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 MC Professional 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. See - How to Create a Custom Domain for an E-list
- 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.
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 Welcome Email: This toggle enables the sending of the email.
- Welcome Email Subject: Defines the subject of your email.
- Body: Allows you to compose your email.
The Goodbye Email functions in the same way when someone is removed from an e-list or opts to unsubscribe.
6. Last, configure the Email Footer. To provide custom messaging and instructions for members in E-list messages, you can include a custom footer here.
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.
Common FAQs
- Can emails be automatically added to an e-list?
No, emails must be manually added either in the e-list itself or at the profile level by turning it on. - If a member who is subscribed to an e-list becomes a prospect, does the system subscribe them from the e-list?
No. - Is there an easy way to export the emails from an e-list?
You can export the list of emails from an e-list only after an email has been sent to the e-list. You can get this list by navigating to Reporting > Messages > E-list
Comments
69 comments
Are e-lists threaded?
Is there a digest option for elists in the "new product"? The "classic" platform still does not have one, and a digest option would be a motivation to upgrade.
Hi Emmi - There isn't a digest option available for e-lists in the new system yet. It is feedback we've received from several customers, so it is on our product roadmap. If it helps, the community features in the new system work almost identically to those in Classic at this time.
Emmi, I'm not with MC, just another user. There is NOT a digest option in any form in the new product ( yet? I have no idea if anything's in the works).
Hi Kinsey,
How do I modify settings for an existing e-list? I need to include another group to be eligible for this list. Thanks!
Chris
Christine - Under Community > E-lists, you can click Edit on the righthand side of the page next to each E-list. Once inside the list, hold down the Control key on a PC or the Command key on a Mac to select multiple Groups.
Lovely -- many thanks!!!!
Hi! Can non-members be added to the e-list? We would like to send messages to our community regarding upcoming events.
Hi Dee - It looks like you're using our Classic platform, and this article is about E-lists in the new system. There is a similar version available for Classic here.
In either system, e-lists are viewed as a member's only benefit, so Basic Contacts (called Prospects in the new system) are not able to be added. If you're just looking to send a message to non-members regarding upcoming events, I would recommend doing that through the Contact Center. The e-list is useful if you want members to be able to interact with one another via a list-serve type set up, whereas the Contact Center should be used if you want to send members/non-members an email from the organization. Here's a video that will walk you through sending a Contact Center message.
What are the biggest differences between e-lists and the community forums? Can you provide examples of when one would be preferred over the other?
Hi Marci - The biggest difference in the E-List and the Community Forum is that with the E-List, members are able to participate/communicate with one another via their email inbox, without signing in to MemberClicks. Using the Community Forum, members are able to receive a notification when a post is made to a forum they're subscribed to, but in order to respond to the post, they will need to sign in to MemberClicks, navigate to the Community Forum, and reply there. If your members are less likely to sign in to MemberClicks, I would recommend the E-List over the Community Forum.
Hi! We are using an e-list as a way for people to contact all of our Board members at the same time. However, we've realized that the general public is not able to use that email address. How do we allow anyone to email our Board using that list? Thank you!
Hi there - You-re correct - e-lists are a member benefit, so only members who are part of the list will be able to email the e-list address. It sounds like you will want to set up a mailbox for your board (if you haven't already) with forwarding set up for each of the board members personal emails. If you have questions about configuring that mailbox, please contact the Help Team and they'll be glad to assist!
HI Kinsey, is there any ability to create an import option to assign members to e-lists? If not, is that something that will be available in the future? It was so nice to be able to mass enter the attributes for members when uploading them, but then I had to go through and manually add members one by one into the e-lists. It seems like that technology is within the system for the attributes and it would be nice (and decrease workload for the ASAs!) if that import option were available for e-lists as well. Thanks.
Hi Maddy - it isn't currently possible to do an import to assign members to e-lists. It is possible, however, to mass subscribe members to an e-list if they have an attribute in their profile or something that makes them searchable, you can search, then tag profiles and click Actions to mass subscribe them to e-lists. You could create an attribute for this if needed, then do a data import to populate the attribute so that you can search on it.
Hi Kinsey,
This is a follow-up to the response you provided on Sept 29th about setting up a mailbox for our Board. In the response you state that, "It sounds like you will want to set up a mailbox for your board (if you haven't already) with forwarding set up for each of the board members personal emails." In researching that option we see that only four (4) forwarding addresses are allowed outside the domain. In our situation we would need at least 11 forwarding addresses so it appears that option won't work for us -- unless there's a way to use an e-list address as the forwarding address. Is this possible? That way any mail sent to that mailbox could be forwarded to a "permissioned" e-list for all board members to read. Thanks for any further assistance you can provide.
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Hi Jean - Your question is a little out of my wheel house, so I've created a Help Ticket for you so the Help Team can take a look at the specifics and follow up. Please expect to hear back soon!
Where is the article on how to approve an Elist message (new platform) that is awaiting approval?
Hi Joyce - We don't have an article specifically for that, but I'm happy to explain it!
When a member sends a message to an e-list that's set to require moderation, the moderator(s) will receive an email that says something like:
"A new message has been sent to the E-list: E-LIST NAME
As a moderator of this E-list, you will need to approve this message before it will be sent to the members of the E-list."
To approve the message, the moderator should log in to your MemberClicks site and navigate to the e-list. While viewing the Messages tab for the e-list, the moderator(s) will see pending messages.
To approve the message, the moderator should click on its name. From there, the Approve button displays in green, alongside a Delete button if needed.
Hi Kinsey!
No tracking of clicks or opens on e-list activity, right?
Chris
Hi Chris - You can track opens on e-list messages from the Message Report. I tested and confirmed that it isn't possible to track clicks, since e-list messages send as plain text (rather than HTML) so links are not clickable.
Sorry that they are not clickable- we often send links.
I also would like to know how an admin can delete an elist message or stop postings to a thread.
Hi Sharon - It looks like you submitted a ticket with your questions, but for other people who may see this comment, once a message has been sent to the e-list, it is not possible to delete that message or stop postings to the thread (since those messages have reached members' inboxes already).
It is possible to send a message to an e-list from an email account, correct? Is it then possible to send working links to an e-list from an email account? If a message is sent from an email account, is the reply to default still in effect or do members have the option of replying to the entire list or just the sender?
Hey Kimberly!
Testing this out on my end, links do work when sent from an email account. If you hit "reply", your response will function based on your E-List's set-up (be that Reply to Sender, or Entire List). I hope that helps clarify!
Hello-
Are we still not able to delete a message? Right now I just want to delete a test message, but what happens if an inappropriate email is sent to the e-list? We've got to have a way to delete it, right?
Thanks!
Hello Ryan! That is correct; E-List messages cannot be deleted. For concerns about an inappropriate e-mail, I would suggest using the Moderation function so that messages are approved before going out.
What is the maximum size limit for a message with attachments sent via e-list?
Hey Sara! The maximum size limit, with attachment included, is 5MB.
I posted a test message a few minutes ago to an e-list that only admin was subscribed to. I want to add another group of members to the e-list. Will they also get the test message that was already posted?
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