workflow alert email question

workflow alert email question

My goal is to have any email sent to a designated person with info from a given lead/contact if a variety of criteria are met.  I'd be happy to initiate this process with the click of a button or automatically.  I tried accomplishing this with a workflow alert email.   Everything seems to work fine, except when the email is sent, it no longer includes the merge fields that I originally defined (when setting up the template emails).  Is there a good way to accomplish my goal?

I appreciate any helpful ideas