What is the Emma Email Marketing platform used for?

The Emma platform is for targeted and mass marketing emails and communications. It will empower colleges, schools and units across the university to effectively market to and communicate timely and relevant information to their key audiences.

The Emma platform is not for day-to-day emails, small lists, listservs or similar types of emails that can be sent through other tools like Microsoft Outlook.

Who is the platform for?

The Emma platform is for marketing and communications or other staff who create, send and/or manage mass and targeted email marketing for their department or unit.

What are the features of the Emma platform?

Emma is a widely used email marketing platform with an intuitive interface and user-friendly email marketing tools.

It includes features such as:

• Account and user permissions
• Segment and filter audiences
• Drag-and-drop email editor
• Branded and customizable templates
• Robust email analytics and insights
• Marketing automation (drip campaigns and triggered emails)

What browsers are recommended for accessing the Emma platform?

View a list of recommended browsers.

How do I get/request access?

Review our User Access page for instructions.

Who is the primary account owner/contact for my college, school or unit?

A complete list of primary contacts are listed here.

How do I find the log in link for Emma?

UIC’s SSO link for logging into the Emma platform will be displayed on the confirmation screen once you have completed the new user agreement.

Are there other upcoming Emma trainings being offered?

Please check the training page for dates and recordings.

Are recordings of the training sessions available?

A recording of both the Emma Email Marketing 101 and the 201 sessions are available on the Emma training page.

When can we start sending emails from the Emma platform?

Please refer to the implementation timeline for more information on email sending.

How are Emma accounts designated?

Each college, school and chancellor/VC/VP unit is provided with two Emma accounts: an “Internal No Unsubscribe” account and an “External Allows Unsubscribe” account.

What is the “Internal No Unsubscribe” account for?

• Internal accounts are only to be used for required emails to internal audiences: current UIC students, staff and faculty with a uic.edu email address.
• This includes announcements, updates, deadlines, etc. that students, staff or faculty need to receive for their ongoing success at UIC.

What is the “External Allows Unsubscribe” account for?

• External accounts are for promotional, optional and/or marketing emails that recipients must be able to unsubscribe from.
• Recipients can be a combination of external recipients (anyone who is not a current UIC student, staff and faculty member with a uic.edu email address) and internal UIC recipients.
• This includes event invitations, advertising, etc.

Can I create or request a subaccount for my department/unit?

No. We have a set number of accounts designated for each college, school and chancellor/VC/VP unit. We cannot accommodate requests for additional accounts at this time.

Do we have test accounts or real accounts?

Your internal and external accounts are your real accounts. Accounts begin in the trial stage but anything you create will be saved and accessible once your account is activated.

Will the 24-hour notifications be sent to the designated account or to the individual user?

For more information about 24-hour notifications visit the Emma support hub.

What are the different types of user roles?

The primary Emma user roles for UIC subaccounts are:

• Administrator: everything including adding users
• Full: create and send emails, view audience data
• Editor: create emails
• Author: create emails only – ideal for students
• Response only: view only

For descriptions and permissions of each roles, visit the Emma HQ user page.

Is there a limit to the number of users per subaccount?

No. There is no limit to the number of users or user roles per subaccount. Administrators should be intentional about the level of access provided to ensure it aligns with the individual job responsibilities of each user.

Is a user’s role and permissions applied to the entire subaccount?

Yes. A user’s role and permissions apply to the entire account and also determine their access to features and audience data. For example, an administrator role has access to everything in the subaccount including settings, audience data, etc. An author role has access to all email templates based on their permission but cannot see the audience tab or audience data.

Are the UIC branding colors included?

Yes. The official UIC colors are included in your account and are accessible in the toolbars in the email editor. No need to add specific color codes!

What font is available in our accounts?

Arial is the global font available in all UIC accounts.

What color(s) are recommended for hyperlinks?

#0000EE or #0000FF are recommended to create hyperlinks that are accessible in your emails. Both are included in the email editor toolbars.

Are there email templates in our accounts?

Yes. UIC-branded templates have been created and added to both your internal and external accounts. Administrators can edit and customize existing templates and create templates from scratch. Once an account administrator has customized or created a template, it can be saved to allow other account users to create an individual email with unique content and images.

You can see email templates by clicking the “Create new campaign” button either on the home dashboard or in the Campaigns tab.

SMC will release more templates at a later date.

Can we copy emails and templates for future use?

Yes. Users can duplicate emails. Administrators can create templates and save an email campaign as a new template for other account users to use to create new emails.

Are there settings to prevent users from saving over an existing template?

Only administrators can customize and save templates, so there is minimal risk of templates being updated inadvertently.

What is the standard width for emails?

The standard width for emails is 640px, with a maximum width of 750px. A width larger than 750px can cause formatting errors on both desktop computers and mobile devices.

Is there a limit to the number of content blocks/rows in an email?

While there is no technical limit on the number of rows you can include, it is best practice to keep your emails concise and visually appealing to maintain the reader’s attention. Emails that are too long or overly complex can cause recipients to quickly lose interest and can take longer to load, especially on mobile devices.

Do content blocks always need to be dropped in a row?

Yes. You must add a row or choose an existing row before you can add a content block.

Do documents/files/images need to be uploaded to the Emma platform?

Yes. You must upload any files, images and documents you want to include in an email to your Emma account. You can do this in advance or when you create an email. You do not need to upload documents, videos or other files with a URL that you want to include as hyperlinks.

Will there be access to the university’s image database in the Emma platform?

No. Currently, there is no integration between UIC’s PhotoShelter photo database and the Emma platform. You must upload the images you want to use to your Emma account, either in advance or when you create an email.

Can I edit photos in the Emma platform?

There are some photo editing options in the Emma platform, but it is best to edit your photos before uploading it to your Emma account.

What browsers are recommended for accessing the Emma platform?

View a list of recommended browsers.

Is everything in my account(s) visible to anyone who has Emma access?

No. Your internal and external accounts are only visible to users who have been added to your specific accounts. Level of visibility also depends on the user’s role and permissions (for example, some user roles cannot see audience data). Emma users can only access accounts they have been added to.

Will we see individual email sends for everyone in a college/unit?

If your user role enables you to view email sends, you will be able to see all emails for the entire account.

Will administrators see the subaccount view/dashboard, or only account owners?

Anyone with the administrator role will be able to view the account dashboard.

Do we have to allow people to unsubscribe/opt out of our emails?

For any email you send to one or more external contacts (anyone who is not a current UIC student, staff or faculty member with a uic.edu email address), you must allow the recipient the ability to opt out of your communications in compliance with the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act. Per the UIC Emma user agreement, you agree to follow best practices for managing unsubscribe requests.

Are we able to remove the “unsubscribe” button for our emails?

Whether or not your emails will include an unsubscribe link depends on if you send the email from your Internal No Unsubscribe account or your External Allows Unsubscribe account. Use your Internal No Unsubscribe account to send required communication to current UIC students, staff or faculty with a uic.edu email address. Use your External Allows Unsubscribe account to send communication that is optional/promotional or that has one or more external recipients.

Are duplicate contacts determined by email address?

Yes. The email address is the primary identifier for each contact/recipient in our Emma platform. Contacts can unsubscribe from specific external accounts, and this will not impact their subscriptions in other accounts.

Can we send emails to listservs?

No. Sending emails to listservs is not allowed on the Emma platform. Learn more about listservs.

Segments, filters and groups are various ways to create targeted email lists in the Emma platform.

Can audience segments be shared with other Emma accounts?

It depends. Only account owners have the ability to share between subaccounts. However, they can grant this permission to administrator users on an individual basis.

Will the emails we send from the Emma platform end up in the recipient’s spam or junk folders?

It depends. Any emails sent to our internal audiences (current UIC students, staff and faculty with a uic.edu email address) will be allowed and should arrive in the recipient’s inbox. The exception may be content or links that are flagged as suspicious or malicious.

For emails sent to one or more external recipients, it depends on both our overall sender reputation with various internet service providers (ISPs) and the content of the email. Content or links in an email that are flagged as suspicious or malicious may cause your email to end up in the recipient’s spam or junk folder.

We must work together to follow email marketing best practices to ensure our communications are seen as credible and trustworthy.