Question: I'm using SAM and Mail Merge on two different Act! databases for two different companies. How do I make sure the merged templates use the correct email account to when sending email messages?
First, you need to set up an account in Mail Merge for each email address you will be using. Next, you will need a copy of the campaign for each database (with unique names).
Now, you have a few options for specifying the sender in the "send email action" in your SAM campaigns:
- If you create your Mail Merge accounts using the exact same name as the Record Manager in Act!, then you can dynamically specify the "sender" of each email campaign based on the record manager of the contact by NOT specifying the Alternate Sender. If each of your Act! data bases has different Act! user names (Record Managers) you could create the necessary Accounts in Mail Merge and the Record Manager value from SAM would then select the correct Mail Merge Account.
- If you can't use option 1, then you can specify which account to use by clicking the "more options" button on the Send Email Edit Action box next to "Alternate Sender". You'll then see a button to "Select Account" where you will be able to pick from a list of Mail Merge accounts.
How SAM processes email:
If you leave the "Alternate Sender" field blank, SAM sends the name of the Record Manager of the contact to Mail Merge. Mail Merge attempts to find an Account that matches the name of the Act! Record Manager and sends "from" that user name/email address if a match is found.
If you put a constant value (meaning a value in double quotes) in the Alternate Sender field then Mail Merge will attempt to find an Account that matches that string.
If Mail Merge can't find an Account that matches what it has been sent from SAM (either the Record Manager or the Alternate Sender value) then Mail Merge will send using the "default" Mail Merge account.
Please refer to the SAM manual for more information on this feature.