New UIC email marketing platform launching this fall

Dear staff and faculty, 

We are excited to announce that UIC will transition to a new email marketing platform this fall – Emma Email Marketing. The new platform will replace Webtools Email+ for targeted and mass marketing emails and communications. Webtools Email+ will be available to UIC users until Nov. 1 to allow time for this transition. 

Planning for Emma Email training is currently underway with a finalized training schedule and user access information to be announced by Aug. 26. All UIC colleges, schools and units will need to be fully transitioned to Emma Email by Nov. 1.   

Microsoft Outlook will continue to be UIC’s standard application for day-to-day emails, scheduling and managing tasks.  

About Emma Email Marketing 

Emma Email is a widely used email marketing platform with an intuitive interface and user-friendly email marketing tools. It will empower colleges, schools and units across the university to effectively market to and communicate with their key audiences. 

Emma Email features 

• Drag-and-drop tool makes creating marketing emails easy and efficient. 
• UIC-branded and mobile-optimized email templates elevate your college, school or unit’s communications and engage audiences. 
• A/B testing gives you more insight into your audiences and their preferences. 
• Marketing automation allows you to create a series of emails that send automatically based on designated times or actions, such as sending a reminder email to those who have not yet registered for an event. 

Implementation timing 

• Training: Training for Emma Email users is planned for September with a finalized training schedule and user access information announced by Aug. 26.  
• Launch timeframe: Emma Email is planned to launch and be available for all trained users beginning Oct. 1. 
• Transition deadline: All colleges, schools and units will need to be fully transitioned to Emma Email by Nov. 1. 

Webtools Email+ extension for UIC users 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has agreed to extend UIC’s use of Webtools Email+ until Nov. 1, giving users the ability to transition to Emma Email Marketing before Webtools Email+ is fully retired. This will ensure there is ample time for training and no gap in email marketing and communications.  

Other functionality within Webtools, like forms and surveys, will proceed with the previously announced retirement schedule. 

Thank you for your continued patience and support to enhance communications and collaboration across UIC. 

If you have any questions, please contact smcs@uic.edu. 

Sincerely, 

Chandra Harris-McCray
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Marketing and Communications 

For more information, please contact:
Heather Volkel
hvolke2@uic.edu