Send an email to all members of a group?

Hi Sherri Vance - thanks for the question! Currently we do not have a separate way to email specific group members other than what the applications provide (e.g. blog and forum notifications). You are correct in remembering that you can email a site role from the Admin panel.

I always like to try to gain some context to see if I am pointing in the right direction, so could you describe what you're hoping to do with emailing specific group members?

Thank you for asking! This was a request by the owner of a private group in our Community, designed for client users who are in our patient safety organization, and who meet virtually for collaborative discussions (via Zoom or Webex). Our team sends a summary of each collaborative meeting afterward via email (along with posting notes in the group), since some people don't visit our Community often even though they're members of that group.

I think the group owner was looking for an easy way to send those notes out via email without managing an email list separately. As an admin, I could create a site role for all members of that private group and manually try to keep the group membership and site role membership in sync, and send the email on behalf of that group owner (who doesn't want to be a Community admin). But I can see a few potential problems with that. 

Good discussion here. Mind if I jump in?  Sherri Vance you could have all members in the group subscribe to an "update or announcements" type blog and then the content that would normally go in the meeting follow up or special announcements posted in that private group in that blog within that private group will send out an email to all members subscribed to it AND provide a searchable record of the notes for recall later.  

Just an idea as an easier solution with no separate email list.

This is the route I would likely go as I've seen this work well for many others.

I do have a follow up question though Sherri Vance - do people usually respond to the email that is sent out or has it typically been one-way communication? I ask because a blog will accomplish the push out and of course it has commenting, however if people typically respond to the email, a forum thread may be an interesting idea while utilizing mail gateway to capture responses from email inboxes. Meaning people that are in their email, can stay there and just reply to the email notification that is sent. If no one typically responds, a blog is a great choice!

Let me know if you want any assistance setting this up or discussing it further Sherri Vance. We're always happy to help!

This is the route I would likely go as I've seen this work well for many others.

I do have a follow up question though Sherri Vance - do people usually respond to the email that is sent out or has it typically been one-way communication? I ask because a blog will accomplish the push out and of course it has commenting, however if people typically respond to the email, a forum thread may be an interesting idea while utilizing mail gateway to capture responses from email inboxes. Meaning people that are in their email, can stay there and just reply to the email notification that is sent. If no one typically responds, a blog is a great choice!

Let me know if you want any assistance setting this up or discussing it further Sherri Vance. We're always happy to help!