Galleon
Software releases eMerge 1.0
Mac application gives bulk e-mail the personal
touch
TORONTO.
March 20, 1997. Galleon Software today announced the release of
eMerge, 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 eMerges built-in tools to create a list of names,
e-mail addresses, and other variables; or import all the information
you need from existing FileMaker and 4th Dimension databases.
One
of Galleons early beta testers used eMerge right away to send
product upgrade announcements to their customers. For a long
time wed been looking for a product just like this,
said Ted Leckie, the president of Sienna Software. On the
practical side, we needed our messages to include each customers
serial number and mailing address, but we also wanted the messages
to have that personal touch.
Since
eMerge was named the Internets Cool Tool of the Day, the people at Galleon Software have
been taken aback by the response. People are using eMerge
in ways wed never thought of, said Colin Biggin, president,
and one of the developers of the product. Theres a professor
in Georgia who is using eMerge to send grades to his students, weve
sold copies to online businesses who are using eMerge to pull people
to their websites, and of course weve been using eMerge to
promote itself.
eMerge
boasts a sophisticated mailing engine, but Biggin claims that the
bulk of the development effort went into creating the user interface.
We wanted something that people would understand right away.
An
eMerge campaign consists of three simple parts in a
single window: the message header, the form letter, and the mailing
list. But what sets eMerge apart from other bulk mailers is that
you can insert your own variables pretty much anywhere in the message.
Heres an example:
Dear
<firstname>, weve just released the latest version
of <software>.As a registered user, you can upgrade
to version <number> for $<cost>.
People
are still surprised by how well this simple form of direct marketing
works. Weve had trouble keeping up with the orders,
said Ted Leckie. Weve even had people thanking us for
our nice letter!
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