Rated 5 out of 5 stars

by snh on Aug. 28, 2014 · permalink

For mailing lists of 50-250 addresses, this works perfectly and a great solution over using a 3rd party service or trying to setup PHPList or some other server-side mailer.

It's an easy multi-step process. Install the Add-on. Compose the message adding per-recipient customizations. An easy one is to just change a generic "Hi," to "Hi {{FirstName}},"

Save the message as a Draft, but before closing it, choose File -> Mail Merge. It'll go through and create an unsent message for each recipient listed, looking up the replacement values in the address book (default) and doing the swap. So since the messages are now created and residing in the Outgoing folder, can inspect them for a final sanity check before sending.

To send the messages, click File -> Send Unsent Messages. It will churn through them sending each one individually, which creates a copy of the message in the Sent folder.

It's just that simple, really. Seriously, if you only have a dozen to 50-or-so people to send to, use this vs trying to setup something on a server or using a 3rd-party service.

FYI, it takes a while to send individual messages using this process, but it also takes a while using other solutions. The difference is you do not have to baby sit through the compiling/sending but it's not instantaneous either way.