July '05 Tools

Are you looking for a way to send out a personalized email newsletter to your entire database of clients?

You can do it using the Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook programs! You must have Outlook set up as your default email client for this to work.

You'll be able to send an individualized (Dear Mary, Dear Frank, etc.) email newsletter to many different people. Instead of "cc:"ing your list of recipients and broadcasting all of your clients' email addresses to everyone (very bad netiquette), each recipient’s email address will appear as the only one in the “To:” field. You can also include in the body of your newsletter any individualized information that is kept in your Outlook “Contact” files.

By using Word to create your email newsletter, you can use color, insert photos and graphics into your newsletter, and send it in html format!

Creating and sending your email newsletter involves two processes and programs...

First open your Outlook email program and, using your address book, create a list of the recipients for your newsletter.

Next, open Word. On the Tools menu, point to Letters and Mailings, and then click Mail Merge. Under Select document type, click Email messages.

The current document becomes the main document, where you will type the body of your email message. Click Next: Starting document.

The task pane will now guide you through the rest of the email merge process step by step.

You will be able to edit your list of recipients and also preview your email newsletter before sending it out to everyone.

Does the idea of creating a newsletter from scratch seem too overwhelming? No problem! Microsoft has many templates available to get you started. It's as easy as downloading the template you prefer and adding your own words and pictures! To find the newsletter templates you must be online. Then just open MS Word and do a search for "Newsletter Template". You will be presented with a list of templates in your task pane and will also be able to view each template. Once you have chosen you template, it will download and open Word. If you like what you see, be sure to save it on your hard drive in a special folder you've created for your newsletters.

NOTE: When you are using a template, it's easiest to start the process by first opening your template in Word, then proceeding to the Tools menu and Mail Merge options.

You can also view and download FREE newsletter templates by going to the Microsoft Office Templates site (see below) and doing a search for the word "newsletter".

Creating your first email newsletter will take some time, but once it's done, you've got something you can use over and over and the task will be much quicker and easier the next time.

Email Newsletter Netiquette:

Be respectful of your newsletter recipients. They won't be happy with you if they have to wait forever to open your newsletter because it's loaded with high resolution graphics. Many times less is more so keep the size of your graphics small.
Don't SPAM - be sure to send your email newsletter just to your selected list of clients or subscribers.
You should always give your recipients a way to "opt out" of receiving your newsletter.