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eMerge
is a stand-alone Macintosh application that lets you create an e-mail
form letter, customize it automatically for everyone on your mailing
list, and send it directly to their Internet mail servers. You can
use eMerge to build a list of names, addresses, and other variables;
or import everything from your existing database.
eMerge
brings a sophistication and legitimacy too long missing from the general
bulk e-mail market. Just look at these features: |
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Simple
interface: An eMerge “campaign” consists of three simple
parts in a single window: the message header, the form letter, and
the mailing list. |
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| Built-in
text editor: You can compose your form letter within eMerge and
insert variables anywhere in the letter or the message header. The
text editor supports drag-and-drop editing within the application
and between applications. |
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| International
character support: eMerge supports all the Macintosh characters
included in the ISO-8859-1 standard and correctly transfers messages
in most every European language that includes accented characters. |
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Standard
variables: eMerge maintains a list of standard variables which
it generates internally or retrieves from the message header.
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the
date and time the message was sent |
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the
number of the message within the campaign |
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the
total number of messages in the campaign |
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the
subject of the message |
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the
recipient’s e-mail address |
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Name
parsing: eMerge analyzes the name of each recipient and breaks
the name into it’s components. You can then use any of these
components within your form letter.
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title
(Mr., Mrs., and so on) |
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middle
initial |
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first
name |
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last
name |
And, if
you don’t like the way eMerge parses the full name, you can force
it to parse it your way. |
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| Custom variables: In addition to the standard variables, you can
define up to ten of your own variables. These can contain a single word,
a single paragraph, or an entire letter. They can also include references
to other variables you’ve defined. The values for these variables can
be different for each of your recipients. You can enter these variables
manually or import them from a database. |
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| Message preview: You can preview your merged messages before sending
them. The preview shows the value for each variable in its correct place
in the form letter and indicates which variables have no values. |
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| Unlimited file attachments: You can attach any number of files to
the messages you send, although eMerge does warn you before sending particularly
large attachments. What’s more, in eMerge 1.6,
if you’ve installed the StuffIt Engine on your computer, you can configure
eMerge to automatically compress attachments before sending them. All attachments
are MIME encoded. |
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| Built-in mailing engine: You do not need another e-mail client to
send your messages; eMerge connects directly to the Internet and automatically
initiates up to 24 simultaneous connections that let
you send messages much faster than any other Macintosh e-mail application.
eMerge supports modem or direct network connections. |
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| Guaranteed delivery: eMerge connects directly to each recipient’s
mail server. This can tell you right away if the address is valid, if the
user exists on that server, or if the server is active. The message is delivered
immediately. Alternatively, you can send your messages through your company’s
firewall by using your own mail server. |
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| Custom DNR: eMerge employs its own Domain Name Resolver to look up
domain names and translate them into Internet addresses. This bypasses a
nasty bit of system software that is particularly prone to problems and
increases the speed of message delivery. |
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| Crash protection: eMerge saves the status of each message whenever
that status changes. This ensures that, in the event of a crash or a power
failure, you will always know which messages been sent and which have not. |
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| Built-in data base: You do not need to use another data base application
to generate, process, and sort your mailing lists. |
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| Duplicate removal: eMerge allows you to quickly identify and delete
duplicate recipients on your mailing lists. eMerge also automatically protects
you from sending the same message twice to the same person. |
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| Data base import and export: You can import and export eMerge mailing
lists from any common database format. Now, with eMerge 1.6,
you can easily specify which information to import into each variable and
define the order in which your variables are exported. |
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| Address dredging: If your contact information is not organized in
a database, you can use the dredging function to read through any file on
your computer—or a whole folder full of files—searching for Internet
addresses and adding them to your mailing list. eMerge can also process
each address it finds to create a full name for each recipient. |
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| Drag-and-drop addressing: You can drag any text into the address
window, and eMerge will enter any addresses and variables it finds. You
can even drag and drop addresses from e-mail messages, if your client supports
this. |
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| Address exclusion: You can exclude a list of addresses from the current
mailing list. Recipients marked as excluded do not receive a message. You
may choose to delete these recipients from the mailing list, or reset their
status after you send the campaign. |
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| Variable crunching: eMerge offers a series of functions that let
you process variables in bulk for any number of the recipients on your mailing
list. You can clear a variable, you can set a variable to a specified value
or add characters to the beginning or end of the current value, you can
move or swap values from one variable to another, or you can generate unique
serial numbers for everyone on your mailing list. |
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| Free technical support and product upgrades: As a registered purchaser
of eMerge, you are entitled to free technical support and free upgrades
to the current version of the application. We will also inform you of new
versions of the application as they are released. |
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