Convio Manual

Office of University Relations CONVIO MANUAL

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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 3

UH CONVIO TEAM ......................................................................................................... 3

UH E-‐COMMUNICATIONS POLICIES ......................................................................... 4 GENERAL ........................................................................................................................................ 4 CONTENT ........................................................................................................................................ 5 BRANDING ...................................................................................................................................... 5 LIST ................................................................................................................................................. 6 SCHEDULING .................................................................................................................................. 6

PROCEDURES – REGULAR CAMPAIGN .................................................................... 7

PROCEDURES – INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN ............................................................ 9

PROCEDURES – POWER USERS ................................................................................. 11

POWER USER PROGRAM ............................................................................................ 12

WHAT IS CONVIO? ........................................................................................................ 13 BLACKLISTING ................................................................................................................................ 13

CONVIO ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY PDF

TRAINING ........................................................................................................................ 14

LOGIN ................................................................................................................................ 14

NAMING CONVENTIONS .............................................................................................. 14

WYSIWYG ........................................................................................................................ 15

HOW TO CREATE A TABLE ......................................................................................... 16

HOW TO UPLOAD IMAGES ......................................................................................... 17

HOW TO INSERT IMAGES ........................................................................................... 18

HOW TO ADD LINKS ..................................................................................................... 20

HOW TO BUILD STATIONERY ................................................................................... 21

HOW TO CREATE AN EMAIL CAMPAIGN ................................................................ 31

HOW TO MANAGE AN EMAIL CAMPAIGN .............................................................. 36

HOW TO BUILD AN EMAIL MESSAGE ...................................................................... 38

PERSONALIZATION AND CONDITIONALS ............................................................. 44

VARIANTS ........................................................................................................................ 52

AUDIENCE INFORMATION .......................................................................................... 57

QUERY…………………………………………………………………………………………………….59 BASIC REPORTING ........................................................................................................ 67

GLOSSARY OF TERMS .................................................................................................. 70

ACTION ITEMS CHEAT SHEET ................................................................................... 71

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Introduction

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. Based on experience, the UH Convio team recommends that you establish firm roles and responsibilities among the Convio administrators in your college or department and share this information with the UH Convio team. Many colleges have enjoyed success and smooth processes when they establish a primary and back-up Convio communicator within their team who will conduct and keep track of all your team’s communications with the UH Convio team. This means that only one person from your team/college will be working and communicating with the UH Convio team throughout the process of requesting, building, testing, approving, and launching a broadcast e-mail. This is especially effective in streamlining communications in colleges and departments that have multiple people working on a given e-mail message.

FOR ALL QUESTIONS, EMAIL [email protected]

UH Convio Team

Role E-mail Phone

Colleen Walsh Site Administrator [email protected] (713) 743-8022

Brandy Holmes Site Administrator [email protected] (713) 743-3173

Andre Paul Trainer [email protected] (713) 743-8912

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E-communications Policies

General Policies 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. All UH System colleges and departments should become familiar with applicable rules and regulations related to broadcast e-mail, including: o The CAN-SPAM Act: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm

o Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in the Rehabilitation Act (Section 508 Amendment): http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/act.htm

o Convio User Acceptance Policy: located within this manual.

§ Convio Data Security Form

o Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Centers can send one e-mail per week, except in the case of an emergency. Special considerations will be made for Centers with numerous, specific audiences, such as UHAA, Athletics and CLASS. Power users can also send more than one message per week. University Advancement reserves the right to reschedule messages if e-mail volume to a particular audience is high. University Advancement reserves the right to reschedule a message or messages due to a President’s message being scheduled. Files of e-mail addresses will not be released internally or externally, unless the center is requesting a hard bounce report. This report pulls all constituents who have email addresses that are permanently undeliverable. All broadcast e-mail will be sent by University Advancement personnel and designated power users. Any member of a natural constituency (alumni, donors, parents and friends) for whom University Advancement has a valid e-mail address will receive e-mail communications unless he/she requests otherwise. University Advancement reserves the right to determine the appropriate audience/constituency for any message being sent. University Advancement reserves the right to approve or decline a message request. University Advancement reserves the right to prioritize outgoing messages.

Broadcast e-mail may not be used for: o Solicitations without prior approval by University Advancement

o Gathering contact information on alumni, donors, parents or friends without the approval of University Advancement

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o Political solicitations

o Merchandise sales (exception: links to Athletics and UH Arts ticket sales)

o Service sales

Content Policies Use of the UH/UHS president and chancellor’s image or name must have written approval from the AVP of University Relations before an e-mail message can be launched. Use of a signature image is not permissible. Send request to [email protected]. Expect the approval process to take at least eight business days. Even though a photo may have been taken at an event, or is used on the UH website, it does not mean the image is approved for e-mail distribution. To maintain compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, UH General Counsel has approved a blurb, which must be placed in the footer of every piece of Convio stationery:

[your college here] messages are delivered through the UH [your college here] e-Communications Center, an e-mail subscription service that enables you to manage your e-mail profile and preferences with the college. Tell a friend or family member to sign up and receive e-mail from [your college here]. This message was sent to [constituent email address here]. Visit your subscription management page to modify your e-mail communication preferences or update your personal profile. If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for other subscriptions to [your college here]. Unsubscribe by clicking here or by US Mail to: University of Houston System, Donor & Alumni Records, 4800 Calhoun Rd, Houston, TX, 77204-5035.

State the purpose of the e-mail in the first few lines. State the name of the person or organization providing the information. No UH e-mail should ever ask for a constituent’s username or password. E-mails cannot contain attachments. It is advisable to include a hyperlink to the document or information on your website. Do not include hyperlinks to web pages that request user information.

Branding Policies All existing University of Houston System policies governing communication, graphic standards, computing and privacy shall be applicable to broadcast e-mails. o Information Technology guidelines in MAPP: http://www.uh.edu/mapp/10infotech.htm

o UH Graphic Standards: http://www.uh.edu/policies/graphicstandards/

Stationery must prominently include an approved UH wordmark. If a hyperlink in an e-mail message sends a constituent to a University of Houston web page, the web page must have an approved UH wordmark in the header.

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University Advancement reserves the right to cancel messages if branding policies are not followed.

List Policies All e-mail messages are populated and maintained with e-mail addresses from the Advance database maintained by University Advancement. Convio admins are able to use the query feature in Convio to create their own audience groups for e-mail messages. Each center has access to their respective alumni and donors. Please notify the Convio team once you have queried an audience group at [email protected], so that we can include that audience when we are scheduling your message. Data will be updated weekly between Convio and Advance. New graduate data is uploaded six to eight weeks after graduation. Colleges, departments and UH System members may only send broadcast e-mails to alumni, donors, friends and full time faculty or staff affiliated with their college or department. If a Center would like to use another Center’s audience, they must ask permission and send proof of authorization to the Convio team at [email protected] .

Scheduling Policies E-mail project request forms should be submitted at least three full business days in advance of when you would like the message to launch. A separate request should be submitted for each e-mail and for each time it is launched. There is no guarantee the date you request will be the date your e-mail is launched. A member of the UH Convio team will contact you to confirm launch dates or to get necessary details about the e-mail message. Keep in mind UH cannot send e-mails to the same audience more than once a day. This means some e-mails may have to be rescheduled to avoid an overlap of audiences. Sometimes an e-mail will need to be rescheduled at the last minute if a priority message, such as one from the president’s office, needs to be sent on a particular day. Wednesdays are reserved for Athletics e-mails. Saturdays, Sundays and every second Thursday of the month are reserved for UHAA e-mails. Messages are usually scheduled to be sent at 8:00 a.m. on the day of delivery. A Convio calendar will be sent to you every week showing the next three weeks of messages; please review to see if your messages are scheduled correctly. If an email is rescheduled, a new appeal code is not needed. The appeal code originally given will be used.

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Procedures – regular e-mail campaign

Step 1: schedule message The Email Project Request form is located under the Office of University Marketing Forms online: http://www.uh.edu/about/offices/university-relations/marketing/forms/index.php As radio buttons are clicked, additional fields will pop up. For instance, if it’s a solicitation, new fields will appear asking for specific info pertaining to assignment of an appeal code. After the project request is submitted, it will automatically redirect you to any additional necessary forms (for instance, an appeal code request), and it will automatically populate the fields already populated in the e-mail request.

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Step 2: define audience In the Audience field, list the exact names of the groups that already exist in Convio or a new group that you will query in Convio. It’s usually the groups of the campaign you’re using. The Convio team will send the message to only those groups listed in the email request form. If a new special interest group needs to be pulled from Advance that cannot be queried in Convio, be as clear as possible in the description of who’s needed. Upon submitting the email request you’ll be automatically sent to an ‘Other Data Request’ form to complete and submit. Audiences will be refreshed on a weekly basis during the data sync from Advance to Convio.

Step 3: receive confirmation of launch date A UH Convio team member will reply with a confirmation of the date requested, or suggest alternative dates. Example: “This message has been added to the Convio calendar for 11/17.”

Step 4: build message The UH Convio team only builds e-mails for the president’s office, so your team will be responsible for building e-mails for your college.

Step 5: test message E-mail messages should be reviewed and approved internally before sending to the UH Convio team for review. Messages need to be sent to the Reviewer Group by noon, the day before the scheduled launch. E-mails that are not ready for review at the appropriate time will be rescheduled for the next available launch date. The Convio team approves all messages in Convio.

Step 5: receive confirmation of message or receive changes A UH Convio team member will send you notification that the message has passed testing or they will send issues that need to be addressed (a broken link, incorrect logo, etc.). Once the message has tested successfully, you’ll receive a final confirmation of the message’s approval and pending launch with an audience confirmation included.

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Procedures – integrated campaign Integrated campaigns involve a direct mail and an e-mail component For example, an event with printed and mailed invitations as well as an emailed invitation to the same list of people. Since data for integrated campaigns can be more complex than a direct mall list or an email list, there is potential for miscommunication. Also, some integrated campaigns involve a “mixed” audience of internal UH faculty or staff and external alumni or donors. This may require two messages: one using Convio and one using Right Now. Requests for integrated campaigns should be submitted at least 6 weeks ahead of launch, to allow for appeal codes and mailing lists to be created.

Step 1: schedule message The Email Project Request form is located under the Office of University Marketing Forms online: http://www.uh.edu/about/offices/university-relations/marketing/forms/index.php Make sure to select the E-mail and Mail radio button.

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Step 2: define audience In the Audience field, list the exact names of the groups that already exist in Convio or the new group that will be queried in Convio. It’s usually the groups of the campaign you’re using. The Convio team will send the message to only those groups listed in the email request form. If a new special interest group needs to be pulled from Advance that cannot be queried in Convio, be as clear as possible in the description of who’s needed. Upon submitting the email request you’ll be automatically sent to an ‘Other Data Request’ form to complete and submit. Audiences will be refreshed on a weekly basis during the data sync from Advance to Convio.

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Step 3: determine if a message needs to be sent to the campus community through Right Now Email [email protected] to schedule a message to current students, faculty or staff.


Step 5: build message The UH Convio team only builds e-mails for the president’s office, so your team will be responsible for building e-mails for your college.

Step 6: test message E-mail messages should be reviewed and approved internally before sending to the UH Convio team for review. Messages need to be sent to the Reviewer Group by noon, the day before the scheduled launch. E-mails that are not ready for review at the appropriate time will be rescheduled for the next available launch date.

Step 7: receive confirmation of message or receive changes A UH Convio team member will send you notification that the message has passed testing or they will send issues that need to be addressed (a broken link, incorrect logo, etc.). Once the message has tested successfully, you’ll receive a final confirmation of the message’s approval, pending launch and an audience confirmation will be included.

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Procedures – power users When admins meet the criteria established by the Power User Program, they gain additional access to data and functionality in Convio. Power Users are able to attach audiences, run reports, approve and launch/schedule messages. Information about the Power User program follows this page.

Step 1: schedule message and define audience The Email Project Request form is located under the Office of University Marketing Forms online: http://www.uh.edu/about/offices/university-relations/marketing/forms/index.php As radio buttons are clicked, additional fields will pop up. For instance, if it’s a solicitation, new fields will appear asking for specific info about an appeal code. After the project request is submitted, it will automatically redirect you to any additional necessary forms (for instance, an appeal code request), and it will automatically populate the fields already populated in the e-mail request. If it is an integrated campaign (e-mail and US Postal mail) the submitted project request also will be delivered to University Advancement. See above pages for procedures related to integrated campaigns. Up to one message per day can be launched, except on Wednesdays, second Thursday of the month and Saturdays and Sundays.


Step 3: build message When building the message, enter the confirmed launch date into the message calendar, with an 8:00 am launch time.

Step 4: test message E-mail messages should be reviewed and approved internally before sending to the UH Convio team for review. Messages need to be sent to the Reviewer Group by noon, the day before the scheduled launch. E-mails that are not ready for review at the appropriate time will be rescheduled for the next available launch date.

Step 5: receive confirmation of message A UH Convio team member will send you notification that the message has passed testing and is ready for approval and scheduling within Convio.

Step 6: approve message In step #6 of the message, click the Approve button.

Step 7: send confirmation of launch After you have launched the message, send a confirmation to [email protected].

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Power User Program Criteria

Procedures • 2-month period of 100% accurate use of the Email Project Request form when scheduling

email messages. • Correct scheduling requests: at least a 3 business day notice and avoiding Wednesdays,

Saturdays, Sundays and the second Thursday of every month. • Punctuality with sending messages to the Reviewer group (before noon the day before the

scheduled launch date). • Understanding when to click the Approve button and when to schedule a message.

Quality • Appearance of organized email campaigns • Enticing and descriptive subject lines • No spelling or grammar errors • Accurate dates and times • Functional hyperlinks • Attractive stationery • Center does not contain unused or unnecessary campaigns or stationery • Appropriate use of UH brand

Data • Correct use of Appeal Code • Understanding members of groups within the center • 2-month period of 100% accurate use of UA Intranet Data Request form when requesting

data

Communication • Responds to correspondence related to messages within a few hours • Consistently send questions or issues to [email protected] • Reliable and consistent use of a primary center contact, with a backup secondary contact

Permissions • Ability to launch and schedule messages • Ability to attach groups to target audience tabs • Ability to run reports

Memo of Understanding Each person eligible to become a Power User must sign a memo of understanding. If requirements listed in the memo are not met, permissions will be reverted to a lower level of access. If permissions are revoked, the admin is placed on a one-month probation period until all criteria are met again.

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What is Convio? (cuhn VEE oh)

Convio is an online e-mail marketing tool the University of Houston System uses to communicate with its alumni and donors. It supports personalized, conditionalized content to help cultivate relationships with your college or department constituents. UH has an annual contract based on the number of Centers and e-mail addresses used. Each College and UH System campus have a Center in which their stationery, campaigns, messages, and audience groups are stored. Additionally, some areas like Athletics and the Alumni Association have Centers.

Blacklisting Convio has “white hat” status in the e-mail marketing industry. This means the Internet Service Providers (ISP) recognize Convio as a valid sender and trust that the messages sent are not SPAM. Convio’s deliverability rate is currently 99%. SPAM accounts for 15 billion of the 16 billion email messages sent every single day. As an ISP, that means 93% of your infrastructure is supporting junk. ISPs fight against SPAM and will blacklist anyone or any organization is suspects of sending SPAM. Once blacklisted, there is no official process or court of law to get reinstated. So if an ISP like Google, Yahoo, or Comcast blacklists UH, it means no more messages will be delivered to email addresses using that ISP. The only way to get reinstated is to beg an ISP to open its doors. Since hundreds of organizations share Convio server space, if one organization gets blacklisted, all Convio clients on the server are also automatically blacklisted. ISPs only look at the server that sends the message, not the person or organization behind it. Convio maintains a healthy relationship with ISPs by enforcing a strict opt-in policy with its clients. Opting in means someone has explicitly stated they want to receive an email from your college or department. Also, people who have a natural relationship with the organization are considered opted in, like recent graduates and donors. The following pages include the Convio Acceptable Use Policy. The University of Houston only uploads constituents in Convio who have, in some way, expressed consent at receiving our e-mail messages.

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Training To schedule Convio training for a new admin, please use the UA Intranet Training Request form at https://uaintranet.e.uh.edu/. Specify that you are signing up for Convio training.

Convio Customer Center All admins have been granted a login to this website, which includes additional training resources like videos and pdf files. Online instructor led training is also available, free of charge. www.customer.convio.com

Login To login to your center, visit http://ecommunications.houston.edu/site/AdminLogin. This url is case sensitive, so make sure the ‘A’ and ‘L’ are capitalized. The username will be an alias email address assigned to you after training is complete. To illustrate, an alias is [email protected]. This alias is required, because admins cannot receive messages from groups they manage. To circumvent the issue, the alias address will function as the ‘admin’ and you’ll be able to receive messages to your regular UH email address. After 20 minutes of non-use, Convio will automatically log you out. Working in the WYSIWYG editor and building emails counts as non-use. The WYSIWYG does not talk to the Convio server, so it appears idle. Be sure to save your work often, since clicking the save button counts as communicating with the server. To reset a lost password, email [email protected] with the request. Please include your user name, so we can find the correct constituent record quickly.

Naming Conventions The UH Convio team manages all activity within Convio, so for efficiency the following naming conventions should be used:

Stationery: Center – purpose or campaign name Right: Bauer – monthly newsletter Wrong: image1

Email Campaign: Center – generic campaign name Right: Athletics – Update from Coaches Wrong: Upcoming Lectures

Audience Group: Always list the Center name first Right: UHCL – alumni in New York Wrong: Donors from last year

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WYSIWYG This is the content editor used throughout Convio for creating stationery and messages. It stands for What You See Is What You Get. The Convio WYSIWYG is supported by browsers including: Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and Firefox 3. ALWAYS DROP COPIED TEXT INTO NOTEPAD OR TEXT EDITOR BEFORE PASTING INTO THE WYSIWYG. The WYSIWYG editor allows you to create dynamic content, like formatted text, images, links, personalization and more. For those who are comfortable with HTML coding, you can also view the actual HTML code at any time and make modifications directly to the code. You can even insert Flash content into your page using the code window of the WYSIWYG editor.

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How to Create a Table

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How to Upload Images Before uploading an image, it should meet the following specifications:

• 72 dpi • RGB color

Step 1: scroll over the Library, and then select Image Library Step 2: click the Browse button and find the image on your computer Step 3: enter a descriptive title in the Graphic Title field Step 4: enter keywords to help find the image in a search Step 5: the Security category will be set for your Center Step 6: if necessary, resize the picture. It will always resize proportionally. Step 7: click save Step 8: do a search for the image and confirm it’s in the library. Note: At the moment there is an open bug in Convio right now related to uploading pictures. If the picture does not load in your test message, you can try this:

1. Archive the original photo from your image library and delete the photo from your message

2. Locate the image file on your computer (not Convio) 3. Delete any spaces in the name of the image file

a. i.e. if the name is “Convio 2011” then rename it “Convio2011” 4. Upload the re-named image to your image library in Convio 5. Insert the photo into your message and try another test

The information will disappear and the image may or may not immediately appear in the image section below. Do not attempt to upload the image again unless you confirm it has not been added to your library. Try logging out and back in again.

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How to Insert Images

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How to Add Links

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How to Build Stationery Stationery is the term for an e-mail wrapper, or the letterhead your e-mail will appear on. When you create a message the stationery will not be visible until you preview the message, or send a test. There is no limit to how many stationery your Center uses. All stationery must include approved UH branding and the approved footer blurb with links. Step 1: Enter a name for the Stationery, for example:

• UH Athletics – Football banner • Hilton – Alumni social events • Bauer – Monthly Newsletter 2010

Step 2: The security category is your Center. Step 3: Check boxes for Email Campaigns and Autoresponder Messages

Step 4: Having a style sheet is not necessary, but you can. UH does not create style sheets.

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Step 5: Basic layout: This is how the layout will ALWAYS appear in messages using this stationery. Choose the layout that will best fit your message.

Step 6: HTML: Insert header image in top row using WSYIWYG. Click on the tree icon.

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Step 7: Right click and choose table properties. Alignment needs to be “center”.

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Step 8: Insert footer blurb in the bottom row. Make sure to copy the text into a text editor like Notepad and remove all formatting before pasting into the row. Blurb: Messages are delivered through the e-Communications Center, an e-mail subscription service that enables you to manage your e-mail profile and preferences. Tell a friend or family member to sign up and receive e-mail from [your center here]. This message was sent to [constituent email address here]. Visit your subscription management page to modify your e-mail communication preferences or update your personal profile. If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for other subscriptions to [your center here]. Unsubscribe by clicking here or by US Mail to: University of Houston System, Donor & Alumni Records, 4800 Calhoun Rd, Houston, TX, 77204-5035.

Before

After

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Step 9: Insert links: Browse Convio links.

Tell a Friend and Unsubscribe links: Email, Forward Message and Email, Unsubscribe

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[constituent email address here] Personalization: Email, Primary Email Address

Subscription Management link: User Registration, Update Interests

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Make sure the Autologin box is checked. Choose the appropriate Interest. Type tabID=email_prefs in the field for Additional Arguments.

Update Profile link: User Registration, Update Profile

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Make sure the Autologin box is checked. Choose the appropriate Interest. Type tabID=email_prefs in the field for Additional Arguments. Sign up link: User Registration, Register

Make sure the Autologin box is checked. Choose the appropriate Interest. Type tabID=email_prefs in the field for Additional Arguments.

Finished View

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Step 10: Convert the current HTML content to Plain Text: click the button and make manual changes as needed.

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Step 11: Upload an image to use as a thumbnail: Not necessary, but you can. When previewing the stationery, take a screen shot and save it as a jpeg. Upload it to the image library, then go back to the stationery and select the thumbnail.

Step 12: Preview the stationery. Make changes as needed before publishing.

Step 13: Publish the stationery.

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How to Create an Email Campaign

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Use of the calendar is for power-users only. The system will not allow us to launch on a date other than the one listed in the calendar and it will not alert us to the blocked launch. We’ve encountered many problems where it appears a message has launched, but did not because an incorrect date or time was listed in the calendar. Please keep the “Tentative Schedule Date” blank.

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How to Manage an Email Campaign

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How to Build a Message

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In the sender e-mail address field, ALWAYS type [email protected]. This is the official UH Inbox. There is a UH employee dedicated to managing replies. If a reply requires an answer to a question or some other attention, the message will be forwarded to your center administrator. Note, constituent-facing fields have a people icon by the number. Use of the calendar is for power-users only. The system will not allow us to launch on a date other than the one listed in the calendar and it will not alert us to the blocked launch. We’ve encountered many problems where it appears a message has launched, but did not because an incorrect date or time was listed in the calendar. Please keep the “Tentative Schedule Date” blank.

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There is a Reviewer List comprised of UH Convio team members called UH Main E-Comm Test Group that is attached to existing e-mail campaigns. When you create a new E-mail Campaign, alert the UH Convio team so we can attach the Reviewer Group. We will review messages for: • proper use of university approved logos, branding, as well as the name and/or images of the

UH chancellor & president. • hyperlink functionality, technical problems and egregious spelling or punctuation errors.

Ultimately, each center admin is responsible for the content of the message. • inclusion of the unsubscribe, tell a friend, and manage subscription footer verbiage.

E-mail messages should be reviewed and approved internally before sending to the UH Convio team for review. Messages need to be sent to the Reviewer Group by noon, the day before the scheduled launch. E-mails that are not ready for review at the appropriate time will be rescheduled for the next available launch date.

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The UH Convio team will either send approval for the message, or send revisions needed. Since a message cannot be edited after clicking the approve button, please do not click the “approve” button.

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Personalization and Conditionals

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Examples of Conditional Content • Interests: whether the constituent has self-selected a particular topic as an email interest. • Groups: whether the constituent belongs to a certain group.

When testing conditional content, the UH Convio team cannot see or review conditional content. It is the admin’s responsibility to proof all conditional content. Examples of Conditional Content:

Athletics could include text for parking information at the next athletic event that only season ticket holders will see in the message. Law Center could combine three subjects by assigning each piece of text to a specific audience group.

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Variants

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Audience Information E-mails intended for students, prospective students, faculty or staff must go through the e-mail tool Right Now. Policies regarding messages to students, faculty, and staff differ, so please refer all questions to [email protected].

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Adding people to your center, to groups, and to interests To add recipient e-mail records to Convio that are not in Advance, the constituent must opt-in to receive e-mail from your Center and a record must be created for them in Advance. Lists of e-mail addresses mined from the Internet, pulled from academic sources, or otherwise collected without express approval from the constituent will not be added to Convio. To opt-in, a constituent should send you an email agreeing to receive messages from your Center. Verbal confirmation is not accepted. Please forward the message to [email protected] and they will add them to the list requested. If the Dean of your college collects business cards, the constituent must write “Yes Email” on the back to be considered opt-ed in. Business cards are only accepted at the Dean’s level or from a high-level UH administrator. E-mail sign up sheets can also be circulated at events. Include a clear heading on the sheet, so people know what they’re signing up to receive. A full name, email address, and mailing address are needed, to make sure duplicate records are not created in Advance. Do not forward someone a recent Convio message received by you, since the footer links in that message would be assigned to your Convio record.

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Query The Query tool allows you to identify and use generated lists of contacts who meet certain criteria. You can use query results for analysis and to create groups. Groups created by query can be set to rebuild periodically so you always have a fresh set of contacts meeting your criteria.

When to Query:

• To identify sets of constituents who share common characteristic(s). • When there is not already one of the following that addresses my needs:

o Existing Groups o Reports

• Examples: o Who lives in Texas and graduated in the year 2009 from the Bauer

College of Business? o Who has opted in to the Technology center in the past 30 days? o Who lives in Atlanta that graduated from the Cullen College of

Engineering? o Who majored in Creative Writing in the CLASS center? o Who graduated between 2005-2009 from the Honors College?

Query is one of many tools in the Convio application which help you segment your Constituent 360 database. When you run a query, you are asking Convio a question about how many people in your database share one or more common characteristic.

Query Criteria: You can create queries that pull from all of the available constituent fields in Convio, including their contact details and even additional custom fields like being a member of the Honors College. There are quite a lot of fields, so we’ve organized them into Field Types in the Query tool to make it easier to find what you need. Field Type:

o Address: county, city, state, zip, etc. o Biographical Info: gender, date of birth o Email: accepts email, bounce status, opt-in/opt-out o Education: college, class, major, department o Additional Info: any custom fields

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Membership Type, expiration date, membership ID

membership

Group Types: 1. Uploaded Group 2. Interest Opt-in and Opt-out

Group 3. Queried Group

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How to Build a Query

Creating a Query: Create a new query under Data Management:

Name and describe your query:

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Building a Query: Build your query on the Query Builder screen by selecting the criteria of interest to you. You can choose a single field from a field type or choose multiple fields and groups.

After you have built your query, save and run the query.

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Refreshing the Query:

Click refresh until the query is complete. Select Use Query to choose from: Create a Group or Add Query Results to an existing Group.

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Creating a New Group from a Query:

Fill in the fields to create a new group using your query. Click save and the group information screen should reflect the new Group ID and the number of users in this group.

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Add a Query to an Existing Group:

Select the group in the list you would like to add your query to and save.

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Basic Reporting

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Glossary Administrator – A UH employee with a set of permissions in Convio for creating e-mail campaigns, building e-mail messages, and managing stationery, for example. Blacklisted – This occurs when Internet Service Providers deem e-mail as SPAM, or unsolicited. All Registered Users must personally opt-in to UH e-communications to avoid this. Campaign – A set or series of related messages that has a common audience, like monthly newsletters or event invitations. Campaign data can be tracked. Center – An area in Convio where each college or organization can manage e-communications independently. Contact Record – Also called a constituent record. Constituent ID – The ID tracked by Convio. Group – An administrator-driven method for segmenting constituents. In Convio, e-mails are only sent to Groups. House File – Pulled from Advance, this master file populates and syncs with Convio. It contains every person in Advance with a known e-mail address. Interest – A user driven method for segmenting constituents. Like subscriptions, users choose to receive e-mail based on their interests. Member ID – The ID from UH Advance. QA – Quality Assurance. Regular User – Anyone who has a contact record in Convio. Stationery – This is a graphic file that serves as a background to your e-mail message. Text Editor – An application, like Microsoft Notepad, that strips hidden formatting from Word documents and allows for clean text to be pasted into e-mail messages. WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get. The content editor tool used in Convio to create e-mail messages. It converts content into HTML automatically, so you don't need programming knowledge to create or edit e-mails.

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Action Items Cheat Sheet

Request training: at least 2 weeks notice “Set up Convio training” form http://www.uasys.e.uh.edu/departments/marketing-services.html

Approval for President’s image: at least 8 business days notice Email image you would like to use or a test message with image to [email protected] Send test message the day before launch by 12 p.m. Under Step 6 – send review mail, click “send” under “send this message to the reviewer list”

Send message to students faculty or staff: at least 5 business days notice Email [email protected] to schedule with IT for launch through Right Now.

Add record in Advance: turn-‐around usually occurs within 5 business days To create a new entity in Advance, please email [email protected] and include the name of the constituent and email address to be activated. To add more than one entity, an Excel spreadsheet should be created with the constituent’s first name, middle initial (or name), last name, mailing address (at least a street if not city and state), and any other piece of identifying information. Send the list to Cortni Haralson in Advancement Reporting & Analysis for cross-checking against data that may already be in Advance.

Schedule email: at least 3 business days notice “E-mail Project Request” form http://www.uh.edu/about/offices/university-relations/marketing/forms/index.php

Request integrated campaign: at least 6 weeks notice

Documents

Convio Manual