At times GitLab needs to communicate a "breaking" change or details related to a high-priority emergency patch. These emails are transactional and are highly targeted to the impacted audience.
Not an emergency? For important planned customer communications, please use the customer update/announcement process, to enable teams to work together and plan without the urgency of an emergency request.
As soon as an emergency communication is recognized, the Requesting team MUST:
/pd trigger command in any Slack channel and select Marketing Ops Ext. Comms - Emergency.This is the process to follow when there is an announcement that is an emergency that will need to be sent by the marketing ops and campaigns team. The marketing teams will determine what platform will be used based on the information that is provided to them such as timing, list size and severity.
mail-merge in the email. Include field max lengths needed, or best guess. Mktops will determine if they can use an existing field or not.The following approvers are needed for the copy and list size:
The email platform determines many different factors for us.
This section should be used for all customer communications to communicate product or security issues and risks. At minimum, these communications need to be approved in sequence by the head of the department that is leading the communication (e.g., Product, Engineering, Security), Vice President of Customer Success, Legal, or appropriate designates (if they are out on PTO or unavailable).
The following is the recommended format for ad hoc customer emails though tailor it if the communication objective or content requires this. This does not include marketing (e.g., email campaigns, blogs, etc.) or standard product or security notifications (e.g., release blogs, release notifications, etc.). Emails should be clear, crisp, and direct, providing links for details (e.g., details on the issue or risk, procedural details to action). To maximize reading comprehension, remove all extraneous words and language to maximize the probability the email will be read and acted upon.
The email should answer the following questions in the following order:
Two examples are provided:
Subject: Important update information for customers using {GitLab Feature}
Hello {Customer name},
If you use {GitLab Feature}, or plan to migrate to it, this information may be relevant to you.
We recently identified {cases} where {GitLab Feature} can cause a {specific issue} that requires GitLab Support intervention to resolve.
We recommend the following actions to identify and resolve this issue:
- If you use {GitLab Feature}, please review the [scenarios] and avoid them.
- If you have not migrated to {GitLab Feature}, please know that we [provided additional support] to all affected releases.
We're working to reduce the conditions that can cause {specific issue} and will update the [{cases}] when we do so. If you are using {GitLab Feature} and require additional guidance, please contact your support representative or your TAM.
Kind regards,
{Sender}
The requestor (Security, TAM, etc.) will follow the process below to create the epic, which will have quick links to the appropriate issues to open.
### :exclamation: Action items for requestor to complete
*Note: this will automatically be a confidential epic.*
* [ ] Once created, associate this epic to parent epic (if exists)
* [ ] Create issues in section at bottom
* [ ] Ensure all issues are associated to this epic
### :star: Purpose
<!-- Requestor, please describe the purpose of the email communication in this section for context by all teams involved -->
### :link: Key links
* [Copy Document]() `to be added by requestor ` ([use this template](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hv0XF7j6SibLgHgGFxxlrbPrufxbcXHrO8ZRG04nFjU/edit#))
* [Target List]() `to be added by requestor when final`
* [Email Program]() `to be added by MOps` [shortcut](https://engage-ab.marketo.com/?munchkinId=194-VVC-221#/classic/MF4267A1)
* **Determine email platform:**
- [ ] If list less than 20k, most likely deploy with Marketo
- [ ] If list 20-30k, most likely deploy with MailJet
- [ ] If list greater than 50k, most likely deploy with MailGun
### :books: Issues for requestor to create (shortcuts below)
* [ ] [Request target list issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-data/analytics/-/issues/new) (Data Download Request template) - requestor open, Data Team DRI
* [ ] [Email request issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/marketing-operations/-/issues/new?issuable_template=incident_communications) - requestor open, MOps DRI
- the email issue is blocked until requestor provides final copy
* [ ] If landing page required: [Landing Page request issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/marketing-operations/-/issues/new?issuable_template=marketo_landing_page_request) (optional, will increase scope and delay timeline) - requestor open, MOps DRI
* [ ] If form required: [Form request issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/marketing-operations/-/issues/new?issuable_template=form_request)
### :point_up: Reminders on action items & timeline
* Requestor is responsible for providing FINAL copy, including review by all reviewers, by date indicated in timeline
* Requestor is responsible for providing list of who must review and approve email
* Requestor is responsible for approving test email and providing send time and date
/confidential
/label ~"MktgOps-Urgency::P1" ~"MktgOps-Priority::High Priority" ~"Customer Success" ~TAM
/cc @amy.waller