Gmail Mail Merge with AnyMerge Mail
Merge spreadsheet data into Gmail messages like a boss!
INTRODUCTION
I published recently my brand new add-on for Google Spreadsheets for Gmail mail merge called AnyMerge Mail and I would like to bring it to your attention. If you are looking for a way to streamline the email creation process in Gmail, stay tuned.
WHAT IS A MAIL MERGE ADD-ON?
Simply put, a mail merge add-on adds additional functionality to Google Spreadsheets and automates mail creation process. It takes a Gmail draft template, this template contains special placeholders or merge fields, and the add-on replaces merge fields with values from a sheet. It goes row by row, takes the template, makes a copy and fills in data. Finally, it sends emails to recipients.
MOTIVATION
My motivation was to build a suite of add-ons that excel in one thing and that is reliability. My background is system integration and I built the add-ons from the ground to be as reliable as possible. There is a lot of logic under the hood to make sure the add-ons deliver results as promised. AnyMerge add-ons are meant to be used for heavy duty work. Whether you want to send hundreds of personalized emails with AnyMerge Mail add-on or generate hundreds of Google Documents with AnyMerge Docs add-on.
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
AnyMerge Mail add-on for Google Spreadsheets is the new kind on the block. There are plenty of other mail merge add-ons yet AnyMerge Mail stands out and offers features other add-ons do not offer.
NO DAILY SENDING LIMIT
While other mail merge add-ons let you send just a fraction of your daily quota allowed by Google for free, AnyMerge Mail add-on does not have a daily sending limit at all. What only limits you is the type of Gmail account you use. With a business account you can send up to 1 500 personalized emails per day from the add-on and reach your audience.
USE IT FOR FREE
You can use the add-on absolutely free of charge. Well, there is a small catch when using the add-on for free — the add-on appends a link to each message you send. I am more than happy to see people using the add-on for free but spread the word. I put a lot of effort into developing the add-on.
MERGE QR CODES AND IMAGES INTO GMAIL MESSAGES
AnyMerge Mail does not do just simple text merge. You can do pretty complex stuff like merging multiple QR codes, images as well as attachments into Gmail messages
ADD MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS
Furthermore, the add-on allows you to add multiple attachments from your Google drive and attach them to Gmail messages. So you can further automate your daily workflows. You can use AnyMerge Docs add-on to generate Google Documents first and then send them with AnyMerge Mail add-on as attachments.
For example, you can generate a bunch of invoices first with AnyMerge Docs add-on and then send them with AnyMerge Mail add-on. You can streamline the entire process and move from manual, error prone process to automated workflow.
TWO-PHASE MERGE
One of the unique features of the add-on is so-called two-phase merge. The add-on can merge spreadsheet data into Gmail drafts only and you can send the drafts later. Why would this be useful?
The two-phase merge is particularly handy for long running tasks where you would like to process hundreds of emails with very complex setup. Doing simple merge of text values into Gmail messages is fast. Once you start adding more complex stuff like QR codes or multiple attachments processing times will increase and you can easily end up with processing times over one minute for a single message.
With two-phase merge you can let the add-on create drafts only (phase one) first. Depending on how many emails you would like to process it might take several hours to complete. Just make sure your workstation will not get to sleep and keep an eye on the process. Or run the merge job overnight. Once the merge job is over and all those drafts are sitting in your drafts folder you can send them (phase two). Sending already created drafts is much faster.
Another great advantage is that there is no daily quota on how many drafts you can create. Literally, you can create thousands of drafts per day and send them later in smaller batches.
Take advantage of two-phase merge when your merge setup is complex and takes a long time to finish. Generate drafts first and send them later.
NO EMAIL TRACKING
The add-on lacks some features other add-ons do provide. Most prominently it is email tracking. If this is the top feature you are looking for, do not waste your time and look for other solutions. I am not going to implement this feature in the foreseeable future.
PRIVACY MATTERS
Once an add-on has access to your Gmail it can access your Gmail messages and there is a possibility of leaking private data. AnyMerge Mail add-on cannot make external requests. Meaning that there is no way the add-on can send your data to a third-party. When you install the add-on you need to grant permission and authorize the add-on. For a detailed explanation of what the add-on does please read the privacy policy before you install the add-on.
Happy merging!
