Today we’ve got a five minute screencast demonstrating a 100% cloud-based mail-merge solution using contact and communication data from BatchBook (SaaS CRM) and Drawloop’s SaaS mail-merge solution, all tied together by xioup’s WebFormGlue API-Connector Platform.
Questions and Answers
Several people have emailed us with questions regarding this integration. Following are answers to some of those questions, in case you were wondering, too:
Q: Would it be possible to schedule a mail-merge job like this and have it run automatically when the time comes?
A: Absolutely! WebFormGlue allows the scheduling of automated processes. You can define an entire marketing cycle with emails, mail-merged documents, BatchBook Todos – any number and combination of automated and manual activities, then go play a game of golf. WebFormGlue lets you put your business on autopilot!
Q: Neat integration, but you’re just creating a single mail-merged document here. Would it be possible to generate a batch of documents addressed to different contacts with one click?
A: You bet! We thought a batch mail-merge might be difficult to demonstrate in a 5 minute screencast, but this is entirely possible. You can just as easily generate 1,000 mail-merged documents with a single click, if that’s the functionality you need.
Q: Do I have to use a bookmarklet to trigger a mail-merge, or can I set up an automatic mail-merge based on another kind of event?
A: You don’t have to use a bookmarklet – it’s possible to define your own trigger. Here’s a scenario:
Let’s say you offer White Papers to people who sign up for your email newsletter. You could use a Formstack web form to collect sign-ups, use Formstack’s existing MailChimp integration to get the new contact straight into your mailing list, use WebFormGlue’s Formstack to BatchBook integration to automatically insert a new Contact record (as well as Todos, Communications and/or Deals) into BatchBook, generate a personalized white paper and email it to the contact automatically, all in one step, with no manual intervention required!
Q: Could I have WebFormGlue email the mail-merged document to me rather than downloading it immediately to my PC?
A: Certainly! WebFormGlue is extremely flexible – you could have it email a link to the merged document to you, upload the document to your Amazon S3 account or to your own server or send it directly to a fulfillment service for outsourced printing and mailing. It could send you an SMS, a direct message at Twitter or place an automated phone call to let you know the document is ready. If you have a printer with a public IP address, it could send the document straight to that printer. If you prefer not to print, you could also have WebFormGlue send the document directly to your contact in a personalized, automated email message.
Q: What about mail-merge for email? Can I use WebFormGlue to generate personalized emails to one or more contacts?
A: Yes, with one caveat. We aren’t in the mass emailing business, but WebFormGlue can send emails through a service like MailChimp, or by using your company’s own email server.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks like the business.
Keep up the good work!
J.
This looks very interesting! The organisation I work for uses Batchbook, and we’d be interested in using this for some invitations we send out. How would we go about setting up such a solution?
Hi Jeremy,
It’s a pretty nifty time-saver, and the integration is pretty tight, considering that a link to each PDF you generate is attached to the correct communication in BatchBook.
I’ll send you an email – nice blog, by the way. Hope you’re having fun in Pakistan.
Kurt
How can I get this setup for my business and what is the cost? thanks
Hi Robert,
I’ll send you an email later today or tomorrow with details.
Hi Kurt,
I’d love to get pricing on the intergration as well…
Thank You
Ken
Hi Ken,
I sent you an email half an hour ago – did you receive it? Looking forward to talking with you…
Kurt
I am interested in the pricing also and the webformglue api documentation.
Howard,
Pricing is reasonable – our API integration platform makes setting up these integrations between different SaaS applications a snap. At this point, our API is extremely simple and powerful – you can post data to us in practically any format (encrypted XML, plain XML, structured text, JSON, querystring key/value pairs (GET), standard webform and webhooks (POST) and even via email).
I’ll follow up via email so we can discuss your requirements in more detail.
Hi Kurt
I’d like some pricing and general information about Webformglue and this solution in particular.
Henrk
Can you send me an email with more info and prices? Thanks.
Roy Lemmens
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