Company: Constant Contact
Background: Constant Contact is an automated digital marketing solution that helps businesses (and some individuals) extend their reach. It is feature-packed with anything you would ever need, from creating your outreach content to analyzing results.
Starting Price: $9.90/mo
Currency: USD
Visit Online: https://www.constantcontact.com/
Review Summary & Ratings
Constant Contact is simple yet highly agile tool perfect for small to medium businesses to beef up their marketing capabilities. Its easily navigable interface is the ideal balance of simplicity plus feature set. Stay away from overly complex processes and work in pleasant, streamlined workflows here.
Among a host of other best email marketing services, ConstantContact is a name that comes up constantly (no pun intended). Aside from its core competency in email marketing, the site has also expanded to include other marketing-related services which are a plus.
Today we’ll be looking at what Constant Contact offers and the experience you can expect if you decide to give it a go.
Learn More
Pros
- Free 30-day Trial Period (no credit card needed)
- Easy contact list importing
- Event management features
- Impressive list of add-ons
Cons
- Strange auto-respond system
Important 2022 Update:
Constant Contact has undergone some evolution and is today significantly different – in many good ways. Pricing overhaul aside, Constant Contact now offers even more new tools.
Some examples include list segmentation for eCommerce websites, social media marketing utilities, support for events, and more.
Constant Contact Special Deal (2022)
If you order Constant Contact today, you'll get a 20% discount for 3 months. You can start sending unlimited emails with hundreds of templates at just $16/month > Click here to order.
Constant Contact Features
Keeping in mind that Constant Contact’s primary focus is in email marketing, once you’ve registered an account, you’ll have the opportunity to create an email list, enter your contact information and then create your first email.
Contact information is mandatory, and for those of you who are new to email marketing, this is an area to note. Many countries today have strict laws regarding data privacy and personal data. Please be aware of these laws and ensure that you comply with them before sending out any marketing emails!
1. Creating a List
Your subscriber list is the heart of your email marketing campaign and consists of all the email addresses that you want to reach out to. Entering them one at a time would be a new form of insanity, so Constant Contact has several easy ways to fill your list.
The quickest and easiest methods are to upload them in the form of a file, directly import them from a Gmail contact list or even extract them from Microsoft Outlook. If you’re uploading the list in a file, note that Constant Contact recognizes Comma Separated Values (CSV), Excel, and plain text formats.
2. Running Your Email Marketing Campaigns
Once you’ve got your email list sorted out, you’ll be ready to embark on an email marketing campaign.
To help you in this, Constant Contact has a vast repository of templates to get you started. Even better, there’s a visual editor which you can use to modify any of those templates to suit your needs. You can get a preview of some of those templates before you sign up for Constant Contact.
3. Constant Contact email templates
Learn more: See all email templates at Constant Contact.
Each template includes all the essential information necessary for your email to comply with most standard regulations. Some examples include a physical address for your business, the mandatory unsubscribe link, and other helpful information.
If you’ve got your logos or proprietary images, they can be uploaded and used in your newsletters as well. You’re allowed up to 2GB of storage, so it’s unlikely you’ll run out anytime soon.
Once you’ve named, edited, and are satisfied with the email campaign you’ve designed, you can save it and either send it immediately or schedule it for a later, automated delivery time and date. Constant Contact follows Australian Western Standard Time (AWST), so you’ll have to convert your local time following that to schedule emails correctly.
The one slight flaw that I felt important is that there does not appear to be any way the system can auto-respond to user replies. What Constant Contact considers as auto-respond is more like a trigger effect that happens pre-set times to release a series of emails.
4. Checking The Results of Your Campaigns
Following any campaign, you can see its results under the Reporting Tab.
Constant Contact has an easy-to-read graph of your results and includes vital statistics such as click rate and open rates. If you decide to integrate Google Analytics, more information will be available. Aside from single campaign results, you can also match your results across various campaigns.
5. Constant Contact Apps and Integrations
Constant Contact has an eye-opening list of over 300 apps and other modules which you can integrate into your main account. These range from email import apps for your Google or Outlook accounts to working with Zoho and Azureplus for Customer Relationship Management and Automated Lead Management and Sales Forecasting.
The apps are listed in a Marketplace where they can be sorted similarly to WordPress plug-ins, by name, ratings, reviews, or even when they were added. These apps offer the unprecedented ability to scale up your email marketing immensely.
6. Event Management
This is something that most email marketing tools have not really included yet. You can sign up for event management in Constant Contact as an additional module to your account. This lets you email an event invitation and have the user fill in their replies. Those replies get filed in the system and you can track registrations right from the comfort of the Dashboard.
This is a very simple feature that could be so useful to many businesses. In fact, you can even solicit donations for certain events through an email that can link to a custom donations page. Unfortunately, there is an additional monthly fee for this.
7. Additional Resources and Support
As one of the top names in the email marketing game, Constant Contact wants you to succeed in your campaigns. To that end, it has a big repository of online resources which you can call upon for help. All you have to do is to choose what industry you’re in and you’ll get campaign ideas and even suggestions as to what templates would be suitable for your needs.
Aside from that the system also comes with a knowledge base that holds the answers to many common issues that past users have faced. This includes both articles as well as video tutorials. If that still hasn’t solved whatever issues you’re facing, there is also an extensive support system.
Constant contact comes with chatbot help, email support, an active user community as well as direct call phone lines from the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK. There is another line that supports calls from other international areas. Phone support is not 24/7 but the time supported is generous.
For those truly desperate for assistance, Constant Contact also offers limited help on the weekends via its Twitter account.
Pricing: How Much Does Constant Contact Cost?
Constant Contact Core & Plus Plans
Constant Contact offers two main variants in Email Marketing: Core and Plus.
| Subscribers | Core | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| 0-500 | $9.99/mo | $45.00/mo |
| 501-2,500 | $35.00/mo | $70.00/mo |
| 2,501-5,000 | $55.00/mo | $95.00/mo |
| 5,001-10,000 | $80.00/mo | $125.00/mo |
| 10,001-15,000 | $105.00/mo | $180.00/mo |
Core is a basic single-user version and does not allow email automation, Google Ads integration, auto-generated segments, and conversion and sales reporting.
Aside from that, everything else is priced on a tiered basis, depending on the size of your email list. Prices range from the low end of 500 subscribers at $9.90 per month to 50,000 subscribers at $410 per month. Those with even more extensive lists must deal with them directly for pricing.
For new users, Constant Contact comes with a 30-day trial period, during which you’ll be able to enjoy all the benefits of an Plus account. The only difference is that you’re limited to a list size of 100 during your trial period.
Constant Contact All-in-One CRM
If you opt for the add-on All-in-One CRM platform, be prepared to pay $339 per month at least, depending on the size of your marketing list.
Constant Contact vs Mail Chimp
| Features/Pricing | CTCT Core * | CTCT Plus * | MailChimp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plans? | No | No | Yes |
| 0 – 500 subscribers | $9.99/mo | $45/mo | Free |
| For 2,000 subscribers | $35/mo | $70/mo | $34/mo |
| For 10,000 subscribers | $80/mo | $125/mo | $87/mo |
| For 25,000 subscribers | $155/mo | $270/mo | $225/mo |
| eCommerce Segmentation | No | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable Pop-up Forms | No | Yes | Yes |
| Polls | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RSVP | No | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly Email Sends | Unlimited | Unlimited | Based on Contact Limit |
| Facebook / Instragram Marketing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| List Building Tools | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nonprofits Discount | 20 – 30% Off | 20 – 30% Off | No |
| Free Trial | 30 days | 30 days | No |
* Note:
- MailChimp free plan is available for below 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 emails per month.
- Prices listed for Constant Contact are before discount. If you subscribe to Constant Contact today, you'll get a 20% discount for 3 months and start sending unlimited emails at just $16/month > Click here to order.
Success Stories
For the past decade, The Vin Bin has been proving its expertise by offering customers a sophisticated variety of wines, craft beers, spirits, artisanal cheeses and gourmet foods. The brainchild of Rick Lombardi, this specialty store has grown from strength to strength and has made his passion a thriving business.
Constant Contact has been one of the tools that Rick uses and he credits it with being a big part of his success. The system offered him an affordable way to build customer relationships, and bring them to Vin Bin. Rick and many others like him have leveraged on email marketing to empower their business and increase growth.
Learn more: Read success stories at Constant Contact
Final Thoughts: Should You Pay for Constant Contact?
With more than 650,000 customers served over 15 years, Constant Contact has become a leader in small business marketing. They offer a special blend of expert knowledge, efficient core competency as well as strong support system.
Personally, having used a few email marketing platforms before, Constant Contact feels pretty good. It has all the facilities (and more) that a professional site would offer while at the same time having a simplified user interface that won’t overly intimidate. Once you factor in that solid support system, I’d say that this is a real winner.
Learn More: Visit Constant Contact Online
