Tutorial: Leverage marketing lists across your team

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online includes search features that you can use to manage and filter accounts, contacts, and leads. Use these features to set up and share lists that your whole team can use. Target your marketing efforts by setting up a list based on criteria you define and print mailing labels to use for a targeted mailing. While you're at it, print a call-down sheet for your telesales group to use for follow-ups.

Note

This tutorial is designed to work best with Office 2010.

Lesson 1: Create a useful marketing list

You may want to target a campaign at a subset of your accounts, contacts, or leads, such as accounts based in Chicago, or accounts with open opportunities worth more than $1,000. The easiest way to add members to a list in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is to create an empty list, and then add the members.

You can create either a static or a dynamic marketing list. The members in a dynamic marketing list change every time you open the marketing list. In a static marketing list, you are required to update the members explicitly. Let's create a dynamic marketing list that you can share with your team.

Create a marketing list with members that change dynamically

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Marketing or Sales, and then click Marketing Lists.
2. In the Records group, click New.
3. In the Marketing List form, specify the following details:
   1. Type a name for your new list.
   2. In the Member Type list, select Account, and then click Save.
4. Under Related, click Marketing List Members.
5. Under List Tools, on the Marketing List Members tab, in the Actions group, click Manage Members.
6. In the Manage Members dialog box, define the search criteria:
   1. Click Select, and then select Address 1: City. Click Enter Value, and then type Chicago.
   2. Click Select, and scroll down to the bottom section of the list, under the Related heading. This section shows all the related records.
   3. Under Related, select Opportunities (Potential Customer).
   4. Click Select, and then select Est. Revenue.
   5. Change Equals to Is Greater Than, click Enter Value, and then type 1,000.
7. Click Find.
8. If you are satisfied with the search results, click Use Query.

   You can now share this marketing list with your team members.

   Tip

   If you want to use a static marketing list, you can use Lookup or Advanced Find to add the members.

Lesson 2: Create labels for a mailing to your marketing list

You can export any list you've created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to Microsoft Office Excel as a static worksheet, or as a dynamic PivotTable or worksheet. To make mailing labels, you add members to a marketing list in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and then merge the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online data into a label template in Microsoft Word 2010. There are two ways you can export lists from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online:

• Create a view that includes all the address data and export it as a static worksheet. An exported static worksheet contains all the columns that were visible in the view at the time you exported it.
• Export any view as a dynamic worksheet. When you export to a dynamic worksheet, you can choose the columns you want to export.

Perform a mail merge using a dynamic worksheet

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Marketing or Sales, and then click Marketing Lists.
2. Open the marketing list you want to use for your mail merge.
3. On the Add tab, in the Marketing group, click Mail Merge on List Members.
4. If you have other languages installed, you can select a language to filter the list of templates.
5. In the Select the mail merge type list, select Label.
6. Select if you want to start with a blank document or a template. If you select a template option, click the Lookup button to select a template.

   New mail merge templates are created in the System Settings area.

7. Click Data Fields, select the address columns you need for mailing labels, clear the columns you don't need, and then click OK.
8. Click OK.

   Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online automatically opens a Word document. In the File Download dialog box, click Open.

   This is not your mail merge document. This is an interim page. Follow the directions in the Word document, including clicking CRM.

9. In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, verify that the list is accurate, and then click OK.
10. To continue the mail merge, follow the instructions provided in the Mail Merge pane.
    1. To add data fields (placeholders that insert text into an e-mail message or document automatically) to display more information, click More items. You can use up to 64 data fields.
    2. In the document, add line breaks, spaces, punctuation and any other formatting required by your postal service.
    3. In the Mail Merge task pane, under Replicate labels, click Update all labels.
    4. Click Next: Preview your labels.
    5. If you are satisfied with the format of your labels, click Complete the merge.
    6. Put label sheets in your printer, and then click Print.

    For more information, see the Microsoft Word 2010 Help documentation.

11. When you have completed work on the mail merge document, close it, and then delete the interim mail merge document (Mail_Merge_nnnn.xml) and the associated text file (Mail_Merge_nnnn.txt) with the same name.

    Warning

    Mail merge may leave sensitive data on your computer.

    • The mail merge process creates two files in addition to your mail merge documents. These files are the data sources used by mail merge and contain Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online data, which may include sensitive customer data. You should delete these data source files after you complete the mail merge.
    • Both files have the same name: Mail_Merge[nnnn], where nnnn is a 4-character, randomly generated number. One file is a .doc file and the other is a .txt file. Unless you moved the files or saved them to another directory, these files are usually in a temporary files folder on your computer.

Lesson 3: Refine your marketing list

Keeping your marketing list up to date ensures that the right leads are in the list so your salespeople can follow up effectively. If you are using a dynamic marketing list, the members will be automatically updated, but if you are using a static marketing list, you will need to evaluate and update the members manually.

Update members of a static marketing list

1. In the Navigation Pane, click Marketing or Sales, and then click Marketing Lists.
2. Open a static marketing list that contains accounts, leads, or contacts.
3. Under Related, click Marketing List Members.
4. Under List Tools, on the Marketing List Members tab, in the Actions group, click Manage Members.
5. In the Manage Members dialog box, click Use Advanced Find to evaluate members, and then click OK.
6. Add criteria to the query to expand or narrow the accounts, contacts, or leads you want to include in the list.
7. Click Find.
8. Select the Keep all the members returned by search in the marketing list option, and then click Update Marketing List.
9. Click Save and Close.

Your team can now use this list to concentrate on the updated members.

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