Are you thinking about using Constant Contact for your email marketing needs? This review will help you decide if it’s worth it.
We’ll go over the key features, advantages, and disadvantages of using this service for your business.
By the end, you’ll have a better understanding of whether Constant Contact is the right choice for you to reach your marketing goals and engage with your audience.
Read on to learn more about Constant Contact’s features and make an informed decision.
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Table of Contents
What is Constant Contact?
Constant Contact is a well-known digital marketing platform made for small and medium-sized businesses to handle and improve their online presence.
It started in 1995 and first focused on easy-to-use email marketing services. As time passed, the platform grew and changed from just an email marketing tool to a full digital marketing package.
Nowadays, Constant Contact provides many tools to help businesses connect with their customers, automate their marketing, and see results on different platforms.
Core Features of Constant Contact
Email Marketing
Constant Contact’s email marketing tools are made to be easy to use even for people who aren’t design experts.
You can choose from lots of different email templates and use a drag-and-drop feature to make your emails look good without much effort.
You can also personalize your emails by grouping similar contacts together based on things like age or past interactions.
If you want to send follow-up emails automatically for things like birthdays or anniversaries, you can use the autoresponder feature.
Constant Contact also offers A/B testing in some of their plans so you can see which subject lines work best.
Email templates
Constant Contact’s email templates are a core feature to create beautiful, professional emails without needing design or coding skills.
It has hundreds of pre-designed templates that you select from several categories by the exact industry, occasion, and marketing goals.
You are allowed to easily edit the drag-and-drop editor to change colors, fonts, images, and layouts that better suit your brand.
Templates are also responsive, so they adapt automatically to display well on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops.
That means email will look polished no matter what screen size is being used. Support for personalization elements, such as name fields or special offers in Constant Contact templates, makes each email feel even more tailored.
But, for those who want to have even more flexibility, Constant Contact does have the ability to design templates from scratch if you wish.
With these templates, one could manage and control how an email communication could look and feel.
The customizable templates mean professional emails can be churned out time and again, consistently containing branding and finding better connectivity with their audience.
SMS Marketing
Constant Contact has a feature called SMS marketing that lets businesses send text messages directly to their audience in addition to their email campaigns.
SMS marketing is great for promotions or event reminders that need to reach people quickly, as messages are usually read right away.
This helps you connect with customers in real time with short, impactful messages that can lead to immediate responses like sales or appointment reminders.
With Constant Contact’s SMS marketing, you can customize messages and target specific groups of customers based on their preferences behaviors, and demographics.
They can also set up automated campaigns that send messages based on certain actions, such as a purchase.
You can track how well their messages are doing by looking at delivery rates click-through rates and engagement levels.
Integration and API
Constant Contact’s integration and API capabilities are made to help you with marketing by connecting the platform to other tools.
This makes it easier to keep track of customer information interactions and relationships.
You can update your contact lists and target specific customer groups based on data from CRM systems.
For online stores, Constant Contact works well with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce to manage product information track purchases, and send personalized promotions to increase sales.
Constant Contact also works with Zapier to connect to many other apps, allowing businesses to automate tasks and be more efficient.
For more specific needs, Constant Contact offers API access for developers to create unique integrations and features that connect with their systems.
These features help you organize data and create automated marketing processes that fit your needs, improving customer engagement strategies.
Event Marketing and Registration
Constant Contact’s event marketing and registration features help you plan promote and manage virtual in-person or hybrid events easily.
With these tools, you can handle registrations, ticketing, and RSVP tracking all in one place.
This makes it simple to create events, sell tickets, and keep track of who’s coming.
You can also make custom landing pages for your events, including important details like the date time location, and agenda. Plus, attendees can RSVP and buy tickets right from the page.
Constant Contact offers email templates designed for event promotions. You can use these templates to create attractive emails informing your contacts about the event, providing key details and inviting them to sign up.
These emails can be personalized and sent to specific groups, helping you reach more people and increase engagement.
With Constant Contact’s integrated event marketing features, promoting events and managing logistics is easier than ever.
This can lead to higher attendance rates and more successful event
Reporting and analytics
Constant Contact gives you the tools to see how well your email campaigns are doing.
You can track things like how many people open your emails, click on links bounce back, or unsubscribe.
This helps you understand if your messages are connecting with your audience.
Getting this feedback right away is important for making smart choices based on data and improving future campaigns.
Also, Constant Contact gives you detailed insights on how engaged your contacts are with your emails.
Understanding who is truly interested and who is not can tailor your messages to keep people interested and involved.
If you link your social media or online store to Constant Contact, you can get even more insights into how these platforms impact your marketing goals.
This all-around view helps you make informed changes to make your marketing efforts more successful.
Surveys and Polls
Constant Contact’s surveys and polls features give you important tools to get feedback and insights from your audience.
This helps you understand what they like and make your offerings better.
A survey tool provides the means to build a survey for your business needs be it to determine the level of satisfaction of customers regarding, most preferably, products or quality of service.
You can send these surveys by email or put them on your website so it’s easy for your audience to share their thoughts in an organized way.
Plus, Constant Contact lets you add quick polls to your emails or website so you can quickly see what people think about specific questions.
Polls are a fun way to get people involved and get fast feedback on what your customers like or the trends they follow.
These polling and survey features will enable you to make intelligent decisions about what your audience is telling you so that in return, you will be able to enhance your product services or customer relationships.
This involvement not only helps you focus your marketing efforts but also builds a sense of community and connection with your audience.
Automation and Campaign Scheduling
Constant Contact’s automation and campaign scheduling features make it easier for you to do email marketing.
It helps you engage with your audience without putting in a lot of work.
Email automation lets you make workflows that send out emails based on what users do or specific criteria you choose.
For example, you can send welcome emails to new subscribers’ birthday messages or a series of messages over time.
This helps you communicate with people at the right time and saves you time.
You can also schedule your email campaigns to go out at certain times and dates.
This is good for reaching people all over the world and for special events. By sending emails when people are most likely to read them, you can get more people to open and engage with your messages.
These features make it easier for you to send personalized and timely emails that get better results for your marketing efforts.
Social Media Integration and Ads
Constant Contact makes it easy to handle both email marketing and social media together.
You can schedule posts and keep track of how well your social media posts are doing.
The platform lets you create and manage ads on Facebook and Instagram so you can reach your audience easily.
Plus, you can see how well your social media strategies are working and make changes to improve engagement and get better results.
E-Commerce Integration
Constant Contact has tools that help online businesses sell more and market better.
With shoppable landing pages, you can make special pages where customers can buy products directly.
This makes it easier for customers to shop and helps increase sales.
Constant Contact also has email templates made for sales new products and seasonal promotions.
These templates look good and encourage people to visit your store and buy things. They help make your marketing more effective.
Constant Contact works with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.
This lets you keep track of sales and how customers interact with your store.
AI-Marketing
Constant Contact’s AI marketing tools help you market smarter, not harder. These tools let you easily make email templates with your brand and get messages made just for your audience.
The AI makes it easier to design campaigns for different channels like email and social media in just a few minutes.
This saves time and keeps your marketing consistent so you can connect well with your audience without worrying about making content manually.
Using AI lets you focus on planning and growing your business while having automated data-driven marketing campaigns that work well for your customers.
List Management and Segmentation
Constant Contact has strong tools for managing and organizing your email lists to make your marketing more effective.
Contact segmentation helps you organize your contacts by grouping them according to their interests behaviors demographics and level of engagement.
This helps you send more personalized messages that will resonate with the right people.
The platform also has tools for building your email list like customizable pop-up forms landing pages and forms you can embed on your website.
These tools make it easy to get new subscribers and increase your reach.
In addition, Constant Contact has tools to keep your email lists clean and up-to-date by managing bounces unsubscribed, and duplicate contacts automatically.
This helps improve the delivery of your campaigns and increase engagement rates.
Mobile App
Constant Contact’s mobile app lets you control your email marketing and social media while you’re out and about.
Using the mobile campaign management feature, you will be able to send and track email campaigns right from your smartphone or tablet.
This lets you see how your campaigns are doing in real time no matter where you are.
The app also has tools for managing your contact lists on the go. You can add new contacts and organize your lists right from your mobile device.
This makes it easy to grow and improve your audience even when you’re at events or meeting with clients.
A/b testing
A/B testing also known as split testing is a helpful tool offered by Constant Contact.
It allows you to compare two different versions of an email to see which one works better.
To do this you create two versions of the same email with different elements like subject lines content images or buttons.
When you start an A/B test the platform sends each version to a random group of people on your email list.
After a set amount of time, you can look at important numbers like how many people opened the email clicked on links, and took action.
This helps you figure out which version is more popular with your audience.
Then you can choose to send the better version to the rest of your email list to make your campaign more effective.
Constant Contact’s A/B testing tool is easy to use and gives you clear information on how well your emails are doing.
This lets you make smart choices based on data to improve your email marketing strategy.
Drag-and-drop email editor
The easy-to-use email editor in Constant Contact helps you make attractive emails without needing to know how to code or design.
You can drag images, text buttons, and social media links to create your email layout.
There are many different email templates to choose from so you can make emails that match your brand.
You can edit your emails in real time to see how they look as you make changes.
The editor lets you personalize content, change colors, and fonts, and resize images with just a few clicks.
This makes it simple to customize your emails for different campaigns or groups of people.
Signup Forms & Landing Pages
Constant Contact has strong tools for making signup forms and landing pages to help you get more people on your email list and make your marketing better.
Signup Forms
You can make custom signup forms to get new subscribers from your website or social media.
Constant Contact offers different types like pop-up forms that are part of your website and separate landing pages.
These forms can be changed to match your brand and can ask for important details like names and email addresses.
You can also add features like double opt-in to follow rules and make sure your subscriber list is good quality.
Landing Pages
Besides signup forms Constant Contact lets you make special landing pages for different campaigns events or promotions.
These pages can have unique content pictures and ways to get visitors to sign up for your newsletter get resources or buy something.
You can change the layout and design to fit your marketing goals and brand style.
Customer Support
Constant Contact gives lots of help to customers so they can use the platform well and make their marketing better.
You can get help through live chat and phone during business hours or send an email if it’s not urgent.
The Help Center online is always open and has articles and guides on different topics from setting up your account to advanced marketing ideas.
You can also join live webinars and watch training videos to learn how to use email and social media for marketing.
There are forums where users can share tips and help each other out.
All these resources make sure users have the support and information they need to do well with their marketing.
Constant Contact Pricing
LITE PLAN
The Lite plan starts at $12 a month for handling 0-500 contacts. You get basic email marketing functionality in the form of template customization, automated sequences of welcome emails, social network marketing, and event management.
At this tier, the plan allows for only one user, which renders teamwork almost impossible.
It is perfect for those just getting started or for small businesses because there is not much going on, so the simple needs of each respective business should be satisfied through this plan.
With this option, you are short of more enhanced functionalities. Despite this, the Lite plan offers good value for the features that are included.
Standard Plan
The Standard plan will meet the requirements of most users, starting at $35 a month for 0-500 contacts.
You can expect A/B testing for subject lines, email archiving, scheduling, prebuilt automation templates, resending options for non-openers, social media ad integration, and contact segmentation in this plan.
These features amplify the power of email marketing campaigns and make good use of automation.
At an address book size of approximately 5,000, however, it increases to $110 monthly, at which point you may want to consider some of the more affordable alternatives offering comparable functionality.
Premium Plan
Premium plan pricing starts at $80/month for up to 500 contacts, with advanced features including custom automation, dynamic email content, SEO tools, and enhanced advertising with a dedicated manager.
Also, it increases reporting and email engagement heat maps.
This one has a higher price tag but is meant for businesses that want to put their whole digital marketing into a single tool.
SMS Marketing
All plans are able to be upgraded with the addition of SMS marketing functionality.
This starts at $10 a month for 0-500 messages. It also includes a dedicated phone number and an editor for composing messages that supports live previews.
Please note, though, that for now, SMS marketing is available only for customers in the United States.
Constant Contact Pros and Cons
Pros
- Ease of Use: Its interface is quite easy to use; hence, Constant Contact can be used even by users who are beginners and have no technical experience.
- Customization Options: There is a wide range of email templates provided in the platform which can easily be customized through an inbuilt drag-and-drop editor in order to create stunning, branded emails.
- Extensive Support: Constant Contact offers day-to-day support through various channels such as live chat, phone, email, and a comprehensive Help Center with an enormous resource base comprising webinars and tutorials.
- List Management Tools: Advanced contact segmentation, list-building features, and list hygiene functionalities will give users enhanced capabilities to manage and optimize their email lists.
- Automation Features: The platform offers welcome emails, drip campaigns, and behavioral triggers that help marketers in automating and streamlining their campaigns in the best possible manner.
- Event Management: With event management as part of its package, Constant Contact lets users promote events, manage event registrations, and send out event-based communications without hiccups.
- Integration Capabilities: It integrates seamlessly with leading e-commerce solutions like Shopify and WooCommerce, alongside CRM, all under one umbrella for a seamless marketing experience.
CONS
- Price: Although competitive in terms of price, to some users, the price of Constant Contact seems to be on the higher side, especially when scaling up for larger contact lists.
- Limited A/B Testing: Its A/B testing features are pretty basic as compared to its rivals, which offer limited test options besides subject lines for some plans.
- Single User Limitation on the Basic Plan: The Lite plan limits this to only one user, which may be a disadvantage for teams that require shared access to the platform.
- SMS Marketing Availability: Only U.S. customers have access to this feature of SMS marketing, hence limiting its usefulness in other regions of operation.
- Learning Curve for Advanced Features: While the basic functionalities are easy to use, some of the advanced features take time and require effort before one can say they have mastered them.
Constant Contact Alternatives
Below are three other options for alternatives to Constant Contact, each serving different marketing needs.
1. AWeber
AWeber is one of the most developed email marketing platforms, offering strong automation, custom email templates, and ease of use.
It specializes in helping small businesses and entrepreneurs create effective email campaigns with autoresponders and list segmentation.
AWeber also boasts a variety of integrations with popular web applications, making connectivity smooth for its users.
Furthermore, having a strong focus on deliverability-that is, making sure your emails actually make it to other people’s inboxes-makes it a pretty reliable choice for marketers.
2. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an all-in-one marketing automation platform that efficiently integrates email marketing, automation, and CRM into one comprehensive platform.
It enables one to make highly personalized email campaigns, leveraging advanced segmentation and targeting options.
With automation at the heart of it, ActiveCampaign lets marketers create elaborate workflows that trigger according to users’ behaviors and interactions.
The CRM functionality aids in better lead management and building a customer relationship, hence turning out to be ideal for businesses considering customer bonding and retention.
3. HubSpot
HubSpot is an all-in-one inbound marketing platform, and emailing is a lot more powerful in the greater suite.
You get an intuitive drag-and-drop email editor, advanced analytics, high-end automation, and many other features.
The ability to incorporate the email marketing capability with the CRM feature within HubSpot provides for seamless tracking of customer interactions and personalization of communication.
It offers different pricing plans, and one of them caters to the needs of small businesses that require a free version.
In addition to this, it offers a set of tools for managing social media, creating landing pages, and generating leads.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Constant Contact offers valuable tools for email marketing, making it easier to reach your audience effectively.
With features like user-friendly templates, list management, and analytics, it can help boost your business’s online presence.
While it may not be the cheapest option, its solid support and reliability can justify the investment for many.
Consider trying Constant Contact to see if it meets your needs and helps you grow your business today.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Constant Contact
Can I use Constant Contact for SMS marketing?
Yes Constant Contact has a feature called SMS marketing that can be added to any plan for extra money. The cost starts at $10 per month for sending 0-500 messages. But keep in mind that this feature is only available to customers in the United States not including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Can I Use Constant Contact For Free?
You can try Constant Contact for free for a short period. You can choose between a 14-day or 60-day trial to use some of its main features. The free trial is mainly for testing as it only lets you send up to 100 emails.
Does Constant Contact support A/B testing?
Constant Contact offers A/B testing for email subject lines in some plans, allowing you to test different variations to see which performs best. This can help optimize open rates and engagement.
Is Constant Contact suitable for beginners?
Constant Contact is user-friendly and offers a drag-and-drop email editor, customizable templates, and a comprehensive Help Center, making it easy for beginners to get started with email marketing.
Is Constant Contact compliant with GDPR and other privacy regulations?
Constant Contact offers tools and features to help users comply with GDPR and other privacy regulations, such as double opt-in for subscribers and options for managing data consent.
