All emails sent via DotDigital must abide by all University of Missouri Brand standards and Digital Accessibility policies.  Please contact Digital Service for guidance with both. 

Create and send an email campaign

1. In DotDigital, select the appropriate account
   1. For internal messages: The Curators of the University of Missouri (digitalservice@missouri.edu) 
   2. For external messages:  Child account for the Curators of the University of Missouri (external_communications@missouri.edu) 
2. From side menu, choose Campaigns > Email
3. On the Email Campaigns page select the New Campaign button.
4. From the Choose template page: 
   1. Under the Custom Template tab, open your folder, hover over the needed template and choose select.  (Preferred method of starting a campaign), or
   2. Under the Copy from sent campaign tab, open your folder and select the campaign you wish to use.
   3. The use of DotDigital’s Free templates is prohibited as they do not meet MU brand standards. 
5. Using the Give this campaign a name pop-up, name your campaign and select your folder from the dropdown menu as campaign location.  The campaign name is an internal identifier and will not appear on the messages sent.  The recommended format for the campaign name is Subject Line, Date Tag.     
6. After naming the file, enter the following information on the Campaign Details page:
   1. Subject line
   2. Preheader text (optional)
   3. Friendly from name 
   4. From address: Please see Digital Service for the from address to use
   5. Reply-to and/or Forwarding address (optional)
7. Press Save & continue in the top right of the page.
8. Begin inserting content into the template.
   1. Text: 
      1. Remove placeholder text in your template. 
      2. Copy from original source
      3. Select Paste in the menu
      4. Copy your text into the Paste pop-up
      5. Click insert
   2. Images:
      1. Crop/color correct photos
      2. Select your image folder, and upload images
      3. Drag and drop new images into the template
      4. Add alt text by clicking on the photo and selecting Alt text from the menu at the top of the editor. 
      5. Learn more about how to create accessible images.
   3. Links: May be added with the Link option in the menu or by adding a button building block.  The use of QR codes is not advised given that most emails are read via mobile device. 
9. Press Save (in the top right corner). 
10. Preview the newsletter in both desktop/laptop view and mobile view to make sure all content displays and is readable. 
11. Next, do a Test send to yourself and check: 
    1. Copy is free of errors
    2. Links work and point to the correct pages
    3. No display issues (weird fonts, etc.)
12. If your workflow includes review by others, send the email proof as an attachment by drag-and-dropping the test email into a new email to those individuals. 
13. Once the content is finished and approved, select Save & Continue
14. Select your audience and send time
    1. Audience use is restricted to the lists or segments you own.  Please contact Digital Service for clarification.   
    2. It is recommended that you schedule your sends for the future, rather than sending them immediately.
    3. Select Save & Continue.
15. Review campaign details 
16. Once you’ve confirmed the details of your campaign – including the audience and send time – click on Confirm scheduled campaign.  From the pop-up, select Confirm.
17. At any time during the process you may use the flow chart in the top right to navigate backwards and forwards for any changes or edits. 

Sending to both internal and external lists: 

All internal messages should not have an unsubscribe. 

All external messages are required to have an unsubscribe. 

If your audience includes people both within and outside of the campus community, you must send two versions of your message – one through each account – to accommodate this. 

1. Create the email as per the instructions above. 
2. Once the email content is approved – and before you schedule the send – go to the Email Campaigns page and find your campaign in your folder. 
3. Click on the box to the left of the campaign name and select Copy campaigns to other accounts from the More actions drop-down menu. 
4. Select the other account from Choose accounts and then click Apply 
5. Select Save. Your email will be copied at that point to the other account. 

Once this is done, you must: 

1. ADD the unsubscribe link if you’ve copied your campaign from the parent to the child account. 
2. REMOVE the unsubscribe if you’ve copied your campaign from the child to the parent account. 

Schedule the audience and send time for both campaigns.