One of the cool features of LetterGenie paid accounts is the ability to create group/batch letters. Batch letters are identical letters created for a group of contacts, such as family, friends or clients.

Take, for example, a change of address letter. Let’s say, like us, you recently moved and want to let all of your clients or customers know that.  You can make a batch letter in LetterGenie to inform them of your change of address.

After you log in to your LetterGenie account, let’s first draft a new letter template. To create a new letter template, click the “New template” button on the right side of the main screen. This will open up the template editor.

In the template editor, name your address change template, then draft it.  Remember to drop in placeholders to personalize the letter with your customers’ names, addresses and even insert the current date.

You can also add your letterhead by checking the box to add your letterhead or even insert a scanned signature to make it formal. (To format your letterhead, select the “Settings” tab and use the letterhead editor to create a letterhead that will be used on any letter that you choose.)

If you’d like, you can even preview the letter as a PDF to make sure that it looks right. Remember to save your changes!

Now that you’re letter is looking spiffy, you need to select who to send the letter to.

In LetterGenie’s main screen, choose the group of contacts to whom you would like to send letters. You’ll find Groups in the left column. (In Highrise, groups are referred to as “tags”. Both are ways of categorizing individuals.)

Next, choose the Letter Template you just created – “Address Change”. You’ll find Templates in the column on the right.

Once you’ve selected the template and the intended receipient(s), LetterGenie will generate a preview of how the letter will look. (Usually, the letter is populated with the name and address of the first member of the group.)

If you’re satisfied with the preview, click on the “Create PDF” button to create you batch of letters. If not, just click on the “Edit” button and revised your letter until it’s perfect.

LetterGenie will output your newly created batch of letters as a single, continuous PDF file. Here’s a PDF sample of the Address Change batch letter. What’s more, if you want, LetterGenie will keep all of the letters you’ve created organized by date, template, and searchable by individual or group!

Just keep in mind that how many batch letters you can create at once depends on what paid plan you are subscribing to.  With our basic plan, you can create a batch of up to 14 letters at one time, plus plans = 28 letters at once, and premium accounts = 58 letters.

If you want to create batch letters for more people than your plan will allow you to create at once, just segment your Highrise tagged contacts into several groups.

For example, if you have a LetterGenie Plus plan and you’d like to send a batch letter to 50 people you’ved tagged as “Customers” in Highrise, you’ll want to break the group into two tagged groups – maybe “Customers A-M” and “Customers N-Z”.  In any case, Highrise’s new bulk tagging feature makes this simple to do.

That’s it! Now you’re a bulk mailing genius.  (In the Next Tutorial, I’ll explain how to create mailing labels.)