How To Mail Merge

Mail Merge as part of Word 2003 and 2007 can be used to print mass personalized letters and send bulk personalized emails at the click of a button. You can save big money by doing your own email campaigns. There is no need to pay anyone else for doing this for you when you can DIY for FREE. Microsoft office software gives you the ability to do the same job for little cost (or NO cost if you're sending emails! Mail merge is a very valuable tool for small business owners as it gives you the ability to design and publish professional letters and email campaigns. Doing a mail merge is a very simple 6 step process The benefits of being able to use mail merge are huge. Previously when you wanted to send out letters or emails to a list you had to compose each one separately. A painstaking procedure at the best of times. Using word mail merge this can all be accomplished in the ONE word document. So, if you have 100 or even 10,000+ letters or emails to print or send, they can all be done at once with the click of a mouse. Your messages will be more effective, from a marketing point of view if they are customized. Personalized letters and emails achieve better response rates than mass produced generic letters and emails. For small businesses and small budgets learning to use mail merge will give you the most bang for your buck. Don't just use the merge fields after Dear, and for your senders address. Advanced users should take full advantage of the functionality of the program. Insert the recipient's name throughout the whole document, but don't overdo it! Insert kids names, hobbies, preferences and any other details that you have on your database to really make your content as personal as you can. If your content is highly personalized your message will be more effective. The person will remember it and probably appreciate that you took the time to write to them personally. Why Keep In Touch With Past Clients? You can quite successfully sell MORE to your existing clients by sending them an email or letter. Your past clients are a 'hot buyers' list. All you have to do is ask them to buy something else. And it doesn't have to be your product either. You can offer them someone else's products for a commission. Thus an accountant can offer financial services. A plumber can refer an electrician. And so on. If you sent out just one email or thank you letter to your previous clients asking them to buy something else, you would be amazed at the profitability of such a campaign. Done correctly, this always works better than chasing new customers. Listen, next time you are going to run a full page ad in the newspapers promoting a sale or whatever, try this. Reproduce the ad and send it to your existing clients. Insert a small note with something like "Here is sneak preview for you as one of my special clients, so you can access the best bargains first. Regards...". This will work wonders if your sale has a genuine appeal. Using your client list IS effective because the people on it ALREADY know you so they won't be as cautious as if they were going to someone new. Letter Writing Tips: Insert their business name or first name in the headline of your letter. Make sure your headline clearly states what your letter is about, otherwise it may not get read any further. Include a picture of yourself and ALWAYS include a p.s at the bottom. Photos and p.s's get an awful lot of attention. Sometimes people will read the headline and the p.s. before they read the content of your letter. Email Writing Tips: ALWAYS use tables! Designing your emails with tables will make your emails more reader friendly as this format closely resembles the format which people are accustomed to. Style your emails to look and function exactly like a professionally designed HTML template. You can add background colors, shading and borders to your table to suit your branding.