Today we are bringing you a useful Constant Contact review that will help you learn more about the most important email-marketing tool.
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Constant Contact Review 2021: An Awesome Alternative to Mailchimp
Choosing an ideal email marketing solution over the other sometimes can give you a hard time. As it depends on specific business needs, you should consider different options and choose the right one for you.
The main goal is to effectively connect with your customers and actively engage them in the business.
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Mailchimp is one of the top and most well-known tools out there. However, the email marketing game has been changing since Mailchimp alternatives have shown.
Particularly a powerful rival called Constant Contact, which has more and more users every day.
So how does Constant Contact works? What are its pros and cons? Should you opt for this marketing tool? Is using Constant Contact for bloggers?
These and many other questions will be answered by our Constant Contact review.
Keep reading and find out why our guide is the most complete one among all other reviews of Constant Contact.
Welcome to the world of email marketing.
What is Constant Contact?
Constant Contact is one of the most popular email marketing tools. Completely dedicated to effectively connecting and engaging with customers, Constant Contact is an awesome alternative to the giant of email marketing, Mailchimp.
The software has been in the game since 1995 and to this day, it boasts more than 650,000 customers from all over the world.
It provides users with an easy way to use email and social advertising, event management tools and a variety of resources needed for a successful business.
Furthermore, it helps them to attract new customers while retaining the old ones. Due to their modern, mobile-optimized templates and drag-and-drop editor, it makes a simple way to create and send professional emails.
Moreover, a platform is also a great tool for building great websites. It offers numerous tools, online-personalized features, royalty-free images and many other options that we will mention in this Constant Contact website builder review.
But, what makes them different from other email marketing solutions?
Most importantly, Constant Contact offers various personalized features that cannot be found anywhere else. These are interesting event management tools, social campaigns, and different surveys.
Besides that, the software is cloud-based, so it makes it very easy to implement. Finally, they have amazing, helpful customer and service support, which contributes to the operation of the software.
How does Constant Contact work
To help you engage with your customers and gain new ones, Constant Contact uses various tools:
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Event Management Tools
Constant Contact uses event management to help you drive attendance at conferences, fundraisings or trade shows. It provides all the necessary tools to create email invitations or corresponding registration forms.
This online way of sending forms simplifies the event registration process and removes the need to collect information via telephone. They also offer you an option to integrate with other event marketing tools, such as Eventbrite.
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Contact Management
You can easily upload a spreadsheet for automatic processing or choose your content from Excel, Outlook or a CRM service.
Moreover, you can personalize the content with different tags and by adding custom fields. Cleaning up lists by avoiding duplicated is just a bonus.
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Statistical Reporting
Tracking and reporting are the main keys to track the growth of your customers. That’s why Constant Contact provides a detailed report with all statistical numbers of clicks, opens, unfollows, unsubscribes, spam reports, and much more.
All these statistics are graphically displayed in the user’s account. Furthermore, the software offers you the possibility to customize spreadsheets and to export any statistic you want.
Compare various performances and campaigns, view click maps and simply understand the reports.
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Marketing Automation
Use Constant Contact and set up welcome email, auto-responding series or send birthday anniversary emails. It is a great tool that takes care of customize emails, which you don’t have to worry about until the next modification.
An online and printable marketing calendar is also available so you don’t miss any important dates. In addition, Constant Contact will give you feedback based on the industry standard and your best sending times.
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Image Library
The software offers you access to free images, which you can integrate with your social media platforms and easily upload them from Instagram and Facebook.
Additionally, you can purchase the images through Bigstock at a discounted rate.
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Customizable Templates
More than 300 email templates, all mobile-responsive, are at your disposal. Choose the right one and customize it for your business.
Otherwise, if you have a small business, use their range of free stock images rather than taking out a pricey subscription with a stock photo provider.
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Mobile App
Another great tool that Constant Contact uses is their mobile app.
This way, you can take your emails with you wherever you go.
Through the mobile app, you can quickly view reports or schedule emails.
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Managing Bounces
If an email bounces, it will be placed on hold for 15 days before another attempt to resend. However, Constant Contact offers a section ‘Recommended for removal’.
As a result, you can clear up your list as you go forward.
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Languages
You can choose a language from 10 different options (mostly European).
Additional features
Event marketing and email automation belong to email plus features. If you are not sure if those options are good for you, here is a brief summary. Email automation is a great tool to schedule your emails automatically.
Use this feature to program emails to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries.
On the other hand, if you want to easily plan and manage attendees for upcoming events and conferences, event marketing is a tool for you.
Besides those two, Constant Contact offers several more plus features:
- Surveys & Polls
Quickly make any communication through online surveys and polls. Get more engaging by including online polls such as voting or rating, right from your email. Use surveys to gain more information about customers’ interests and preferences.
- Online Donations
A secure and mobile-responsive page allows you to collect donations from your contacts.
- Coupons
Mobile-responsive coupons are a great way to drive traffic right to your door or website.
- Subject Line A/B Testing
Maximize your open rates and test two subject lines to make sure you are sending the best ones.
Customer Service & Support
Furthermore, whatever the plan you choose (see the text below), the software provides you with powerful customer service and support. You will have at your disposal numerous guides, how-to articles and video tutorials with advanced and beginner tips and strategies.
Similarly, you can also participate in educational events such as online seminars or in-person training.
The team behind customer service is very professional, always offering marketing advice, premium designs, list growth tips, etc. You can easily reach them via phone, live chat or social media accounts.
Finally, for more information about specific questions, feel free to visit their Help Center.
See Related: How to Come Up With a Blog Name
Constant Contact Review: Pricing
When it comes to Constant Contact pricing, the software offers two plans. As you will see in this Constant Contact review, both plans have awesome features. Choose the one that fits your business best.
Email Plan
In the Constant Contact Email Plan, the pricing starts at $20 per month based on the number of active contacts in your account. You can send unlimited emails and you will get 1 GB of file storage. Choose from dozens of mobile-responsive email templates and customize them for personal use.
Furthermore, the plan supports Instagram and Facebook ads.
It contains all the main features such as reporting, contact management, email scheduling, integrations, list building tools, etc.
Email Plus
The Constant Contact Email Plus plan starts at $45 per month. In this case, too, the price is based on the number of contacts. It provides unlimited emails and 2 GB of file storage. In addition to the basic features of the Email Plan, Email Plus offers several extra features.
Email automation that is mentioned above (great for sending emails to specific people for a specific occasion) is the first one. Moreover, the plan includes Surveys & Pools, A/B testing, Coupons, Online Donations, and Event Marketing.
The Email Plus Plan offers multi-user functionality that enables you and your team to work in the same account with different roles and permissions. It can cover up to 10 users unlike basic Email Plan, which can only be used by one person.
Consequently, if you are starting your business and want some basic marketing tools with all the important features, go for an Email Plan.
On the other hand, if you want to get more powerful features to grow your business, the Email Plus Plan is perfect for you.
However, the key element is a 30-day free trial in both plans. In other words, you get the first month free.
Not bad, right? During the free trial, you can test their service and explore all the features mentioned in this Constant Contact review.
Finally, Constant Contact also offers an option of prepaying pricing. Pay in advance and save money on your monthly costs.
For example, if you pay for 6 months upfront, you will get 10% off. On the other hand, if you pay for 12 months in advance, you’ll receive 15 % off.
Pros and Cons of Constant Contact
Like any other software, Constant Contact also has several pros and cons.
Constant Contact Pros
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Easy to use
This marketing tool is very easy to use, especially for those who are beginners in email marketing. It comes with a beautiful interface and pre-built mobile-optimized templates. A drag and drop editor allows users to effortlessly create emails and personalize them for customers.
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Advanced Marketing Tools
In addition to all the basic features that are necessary to build your business, Constant Contact offers you several advanced marketing tools. Event marketing, surveys, polls, and online donations are just some of them.
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Customized temples and images
With more than 300 templates, Constant Contact is one of the largest free templates libraries. It also has an awesome image library, which is just a bonus.
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Track your results in real-time
The software provides you with a perfect chance to track your email marketing results in real-time. Using specific tools, you will get a glimpse into the report who is opening, clicking, and sharing your emails. This way, you can plan your next steps and strategy.
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Deliverability
Constant Contact has a high rate of deliverability.
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Email choice
The software offers a great range of emails such as newsletters, classic emails, autoresponders, surveys, events, etc.
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The 30-day Free Trial
Everybody loves free trials! It allows you to test the service and explore all the features. Use one month free and decide if this marketing tool is a good match for you.
Constant Contact Cons
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Price
If you search email-marketing services for beginners, Constant Contact is the best choice. However, compared to other email marketing software, this one is a little bit expensive.
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Limited Automation
As the software is created for beginner-level users, it has very limited automation tools. In addition to limited automation, there is a lack of reporting and targeting capabilities, as well as A/B testing, which is useful to advanced users.
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Email Design
Despite numerous templates and images, email design is somewhat restrictive. In other words, there is no lot of flexibility in editing email campaigns or sign up forms.
Constant Contact vs Mailchimp
As we emphasized at the beginning of this review, Constant Contact is an awesome alternative to Mailchimp. In the table below, you will find some of the main features compared to both platforms.
Constant Contact | Mailchimp |
Limited automation features | More advanced automation features |
High deliverability rates | High deliverability rates |
Changing the background color and font of the registration forms, QR code | Lots of customization options for registration forms, HEX color code, opt-in messages |
Two plans starting at $20 per month | Three plans starting at $10 per month |
One version of A/B testing | Three variations of A/B testing in its free plan |
Lots of customized templates | Not many customized templates |
2 GB file storage | Unlimited storage |
A gallery of free stock images | No gallery |
Great reporting system | Great reporting system |
450 integrations | 700 integrations |
Easy to use | Easy to use |
Powerful customer support (phone, live chat, email support) | Average customer support (online contact form, email support) |
Therefore, as you can see, both platforms have various advantages and disadvantages. Even though Mailchimp is currently the leading email-marketing solution, Constant Contact makes a great alternative.
Especially for those who are just starting their way in the email-marketing world.
Constant Contact Overview: Is this a marketing tool for you?
At the bottom line of this Constant Contact review, our answer to this question is yes. Constant Contact is a great marketing solution if you are a small business that needs all the main features for growth.
Most importantly, it offers numerous tools such as event marketing, online surveys, polls, contact management, email automation, customized templates, free images, etc.
The software is very easy to use; it has great integrations and one of the best deliverability rates. Real-time reporting and analytics will give you a realistic insight into the email marketing campaign’s performance.
Therefore, you can even compare the performances of several different campaigns!
To sum up, Constant Contact is definitely a good marketing tool for not only small businesses but also beginner-level marketers and non-profits who need an easy tool for building an email list.
On the other hand, if you are looking for something more sophisticated with lots of advanced options, maybe Constant Contact is not the right marketing solution for you.