Using Mail Merge to Easily Send Emails with Unique Login Codes

This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through how to create a batch of personalized email messages that are formatted identically and use the same

text, but that are addressed to specific staff members and have unique login codes piped in. Instead of manually entering names and unique login

codes into each email, which could take hours, we will use Microsoft office’s mail merge feature to personalize each email, and send to staff

members in just minutes.

There are two documents involved in creating email messages using the mail merge process:

Your main Word document

This document is your email message, it contains the template language provided by YouthTruth.

Your Excel mailing list

This excel document contains the data that is used to populate information in the email. This excel document should contain three columns:

name, email address, and login code, and should be populated with information for all staff members.

Step 1: Set up your Excel mailing list

In order to send emails, you’ll need to use an MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) compatible email program like Outlook or

Gmail. If you're using Outlook, make sure your versions of Word and Outlook are the same.

Create a new Excel document with the following columns :

o Name populate this column with whatever you want to come after “Dear” in the email. This could be first names, or an honorific

followed by last names (i.e. Ms. Smith).

o Login code populate this column with the login codes found in your Survey Implementation Guide under the “Step One: Prepare

for & Administer the Survey” section. Copy the login codes from that downloadable excel document and paste them into your newly

created “login code” column.

Note: YouthTruth provides more login codes than there are staff, so only copy over as many as you need.

Note: While each staff member needs to use a unique login code to access the survey (no one should use the same login

code), login codes are not linked to individuals, so they can be randomly assigned.

o Email address populate this column with each staff member’s email address. Once you tell it to, mail merge will use the email

address you provide to automatically send emails to staff members.

Step 2: Prepare your main Word document

Paste the below email template language into a new Word document and save.

Dear enter name,

I am writing to invite you to provide your valuable feedback about your experience at this school. So that we can hear from you, we have asked YouthTruth – a nonprofit organization whose student survey is nationally recognized and has been used in hundreds of schools and districts across the county – to conduct an anonymous survey on our behalf.

This survey is completely anonymous. Your login code will not be associated with you at any point in the data analysis or data reporting process. If you write any comments in the survey, please don’t include your name or anything else that might identify you. Your responses will be combined with the responses of other staff before being shared back with our school and district leadership.

The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. If you don’t finish the survey in one sitting, you may use your login code to sign back in and pick up where you left off.

You may take the survey anytime between now and enter survey close date.

Click this link: enter family survey URL

When prompted, enter this login code: insert login code

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to provide your valuable feedback. Your response is incredibly valuable to us.

If you have any questions about the survey, or our plans for how we will use your feedback, please contact enter school or district representative name at enter email address & phone number.

Sincerely, Enter principal’s name

On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, choose Start Mail Merge, then select E-mail Messages from the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Link your mailing list to your email message

Now it’s time to choose your recipients from your data source (your Excel mailing list). On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group,

choose Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List.

Navigate to where you saved your Excel Mailing List document (the document that contains names, login codes, and email addresses), select

it, and click open.

Select the tab in your Excel Mailing List that contains the relevant information. If you’ve created a brand new document, you will choose

sheet 1. If you’re using an existing excel document, and there is data on other tabs, select the one that contains the correct information.

Step 4: Add personalized content to the email message

Now we will use mail merge to personalize each email message with staff members’ names and login codes.

First, in the body of the message, select the text “enter name”, then on the Mailings tab, , choose Insert Merge Field, then Name.

In the space that used to say “enter name” you will now see “<<Name_>>”

Next, in the body of the message, select the text “enter login code”, then on the Mailings tab, choose Insert Merge Field, then Name.

In the space that used to say “enter login code” you will now see “<<Login Code_>>”

Now that you’ve customized the content that will be personalized for each email, it’s time to customize the static portion of the email. Enter

the requested information that is highlighted green. Unlike the information that is highlighted yellow, this information will be the same in

every email message.

o Your school’s unique survey URL can be found in your Survey Implementation Guide under the “Step One: Prepare for & Administer

the Survey” section.

Now that the email is customized, you can remove the green and yellow highlighting. Select the entire message, click the highlight icon from

the toolbar, and select No Color.

Step 5: Preview and finish

After you add the name and login code merge fields to your main document, and you customize the rest of your message, you’re ready to preview the merge results.

On the Mailings Tab, choose Preview Results, and then choose the Next or Previous record buttons to make sure the names and login codes in the body of your message look right.

Once you’re satisfied that the merge fields are correct, choose Finish & Merge, then Send E-mail Messages.

In the Merge to E-mail pop-up box, select Email_Address from the To menu.

Enter your desired Subject Line

Press OK

Voila! Your email messages are now sending. To check on their status, navigate to your Sent Items folder within your email. Depending on how many emails are being sent, this could take anywhere from seconds to minutes to complete.