Yes, there are company's that will take your database of names and do a mail merge for you. But they charge big money . You could also print off each letter on your printer, but that gets expensive with all the laser or ink jet cartridges you will use. Plus, it's time consuming to print, fold and stuff. Personalizing your email follow-up messages will get your prospect to pay close attention to your message.
People love to see their name on things.
This lets them know that it's for them. I always get a better response from prospects when I personalize email messages to them. Just like there is mail-merge software to produce printed letters, there is email merge software to produce email messages with the prospects name all throughout the letter. The best thing about following up using email and email merge software is that you can automate the entire process. You don't have to query your database to look for the next round of follow-up letters to go out like you would have to do using the mail.