1. Hearth Bulk Email System Divisional Secretaries’ Briefing 2012

2. What is the Hearth bulk email? The Hearth bulk email system allows you as an officer to send emails with or without attachments to a large number of recipients.

3. How do I access the bulk email tool? Log in to Hearth, on the left hand menu under ‘Email Toolbox’, click on ‘Bulk email’

5. Where do I begin? Before sending a bulk email you will need to upload or import a mailing list. Mailing lists can be uploaded or imported from –The officer email address book –The officer reporting tool –Any other source such as your hard drive

6. Acceptable file type? The bulk email system is compatible with any Comma Separated Values (.csv) file and must have the following fields : NAME EMAIL ADDRESS MEMBERSHIP NUMBER Note: Excel list file must be saved as a.csv to upload

7. What is a.csv file? A.csv file is similar in appearance to Excel Lists obtained from the reporting tool on Hearth are in.csv format Lists obtained from RSS are in.csv format Alternatively you can create your own mailing list in Excel and select.csv from the drop down menu when saving it

8. How do I upload a mailing list from a PC? In the blue toolbar, click on ‘upload list’ which will take you to this screen:

9. Enter your list name e.g. full members list October 2012. Click the browse button to find and select the file on your PC, then click ‘upload mailing list’

11. You will need to refresh the page to see when the list has become available; this will vary depending on the size of the file, but should not take long. TIP: As you will see from the diagram, available lists are in blue, queued lists are in italics and rejected lists are in red italics.

12. How do I import a list from the officer email address book? Go to ‘Lists And Addresses’, where you will see your contact groups listed. Simply click on ‘Import’ next to the required contact group.

13. How do I create a contact group in my officer email address book? Instructions on how to do this can be found on Hearth at http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/5858#12

14. Creating and Sending an Email Go to ‘New message’ and check the box next to the list you wish to send an email to.

15. Enter the email subject, and then type your text in the body of your email. You can use the basic formatting tools at the bottom of the page to format your email.

16. Can I add images or attachments? Yes, you can. If you wish to attach a file into your email click the browse button next to ‘Upload a new image/file’ once you have selected it from your PC, ensure you click ‘Upload’ to add the file. Changes made to attachments, including removing attachments from an email, are not permanent until you save the draft. Attachments appear as an embedded link within the body of your email.

17. If you would like to send a test copy to yourself to see how it looks to recipients, check the ‘Send a test copy’ box. By default a test copy will go to your generic officer email address. Alternatively you can enter any email address you wish to use.

18. Click on ‘Preview’ to preview and edit your draft, ensuring you click on ‘save draft’ when you have finished. This saves your email to the draft folder. If you are happy to send your email, simply click on ‘send bulk email’, or you can leave it in your draft folder to send or edit later.

19. Your email will be queued for sending, and sent shortly. Click on ‘Sent’ to view your sent items and check progress.

20. Managing your mailing lists To view people in a mailing list, or to delete one from the system simply click on its title. You can also export individual contacts to your generic email address book by clicking on ‘Export’.

22. Any lists uploaded will remain in ‘list and addresses’. These lists can be deleted at any time and new lists can be uploaded. Please note that the data in the reports from the Officer Reporting Tool changes frequently.

24. Will I get any replies from members? To avoid your inbox becoming full, bulk emails are sent from a ‘do not reply to’ email address. In the recipients inbox it will simply say From: NUT - Division News do-not-reply- to@para-mail.co.ukdo-not-reply- to@para-mail.co.uk This means any replies, out of office, or delivery failure notices go to a separate, unmonitored inbox.

25. How can members get back to me? The following message appears at the end of the bulk email for you to customize. ‘The mailbox this mail is sent from is unmonitored, so please do not reply to this email address. If you would like to get in touch or reply to this email, please contact me at f.igbinnosa@executive.nut.org.uk’f.igbinnosa@executive.nut.org.uk

26. Do I have to provide recipients with an option to unsubscribe? This is included at the bottom of the bulk email as follows: ‘To unsubscribe from this email list click here’ here (Unsubscribe request is automatically deleted and blocked from any future bulk email).

27. Can I copy and paste to the bulk email? Try to avoid copying and pasting text from Word, as Word contains hidden coding which can corrupt the formatting. Best option is to copy and paste into a note pad and then copy to the bulk email.

28. Tips on E-marketing! Grab attention with your subject line. Many readers are overloaded by the information they have to deal with on a daily basis. They do not have the time to digest any more. Readers tend to read 30 per cent slower online and on emails – they skim and scan Deliver relevant content and keep email concise. Have the most important part at the top. Link to your website to push users to your site but avoid too many links. Help readers to understand what your message is about in less than one minute of opening the email.

29. Tips for getting through firewalls and spam filters Ask to be ‘whitelisted’ (added to address books). Avoid using all CAPITALS in the subject header as this scores high on spam filters and will stop your email reaching your members. (example: all capital subject lines) Avoid inserting large images as these are usually slow to upload.

30. I have a query - who do I contact? Please use the Hearth ‘Feedback’ facility