Did you know that to achieve mailings that personalize content for each subscriber without using a marketing automation (MA) tool, you can utilize mail merge features available in email clients like Outlook or Thunderbird? This allows you to send personalized emails with unique images for each recipient.

Here’s how you can do it in a few simple steps.

Using Microsoft Outlook Prepare Your Data : Create an Excel spreadsheet with columns for each recipient’s email address and any personalized data you want to include (e.g., names, image URLs). Create Your Email Template : In Outlook, draft your email. Use placeholders (like <<Name>> ) where you want personalized content to appear. Use Mail Merge : Go to the Mailings tab in Word. Select Start Mail Merge and choose E-Mail Messages . Click on Select Recipients and choose Use an Existing List to select your Excel file. Insert the placeholders into your email body. For images, you can use the INCLUDEPICTURE field to dynamically insert images based on the URL from your Excel sheet. Finish & Merge : Click on Finish & Merge and select Send E-Mail Messages . Choose the email field from your Excel file and send. Using Mozilla Thunderbird Prepare Your Data : Similar to Outlook, create a CSV file with email addresses and personalized data. Install Mail Merge Add-on : You may need to install the Mail Merge add-on for Thunderbird to facilitate the process. Compose Your Email : Write your email in Thunderbird, using placeholders for personalization. Mail Merge : Use the Mail Merge add-on to select your CSV file. Map the fields from your CSV to the placeholders in your email. For images, ensure the image URLs are accessible and use the appropriate syntax to include them. Send : Execute the mail merge to send personalized emails to each recipient. Considerations Testing : Always test with a small group before sending to your entire list to ensure that personalization works as expected. Limitations : Be aware of any limitations in the number of emails you can send at once, as some email providers have restrictions to prevent spam (e.g. you can send up to 50 emails an hour).

By following these steps, you can achieve a level of automation and personalization in your email campaigns without relying on complex marketing automation tools

By subscribing AI-mails service you can achieve fully personalized emails sent to your subscribers on an individual basis. This feature can’t be even achieved by many marketing automation tools, you can achieve it with Outlook or Thunderbird.

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