Arizona State University in the Community

Arizona State University (ASU) in the Community is a voluntary organisation that funds community outreach programmes. Its bimonthly newsletter informs faculty staff, students and community members about its latest work, but is it missing out on some key opportunities to increase participation?

Positive elements

1. The ‘Join mailing list’ button is immediately visible and fulfils one of the key objectives of an email newsletter – growing the database. If the message is forwarded on to a friend, they can immediately subscribe.
2. Including the University logo gives the message a strong brand identity that recipients will respond to and recognise the moment they see it in their inbox, reducing the risk of the email being junked.
3. Using a leading image is a great way to draw visual focus to what you deem to be the most important piece of content and want your readers to look at most of all. It also works well breaking up large amounts of text in the email.
4. The e-shot is not too long and is well structured, with clear sections. This makes it easy to scan for the content that interests or concerns you. The colour difference, however, is possibly a little too subtle.
5. Including a link to view the email online is really important. While the email could render very differently in various clients, or even fail to load, anyone will be able to see it as it was intended on the webpage.