Comparison
Signedup or a distribution list
A group that syncs from the staff directory is always right about who works here. It is silent on what any of them actually want to hear about.
Two different questions
A distribution group answers the question "who works in this department". It answers it well, because it is fed by the directory, which is fed by HR, which is the system that actually owns the fact. When somebody joins, moves or leaves, the group follows automatically. Nothing described on this page improves on that, and nothing here suggests replacing it.
A preference centre answers a different question: "what does this person want to hear about, and did they say so". The directory has no view on that, because nobody ever asked it. So when a communications team needs an audience for something optional - a volunteering programme, a cycling group, a site newsletter, a wellbeing network - the group is either too broad, in which case everybody gets it and gradually stops reading anything you send, or it has to be maintained by hand, in which case it is a spreadsheet with extra steps.
Why the difference matters beyond tidiness
Membership of a directory group is not a choice anybody made. That is fine for a message somebody must receive: a safety notice, a policy change, a closure. Nobody needs to consent to being told the building is shut.
It becomes a problem the moment the message is optional, because there is then no answer to "why am I getting this". You cannot show when they agreed, what they were told at the time, or how they could stop it, and a group with no unsubscribe means the only way to stop receiving something is to ask a person to remove you and hope they do. That is the situation an internal communications team ends up defending, usually to somebody who is annoyed.
Side by side
Two tools with different jobs. Most organisations should have both.
| A directory distribution group | Signedup | |
|---|---|---|
| Best suited to | Mandatory messages to a defined population | Optional messages people chose to receive |
| Where membership comes from | The staff directory, automatically | The person, by choosing |
| Accuracy about job, team and site | Excellent, from the system of record | Whatever the person tells you |
| Knows what somebody wants to hear about | No | Yes, that is the whole record |
| Can somebody leave without asking IT | Usually not | Yes, from any message |
| Evidence of consent | None, and membership is not consent | Recorded against the form version seen |
| Reaches staff who are rarely at a desk | No. If they are not in the directory they do not exist | Yes, via a printable poster with a code |
| Who maintains it | Nobody, once it is set up | It maintains itself, because people correct their own record |
| Who can create one | Usually IT, by request | The communicator, in about four minutes |
| Cost | Included in what you already pay for | From £29 a month |
A directory distribution group compared with Signedup
Best suited to
- A directory distribution group
- Mandatory messages to a defined population
- Signedup
- Optional messages people chose to receive
Where membership comes from
- A directory distribution group
- The staff directory, automatically
- Signedup
- The person, by choosing
Accuracy about job, team and site
- A directory distribution group
- Excellent, from the system of record
- Signedup
- Whatever the person tells you
Knows what somebody wants to hear about
- A directory distribution group
- No
- Signedup
- Yes, that is the whole record
Can somebody leave without asking IT
- A directory distribution group
- Usually not
- Signedup
- Yes, from any message
Evidence of consent
- A directory distribution group
- None, and membership is not consent
- Signedup
- Recorded against the form version seen
Reaches staff who are rarely at a desk
- A directory distribution group
- No. If they are not in the directory they do not exist
- Signedup
- Yes, via a printable poster with a code
Who maintains it
- A directory distribution group
- Nobody, once it is set up
- Signedup
- It maintains itself, because people correct their own record
Who can create one
- A directory distribution group
- Usually IT, by request
- Signedup
- The communicator, in about four minutes
Cost
- A directory distribution group
- Included in what you already pay for
- Signedup
- From £29 a month
The usual arrangement
In practice most organisations end up with both, split along one line: if somebody must receive it, use the group; if they chose to receive it, use the preference centre. That division holds up well, because it matches the question each tool can actually answer, and it means the mandatory channel keeps its authority. A workforce that receives eleven optional newsletters through the all-staff group learns to ignore the all-staff group, which is expensive the day something genuinely urgent goes out on it.
It also removes the request that IT teams like least. A communicator who needs an audience for something optional no longer has to ask for a group to be created, or for somebody to be added to one, or for a list to be exported. They publish a link, people join themselves, and the directory is left to do the job it is good at.
Questions people ask
Does this replace our distribution groups?
No, and it should not. Groups built from the staff directory are the right tool for anything mandatory, because they follow the org chart automatically and nobody has to maintain them. Signedup holds the optional half, where somebody's choice is the thing that decides whether they receive something.
Does it sync with our directory?
Not today. Single sign-on and directory synchronisation are planned but are not built, and it would be misleading to imply otherwise. Today you publish a link and people join themselves, or you import a list you already hold.
Is being in a distribution group the same as consenting?
No. Membership of a group is an employment fact rather than a choice, so it does not evidence that somebody agreed to receive optional communications. For mandatory communications consent is not usually the relevant basis anyway, which is why groups suit that job. For optional ones you need a record of the person choosing, which is what a preference centre produces.
Do people need a work email address?
No. That is a large part of the point. Anyone can join from a poster with a code using whatever address they prefer, which reaches the part of the workforce a directory has never contained.
Who owns the lists we create?
Your organisation, not the individual who set them up. Colleagues who administer lists are unlimited and free on every plan, so there is no reason for a list to depend on one person's account, and when somebody leaves the list stays.
Other comparisons
Signedup or a spreadsheet
The most common alternative, and where its one structural weakness is.
Signedup or Mailchimp or another marketing email tool
Sending tools solve the other half. How the two work together.
Signedup or an intranet form
Already approved and already paid for. Why the list still goes stale.
Signedup or a full internal comms platform
When a full platform is right, and when it is more than the job requires.
Keep the groups. Add the choice.
30 days, no card, and nothing to install on anybody's network.