22. TOKENS AND MAIL MERGE You can use data in your CiviCRM database to set up mail merge communications both for emails and printed materials such as letters and mailing labels. T he mail merging functionality relies on T okens which represent items in your database. T his chapter explains how tokens work and how to use them in generating printing materials. Using tokens in emails and mass mailings is covered in the Email section.
TOKENS T okens perform the equivalent of mail merge in CiviCRM. T his means that it is possible to insert information from the database into an email or a letter that is different for every recipient. T okens are accessible via the Insert Token link in the top right corner of the message editing area. Most of the tokens contain information that is in the database fields. However, there are some special tokens that accomplish specific tasks such as a link to an optout page or link to choose mail formats. Some tokens are only available for mass mailings such as the token to provide a link to a message stored online. Only contact fields and actions can be inserted in your email as tokens. Related records, such as the name of the event for which the contacts have pending enrollments, cannot be included. However, in emails, you could provide a link to the person's contact dashboard so that they can review their registration details for themselves (once logged in). In emails, you can also use a checksum token that generates a unique URL for each contact so they can modify their information without having to login. See here for details on using Checksums: http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Mail-merge+T okens+for+Contact+Data It is also possible to have custom tokens created by a developer. For instance, the total amount of contributions from a contact. T o find out more about working with custom tokens, refer to the discussion about custom mail merge tokens in the Hooks chapter of the Extending CiviCRM section of this book and look at the wiki: http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Mail-merge+T okens+for+Contact+Data. Another task for a developer is to create if/then logic for your mail merge. T his is done using the smarty template language as described here http://www.smarty.net/docs/en/language.function.if.tpl.
POSTAL MAIL COMMUNICATIONS T his chapter discusses the different ways that CiviCRM helps with postal mail and post mail campaigns. It will help if you already have a strong understanding of CiviCRM's search features as well as custom fields, activities, profiles, and how to perform mail merges using word processing software.
Planning Your Mailing Before beginning any communication activity, take the time to identify your goals and plan the steps. For our purposes, there are a few key questions to ask before sending out postal mailings. What types of mailing do you send out to your constituents? Are mailings always sent to everyone in the database or are they frequently targeted to a select group of contacts? How do you want to greet recipients (e.g. "Dear Jane" or "Dear Jane Doe")? T here are three ways that you can use CiviCRM in postal mailings:
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