Email news bulletin

We've started piloting an email news service for CSP members, in advance of an official January 2009 launch.

We're sending out trial versions of the bulletin to find out what members think of the service, and will use this knowledge to shape the finished product.

Over ten thousand CSP members have already received an initial bulletin and many have given us valuable feedback on our progress so far.

Here's a sample version of the bulletin from 14 November 2008.

Tell us what you think

You can help us to make the bulletin successful by telling us what you think of the service in our email news bulletin survey.

Read the bulletin first, then follow the link to the survey near the top of the email.

Before you do, here are some some common questions and answers about the service.

Popular questions about the bulletin

Who is the bulletin for?

We send the email to all CSP members who have registered on the CSP or iCSP websites. If you know a member who would like to receive the bulletin but hasn't signed up yet, point them to www.csp.org.uk/register.

Members who don't want to receive the bulletin can unsubscribe at any time, by clicking on the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of the bulletin.

How does the bulletin relate to Frontline / iCSP / the CSP website?

The bulletin acts as a pointer to a range of online news and information, and not just from the CSP. It promotes content from all of our sites, and also where news of interest to the profession is reported elsewhere.

The service isn't intended to replace any of our existing channels. It supports them by giving more choice to members over how and when they access our content.

How often will the bulletin be published?

For the pilot period, we'll be sending the bulletin out in the weeks in between issues of Frontline. Your feedback will help us to decide the frequency for subsquent editions.

Why is the email template quite narrow?

There are lots of different email program that people use to access their mail. The best practice guidelines to make emails readable for the maximum number of recipients is to limit their width to 600 pixels. Anything wider than this will be difficult to read for a significant number of recipients. This means people with high resolution screens will have some wasted space, but we'd rather that than some members struggling to read the messages.

Why can't I see any pictures in the email?

Many email program, particularly web-based ones like Hotmail, block images in emails unless you tell them to do otherwise. There should be a link at the top of the email window that lets you 'always display images from this sender', or a similar message.

Why doesn't the email look the same as the online version?

Each email program displays emails differently. Some comply to web standards and make a good job of reproducing graphical emails. Others, notably Microsoft Outlook 2007, are poor at displaying messages. We've tried to make the email template work for as many readers as we can. For those of you who find the email has been mangled by your mail software, follow the link at the top of the message to the online version which should be much more presentable.

How to find out more

If you have any questions about the email news service, please send an email to website@csp.org.uk