Mass email at university: current literature and tactics for future use

ABSTRACT

I am a lecturer with professional marketing experience, and this study was motivated by my dismay at university about what I have perceived as oversights in colleagues’ typical use of mass email (emailing a single message to a large group of subscribers) for content delivery, in comparison to the communication strategies of major industries (for example, retail and public administration). I examine non-academic research about mass email best-practise, as implemented in industry communications; then I perform a systematic review of academic research on mass email for content delivery. My review of 19 studies confirms academics are behind the industry when it comes to mass email evaluation and optimisation strategies. Finally, I outline tactics necessary for more effective mass emails at university, the most salient being systematically analysing a range of email metrics, and testing and optimising emails. Also, included in this study is my identification of current obstacles to more effective mass email at university, and these include the technological limitations of learning management systems (LMS), and the limited expertise of teaching staff.

KEYWORDS:

• E-mail
• learning analytics
• data
• survey
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Note: this study does not consider the use of mass email at university by non-academic/administrative/professional staff.

2. For these and other ‘industries’ in Australia, see the Australian Government’s Job Outlook website (Explore Industries, n.d.).

3. This estimate is because MailChimp, the ‘world’s leading marketing automation platform’, was founded in 2001 (About MailChimp, n.d.).

4. Note: MailChimp also launched a freemium service in 2009, growing its user-base to 450,000 (MailChimp, n.d.).

5. A CTA is defined as a line of text that prompts the reader to take action and makes clear why they should click the link and what they should get in return (Mineo, 2013).

6. A learning management system (LMS) is software used by educators and administrators to ‘develop and assign course content, track student progress and measure and report student outcomes’ (Fenton, 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roger Dawkins

Roger Dawkins teaches in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts. His research interests include learning analytics, social media, media law and ethics, semiotics, Deleuze studies and film-theory. He has previously worked as a content strategist, search engine optimiser, web writer and copywriter.