Email 2.0 – Moving Beyond the Unreliable Listserv

Email changed the way we work, you simply can’t argue that fact. As a 26 year old professional, I have never worked at a company without email. Even in high school our boss sent out the weekly schedule via email. Email is ingrained in how we work.

Now 10 years later, email is so much more than just a one-to-one communication device.

“But maintaining separate email lists like Listserv’s are no longer the best way to manage email subscriptions at the scale that most government agencies need. Each new email list adds management overhead and cost,” says GovDelivery’s Mary Yang.

FEMA is already a master at this. Their emails allows citizens to sign up to receive notifications when new information is available. With a subscription profile, you automatically receive updates without having to return to the website and check for changes. This notification process allows users to receive pertinent information in a near real time basis.

GovDelivery has created, “a new class of Digital Communication Management (DCM) solution to replace email lists and add essential automation and integration capabilities to subscription management. With DCM, government agencies can use email more efficiently and effectively to manage citizen communications.”

• Agencies can create many different subscription options without additional management overhead. People are more willing to sign up for notifications from very specific lists of interest to them.
• Citizens or stakeholders can manage their subscription profile from one location, easily adding or changing their subscriptions.
• A DCM system automatically monitors websites for new content and generates updates for relevant subscribers – reducing effort for government staff and ensuring timely notifications. And it integrates easily with other channels, such as text messaging, RSS updates and social media.

For more on DCM check out GovDelivery’s white paper, The Transformative Power of Communications: Digital Communication Management for the Public Sector.