Following these practices will help your chapter emails reach members’ inboxes and get opened.
Subject Lines
- Keep subject lines under 50 characters when possible — shorter lines display fully on mobile devices.
- Be specific: “October Chapter Meeting — Rescheduled” outperforms “Chapter Update.”
- Avoid all-caps, excessive punctuation (!!!), and words like “FREE!” — these trigger spam filters.
- Don’t repeat the sender name in the subject line (e.g., avoid “ASSP Chicago Chapter — Monthly Meeting” when the sender already shows as ASSP Chicago Chapter).
Sending Time
- Tuesday through Thursday, mid-morning (9–11 AM local time) tends to see higher open rates for professional association emails.
- Avoid sending on Mondays (crowded inboxes) or Fridays (people checking out for the weekend).
- Give members at least one week’s notice for events, and send a reminder 2–3 days before the event date.
Images and Links
- Include a good balance of text and images. Emails that are mostly images get flagged as spam.
- Always add alt text to every image — this improves deliverability and accessibility.
- Never paste a raw URL directly into the body of the email. Embed links in descriptive text (e.g., “Register here” instead of a long URL).
- Avoid link shorteners like bit.ly or tinyurl — spam filters flag them.
Before You Send
- Send a test copy to yourself first using Send > To an individual in Real Magnet.
- Check the email on both desktop and mobile before sending to your full list.
- Have a second set of eyes review for typos and broken links.
- Run a deliverability test (Send > A deliverability test) if available in your account — this checks your message for spam triggers before it goes out.
CAN-SPAM Compliance
Real Magnet handles the technical compliance requirements (unsubscribe link, physical address in the footer) automatically when you use an ASSP template. Do not remove or modify the footer. If a member asks to be removed from your list, Real Magnet will process that unsubscribe automatically.
Note: If a member unsubscribes from your chapter list, they are still subscribed to ASSP national communications — chapter and national lists are managed separately.