Overview

May 1 is the national accept deadline. All admitted students must accept their offer of admission by this date, at which point they can claim their NetId and have their illinois.edu email address. May 1 will therefore serve as a transition date for units to start communicating with incoming students using their illinois.edu email address. At this point in the cycle, units will create and send emails to incoming students through Webtools, or any other way that you use to communicate with current students. If you wish to communicate with prospective students, units should continue to send those via Slate and by submitting a request in Basecamp.

In order to make the post-May 1 transition as seamless as possible, we’ve put together the following checklists and guidelines:

  • Post May 1 Communications Checklist: Units should reference this checklist every time they send out an email in order to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps and precautions to send content to the correct audience.
  • Audience List Guidelines: This list will guide you through aspects you should consider as you prepare your email content, determine whether or not you need to pull an audience list, and walk you through how to do so and who to reach out to if you have questions.

Post-May 1 Communications Checklist

  • Always pull a new data list every time you send an email or mailing. Re-run any ongoing queries and don’t distribute or save static data lists.
  • Check your audience list carefully and EXCLUDE:
    • Rescinds
    • Declines
    • College or Program Changes (Pay attention to changes both outside of and within your college)
    • Student with delayed admission
  • Confirm email send date and send  your email the same day you pull your data list. If you are sending a mailing, send it out as soon as possible after pulling your data list.

Audience List Guidelines

This piece of the document will guide you through aspects you should consider as you prepare your email content, determine whether or not you need to pull an audience list, and walk you through how to do so and who to reach out to if you have questions.

Consider Your Send Date

If your email content isn’t time sensitive, consider sending your email closer to the start of the semester in August. Send your email to their university email address.

Consider Your Content

Emails with the following content should be sent only to the student’s university email:

  • Marketing & promotional emails
  • Emails about events taking place at the start of the semester/during welcome week
  • Emails about RSOs, clubs, and other on-campus activities

How to Find Your Audience List

  1. Contact your unit’s data team and work with them to pull an audience list in Banner.
  2. If you are unsure who to contact, reach out to your marketing and communications team for your unit and ask if they have a process in place.
  3. If you don’t have a data team with access to Banner or have questions about a specific audience, reach out to the Enrollment Management Team by emailing OUA-Contact.

Before Sending Your Email

Once you have your audience list, make sure to reference the Post-May 1 Communications Checklist each time before sending your communication.