Skip Navigation to main content U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Communication Standards and Guidelines
Communication Standards and Guidelines Home Page
Print Guidelines
Exhibit Guidelines
Web Governance
Web Project Management Guidelines
Web Content Guidelines
Web Technical Guidelines Coding Content Management System Electronic Newsletters Graphics Multimedia File Naming Conventions and Directory Structure PDFs QA Checklist Redirects and Proxies Templates Technical Maintenance Web Applications
Style Guide
Glossary
Updates to Standards and Guidelines
Training
Contacts

Electronic Newsletters

This page describes the requirements and best practices for developing and sending out electronic newsletters. Electronic newsletters sent to e-mail mailing lists are a popular method of inexpensive public and internal outreach. In order to protect subscriber privacy, reduce the proliferation of spam, and maintain the EERE brand, EERE has established the following policies for newsletters that are sent via an electronic mailing list.

Requirements

All electronic newsletters must follow these requirements.

Sending E-mail Messages

All e-mail messages should be sent using one of the following methods:

  • EERE's GovDelivery account
  • DOE or national laboratory e-mail servers
  • Commercial mailing list providers that follow the criteria listed below.

Choosing an E-mail Management Tool

EERE staff can choose to use GovDelivery or a different third-party software to send out their newsletters.

GovDelivery is EERE's corporate e-mail distribution mechanism. It is centrally funded and supported. To learn more about EERE's GovDelivery capabilities or to start a GovDelivery e-mail distribution list, contact Chris Stewart.

If you're choosing a different e-mail management tool, you'll need to:

  • Make sure your host provides you with a fixed IP address. A static IP address tells ISPs and the world at large that you are stable and not a fly-by-night spammer.
  • Ask if they screen prospective customers in any way before signing them. A screening process is a good sign that a provider is being selective and making an attempt to steer clear of spammers.
  • Make sure unsubscribes are processed automatically. Processing bad e-mail addresses uses up valuable ISP resources on the receiving end. Because of this, the receiving ISPs quickly lose patience with senders who repeatedly mail to a high percentage of "dead" or non-existent addresses. The ISPs may start blocking your messages as a result.
  • Make sure they provide sufficient security to assure that people cannot "hijack" your list for their own mailings or cannot obtain your list from the mailing list provider. Ask how the list database is protected from hackers. At a minimum, list administrator functions should be password protected. Be sure to use a secure password. For more information see DOE's password management guidance (PDF 199 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

Ensuring Application Security

If contractors develop or host custom mailing lists, it must follow DOE's cyber security guidelines as posted on DOE's Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) Web site.

GovDelivery meets DOE's cyber security requirements, and is pre-approved for use on EERE.

Including EERE Branding

All electronic newsletters must include the EERE header and program header.

Best Practices

We recommend that you follow these best practices when sending out e-mail newsletters.

Preventing Duplicative Content

Before creating an e-newsletter, make sure your content doesn't cover the same topics and audiences of EERE's other e-newsletters. If you want to start a newsletter focused to the general public, your announcements may be more appropriate to send out over some of EERE's older, more established newsletters, such as EERE Progress Alerts.

Writing a Subscription Page

These are recommendations for writing a subscription Web page on your site.

  • Describe the topic, format, and frequency of the mailings you will send.
  • Minimize the amount of information that you collect when users subscribe; longer forms will chase off potential subscribers. If you collect more than the name and e-mail address, include wording such as the following: "The information you provide here will help (EERE or the program name) better serve your needs."
  • Add the following boilerplate text: "The mailing list addresses are never sold, rented, distributed, or disclosed in any way."
  • Include unsubscribe options or create a separate unsubscribe page or "manage" page (see below). In all cases, the page must include clear and simple directions for unsubscribing.

Writing E-mail Headers

The headers of an electronic mailing (e.g., From, To, and Subject fields), are very important for successful delivery. They are scrutinized by anti-spam filters that protect ISPs and individual mailboxes. Your human subjects also scan headers to determine if they want to read the e-mail or not.

  • Use a clear and consistent From header in each of your mailings. Use your organization's name and a valid e-mail address. Use this header for all mailings; it should not change when different people send out the electronic mailing.
  • Include the recipient's name and e-mail address in the To field (e.g., "John Doe" <johndoe@example.com>). This format is the industry standard for mailing lists.
  • Ensure that your subject line is accurate and, ideally, compelling. Industry research suggests that subject lines 45-55 characters in length are best.

Use EERE HTML E-mail Template

E-mail newsletters can be sent out in two ways: They can be coded with an HTML template, or they can be sent text-only, with no graphics.

If you use an HTML template, we recommend that you use EERE's official e-mail template. To see an example of an approved newsletter, contact Chris Stewart. Follow these steps to set up an HTML e-mail template:

  • Set width to 606 pixels.
  • Include the EERE header and program header as appropriate.
  • Follow EERE Web site styles when formatting.
  • Make style sheets either internal to the page or inline.
  • Choose an appropriate coding technique. Older coding techniques such as the use of tables are acceptable; some more modern style methods may not work in all e-mail clients.
  • Test the template designs in as many e-mail clients as possible before sending to your list.
  • Include easy-to-use unsubscribe instructions in every message, and test them to assure that they work. The unsubscribe process must be easy and transparent; do not make users go through multiple steps to unsubscribe. Once users unsubscribe, do not make them confirm their intent to unsubscribe.

Managing Subscriptions

These are recommendations to better manage subscribing and unsubscribing your readers.

If you use GovDelivery, you do not need to worry about managing your subscriptions—GovDelivery follows all of the below recommendations.

  • Use a "double opt-in" subscription process for your mailing list. In this process, prospective subscribers submit their e-mail addresses and then receive a confirmation request to which they must reply in order to join your list.
  • In the e-mail confirming a user's new subscription, include information on the electronic mailing and on how to unsubscribe from the list.
  • Do not use an "opt-out" subscription process. That is, if users are providing their e-mail or mailing address for any reason, do not include a check box or form that is automatically filled in to subscribe the user, forcing them to change it if they don't want the electronic mailings. A subscribe option can be provided on any Web page, but the user must actively check a box or fill out a form in order to subscribe.

Writing a "Manage Your Subscription" Page

These are recommendations for writing a "Manage your Subscription" page, if your provider has one.

If you use GovDelivery, you do not need to worry about editing this page—GovDelivery follows all of the below recommendations.

  • If signups for multiple lists are included on one Web site, the recommended practice is to provide one page to manage the multiple subscriptions. This is typically called a "Manage Your Subscriptions" or "Manage Your Profile" page.
  • Allow subscribers to access the page by entering their e-mail address. You can also give the user the option of creating a password, in which case you must include options for changing a password and a way to retrieve a password if the user forgets it. If the "manage" page is password-protected, there should be a way to unsubscribe without using the "manage" page.
  • If the "manage" page is used as the "unsubscribe" page, it must include clear and simple directions for how to unsubscribe.

Using Microsoft Outlook

Sending e-mail messages through Outlook is NOT recommended for the following reasons:

  • Anyone on the list will be able to send e-mail to your entire list by selecting "reply to all."
  • It ties up valuable e-mail server resources.
  • HTML formatting in Outlook can look very different in other e-mail clients.