Whether you are an entrepreneur or working in an office, sending emails is a part of your daily routine. Now, when the number of recipients is not a lot, you can take some time out and send them individually. However, imagine a scenario where you have to send an email to 200 recipients; in that case, it is not feasible to send them one by one. Then, the Gmail mail merge can be your savior in such instances.

Why Mail Merge in Gmail?

Mail merge is a process of sending bulk emails. It’s a part of most data processing applications that enables users to send the same letter or a document to several recipients. 

Mail merge in Gmail is very useful. Gmail is the most popular email service provider with 1.5 billion active users. There are other popular options like Outlook, but their number doesn’t even come close to Gmail. Using mail merge, you can create several emails at the same time. It’s time-saving, effortless, and requires minor modifications from time to time.

Like, who has the time to type and re-type the same email over and over again?

If you are running a business, then mail merge in Gmail is a must-have. It allows you to customize each and every email effortlessly. 

  • Sending emails to specific customers with sensitive information regarding business or service.
  • Sending updates to the customer regarding upcoming offers and deals.
  • Lastly, there’re PR campaigns. Businesses put a lot of effort into PR campaigns and journalists need to attain these campaigns. So, the mass emails to these journalists need to be impeccable.

Is mail merge Gmail unnecessary for non-business owners?

Absolutely not. Gmail mail merge is always useful, not only for businesses but for all types of users.

  • As a teacher, you can send emails to your students.
  • Party invitations have always been a hassle for most people. Sending the same invitations to each individual is extremely time-consuming and boring. Implementation of Gmail mail merge will make the task convenient. 

So, Mail merge in Gmail with Google Workspace account gives you the ability to distribute emails or the deliverability of the emails is astoundingly high.

In addition to these, mail merge also saves you valuable time. It boosts effectiveness when creating documents. For example, you can customize letters with specific names or other elements. This way you can deliver polished, personalized emails that require little to no time. 

Mail Merge with Foresight

Gmail mail merge is extremely useful for any number of people. But Foresight makes it even better. It’s more convenient to use, provides a plethora of personalization options, and you can send multiple templates simultaneously. Let’s see these -

Simple Mail Merge

Video Demo

This is the first case of Mail Merge. A simple mail merge with a single template is pretty simple.  Here’s how to mail merge in Gmail.

  1. First, you need to prepare a Google Sheet with two columns. Email Address and First Name.
  2. Now, download that Google Sheet in CSV Format. Click File Button > Download > Comma Separate Values (CSV).
  3. After downloading the file, Sign in to Foresight using your “Google Account”.
  4. Click the New rule button on the bottom right side of the window. This is the New Rule Button, click on it to create a new rule. 
  5. A popup will appear on the screen, named Select a Trigger. Click on the Data Uploaded Trigger.
  6. In the next panel, click on the upload box and select the downloaded CSV file from your hard drive. Wait for the CSV parsing to finish. 
  7. After the CSV file is parsed, fields of the CSV document will appear on the screen. Click Next at the bottom to proceed.
  8. Now, you will reach the Select an Action screen. Click on the Email action. 
  9. Here, first, you need to click the Sign in with Google button to provide some necessary permissions in Google Workplace for Foresight. Then, select the Email Variable in the To field. 
  10. Then, enter a Subject and email message body. Type {{ and select the First Name Variable to start greetings.
  11. After that, click the REVIEW button below.
  12. On the following page, enter a Rule Name. Type Survey Bulk Email.
  13. Click the CREATE button below.
  14. A Rule will be created, named Survey Bulk Email.
  15. Click the Upload icon on the rule card and upload the same downloaded CSV file. 
  16. Upload the CSV file. You will see the Rule is triggered and Action is executing. Wait for the execution to complete.
  17. After the Rule Execution is complete, you will get a notification at the top right corner. Check the details and you will see, the rule has been executed successfully.

You can confirm it by accessing your Gmail account and checking the Gmail Sent Folder. You will see multiple emails were sent.

Mail Merge with Multiple Templates and Rich Personalization

Video Demo

This is the second case of Mail Merge.

Here’s how to send a bulk email in Gmail with multiple templates using Foresight. In order to accurately show the capabilities of Foresight, we will use a Google Sheet with multiple columns and templates.

  1. Create a Google Sheet with multiple templates. Our Google Sheet has seven columns; Email Address, First Name, Last Name, Email Template Name, Purchase Date, Renewal Date, and Coupon Code.
  2. Now, download this Google Sheet in “CSV'' format. Click File Button > Download > Comma Separate Values (CSV).
  3. After that, sign in with your “Google Account” to Foresight.  
  4. Click the New rule button on the bottom right side of the window. This is the New Rule Button, click on it to create a new rule.
  5. In the Select a trigger screen. Select the Data Uploaded Trigger.  
  6. In the next panel, click on the upload box and select the downloaded CSV file from your hard drive. Wait for the CSV parsing to finish.
  7. After the CSV file is parsed, fields of the CSV document will appear on the screen. Click Next at the bottom to proceed. (Please note that steps 2-7 in Multiple Template Mail Merge are the same as Simple Mail Merge. So, you can see screenshots for these steps from Simple Mail Merge.)
  8. Now, you will reach the Select an Action screen. Click on the IF action.
  9. Rename Branch 1 and put the name THANKYOU_FOR_YOUR_PURCHASE.
  10. Now, you have to set the condition of this branch. Set the variable to Email Template Name, set the operator to text is exactly, and input the email template name THANKYOU_FOR_YOUR_PURCHASE as the value field.
  11. Click ADD NEXT ACTION.
  12. Now select the Email action.
  13. In the Edit actions screen for the Email action, you may have to grant necessary permissions to Foresight by clicking the Sign in with Google button. If you see the Access granted on top, Foresight has all the necessary permissions. 
  14. Select the Email Address Variable on the To field.
    • Tip: Type {{ to see all variables in the To field.
  15. Then, fill in the Subject and the email message.
  16. In the email message body, type {{ to populate the variable list and choose the variables. In our demo, we have included the First Name variable and the Purchase Date variable in the email message body.
    • Tip: Type {{ and choose the purchase date variable.
  17. On the right side of the rule, an Automation Graph is available. Click the If shape to navigate back to the If action. 
  18. In the If action, click Add Branch.
  19. In this Second Branch, you have to set similar conditions as the first branch except for the value field. In second branch, the condition is set to Email Template Name text is exactly THANKYOU_FOR_YOUR_LOYALTY.
  20. Click Add Next Action in the If condition. 
  21. After that, choose Email action. 
  22. In the Edit actions page for just the selected Email action, choose the Email Address variable in the To field, input the Subject and type another email in the email message body.
  23. On the right side of the Rule, an Automation Graph is available. Click the If shape to navigate back
  24. In the If action, the branch name will be COUPON_CODE. And condition will be as follows: Email template name text is exactly COUPON_CODE and a different email template in the email message body.
  25. Then, click Review.
  26. Under Rule Name, type Multiple Template Mail Merge.
  27. Click Create at the bottom.
  28. A rule will be created.
  29. Click the Upload icon on the Rule and upload the same downloaded CSV file.
  30. After the Action is executed successfully, a notification will appear in the top right corner.

Your work is done. In the Notification section, you will see the Action has been executed successfully. Go to your Gmail Sent folder and see, multiple emails have been sent to different users according to the template name. 

Note:

  1. Gmail now allows sending 2000 emails daily. Gmail email sending limit.
  2. Once the rule is set, you can reuse it by uploading new CSV files and saving time.
  3. A mail merge does not always require to be initiated by a CSV file. As a Google Workspace user, you can send personalized welcome emails to Google Workspace new users.
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