Mass Mailing in Salesforce

What is mass mailing?

Mass mailing refers to sending the same email to multiple recipients at once. In Salesforce, this is often called list email or bulk mailing.

Example: If you need to send one email to a group of Contacts, this can be done using mass mailing

What are the different ways to send bulk emails in Salesforce?

This question was recently asked during a Salesforce Developer interview at PwC India.

Ways to send bulk email, compared

1. Send List Email (Lightning). Open a list view of Contacts, Leads or Person Accounts, select the records and choose Send List Email. Write or pick a template, send it now or schedule it. It needs no code and tracks each email as an activity. Daily sending limits apply, so check the limits for your edition.

2. Apex. Use Messaging.SingleEmailMessage for personal emails or Messaging.MassEmailMessage for the same template sent to many recipients. A MassEmailMessage accepts up to 250 target Ids, which can be Contacts, Leads or Users, and it needs a template.

3. Flow. A Flow can loop through a collection of records and use the Send Email action, or call an email alert. It is a good choice for scheduled or event-based emails that an admin should maintain.

4. Mass Email in Salesforce Classic. The older Mass Email tool is available in Classic, from Setup and the Tools area of Contacts and Leads.

Apex example

List<Id> contactIds = new List<Id>(); // add up to 250 Contact Ids
Messaging.MassEmailMessage mail = new Messaging.MassEmailMessage();
mail.setTargetObjectIds(contactIds);
mail.setTemplateId(templateId); // Id of an email template
mail.setSaveAsActivity(true);
Messaging.sendEmail(new Messaging.MassEmailMessage[] { mail });

How to answer this in an interview

  1. Define mass mailing: one message sent to many recipients.
  2. Name the four options and say when you would use each: List Email for admins, Flow for automation, Apex for custom logic.
  3. Mention the limits: daily email limits and 250 recipients per mass email call.
  4. Mention tracking and opt-out handling, since bulk email must respect Email Opt Out.

FAQ

Which option needs the least maintenance?
Send List Email for one-off sends, and a Flow with an email alert for repeating ones.

Does mass email respect Email Opt Out?
Yes. Contacts and Leads who opted out are skipped in standard mass email tools.

Leave a Reply