Less scrupulous mail merge providers might take it upon themselves to retain and repurpose contact information used in mail campaigns run using their service.įurther, consider the permissions and level of access that the service you're considering requests from you, if it integrates into your own email service. Remember that you'll be sharing the email addresses and names of survey respondents, which is personally identifying information that you may not want to share widely.
Whichever mail merge solution you use, make sure that it seems to be a service you can trust. That way, you can see who has opened the links to view the form, even if they have not submitted it yet. Many services allow you to track who has opened your emails, and even who has clicked on the links in your emails. Security of the service (see 3.1 below).When selecting your service, there are a few things to keep in mind: The exact process depends on your email client. Once your spreadsheet is ready, you can link it to your email client to start sending emails. Using the spreadsheet in your email client Even if you don't know the precise syntax yet, planning out what your email should say can help you work out the necessary syntax. For example, with Microsoft mail merge, you insert each field as you need it. This is one example, but different mail merge applications may use different syntax. If you cannot click on that link, copy-and-paste this URL into your browser, and then go to that link: Here is what that will look like for the first respondent: If you cannot click on that link, copy-and-paste this URL into your browser, and then go to that link: will be replaced by their unique URL. Make sure you complete and submit the form.
This is a survey from Example Organization, and we would really appreciate it if you filled it out. Here is an example of a template that can be used by Mail Merge with Attachments for G Suite (more details below): It should include other pieces of information as well, such as the name of the respondent.
You will need to create a template for the email you are going to send that includes a spot where the unique URL will go. You might also use the CONCATENATE() function in either Excel or Google Sheets as part of a solution. For example, on row 2, if the generic link is in column D, and the unique ID is in column E, you can use this formula for the unique link: =if($D2 = "", "", $D2 & $E2)) There are of course other approaches in spreadsheets. In both Google Sheets and Excel, the ampersand ("&") is used for concatenating (joining). Once the form link and the unique identifier is stored in a cell, you can construct the unique link that will be sent to the respondent. Unlike the form link, each unique ID will be different. There should be another column for the unique identifier of the respondent. You can also double-click that dot to autocomplete the formula down through the rows you have data for (also possible in Google Sheets). Excel does not have a similar function, but you can instead select the cell, click-and-hold the square dot on the bottom-right, and then drag it down as far as you need it to. To learn more, check out the Google documentation. This function applies the formula to all cells beneath it, so it automatically expands as you add new data to the sheet. In the example Google Sheet, the ArrayFormula() function is used to complete the columns more easily. In this example, the generic web form link is repeated in the Form Link column, as part of building the unique link. The generic unique web form link is your starting point here too. If collecting data anonymously, the unique web link to fill out a form, which you can obtain using the Share button on the Collect tab of your server console, is the same for each respondent. If you prefer to enter all of the data manually, you can skip this section. The example spreadsheet contains several formulas to make creating the spreadsheet easier. We put that section last because using the mail merge application is the last step.įurther reading: Prepare your Excel data source for a Word mail merge (Microsoft link) 1.1 Formulas for constructing your spreadsheet It is a good idea to choose your mail merge application before starting your spreadsheet, since many mail merge applications have their own spreadsheet template style. However, it is usually easy enough to convert data between Excel, Google Sheets, and other applications. The actual spreadsheet application you use can depend on the email client you will use. You can include as many columns as you need, but the most important are the Email Address and Unique Link columns.