Understanding bulk emailing:

The campus Exchange service is designed to support messaging between specific users. Emails with more than a few dozen recipients may get flagged as unsolicited bulk mail, and all email (inbound and outbound) is subject to automated spam filtering.  Those wanting to send email to larger audiences will need to choose an appropriate option for sending mass mail. 

Microsoft will automatically block outbound mail on accounts it detects sending a large number of spam-like messages in a 24 hour period. Bulk marketing and newsletter type messages should use a bulk mail option instead.

• The campus Exchange service does not support bulk mail from third parties; and third parties (e.g., vendors) do not have access to campus email relays.
• Office365 and Google accounts require a user ID and password which are used by clients (e.g., Thunderbird) or 'on campus' custom software.   They are not to be used by campus members to send email via third party vendors (e.g., bulk mail, surveys, etc.).

All incoming email to campus members is subject to standard spam filtering so keep your email plain and simple. For more information, search Google for "How to send bulk email without spamming guidelines".

Options for sending bulk mail include:

Email+ (NOT FOR STUDENTS/RSOs)

https://webtools.illinois.edu/ 

This service allows for sending to large groups of people. See Email+ Best Practices guidelines.

This service is only available for faculty/staff or students doing official university business in the employment of a department or unit – with sponsorship by a staff member.

Campus Mailing Lists (Preferred for RSOs)

https://lists.illinois.edu/.  

This service supports both on and off campus email addresses.

1. Log into web site with your campus NetID and password and click the "create list" tab.  Details found here.
2. Create a subscribers list - subscriber lists can be automated.  See, Adding Subscribers to a Mail List for options.
3. Send the email to the mail list and the server will send individual email email to the recipients.
4. This server also provides bounce reporting.

Campus Email Relays Temporary Rule for Surveys

The email relays can be used for surveys targeting campus members in campus domains.  To use the Campus Email Relays, we will need 3 distinguishing pieces of information from the sender so we can create a temporary rule (typically 30 days) on the campus email relays that will accept email from a specific source.  The information includes:

• The IP address or CIDR of the sending server(s)
• A distinguishing email header like:  x-survey: surveyName 
• Key word(s) in the subject or body of the email

The Cloud Emailer (Socketlabs) Service

This service is a way for vendors to send email on the University's behalf for the benefit of the University; API authentication is required.  See Cloud Emailer Service, What is it and How Can I Use It? for additional information.

• Use a qualifying third party vendor to send mass email from a subdomain or an external domain; contact the Campus Email Relays team by sending an email to consult@illinois.edu to discuss further.