Mass Emailing – Maestro and Listserv
Washington University Information Technology offers two solutions for your mass emailing needs, Maestro and Listserv. There is no cost for WashU students, faculty, and staff.
Maestro
Maestro is a web-based email marketing tool for creating and delivering email communications.
Features:
- Send to large audiences
- Identify bounced messages (recipients who did not receive the message)
- Mail-merge to personalize messages
- View overall and individual recipient statistics, such as clicked links and open rates.
Listserv
Listserv can be used as a messaging board where, depending on the list settings, your list subscribers can send an email to, and reply-to, all of the list subscribers with or without a moderators approval. Or the list can be set up as an announce-only list where only a list admin can send a message to the list subscribers.
A message can be sent to the list subscribers simply by emailing the list from Outlook or any other emailing software.
Once a list is set up/maintained in Listserv, you can additionally access the list in Maestro.
Access
Maestro
Complete the ServiceNow request form. Once submitted, you will receive an email with log in instructions and a temporary password.
Listserv
Go to Listserv then enter your email address and password twice and then click Register Password. Next, follow the instructions sent to your email.
Learning Resources
Maestro
Documentation
- Maestro User Guide (PDF)
- Subscriber Lists in Maestro (PDF)
Video Tutorials
- L-Soft tutorials – micro-learning videos
Training
- View upcoming Maestro L@W classes (WUSTL login required to view L@W catalog)
Listserv
Documentation
Video Tutorials
- L-Soft tutorials – micro-learning videos
Training
- View upcoming Listserv L@W classes (WUSTL login required to view L@W catalog)
Request Services
Maestro Template – To request the creation or modification of a Maestro template, submit a ServiceNow General Service Request.
Listserv List – To request the creation, modification, or deletion of a Listserv list, submit a ServiceNow General Service Request.
For information about requesting WashU IT operational communications, visit the WashU IT Communicating About Services page.
Pro Tips
Information Security best practices recommend against attaching files directly to an email, which can also cause system delays. If you find the need to share a file, please try adding a link within the message to the file stored in Box. Here are instructions on how to create a shared link in Box.
According to the CanSpam Act, we need to offer message recipients the ability to Opt-Out of receiving future messages. This applies when sending messages to recipients outside of the University (which are not @wustl.edu email addresses).
A common work-a-round we practice when working in Maestro is to use Qualtrics to build a survey to collect the recipients email address. Link the survey to the ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘opt-out’ link in the message. Pull a Qualtrics report for the survey results to manipulate your list before uploading.
Maestro requires a recipient list that contains the email addresses in a single column. If a user breaks down a distribution list in Outlook or OWA to the individual members and then copies and pastes into Excel, the email addresses will all appear in the same cell.
Refer to the PDF guide attached to this Knowledge Base Article for steps to take an Outlook distribution group, break it up into the individual members, add it into Excel, and format it as a single column of email addresses. The list can then be uploaded to Maestro.
Support
Microsoft Teams Maestro & Listserv User Group – WashU community leveraging each other for assistance
Questions or requests? Complete and submit a ServiceNow General Service Request.