Addressee Merge Fields in Email

Jennifer Jones 2

I am creating an email and I would like to addressee the email to both spouses where applicable, or otherwise the individual. 

Our addressees are currently mapped to use the primary addressee first and the formal joint addressee second. 



If I put the merge field <Secondary Addressee> in the email, the email formats correctly for couples, but not for individuals.

• Dear Mr. John and Mrs. Jane Smith,
• Dear  , 

If I put the merge field <Primary Addressee> it excludes the names of spouses. 

• Dear Mr. John Smith,
• Dear Ms. Jane Doe,

If I put the merge fields <Secondary Addressee><Primary Addressee> the formating works for indivudals who do not have a spouse, but both addressee types show up for couples. 

• Dear Mr. John and Mrs. Jane Smith Mr. John Smith,
• Dear Ms. Jane Doe,

Is there a way to force an if/then statement for these merge fields so that (based on our mapping) it will select formal joint addressee, but if the constituent does not have that addressee type then use the primary addressee? Final results would be:

• Dear Mr. John and Mrs. Jane Smith
• Dear Ms. Jane Doe,

Ellen Turner

I'm sure there is a way to use if/then statements, but I'm not familiar with it.



My work around would be to do one data pull where <Secondary Addressee> is blank to get all of your individuals with their primary addressee and a second data pull where <Secondary Addressee> is not blank to get all of the couples. To make sure you have everyone, you can see if the totals from the two queries adds up to your initial query that had everyone together.



Then, combine the data from the two queries into one spreadsheet for your mail merge.

Chris Jones

Ellen Turner:

I'm sure there is a way to use if/then statements, but I'm not familiar with it.


My work around would be to do one data pull where <Secondary Addressee> is blank to get all of your individuals with their primary addressee and a second data pull where <Secondary Addressee> is not blank to get all of the couples. To make sure you have everyone, you can see if the totals from the two queries adds up to your initial query that had everyone together.


Then, combine the data from the two queries into one spreadsheet for your mail merge.

Actually, I don't believe that there is way to use if/then logic to select the best Addressee/Salutation. I wish that there was. Thanks for the workaround suggestion. I hadn't considered that.