Sending an Email Blast

If you specify a Microsoft Word template (using either of the file extensions .docx or .dotx) and use MailMerge, your email is sent through your installation of Microsoft Outlook. The email is created as an HTML document with merge fields embedded in it. To use a MailMerge Template with HTML Formatting to send an email blast, perform these steps:

  1.  If you want to send these email blasts from a special Marketing email address rather than from your personal address, add the Marketing email account to your Outlook Profile and temporarily set that profile as the default.
  2. Ensure that you have created a Word template appropriate for this communication, with MailMerge fields embedded. See Inserting MailMerge Fields for Contacts in a Word Template.
  3. In the Communication Wizard, specify the Communication Type.
  4. Specify the Communication Method as Email.
  5. Select the group you defined on the Contact Groups form.
  6. Click Next. The contacts from the group who have specified that they want to receive this type and method of communication are listed.
  7. Select the contacts from the group to be included in this communication and click Next.
  8. Click Browse and select the template you defined in step 2.
  9. The system responds by creating a .csv file that contains one record for each contact, with the available MailMerge field values for that contact. You are prompted to open the file. If you want to verify the values, click Yes. Close the file when you are finished.
  10. The text from the template, including the MailMerge fields, is displayed in the Message field. Do not edit the Message text in the form.
  11. Specify a Subject for the communication.
  12. Click Next.
  13. The Email Blast populates the Word template with data from your selected contacts and emails each record separately from your Outlook profile. Sent e-mails can be viewed in your Outlook Sent Mail folder
  14. In the Communication Wizard, log information about the communication. See the field descriptions for more information.
  15. Click Finish to save the log information.
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