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Email is the primary means of communication with members. It is therefore central to the successful operation of the system and could be considered its Achilles Heel if there are issues. Email to members is spilt into three categories…
1.Broadcast Email. This is email generated by administrative system users and typically used for announcement purposes. Broadcast email always has an Unsubscribe link at the bottom and is by far the largest category of email.
2.Transactional Email. Email generated by the system normally to acknowledge the completion of a transaction or system function. For example, cash receipt, enrolment acknowledgement, leader reports and status reports to the membership officer.
3.High Priority Transactional Email. Email considered critical to the operation of the system. These are the initial login confirmation and password reset emails sent to members. These emails are processed on a completely different server to the other categories.
The u3admin.org.au system uses Postmark as it's email service provider. At least one member of the U3A group will be given access to this software to review sent email. Normally, that person has the Security Admin role.
To send bulk email reliably, your U3A group must attain good email reputation and keep it. The first step in ensuring good reputation is to register a unique internet Domain Name. This is the part after the @ symbol in an email address, for example, myU3A.org.au. This process is always complete well before you start using the u3admin website.
Your domain name is provided to Postmark and additional checks performed. You cannot send any email via Postmark until this process is complete.
Once you have reputation, you must keep it. Here are a few tips...
1.Use it or lose it. Reputation comes from the Internet learning about the email sent from your domain. It cannot learn if there is no email. When you start with Postmark send one or two carefully crafted informational emails to all your members. There will probably be some bounces (see below), so investigate and correct if possible. Eventually you should see 99-100% of email being delivered.
2.Be careful when writing your email. Try to restrict your email to announcements and news. Do not use it as a selling tool.
3.Avoid use of images, especially those you have not created yourself. Images are a primary vector for virus transmission.
4.Test all links you have created. Incorrect and malformed links are a red flag to spam checkers.
Hint: Send email off the hour and preferably in the evening. Bulk email is mostly a timed activity and usually occurs on the hour. This causes heavy server usage by ISP's which may result in email not being received. Sending it at say, 20 minutes past the hour and in the evening reduces the possibility of server usage issues.
If email is blocked from a recipient's inbox it is categorised as a hard bounce, soft bounce or ISP Block..
1.Hard Bounce. The ISP was unable to deliver the email. Most often this is because the email address is unknown.
2.Soft Bounce. Email has been rejected due to a temporary issue. Some reasons might be...
a.The recipient's inbox is full.
b.The recipient uses a paid email service and monies are outstanding.
c.There is currently hardware/software issues at the ISP.
3.ISP Block
a)The sender (ypu) has been blocked by the recipient (member).
b)The sender has poor reputation (Hopefully not).
c)The email contains content considered spam with a high degree of confidence.
d)The email contains content considered viral with a high degree of confidence.
•Postmark will be informed of any email bounced or blocked by the recipient's ISP.
•Postmark will record soft bounces but will allow future email to the email address.
•Postmark will block any email address with a hard bounce. A hard bounce may however be reactivated by you.
•Postmark will record ISP Blocks but will allow future email to the email address.
Note: Reactivating a bounced recipient should be done with caution. Continually sending email to invalid email addresses will hurt your reputation.
First, the simple steps...
1.Double check the email address to ensure it has not been mistyped.
2.Ask the intended recipient to check their junk folder.
3.Microsoft now separates email into Focused and Other. if using Microsoft Outlook, ask the recipient to check email in the Other tab on their inbox. .
4.Ask the recipient to add your domain to their safe sender's list.
Next, wait a day or two. Sometimes, your reputation recovers or the ISP itself will investigate issues and release the email.
If this fails, open the Postmark website and login.
1.Select your server from the list provided.
2.Select the email stream the email was sent on.
3.Below the graphic of sent email you will find a count of bounces and ISP blocks. These are links.
4.Click on the links to obtain a list of the blocked/bounced email.
Each email in the list will contain a reason for the block/bounce. Investigate and correct if possible.
Note that Postmark or u3admin.org.au website administrators cannot correct an ISP Block. The normal approach is to ask the intended recipient to contact their ISP and ask that mail flow be allowed for the domain.