Facilities for newsletters, bulk or group mail

The UT uses the Pronuntio module (within the content management system WebHare) to send mass mail in UT style

Employees may apply for a Pronuntio account in certain situations. This page explains the main features of Pronuntio and has answers to frequently asked questions.

Mail to prospective students

For professional marketing emails, Marketing & Communication uses a separate mailing system, linked to the UT databases. All Marketing emails need to be sent through this system to make sure someone who unsubscribes is indeed unsubscribed from ALL marketing emails.

Mail on behalf of student and alumni associations

Student and alumni associations can use the mailing list tool of UT to manage their mailing lists. Please see www.lists.utwente.nl for details. For alumni association emails you may also contact the alumni office for more possibilities.

Use of external systems like Mailchimp

Security: To prevent phishing/spam, sending mail with non-UT systems like MailChimp with UT email addresses is in general not possible. For the technical policy on this matter, see the 'Technical Guidelines on SPF' in the list of UT policies. 

Privacy: Please consider the legal (GDPR) requirements when using external tools. Mailchimp does not meet the EU requirements. Check this article on Frankwatching (in Dutch) to see why and find alternatives for Mailchimp.

For all other group mail or newsletters sent by staff members, there is a newsletter module available within the UT website system WebHare. This module is called Pronuntio and helps you send professional emails in UT style. Accounts will only be provided after instructions about privacy and spam rules. An automated signup/unsubscribe form for Pronuntio mailings can be embedded in default UT websites (see the FAQ below).

The UT template in Pronuntio

The newsletter template is available in four different layouts:

  • UT design (choice of different UT colours)
  • UT institutes design (colours of the institutes)
  • ITC layout
  • Non-branding layout (UT style but no UT logo, for projects with external partners)

The general UT design was used in the examples below. Please note: the design slightly changes regularly. Therefore the designs placed here are not fully up to date.

  • General features

    Pronuntio offers the user the following functionalities: 

    • Professional newsletter format
    • Analytics in your mailbox: how often has a link been clicked on?
    • Statistics about the receiver list: which mail adresses do not exist/bounce and exact sending information
    • Personalisation: personalised information (exordium and more) based on columns in an excel file
    • Duplicating an existing newsletter (right mouse button on previously sent newsletter) for reuse
    • Schedule sending (later)
    • Send attachments
    • Arrange (un)subscribe pages on your website
    • Being able to correct broken links in the mail after sending

    Example of statistics in the send mail

  • Example of a newsletter (front)

  • Example of a newsletter (backend, for the editor)

    As an employee of the UT you can assemble this newsletter yourself. Below you can see an example of the administrator side: 

  • Optional and mandatory elements

    For the optimal use of this newsletter and to meet privacy requirements, a number of agreements have been made about the design:

    START: MANDATORY PARTS (PICTURE + TEXT)

    Language: Choose a language (NL/EN). Some set parts like the UT wordmark are adjusted based on your language choice. 

    Colour: Choose a colour scheme.

    Header text: Fill in a clear title or sender. This short textbox is situated top left in the newsletter and can also be seen in the popup in Outlook, when someone receives the newsletter. (The link to the online version top right in the reader is generated automatically and cannot be changed).

    Logo subtitle: Fill in the name of your organisation, for example, Sports Centre - March 2020 newsletter. This text will be placed below the UT logo.

    Large picture with coloured or white textbox: Always start the newsletter with a large picture and adequate textbox. For small texts, a colour will be used and for larger texts, a white background will be used. These can be added as separate boxes. The minimally needed width of the picture will be indicated in WebHare. In the textbox, you can also use links and other layouts via the buttons above the textbox. In the textbox, you can add an introductory text or a big event/news item that needs extra attention. 

    MIDDLE PART: OPTIONAL PARTS (NEWS WITH OR WITHOUT PICTURES, EVENTS)

    In order to guarantee a nice layout, you can solely use the following elements for the middle part with news and events. These are optional: elements that you do not need can be left out.

    • Button (for example: subscribe for an event)
    • One or more news items with a picture
    • One or more news items without a picture
    • Agenda with events

    The use of separate text boxes in the middle part is excluded. Textboxes and pictures always belong together. Separate textboxes give the newsletter an unprofessional layout. 

    END: MANDATORY PARTS

    The newsletter is closed with the footer. The contact information and privacy statement are mandatory. The general contact information of the UT is shown standardly. You can overwrite this information by filling in a more specific UT address, please add a phone number and an e-mail address as well for questions. You are legally required to mention an unsubscribe option. Fill in a contact e-mail address for the unsubscribe option. 

Request an account

Please check if you meet the most important requirements:

  • You need to be a UT employee.
  • You meet the GDPR requirements. Some examples:
    • You only send mail to people where recipients have agreed to receive it and you have a list of subscription information, including the date when people subscribed. 
    • Your mail contains an unsubscribe option (not necessary in all situations). 
    • Your mail clearly states who the sender is.
  • You do not send any information that is supposed to be sent through other existing channels like the employee news on the Service Portal. Example: mail sent to employees within a certain faculty of service department should be placed on the employee news section of the Service Portal portal to make sure recipients get one mail that combines all updates. Crisis situation-related mails may be sent separately. 

For advice related to internal/external communication, please consult your faculty's Communication Advisor. Online Media (onlinemedia@utwente.nl) can create a Pronutio account for you if you meet all requirements. In your request, please specify:

  • From which organisation of the UT do you want to send a newsletter (for the setting of the correct template: UT general or institute colours)
  • How do you want to recruit readers (after all, you may not simply send a newsletter)
  • Which UT e-mail address should be set as the sender of the newsletter
  • Which people should have user rights to send this newsletter?

Accounts are created in consultation, after an explanation about conditions and spam legislation.

Frequently asked questions

  • How does personalisation work?

    The fields that need to be personalised and the e-mail address should be listed in an Excel file:

    In this example there is a column filled with names and a column filled with e-mail adresses. Every type of information has a seperate column. The name of the column (Name, E-mail) can also be left out, since those names do not have a function.

    A corresponding 'tag' should be created in Pronutio for every column. In brief, it comes down to this:

    1. The tag should be created in MENU > ACCOUNT > ATTRIBUTES.
    2. After that, the tag should also be created in MENU > ACCOUNT > FIELDS.

    Below the list of 'fields' is displayed:

    What you should know about this is: 

    • Column 1: The content of the first column (first name), is the content you will select in your mail in order to insert the variable in your mail. Example: You start your mail with Dear [first name], ... You can use the variables in the text of your mail, but you can also select these variables in other fields: 
    • Column 3: The title of this column is important for uploading and connecting your Excel file. This will be explained below.

    Via the last big button 'manage lists' you can create or manage a sending list in Pronuntio: 

    Then, click ADD in order to add a new list. Give the list a name and save it. Via ADD SUBSCRIBER you can add seperate e-mail addresses. Via the button IMPORT you can import an Excel file with a large number of e-mail adresses. 

    In most cases you will import an Excel file. After clicking the button IMPORT, you will walk through a number of steps. FInally, you will get to the page where you are asked to connect the fields in Pronutio to the columns in Excel: 

    At the top, you will first state whether the data columns in your Excel file start directly or there are headers above these columns. Next, you can connect the fields:

    • You can connect the WebHare field e-mail address to the correct colomn, in this case you will draw it to column B. See the lower black arrow.
    • The remainder fields that you want to use should be connected based on the list of fields in WebHare. The list of fields that was explained above will occur here. What is stated in the list of fields below the column title (see the blue framework), is what should be connected to the concerning Excel column. In this case, you connect the column to the field 'Calling name', because the list of fields in WebHare states that this is the correct title. You only connect the fields that you want to use in your mail.

    Is one of your personalised fields a link? Like a personalised URL for a questionnaire? You cannot put [myfieldname] in the link field because in general link fields have to start with http. There is a way to get this working: put x-witty:[myfieldname] in the link field and you can send every recipient a personalised link that has been listed in your Excel file you uploaded. 

  • Why do I see a 'witty parse error'?

    Does the error: "Witty parse error at ...: Unknown data follows the value: '[.....]'" occur when you save your newsletter? This way WebHare indicates that somewhere in your text the backets [...] were used, without stating which data should be inserted in that spot. This can be caused by two events: 

    • A field that needs to be personalised (like Dear [first name]) is not connected properly. Please read the explanation at the top of this page about the connection of personalised fields. 
    • Somewhere else in your text the brackets [...] are present. In mailing systems [...] are meant for personalising fields, so you can not simply use them anywhere in your text. Replace the [...] in your text with (...). 
  • Why is Outlook telling me the mail might be spam or does my mail bounce?

    Marked as spam

    Sometimes, the text MailScanner has found an e-mail with a possible attempt at fraud in red is present at an e-mail address or URL in the mail. This text occurs because the mail scanner thinks that the used link is not safe. You can solve this problem by not directly displaying this link, but placing it as a hyperlink behind one or multiple words instead.

    Other frequent issues: 

    • To many CAPS IN THE TEXT
    • A subject that is most likely used by spammers (use a good/relevant/clear subject that catches people's attention but is not to spammy)

    Bounces

    Sometimes the mail to people outside the UT bounces. This can have several reasons: 

    1. To prevent phishing mails, some organisations may not allow links in emails.
    2. To prevent phishing mail, some organisations may allow links, but they nee to be on words like in the example above. A visible link like www.utwente.nl or a link on a photo may cause the mail to bounce.
    3. You are sending the mail to an address that can only be reached from Outlook, not from other mailing systems. This is the case for most ..@exchange.utwente.nl email addresses. 
    4. Your sending address is not allowed to send hundreds of mails, therefore after a certain number of mails, mails bounce.
  • Why are all links in my test mail broken?

    In order to prevent mistakes in the statistics, links only work in the most recent version. When you send a test mail to yourself three times, the links in the two previously send test emails do not work anymore. The same applies to the actual mailing: when the mailing is sent, the links in previously send test mails won't work anymore.

  • How can I correct a link after sending my mail?

    Because all links are lead via Pronuntio first because of the statistics, it is possible to modify the used hyperlinks in a send mailing afterwards. In order to do this, you need to select the send mailing and click the tab "Links". By double clicking the link you are able to change it. 

    You can only correct links if they start with http or https. 

  • How do I set up an automatic (un)subscribe form for my mailing list?
    1. Go to the page/paragraph in your WebHare site where you want to place the (un)subscribe option.  
    2. Click the {...} icon in the top bar.
    3. Select the Newsletter category on the left and choose the option you need from the right screen. Fill in all fields you need. 
  • How do I unsubscribe someone manually?

    If you do not have an automatic subscription form on your website (see question above) then you can manually remove someone from the list: select the list, hit search (1) and in the popup search for the user you want to unsubscribe, using the search button (2). In the list of results, click the user you need to unsubscribe (3). In the second tab (4) uncheck the list from the user (5). Save your changes. 

    Why can I only unsubscribe and not delete? 

    We need to make sure the system remembers that this person is unsubscribed. If someone has unsubscribed from your mailing list, WebHare needs to remember that for the future. If you add that person again through an Excel import, WebHare will keep that person unsubscribed. Please note: this only works if the person has unsubscribed. If you unsubscribe someone and you add the person again with an import, then the email address is subscribed to again.

  • How can I improve the readability of the statistics file?

    Based on your regional settings, the Excel (.csv) file with Pronuntio statistics is presented in an almost unreadable way. The reason is that different country defaults create different .csv files: some countries work with , and others with ;. Please set your regional settings (second dropdown in the Windows settings below) to Dutch. You can keep your Windows in English.

  • Are there any limitations (number of mails, etc)?

    Seding to students and employees

    When sending thousands of mails, the process can be slow. Fast mailing is  only enabled for our frequently used sender addresses. If you are sending you large groups regularly, we can consider giving your sender address more mails per second.

    Sending to others

    There is a limit of how many mails can be sent per hour per sender address. 

  • How do I know if people receive my mail or if addresses bounce?

    In Pronuntio, select the sent mail on the left en use the right mouse option to download statistics (Excel file). On of the first coloms tells you if there are any bounces. It's important to remove bounces from your list, otherwise your list will be seen as more spammy

    If addresses bounce several times in a row, they are automatically deactivated on the receivers list and will not receive the mail again. 

  • How do I set up an email in two languages?

    Use the following setup: 

    • Header
    • Image
    • Language element (language A)
    • Other content for language A
    • Whitespace element
    • Image
    • Language element (language B)
    • Other content for language B
    • Footer
  • Can I link to content further on in my mail?

    You can set an anchor element in your newsletter to link to another section within your mail. 

    1. In the blocks list, add an element of the type anchor. Give it a name:
    2. In the text area (or another element in the mail where you can add a link), add a link to the anchor sport by adding an external link that links to your anchor with a # before the name, in the situation above that would be #test:
       

Support

If the information above has not answered your question, please contact onlinemedia-mc@utwente.nl, phone 053 489 5665.

My favorites

About My Favorites
Use the Bookmark this page button on Service Portal pages to add that page to the My Favorites section. To add web applications, use the star icon in the webapplication list. To add pages outside the Service Portal, use the Add custom bookmark button above. Add your favorite apps to your bookmarks by using the favorite button

Please wait a moment...