Using mail merge (Hi {First Name})

You can recognize a good newsletter by how personalized it is. A newsletter that is clearly directed at a particular recipient is much more likely to be opened and read. In JungleMail for Office 365, you can easily use recipient metadata from multiple sources for a mail merge.

Mail merge sources and merge fields

A mail merge source is a list of recipient names and other properties that you can use to personalize newsletters. Mail merge sources contain merge fields that are related to column names in the source. For example, First Name is a column name that refers to merge fields with metadata about recipients' first names. Merge fields are inserted in the newsletter subject or content as placeholders, e.g., Hello {First Name}.

Virtually any recipient source available in the app can be used as a data source for a mail merge. The only exception is the Email addresses source because email addresses do not contain metadata. However, if the email address has a display name (e.g., Mike <mike@contoso.com>), you will be able to use this name for a mail merge.

Mail merge in the newsletter body

To set up the mail merge process, you have to insert a mail merge field on a newsletter body as a placeholder that looks like this: {[Column Name]}. When sending the newsletter, placeholders are automatically replaced with values from the corresponding mail merge field in the list.

For Drag & Drop templates

To use mail merge in the Title or Subtitle blocks:

1. Select a block that you want to use for a mail merge. If the block contains some text already, place a cursor where you want the metadata to be pulled in.

2. Select the { Columns } button in the editor on the right.

3. On the Recipient tab, select the mail merge field that you want to use, and click Insert. The selected merge field will be inserted in the block as a placeholder that will retrieve corresponding properties from the recipient profile.

To use mail merge in the  Text block:

1. Select the Text block, then click the Columns & Links button.

2. On the Recipient tab, select a mail merge field from the recipient source, then click Insert. 

For HTML templates

1. Open a template and place the cursor where you want the mail merge field to be added.

2. On the Placeholders tab, select a mail merge column, and click Add.

Mail merge in the email subject

You can also pull data from a mail merge list into the email subject.

For Drag & Drop templates

1. Open the Recipients step.

2. Next to the Subject field, select the Quick Actions icon and click on Placeholders & Formulas to pick from the suggested values. You can also enter the placeholder formula in the field manually.

For HTML templates

In a Rich Text template, you can insert the mail merge field anywhere on the newsletter body using the Columns button and then copy the placeholder to the subject line. You can also write a formula in the email subject line manually. Remember that you should surround your formula with { } and your column name with {[ ]}.