You MUST Read This Review Of Constant Contact!
Since 1995, Constant Contact has been providing email marketing services to various businesses since this software was designed as an email tool.
The company has managed to survive in the industry for over 25 years now and will continue to flourish over the coming years.
But the key question is;
Does all these 25 years indicate the quality of this software?
Lets find out in this detailed review of Constant Contact.
What You'll Learn
Without further ado, let me jump straight into more detail.
What Is Constant Contact?
Constant Contact is a company that provides email marketing tools for businesses.
Just like any other email software, Constant Contact allows business people to undertake their email marketing campaigns without too much hustle.
Constant Contact has been around since the mid 90s, and the company has managed to survive over the past two & half decades despite the stiff competition from other companies like Aweber, GetResponse, ActiveCampaign, etc.
This software allows you to send email newsletters as well as automated emails to your subscribers since it comes with some tools that were specifically designed for these functions.
Thus, Constant Contact is another great software to consider when looking for an email marketing software.
But the key question is;
What makes Constant Contact uniques from other softwares like GetResponse, ActiveCampaign Aweber, or Mailchimp?
To answer this question, lets take a look at Constant Contact's main features.
Constant Contact Features
1. Dashboard
Constant Contact provides one of the most cleanest interface in the industry since its interface is less complex in nature.
You can easily navigate through most of features from this dashboard since most of the features are nicely packed on the main dashboard.
After using various email marketing softwares, l think that Constant Contact's dashboard is the simplest dashboard that l have come across.
For this reason, most newbies don't struggle much in grasping how the interface works due to its less complexity.
2. Automations
Just like most softwares, Constant Contact allows you to send automated emails to your subscribers without too much hassle.
You can add some automated emails to your autoresponder and each new subscriber who joins your list will automatically go through the email series.
This is great for online marketers who want to promote their offers on autopilot since there wont be need to manually send promotional emails on a regular basis.
However, I have to admit that its automation tools are not as great as those offered by ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign is regarded as the ‘king of automations’ since it provides some more advanced automation tools.
But if you're someone who just want to send basic automated emails, then you might just try Constant Contact since this software provides average automation tools.
Another thing to note is that the automation feature is not available on their cheapest plan.
For this reason, you might be forced to upgrade to the Plus plan which starts at $45/month.
In my opinion, this is quite expensive since some providers like Aweber and ActiveCampaign offers automation tools for far less than 45 bucks.
3. List Segmentation
List segmentation is crucial in email marketing since you always need to group your subscribers based on their behaviours.
With Constant Contact, you can segment your subscribers based on various behaviours and interests.
For example, let’s say that your list comprise of car owners, you might need to differentiate those subscribers based on the model which they drive e.g. Toyota list, Lamborghini list, Porsche list, Mercedes list, etc.
The main reason why segmentation is crucial is because different car owners who owns different models have different tastes and preferences despite the fact that they all own automobiles.
Thus, it is very important to identify different behaviours of your subscribers and you then segment them based on their behaviours and interests.
4. Newsletters
Just like any other software, Constant Contact allows you to send email newsletters to your subscribers.
As opposed to automated emails, newsletters are generally broadcast emails which are sent manually to all your subscribers at once (although its possible to schedule your newsletters in advance).
Newsletters are key in any business since they allow you to keep in touch with your subscribers on a more frequent basis.
Constant Contact comes with a ton of premade templates which are designed to help you in creating your newsletters.
Although it does not provide the best newsletter templates, Constant Contact is still fine for people who want to send pretty much basic newsletters to their audience.
5. Signup forms
Constant Contact comes with a ton of premade templates that you can twerk in order to come up with your own signup forms.
You can play around these templates using the design editor so as to create your own unique forms.
Once done, you can simply grab the link and embed it on your website so as to allow your visitors to opt-in their email details.
6. Landing Pages
Constant Contact comes with some predesigned landing pages that are 75% done for you.
All you need to do it to edit the text and images of those templates and you will be good to go.
However, l have to admit that their landing pages are not the best when compared to other softwares like GetResponse.
Constant Contact needs to improve their templates since the currently available ones are kinda outdated.
7. Analytics & Reports
Constant Contact allows you to track the performance of your marketing campaigns through providing statistical data like open rates, click through rates, bounce rates, etc.
This data is very crucial in decision making since it helps to come up with actionable steps that can be done to improve those figures.
You can even compare your current data with your past metrics so as to track whether your efforts are yielding negative or positive results.
8. Integrations
As a big player which has been around for over 2 decades, Constant Contact integrates with a lot of different apps and softwares.
Some of them includes:
• Shopify
• WordPress
• PayPal
• Zapier
• Salesforce
• Magento
• Drupal
Is Constant Contact A Good Website Builder?
Although Constant Contact offers a website builder feature, they are not as good as WordPress, WIX, or Squarespace.
Constant Contact's website builder was not designed for advanced web building but rather for simple few pager sites.
Besides, a software that tries to be a master of many things ends up flopping in some areas.
No company is good at all things - that's why we talk about specialisation.
So my advice is;
Use Constant Contact only for email marketing. If you need to build a website, then go for WordPress or Wix since these companies purely specialises in that area.
Does Constant Contact Offer A Free Version?
Constant Contact do offer a free 60 day trial period.
Constant Contact offers a generous free plan than most of its competitors such as GetResponse, which only offers a 30 day trial period.
But its free trial is not as generous as Mailchimp since this software is ‘free for life' for those who has less than 2 000 email subscribers.
During the trial period, you can test out different functions of the software to determine whether the software is the right fit for you or not.
You can cancel at any time if you feel like this software is not the best for you and your business.
But if you wish to use this software beyond the trial period, you will need to upgrade to their paid plans which will be discussed in the next section.
How Much Does Constant Contact Cost?
There is no doubt that Constant Contact is probably one of the most expensive softwares in the industry since its prices are on the far end of the spectrum.
Although they have a generous 60 day trial version, you will have to pay high prices soon after this trial period.
Their pricing is differentiated into 2 main segments i.e. Email Plan & Email Plan Plus.
The main differences between these 2 is that the Email Plus plan comes with a lot of advanced features than the general Email Plan.
One of the privileges of using the Plus Plan is the ability to automate your emails.
Automation is only available in this plan thus you might be forced to upgrade if you wish to use this feature.
But to be honest, there are other tools like Aweber which allows you to send automated emails for far less than 45 bucks.
In my opinion, you can get more value for your money if you use other softwares like GetResponse, Aweber, ActiveCampaign, etc.
Another thing to note is that the prices on each plan increases as your list grows.
Thus, you might need to pay more in the future if your list continues to grow.
What Are Constant Contact's Main Competitors?
• Aweber
Is Mailchimp Better Than Constant Contact?
Mailchimp is better than Constant Contact if we take into account value for money.
Mailchimp is far much cheaper than Constant Contact since their lowest plan starts at $10/month, as opposed to Constant Contact which charges $25/month for their starter plan.
Besides the paid plans, Mailchimp also prove to offer a more generous free plan than Constant Contact since Mailchimp is 100% for people with less than 2000 subscribers on their list.
On the contrary, Constant Contact only offers a 60 day free trial meaning you will be forced to pay if you wish to use the software beyond the trial period (regardless of your list size).
When it comes to features, Mailchimp provides better features than Constant Contact since the latter is too basic when it comes to features.
Mailchimp also provides more stunning templates than Constant Contact since Mailchimp always work on improving their templates on a regular basis in order to stay relevant in the industry.
On the contrary, Constant Contact’s templates are not that great since the company is a bit reluctant when it comes to updating their templates.
What Is Constant Contact's Best Feature?
The list segmentation feature is Constant Contact's best feature (in comparison with other features).
With this feature, you can easily group your subscribers based on their behaviours and interests.
For example, you can group your subscribers based on their open and click through rates.
This is whereby you assign a specific score to each subscriber and you will group subscribers with the same score range in the same category.
This helps to send targeted emails to the right audience who are interested in certain topics.
Who Uses Constant Contact?
• Affiliate marketers
• Drop shippers
• Small businesses
• Digital marketers
• Network marketers
• Bloggers
*Anyone in the online marketing space can use this software.
What Are The Benefits Of Constant Contact?
• Easy to use and navigate
• Automation tools
• Segmentation tools
• Reporting and analytics tools
• Integrates with a lot of apps and softwares
Wrapping Up
In a nutshell, Constant Contact is a great software for businesses who wish to get started with email marketing.
The software provides some basic tools that you need in order to get started with email marketing.
However, Constant Contact is difficult to recommend due to the following factors:
• Quite expensive i.e. mismatch between its price and its features
• Outdated templates i.e. the templates are not as great as those offered by other competitors
• Not ideal for advanced marketers i.e. its features are too basic in nature.
For this reason, you might need to consider other softwares like GetResponse or ActiveCampaign if you want to get more value for your money.
You May Also Like: 10 Best Email Marketing Softwares
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