The Announcement Template

We offer two versions of the announcement template: “CHASS Announcement” and “CHASS Invitation.” The templates are identical, only the content in the “Invitation” template is centered. This template is designed to promote — via email — upcoming events, announcements or individual stories across the college. If you are interested in using this template and have not yet received access to the Humanities and Social Sciences Bronto account, please contact the college communication office and CHASS Web Development for more information.

Below are instructions for how to create and send an email message using the newsletter template in Bronto.

STEP 1:

To access Bronto, go to www.bronto.com.

STEP 2:

Select “Sign In” in the top-right corner of the page.

STEP 3:

Enter the login credentials provided by the college communication office and CHASS Web Development.

STEP 4:

To create a message with the newsletter template, select the “Content” tab, then click “Email Templates.”

STEP 5:

Depending on whether you want your announcement content left-aligned or centered, select either the “CHASS Announcement” (left-aligned) or “CHASS Invitation” (centered) template. Click “Preview” to view the basic layout of each template. Click “Compose” to begin creating a message.

STEP 6:

Follow the following steps to populate either the “CHASS Announcement” or “CHASS Invitation” templates. The visuals will show the “Announcement” template, but the same steps also apply to the “Invitation” template.

A) Name your message (e.g. “”). This is not the subject line, but the name of the message that you’ll edit in Bronto. Under “Message Organization,” it’s recommended you save your email in the “Messages” folder; this should be the default setting, so you shouldn’t have to change anything.

B) Make sure the message type is “Template Message,” then click “Next.”

C) At the edit-message screen, you can customize the various components of the email, which include:

Subject: This is the subject of the message that recipients will see in their inbox. Make sure that it’s clear, concise (less than 60 characters) and will appeal to your audience. To edit the subject, simply click in the box and type.
Header/Footer: For the header, select “Link to Online Version.” Don’t worry about adding a footer; one is built into the email template.

Title: The title of the email. We recommend keeping this concise and representative of the event or announcement you’re promoting (e.g. “Homecoming Porch Party”). To edit the title, and to edit other fields in the message editor, hover over the title and click, “Edit.” A box will pop up, where you can enter the content of the title. Afterward, click “Save and Close” to return to the edit message screen.
Image: Click on the gray field to add an image. In the pop-up box, you’ll see a “Browse Hosting” link to the right of the “Image” field. Click “Browse Hosting,” then “Upload” in the top left-hand corner. When the upload screen opens, click “Add File,” select the file you want, then click the green “Upload Button.” Now that your file is uploaded to Bronto, search for the title, select it and click “Insert.”

Summary and Story: Add your main content in this field. If you’re promoting an event, make sure to include the time, location and place.
“Learn More” Link: You can add a link here for more information or to your website.

STEP 7:

After you’re satisfied with your content, switch over to the “Text Version” of your message and click “Regenerate from HTML version”.

STEP 8:

Clicking “Save and Close,” you’ll return to the message overview screen. Use the icons in the upper-right portion of the screen to look at a web preview of your message or go back and edit further.

STEP 9:

We always recommend sending a test message first. From the message overview page, select the “Test” option under “Schedule Delivery” in the top-left portion of the screen. Then, click “Schedule.”

From the “Send Test Message” page, enter the “From Name,” “From Address,” and “Reply-To Address” for your test message (it’s OK to use your own name and email for the test message). One section down, under “Select Recipients,” enter the email addresses you want to send your test message to. Separate email addresses with a comma. Add an optional note if you’d like. Don’t worry about any of the other fields for your test message; scroll to the bottom and click, “Next.”

NOTE: If you don’t see the “Schedule Delivery” box in the top-right hand corner, your message has not yet been approved to send. Contact the college communication office to request your message be approved.

STEP 10:

Review your selections and your message layout. Click “Send Delivery” to send your test message.

STEP 11:

After sending your test and finalizing your message, you can begin sending your actual delivery by selecting “Regular” and “Schedule” under “Schedule Delivery” on the message overview screen.

STEP 12:

Enter the “From Name” you want recipients to see in their inbox. If you would like Bronto to handle replies to your message (including out-of-office responses), select “Enable Reply Tracking”. You can check responses to your message in Bronto (on the sub-navigation, go to “Messages>Email Replies”).

STEP 13:

In the “Select Recipients” section, you will choose which lists or segments you want to send to. Contact the college communication office, which manages lists and segments, to make sure your list or segment is updated and shows up as an option. Alumni lists need to be requested through the college communication office; you can use this request form.

To choose a list or segment, use the search option and click on the box next to the appropriate selection.

NOTE: If someone appears in more than one list, they will only receive the one submission.

STEP 14:

After selecting your lists or segments, you have several options for when to deliver your message. You can choose whether to “send now” (recommended) or schedule your message for another time. You can also decide whether to optimize your delivery by time of day or week; however, if you’re interested in one of those options, please contact the college communication office before proceeding.

If you’re sending to more than 2,000 contacts, please spread your emails out over at least two hours. If sending to less than 2,000 contacts, you can send your messages “as quickly as possible.” Select “Next” to go to the final “Send Message” screen.

STEP 15:

Review your selections and view the preview of your message. If everything looks OK, hit “Send Delivery.”

NOTE: After clicking “Send Delivery,” Bronto will begin the sending process — it typically takes about 2-3 minutes for messages to go out. If you notice a major error in your message while it is still being delivered, you can stop a delivery by selecting it under “Deliveries Of This Message” and clicking “Stop Delivery.” If you have to stop a delivery, contact the college communication office to help determine how many contacts received the stopped message and whether a corrected email is needed.

STEP 16:

After your message is sent, you can review its metrics by clicking on the delivery report icon (spreadsheet and pie-chart icon).

Once on the delivery report screen, you can view metrics for deliverability, opens, clicks, etc. Contact the college communication office if you have questions.

CHASS IT

The Announcement Template