PULSE Newsletter Redesign

When I first started at Rosalind Franklin University, I noticed that the monthly news email that all students, faculty, and staff receive was outdated. I thought that it would be a great time to make a mobile friendly design that showcases our great photography, breaks the content into readable sections, and attracts readers who would just be interested in a few sections of the email.

There were a few challenges before going into this project. The emails we were sending would end up in the spam filter. I believe this was because the long email we were sending often contained fundraising goals ($2 million). Spam filters often categorize this as a advanced-fee scam and can blacklist the sending address. Another challenge was we didn't know what sections were being read. Finally, the email wasn't formatted to look nice on a mobile phone, which led to students ignoring the email unless they were in front of a laptop or desktop.

My approach was to change the email to a short teaser with a lead story featuring a large photo, six sections with thumbnails large enough to tap on a small, mobile screen, and photo galleries. If someone was interested, we knew what section grabbed their attention because we could track clicks to our full newsletter page. If there was an issue that needed to be fixed, it was likely on the full newsletter page, making sending the email take less time for approval.

The results were amazing. I improved the open rates 25.3% and the click rates 50.1%. We haven't ended up in the spam filter since, and production time has decreased as we can build the email outside of our email system.

Here's a link to the email you'd receive and the page you'd land on if you clicked through.

Posted on: May 1, 2014