What is it?
An E-List, also commonly referred to as a Listserv, allows members to subscribe to the list and then send and receive message distributed to an entire group via a single email address. An E-list can be used for communications such as volunteer opportunities, discussions or announcements.
How to Access
Navigate to Community > E-Lists
Adding a New E-List
1. To add a new E-List, first click the Add a new E-List button.
2. Next, configure the E-list.
- Active: This toggles whether or not the E-List is active. This allows you to suspend an E-List by placing it into inactive status.
- E-List Name: The name of the E-List that will be displayed in your MemberClicks solution and is a required field.
- E-List Description: You can enter a brief description of the E-list in this area. This will be displayed on the E-List page.
- E-List Address: The address of your E-List. In the case you have a custom domain with us, you have the ability to have an E-List on your own domain. Please contact the Help Team if this is not set up and you would like to take advantage.
- Custom Domain: If you have a custom domain for your E-list, you can enter it here.
- Subject Prefix: The Subject Prefix will be displayed before all subject lines of emails sent to the E-List. Many organizations use something to make each E-List message stand out in the end user's mail client. An example could be "[My E-List]"
- Administrative Email Address: This is the administrative email address that will receive all admin-related communications. Examples of messages that would be sent to this address are unauthorized users attempting to send to the list or alerts that an E-List member has a bad or non-functioning email address.
- Replies Directed To: You have the option of the action of replying to the E-List to go to the Entire List, or the original sender.
- Enable Social Community: This will include communication in the Social Activity Stream.
3. Next, set the Subscription Permissions. The Subscription Permissions control who is allowed to subscribe to this E-List, and are based on a member's Group. At least one group is required. In the dropdown, select the Group(s) that should have the ability to join this E-List from their My Profile > My E-Lists tab.
4. Update the Moderation Options. When moderation is enabled, messages sent to this E-List must be approved by a moderator before they are sent to the E-List members. Moderators can log in to their solution and access the E-List via their My Profile > My E-Lists tab to approve messages.
- Enable Moderation: This option will add moderation to your E-List. When an E-List is moderated, a moderator will be required to approve all messages and replies that are sent to the E-List by its users.
- Add Moderators: This button will bring up a modal search window for you to search for an appropriate moderator or moderators. Click the user you wish to add as the moderator and click the "Add Moderators" button.
- Delete: This button will delete a moderator from the moderator list.
5. Set up the Welcome and Goodbye Emails. The Welcome and Goodbye email areas allow you to customize an HTML or non-HTML communication that will be sent to new users and users who have unsubscribed from the E-List.
- Send Subscribe Email: This checkbox enables the sending of the email.
- Send as HTML: This will bring up our WYSIWYG editor and allow you to compose an HTML email.
- Reply to Email Address: This is the reply email address of the email sent to users through the Welcome or Goodbye email.
- Subject: Defines the subject of your email.
- Body: Allows you to compose your email. Click the "Send as HTML" checkbox if you wish to send as HTML or uncheck it to send as plain text.
6. Last, configure the Email Footer. To provide custom messaging and instructions for members in E-list messages, you can include a custom footer. To do so, add your messaging or instructions to the HTML or plain text editors in the Email Footer section, just beneath the Goodbye Email section.
E-List Management
To add members, click on the name of the E-List and then select the Members tab.
Select the Add Members option. After clicking it, a modal window will pop-up with all available members. To add members, tag the specific members you want to add, then click Add "X" Members.
Member View
Members have the option of receiving the e-list message in their inboxes or viewing the messages on the website underneath the My Features tab. In this area, they will see all e-lists that they have subscribed to as well as any e-lists that they have permission to subscribe to.
Quick Tips
If you have created a Welcome E-mail on the E-list Setup page, a user will receive that Welcome E-mail as soon as users are added to an E-List We recommend including instructions on E-List rules, and how to manage E-list subscriptions in the Welcome E-mail.
Since we never limit the amount of E-Lists you can have, make an E-List inactive rather than deleting it so you can always come back to the information at a later date.
If a member unsubscribes from an E-List, they will still receive messages sent to them via the Contact Center.
Comments
55 comments
Hello Kimberly! No, they will not. Only those who are part of the E-list when a message goes out will receive it.
Are topics searchable in e-lists? For example, can a member or the ASA login and search topics to re-post? I find typically members ask the same question year after year so I want an easy to way to search previous topics and then re-share them.
Hello Courtney! Topics in an E-List are not searchable. If that's a feature you're interested in, you may prefer utilizing the Forums. If you have questions about that or setting them up, please feel free to reach out to our Help Team!
You can search for e-list conversations that contain certain words!
I'm not sure what sort of search function is used, e.g. if using quotation marks will search for words in order--e.g. does a search for "2018 Meeting" return all messages that include the phrase "2018 meeting", all messages containing both words, or all messages containing either word?
Thanks for that, Jen! And apologies, Courtney, I misunderstood that as a question about your E-List messages being searchable in the Site Search. As Jen pointed out, you can utilize the "Search Messages" function in the E-List area.
In regard to using quotations for a search, in my testing, those don't work at all unless your criteria had quotations in the actual message. Searching "2018 Meeting" works, but searching " "2018 Meeting" " with the quotations included as the search does not work unless that is part of your message. I hope that provides better clarity for everyone!
I am looking for an option for members to subscribe themselves to an E-list, but I'm not seeing that in the setup anywhere. We would like to have an option for a subset of our membership to be able to self-subscribe. Is there an E-list 'landing page' for members where they can see directions for how to subscribe or for us to link to as a menu item?
Hey there Carolyn! Members can subscribe to any E-List they have permission to when they login and go to their Profile. Underneath the "My Features" tab is where they'll find E-Lists, and be able to subscribe as they so choose. While you cannot link directly to "My Features" or "E-Lists", you can provide links to "My Profile" so they can get there. I hope that helps!
Hi there - almost exactly 2 years ago (before we shifted to the new platform) I posted a query asking if/when a digest option would be available, and Kinsey quickly responded at the time that it was in the product roadmap. I don't see anything elist related in the current version of the roadmap so I thought I'd reiterate my plea for a digest/daily summary option. When we ask our members why they don't subscribe or why they unsubscribe, email volume and inability to see messages in a digest format is number one complaint. Please consider this again. Many thanks.
Hello Emmi! If you haven't already (and I'm sure you have!), please submit that feedback here. I haven't heard any news in regard to a digest feature, but the feedback will go directly to our Product Managers. The more we hear from folks like you, the better tuned in we are to you and your members' needs!
Are lapsed members automatically blocked from participating in e-lists? If not, what is the easiest way to remove them.
Thanks, Sara
Hey there Sara! Lapsed Members are automatically blocked from participation in the E-List. Once they renew and are Active again, they'll be all set to participate again.
If a person's member type changes so they are no longer eligible to belong to an E-list, does it automatically remove them? Our membership cycle ends on December 31, so I'd like to make sure that non-renewing members don't have access to the e-Lists.
Thanks!
Hey there Ryan! Users only have access to E-Lists based on the Groups they're in, so if they've been moved to Prospect or a different Member Type that does not have those E-List permissions, they won't have access. Likewise, Lapsed users do not have access even if they are in appropriate Group, because we recognize they are not in good standing. I hope that helps!
That includes if their status is moved to lapsed?
E-lists used to be set up so that if a member lapsed, they would still be subscribed to the e-list, but they would not be able to post to it.
Jay, do the members actually get unsubscribed now?
Hey Ryan and Jen,
Lapsed folks are not unsubscribed, however, they do not have access to the E-List until they renew and are back in good standing. I hope that helps clarify!
So, if they aren't unsubscribed, they continue to get the emails? I guess I'm not following - what exactly do they lose with e-Lists when they lapse?
Hey Ryan! If I am a member who is subscribed to the E-List, and I Lapse, I will remain subscribed to the E-List. This is so that when I pay my renewal and move back to Active, I won't need to be resubscribed.
That said, even though I am technically subscribed, the Lapsed status prevents me from sending and receiving to the E-List, essentially treating me like an unsubscribed user. We're just eliminating the need for the user or for an admin to resubscribe the member once they're no longer Lapsed.
Ok, so they are "subscribed," but really it's more like they are "approved to be a member" of the e-List. They aren't "subscribed" in the sense that they will not receive any emails from the group.
Do they show up in the member list of the e-List?
(Ryan, my understanding is that they still show up on the list of e-list members, and they are still able to access the e-list archive via their profile page on the front end. The option to reply to a message or post a new one still shows up when I log in as a lapsed member; not sure if that message then gets rejected or if the e-list might allow it through.)
New Q:
Is there a way to unsubscribe multiple people at once? I see the "Subscribe to E-List" under "actions" with the new profile list, but there's no *UN*subscribe option. (I thought I used an unsubscribe feature last time I removed a batch of old members, but it's entirely possible my brain made that up!)
Hey Ryan and Jen,
A Lapsed member does still show up on the E-List list of members (to both Admins and other users subscribed). However, they do not have access to the E-List, including the archive. A Lapsed user cannot login and access their profile, they can only login to a renewal Form.
It sounds like you're experiencing the "Assume User" for a Lapsed profile, Jen, which is not the actual Lapsed member experience, but a view for you as an Admin. I hope that helps!
For your new q, Jen, there's not a way to unsubscribe multiple users at once. Is that something you wind up doing fairly frequently? It could make for great feedback!
Hey Jay. Thanks for the info. So just to make sure I totally understand this, when a member subscribed to an elist lapses, then the following happens without any admin action:
Is that correct? If so, I think I'll send in feedback that that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, at least in our situation. We use the elists as a perk of membership - if they continue to receive the notifications/emails, then they haven't really lost anything by lapsing, other than the ability to reply/contribute to the conversation. They can still reap all the benefits of the valuable conversation!
Hey Ryan! Close, but not quite at the cigar yet. Here's what's wrong: "They DO continue to receive the emails" - they do not continue to receive emails from the E-List. Just like your use, E-Lists in MemberClicks are a member benefit, so if you lapse, you no longer get that benefit. So to recap:
Ah, got it! That makes much more sense.
If we use a group as a criteria for being a part of an eList, do I have to adjust that at all when they lapse? We basically use the group as an extra step to make sure people are approved to be subscribed to a particularly exclusive elist. But if I'm interpreting this correctly, since their status is lapsed, they lose access to the elist, regardless of their group settings. Is that right?
That's correct! No need to move their Group around, unless you wanted to. (:
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