Creating, modifying and using mail merges from your CRM are key skills that you will need to master to be successful with your Assemblage implementation.  This document provides a high-level overview of what mail merges you are responsible for learning the specific steps for working with mail merges from your CRM.

What exactly is a Mail Merge?

A Mail Merge is a software function that produces multiple documents from a single template.  For example, you might have a form letter that includes instructions to insert the name of each recipient and their address in a certain location on the document.  A common example would be generation of a cover letter that contains different address and 'Dear' information for each recipient.

Mail Merge Templates

Mail Merge Templates are documents that contain some generic text that you want all the documents to contain, plus merge fields.  Merge fields are what allow you to include unique data from another data source (typically your CRM) in the multiple documents.  These populate with items like the mailing address, 'Dear' line, etc.

Running a Mail Merge

Running a Mail Merge typically consists of two steps:

1)      Updating the Merge Form Template

1. Update the "body" of the document containing text.  Basically in this step you simply copy and paste text into the document.
2. Ensure your merge fields are present and pulling from the appropriate data source.
3. Save your template.

2)      Using the CRM to run the merge against the data source.  This is typically a wizard or an operation that you do within the CRM. 

Note:  Most CRMs allow you to create rules or "sets" of contacts that you can run a mail merge against.  Typically you would not want to run a mail merge against your entire CRM database, because you won't want vendors and other contacts to be included in your merged document.

Assemblage Merge Fields

Typically the Mail Merge Templates you use in conjunction with Assemblage will contain the following merge fields:

1)      Lastname

2)      Firstname

3)      ID (this field will vary based on the mapping your Assemblage consultant recommends)

These fields will usually be in white font in the template so that they are not printed and your clients never see them.  If you change the font color, you will typically see:

##<<Lastname>>, <<Firstname>>##<<ID>>##

Click here to see how to Change the Font Color

Creating a New Merge Form Template for Assemblage Use

If you wish to create a new template each time you use Assemblage, you will need to include the merge fields for all your templates.  Please ensure that you are using the proper merge fields.  You will *not* need to type in the << >> signs, but you will need to manually add the ## signs, spaces and commas.  The exact steps for inserting merge fields into a merge template is specific to your CRM – please consult your CRM training materials or documentation for how to create a merge template and insert merge fields.  If you wish to have this field not appear in the completed Assemblies, you will need to change the font to white. Click here to see how to Change the Font Color