Update Contact Details Automatically

Dear all, please excuse the fact that this is not an explicit problem I have, but more of a general query.

I have an Access database (2003) with a load of contact details in it. Including various fields for each contact, such as their email, services they offer, where they are, main contact name etc.

Some of these contact details will be out of date and I want to make sure that all the contact details are up-to-date.

I am in the process of setting up a mail merge with a Word document which will output to Word their relevant details, and this can then be e-mailed to each of the contacts with them to update and e-mail back again. Someone would then manually update each of the contact details.

This is quite a time intensive way of doing it, and I wondered is there a way of automating the process? I don't have the time to put the whole of their details on a website so they can update it over the web, but is there a way that access could possibly read the return Word document to automate updating their details? Or is there another easier way of doing it, without using word and using something else such as Excel or something.

If anyone has any experience in doing this kind of thing I would be really glad of some tips.

Many thanks