Emma implementation checklist

Emma managers and administrators can add UIC users as needed and set user roles and permissions in alignment with the user’s job responsibilities.

UIC Emma roles overview

• Manager role: Offers the most access to the platform and is designated to primary account owners only.
• Administrator role: In addition to creating and sending emails, creating automations, audience segments and audience groups, administrators can create and save templates, add and edit subaccount users and archive items.
• Full role: Can edit, create and send emails, and create and save automations, audience segments and groups.
• Editor role: Can edit, create and schedule email campaigns but cannot send emails. Any emails that are submitted for sending must be approved by the subaccount’s manager/primary account owner before they will be sent. Can create audience segments and groups.
• Author role: Can create emails only and does not have access to audience/contact data. Ideal for student employees.

Refer the HQ/Tiered account roles and permissions to learn more about user roles and access.

Note: “Emma account” and “Emma subaccount” are often used interchangeably and are meant to refer to internal and external subaccounts. We do not have additional subaccounts beyond the UIC college/school/unit level. 

The internal subaccount is for: 

Required email communications to internal audiences (current UIC students, staff and faculty with a uic.edu, illinois.edu or uillinois.edu email address) that are pertinent to their success at UIC that they should not be able to unsubscribe from. Examples include announcements, updates, process changes, required tasks, deadlines, etc.

NOTE: Internal subaccounts must only include audience contacts who have a uic.edu, illinois.edu or uillinois.edu email address. All other contacts are considered external and must be imported in your External subaccount.

The external subaccount is for: 

Email communications that are optional or promotional that recipients should be able to unsubscribe from. All emails sent from the External subaccount will include a footer link that allows the recipient to unsubscribe. Examples include event invitations, newsletters, subscription communications, etc.

Note: Audiences in the External subaccount can be a combination of external and internal contacts. 

To promote consistency throughout your Emma subaccount and make it easier for all users to search for and find what they need, consider implementing a consistent file naming structure.

File naming recommendations

Use Consistent Prefixes:

• Incorporate program or department names or abbreviations
• Include a clear identifier like “Campaign” or “Template,” to distinguish between types of files.
• For email templates, consider using a version number to differentiate between similar templates (e.g, 1a., 1b, or V1, V2)
• For templates or emails for a specific audience, consider including the audience or segment (e.g., “Faculty,” “Students”).

Include Date Format:

For individual emails in your Draft folder, include the target send date in a standard format (e.g., DDMMYY) for easy sorting and identification.

Examples

• Email campaign: “SMC_NewsTips_102324” or “OVCHA_AllFaculty_110124”
• Email template: “1a. EmmaUserUpdate_Template” or “StudentAffairs_Template_V1”
• Audience segment: “AHS_OTStudents” or “Nursing_EmeritusFaculty”
• Audience group: “Emma_AdministratorUsers” or “BLST_AffiliateFaculty”

• Login to the Emma platform: https://go.uic.edu/emma
• Click on the “Campaigns” tab
• Click the blue “Create new campaign” button
• Name the campaign
• Click “Continue”
• On the left under My Gallery, click on the “Shared templates” folder
• From the thumbnails of templates available, hover over the various UIC branded templates and click “Start here” on your template of choice
• Edit the various sections of the template with your UIC logo, images, etc.
• Send a test email to assess how it will look in the recipient’s inbox
• Make adjustments as needed
• Click the dropdown arrow next to the “Save” button and select “Save as template”
• This new template will now be available to all users in your subaccount in the “My templates” section

Upload your unit’s UIC branded logos and any images you will need for your email campaigns to your internal and/or external accounts. You can upload files/photos in advance or when you are creating an email. 

Use SMC’s Photoshelter database to download UIC photos and upload them to your Emma subaccount.  

Use inclusive and user-friendly language, add alt text for every image, use title blocks and heading options (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3) to guide a screen reader through the content and include descriptive link text.

Review a full list of email accessibility recommendations and best practices here. 

Before sending any email campaign, it’s important to thoroughly test it to make sure that it looks correct and to catch any potential issues before it goes out to your audience.

Testing an email campaign or template

Once you’ve finished customizing your new email campaign, you can send a test email to up to 10 people.

If you have created a new email template and would like to test it, click the “Create new campaign” button, select the new template from your “My templates” folder and follow the steps to send a test email using your new template.

Check out Emma’s pre-send checklist and instructions for sending a test email

Audience segments

For internal audience lists (current UIC students, staff and faculty with a uic.edu, ullinois.edu or illinois.edu email address) there are multiple data fields e.g., college, department, classification, etc. within the Emma platform that will enable you to segment and filter your lists to better target your communications to the right audience.

Examples include “All students in X program” or “All first year students in X college.”

Learn more about UIC contact data and how to segment internal audiences.

Audience groups

Audience groups are a great way to make sure you are delivering the right message to the right people. If the specific data field or audience you need to target for a specific message is not already included in your subaccount, you can create an Audience Group.

Examples include “Higher Ed leaders in Student Affairs” or “Subscribers of The Best Newsletter Ever.”

Learn more about creating and managing audience groups.

The Emma platform has robust analytics and insights into your email marketing campaigns. Consider what metrics you want to track and how you will want to share them with your teams, leadership and others. Use the Emma Insights tab to better understand what is working for your audiences and review and export your data to share with others as needed. 

Learn more about the Insights tab