Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mail Merge Feature

Within the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook, users can access the mail merge feature to generate mass mailings for records in their databases. The mail merge feature can be accessed on the More Actions menuon the grid toolbar for the Lead, Account, and Contact entities.

When you click mail merge on this menu, Microsoft CRM automatically launches Word with the records you selected in the grid as your mass mailing data source. This feature makes it very easy for users to quickly create mail merges because it simplifies the mail merge data source selection in Word. In Word, the mail merge behaves identically to the standard Word mail merge feature, in which you can select templates, insert mail merge fields, preview your letter, and so on. However, when you complete your mail merge, Microsoft CRM automatically creates a completed Letter activity for each of the records in your mail merge. Some of the constraints related to using this feature include:

You cannot include custom attributes as Mail Merge fields.

You can only create mail merges for Leads, Accounts, and Contacts (no custom entities).

If you're using Word 2002 or 2003, Microsoft CRM automatically creates a completed Letter activity for each recipient.

Word uses the records selected in the grid as the mail merge data source. Therefore, if you have five pages of records that you want to include in your mail merge, you must repeat this process five times, once for each page of records. You can change your user settings to display as many as 250 records at one time on a single page by clicking Options on the Tools menu.

You cannot configure the subject and body of the completed Letter activity that Microsoft CRM creates for each record in the mail merge. The subject will always be "Word Mail Merge," and the body will always be "Mail Merge document created in Microsoft Word."

You can access the Microsoft CRM Mail Merge feature using the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook only; you cannot use the Web client.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Mail Merge and Mass Mailings

Earlier in this chapter, we discussed creating and using E-mail templates to send information to multiple records in your Microsoft CRM database. But suppose that you wanted to create printed letters, envelopes, or labels for a large number of records? Clearly, using an E-mail template isn't an appropriate choice for this type of printed (non-e-mail) task. Microsoft CRM offers you several options for mass mailing activities, including the following:

Use the Microsoft CRM mail merge feature in the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook.

Use the mail merge feature in Microsoft Office Word, using Microsoft CRM filtered views as a data source.

Use the mail merge feature in Word, using Microsoft CRM data exported to Microsoft Office Excel as a data source.

Write a Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services report.

Use the Microsoft CRM Campaign and Quick Campaign features.

Create a custom mass mailing application.

Although using the mass mailing and mail merge features of Microsoft CRM doesn't necessarily fall under the chapter title "Setting Up Your System," we've received so many questions on the topic that we felt the need to cover it in this book. Therefore, the remainder of the chapter examines the benefits and drawbacks of theseoptions to help you decide which one provides the best fit for you.

Explaining the details of setting up and using the Word mail merge feature is beyond the scope of
this book. We assume you're already familiar with the concepts and techniques related to using Word mail merge.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 E-Mail Tracking Tokens

Microsoft CRM uses a unique identifier known as a tracking token to link e-mail messages with the appropriate records in Microsoft CRM.

This tracking code uniquely identifies the E-mail activity in the database. If a customer were to reply to this message, the Router would automatically recognize the tracking token in the message and set the Regarding field of the E-mail activity to the correct record. For example, if a user sent an outbound e-mail message regarding a specific Case, when the customer replied, Microsoft CRM would automatically create an E-mail activity and link it to the correct Case! For even more functionality, you can combine the Microsoft CRM Campaign and Quick Campaign features with the tracking token to automatically capture e-mail responses and record them against their originating marketing campaign.

The tracking token in Microsoft CRM allows the Router to automatically link e-mail messages (and entire conversation threads) to a specific record, such as an Opportunity, a Case, a Campaign, a Quote, or an Order. It does this by examining the tracking token and then updating the Regarding field of the E-mail activity to the appropriate record.If you don't care for the default tracking token format, you can specify your own unique tracking token configuration. To change the token configuration, browse to the Settings area and click Organization Settings.Then click System Settings, and click the E-mail Tracking tab.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 E-Mail Tracking

If you deploy Microsoft CRM and you use Exchange Server 2000 or 2003 for your corporate e-mail, you have the option of installing the Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-mail Router (also called the Router), which you can configure to provide the following benefits:

Users can create and send e-mail messages by using the Web client interface.

You can automatically create copies of all incoming messages (to Microsoft CRM users) in the Microsoft CRM database.

Microsoft CRM can automatically track e-mail conversations and threads by using a tracking code appended to the message subject line.

You can manually track individual e-mail messages in the Microsoft CRM database on an ad hoc basis in the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook.

You receive the Router software with the purchase of Microsoft CRM, so there's no additional cost. When you install the Router, Microsoft CRM also installs the Rule Deployment Wizard, which you can use to help administer and manage e-mail tracking configuration. If you're using Exchange Server at your organization, you should absolutely plan on using the Router with your Microsoft CRM deployment.

Note You do not need Exchange Server to use Microsoft CRM. If you don't want to use Exchange Server,you can still send e-mail messages through the Web client with any Simple Mail Transfer Protocol(SMTP) mail server. However, without Exchange Server and the Router, you won't be able to track inbound and outbound messages automatically.

If you want to use the e-mail tracking features, you must confirm that the e-mail tracking option is activated for your deployment. You can verify this by browsing to the Settings area, clicking Organization Settings, clickingSystem Settings, and then clicking E-mail Tracking.

E-Mail Templates

If E-mail templates behaved exactly like Contract and Article templates, you might expect to select an E-mail
template when you create a new e-mail. However, E-mail templates provide much more functionality than the
Contract and Article templates. You can use E-mail templates in the following ways:
Insert templates into e-mail messages Instead of selecting an E-mail template to create a new e-mail
message, you can insert an E-mail template into the body of an e-mail message that a user is composing.
This allows you to insert multiple E-mail templates into a single e-mail message if necessary.
Send direct e-mail by using templates You can use E-mail templates to send the same e-mail message
to multiple records. For example, you could use the Direct E-mail feature (which uses E-mail templates) to
send the same message to 500 Contacts.

Reference E-mail templates in workflow rules You can reference E-mail templates within Microsoft
CRM workflow to accomplish many types of business process automation techniques. Chapter 8,
"Workflow," describes in detail how to set up and create workflow rules.

Microsoft CRM uses E-mail templates primarily for external communications to Contact and Account records,
but you can also use E-mail templates for internal e-mail between users.

In addition to being accessible from different areas of the Microsoft CRM application, E-mail templates have
the following unique features:

Data fields You can insert data fields into E-mail templates that Microsoft CRM will dynamically populate
on usage. For example, if you wanted to send an e-mail message to 20 people and address each
recipient by his or her first name, you would insert a first name data field into the E-mail template. When
Microsoft CRM sends the message, it would automatically populate the correct first name value in the
data field for each of the 20 recipients.
User and organization ownership All the Contract and Article templates are owned by the organization,
but users with the appropriate security privileges can create their own personal E-mail templates for their
exclusive use. Of course, you can also create organization E-mail templates for use by all users. Chapter
3 explains more about organization and user ownership of records.
Template types For each E-mail template that you create, you must specify to which single entity (such
as Lead or Opportunity) the template applies. You can also create a Global template for use with multiple
entities.
Let's get into the details of working with E-mail templates. In this chapter, we will examine accessing E-mail
templates by using the Direct E-mail feature and by inserting E-mail templates into an e-mail message.
Chapter 8 explains the use of E-mail templates in workflow rules.

Sending Direct E-Mail

If you want to send an e-mail message to multiple records in your database, the Direct E-mail feature allows
you to select recipients in a grid and then choose an E-mail template that you want to send. As we mentioned,
you can also include data fields in E-mail templates that Microsoft CRM dynamically populates with information
specific to each recipient. You can create and use E-mail templates for each of the following types of entity
records:

Lead

Opportunity

Account

Contact

Quote

Order

Invoice

Case

Contract

Service Activity

You can access the Direct E-mail feature from the grid toolbar for these types of entities. Figure 2-6 shows the
Direct E-mail button for the Leads entity. You will not see the Direct E-mail button in the Web client if you have
Microsoft Outlook opened with the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook installed.