Knowledgebase

Sending Bulk Email in Small Groups

When you send email messages to a large group it is best to send small batches rather than all 500 or more together in one email message because it is likely to get spam blocked by your ISP. Here is a way to send a message to a small group from your list while keeping track of whom you have sent to and who still needs to be sent to.

1. FIND YOUR LIST OF CUSTOMERS

In the Contacts file, find the group of people to whom you wish to send an email message.
If it is everyone in your database who has an edress, click on the Find All button located to the right of the email address field (left center area). Or perform a selected search by other criteria, including an asterisk (*) in the email address field.

Once you have found your group, you should identify how many clients are on your list.

Click on List View button (top center).

Look at the number of records in the top left corner under To Do List button.

Decide how many records you would like to include in your mailing.
HINT: if you click on the person's first or last name, you will be able to see which record you are on in the list. E.g. 25 of 500.

2. SELECTING A SMALL GROUP FOR EMAIL

In the Contacts file, in List View,

Click on the name of a person listed 20 to 30 names down on the list. ( Or any number you want.)

Click on Records (at top on menu) and select Omit Multiple... from the pull down list.
(Omitting the lower portion of your list will simply take them off this list. Omit is not the same as Delete.)

Type in the number 9999 and click on OMIT. (This is easier than counting them.)

Another box appears telling you how many records can be omitted.

Click OK. 

The new number will be entered into the box.

Click OMIT.

You will now have the first batch of people to whom you will send email.

3. DOCUMENTING WHAT YOU WILL SEND TO THIS GROUP

Still in the Contacts file,

Click the Form View button at the top of the screen.

Click the Date/Notes tab at the bottom of the screen.

Click on the "Add Notes to all records in the Found Set" button on the right.

Type in the note for this mailing E.g. Email Spring Sale.

Click OK.

The same note is entered onto all the records in this list.

4. SENDING EMAIL MESSAGES

In the Contacts file > Form View,

Click on the SEND button (located beside the Email Address field).

In the Message dialog box, click the Found Set button.
This will automatically launch your email program and a new email will be created with all the names in the To: Field.

In your email program,

Click in the To: field and hold down the Control key and press the letter A (Mac: Command+A).

This will highlight all the names.

Drag the names into the BCC: field. (This will hide the email addresses of the people to whom you are mailing.)

Enter your company's email address in the To: field.

Create your email text and send it out.

5. FINDING YOUR NEXT SUBSEQUENT GROUP

Now we want to find our same group but not the people to whom you have already mailed.

In the Contacts file,

Click the Find button and perform the same find as before. Remember to place an asterisk (*) in the Email field, then

Click on the Add New Request button.
The new search screen will be blank.

Click on View (at top on menu) and select Status Toolbar from the pull down list.

Click on the OMIT button at the top of the screen.

Type into the Notes Field (lower right) the previously entered note... E.g. Email Spring Sale

Click the Perform Find button.

You will now have a list of the people with email addresses to whom you have not sent the current email message.

REPEAT STEPS 2 TO 5 UNTIL NO RECORDS MATCH YOUR FIND REQUEST.

If the list is already short enough, move to step 3.

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