E-communications

In order for e-mail to remain an effective means of communication, the university must be strategic in its use of broadcast e-mail messages. Using e-mail impersonally or indiscriminately will harm the credibility of the entire university and make alumni, students, donors, faculty, staff, parents and friends of UH less likely to welcome e-mail that would be of interest to them.

Broadcast e-mail is any message or group of messages intended for an audience greater than 100 people. All broadcast e-mails to UH System alumni, donors, and friends must be created and sent using Convio, an e-mail marketing tool.  Convio is administered through the UH Marketing Department.  Marketing only builds e-mail messages in Convio for the President's Office, so each college is responsible for building messages. You can schedule e-mail messages via the E-mail Project Request Form and log-in to Convio here.

 

E-mails to current students, faculty and staff should be requested through IT at ecomm@uh.edu. Messages to the campus community are sent with a tool called Right Now.

 

Convio has very strict policies regarding unsolicted e-mail messages. This is because there are many organizations hosted on the same e-mail servers as UH.  If we get blacklisted, our e-mail server is blocked and consequently, all the other organizations sharing our server cannot deliver e-mail. Convio does not tolerate blacklisting and actively monitors e-mail message hard bounces, which may be an indicator of SPAM.  People can opt-in by signing up here. 

All UH System colleges and departments should become familiar with applicable rules and regulations related to broadcast e-mail, including:

• The CAN-SPAM Act: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in the Rehabilitation Act (Section 508 Amendment): http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/act.htm
• Convio User Acceptance Policy - download a pdf
• Convio Statement of Responsibilities - download a pdf
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Training

Only trained administrators can build messages in Convio. To schedule Convio training for a new administrator, please use the UA Intranet Training Request Form. You may log in with your cougarnet credentials.

To schedule a refresher class, send an email to Colleen Walsh.

View the Convio manual online below:

 

Questions

Please refer all questions about Convio to our team at convio@uh.edu.