include and Exclude fields as your default, click Actions > Set Defaults
3. Select Save.
1.Click Review.
2. Complete the fields.
Start
Build Only: IQ will generate the eNewsletter only.
Build and Send: IQ will generate the eNewsletter and will send it to the target audience based on the specified date and time.
Build and Send Immediately: IQ will generate the eNewsletter and immediately send it to the target audience.
No Hard Stop: IQ allows the newsletter to continue sending until completed.
Yes. Stop deliver at a specific date/time.: IQ will stop sending the newsletter to contacts in the target audience who have not received the newsletter and a chosen date and time.
3. To send, click the button that is displayed. The type of selection will vary based on the type of build.
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Select Build, which is the display if Build Only is selected above.
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Select Send, which is the display if Build and Send is selected above. |
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Select Send Now, which is the display if Build and Send Immediately is selected in the previous step. |
Utilizing Templates
❖Layout should prioritize the most important information first
❖Most readers scan for highlights they do not read the whole thing.
❖About 3-5 articles.
❖Recommend about 200 words total.
❖Email width: Recommend 640 pixels to fit into outlook preview window perfectly.
❖Anything from 600-800 pixels is standard.
❖Default Settings: Text font, size, color should be pre-set in the Settings section on the left. This will be what text defaults to when “Pasting as Plain Text”
❖Templates should include sections, settings, mobile settings, merge codes, surveys, and any other content or formatting you would want to default into newsletters.
Merge codes
❖Salutations:
❖Salutation_for_merging: first looks to “ormal/informal”salutations and defaults to “riend”if neither exists.
❖First_name_or_friend: first looks to the “nformal”salutation and defaults to “riend”if the
❖informal doesn’ exist.
❖“Friend”can be changed to whatever word the offices would like (ex: Neighbor, VA11,
❖Virginia).
❖Surveys:
❖Provide the reader the opportunity to unsubscribe.
❖The option to unsubscribe is required when sending unsolicited mail.
❖Recommend surveys be embedded as a link as not all email vendors render surveys embedded in
❖the body of an email the same way.
Images
❖From the Image Manager by select Fav or Unfav in the in-row actions for that image.
❖Add borders to images to help them pop on the page
❖Alt-text can be added to images by clicking Edit Image and adding in an Image Description
❖Insert Images into a table to keep them from moving across the page
❖If newsletter preview is sending much larger than intended, check image sizing.
508 Compliance
❖Use header hierarchy so eReaders know what order to read text.
❖Use alt text for images.
❖Use contrasting colors so nothing blends together when the eReader is trying to read the page.
❖Hyperlinking key words is more descriptive than hyperlinking the word “ere”individually.
❖Left justify text is easiest to read.
❖Use appropriate line spacing to not confuse eReaders.
❖Utilize closed captioning in any videos if possible.
Content
❖Utilize preheaders to increase views
❖Attachments should be placed on the members site and linked in the eNewsletter if possible, as an alternative to attaching them to the eNewsletter.
❖Toggle screen mode will help to navigate both scroll bars easier.
❖Hyper tagging: allows an affiliation code to be added to a contact record when the reader clicks the associated hyper link.
Select Audience
❖Audience can be made before or after creating newsletter
❖Audience Builder: creates a saved search criteria so contacts matching those criteria will be automatically added/removed
❖Required to exclude: Opt-out/unsubscribe
❖Best practice to exclude: elected officials, deceased contacts, opt-outs/unsubscribe
❖Best practice to include: Opt-in/subscribe
❖499’s: Refers to 90-day blackout period prior to an election where the members name appears on the ballot where unsolicited mail is not able to be sent to 500 people or more. From the Audience Selection drop down choose Randomly select from audience
Send Newsletter
❖IQ can send roughly 1000 pieces of outreach a minute
❖Build and Send Immediately: first 500-1000 pieces of outreach will be sent in the foreground and remaining pieces will be sent in the background.
❖Build and Send: Set date to current date and time to 20 minutes from current time to have all pieces of outreach sent in the background but basically immediately.
❖Hardstop: Used to set a date and time where outreach will stop sending
❖Must be set to more than 4 hours from send time.
❖Can be used to ensure 499 blackout dates are being adhered to.
❖Preview newsletters using both an Outlook and Gmail email address as not all email vendors render the information the same.
❖Storing eNewsletters in their own folder in the Library Directory helps keep the directory clean.
❖Attaching issue codes, bill information, and bill positions helps when filtering and sorting records.
AB Testing
❖Used to test two versions of the same piece of outreach to determine which is better received by the audience
❖Sample Size: Best Practice is 10%
❖When clicking Build, IQ will immediately send Version A and Version B to the sample audiences.
❖IQ will stop collecting data at the “uild the winning email after… ” date and time and will then execute the “final action for winner… ”, either Build Only or Build and Send.
Copyright © Leidos Proprietary 2024
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