All emails to OUA audiences are created in Litmus and sent via Slate in coordination with Enrollment Management. This ensures that emails are templated and accessible, student statuses are accurate, and more.

Audience

Before creating an email, please review our audience policy to ensure you can communicate with your intended audience.

Content

As you’re creating an email, make sure you adhere to the following standards:

1. Stay relevant to your unit.

Emails from an academic unit must be about that unit, its subject area, relevant interests, or majors. Broad campus topics such as application dates and deadlines, visiting (in general), living on campus, etc. are covered by OUA and should be avoided.

2. Be accessible.

All Illinois email templates in Litmus are optimized for accessibility, but as you’re designing your email, please keep the following in mind:

  • Use the templates and modules provided to you, and follow the spirit of the examples provided (i.e., don’t change the colors or alter the design).
  • When linking text, make sure to aptly describe the action one would take when they click (e.g., “explore our majors,” not “click here”).
  • All images should include alt text (a short description of your image). An image should never be the sole content of an email.

3. Use a proper header and footer.

In the Litmus header, add your unit name in the blue bar directly beneath the Illinois logo. This should be hyperlinked to your homepage.

In the Litmus footer, replace the current contact information (mailing address, phone number, email address, webpage, and social icons) with your own information. Make sure the email you include is a good address for students to contact with questions. If you don’t have social media, you can leave them defaulted to our accounts.

4. Include our standard opt-out link.

All emails from the university must have an option to opt out from further communications. This is included at the very bottom of the footer on all of our Litmus templates, along with our web privacy notice. Make sure you don’t remove these elements when creating your email.

Additionally, when transferring your email to Slate, make sure to turn off the automatic opt-out option. To do so, click the “Edit” dropdown menu in the top right corner and select “Edit Mailing.” Then, under “Opt Out,” choose “No unsubscribe.”

Send Requests

All email send requests must be submitted in Basecamp. Learn how to submit a Basecamp request.

Blackout Dates

Please be aware that emails can’t be sent during certain key periods of the admissions calendar. For more information, review our blackout dates policy.