Likelihood to Recommend Constant Contact is an excellent tool for sending out flyers and newsletters. However, I feel the content's appearance is typically all the same. When I receive an email from Constant Contact, I can immediately identify it - the templates usually all look the same. When sending out communications with images, it is easy to use Constant Contact and link webpages. However, the email layout is always vertical and can get very lengthy. I prefer a more flip-book approach with options to flip the page.
Read full review If you have a mobile workforce, it likely wouldn't be as appropriate (keep in mind we're using the desktop client, and have very limited experience with the web app). It is well suited if your business needs lots of custom processes- find a good vendor. We utilize SimpleSoft out of Ohio, and they have been excellent. Key question: think about where your business is going to be in 5-10 years, and will this CRM solution be able to grow with us?
Read full review Pros Market segmentation is great: my main segmentation is by region because that's how our sales team is divided. Lists: making customized email lists is easy and intuitive; the custom fields allow some flexibility in case our fields don't exactly line up with Constant Contact's. Campaigns: creating campaigns is quick and simple. I especially appreciate the 'resend to non-openers' option. I am constantly using this feature. Subject line generator: I like using the recommended subject lines. I'm able to plug in their recommended ideas, or sometimes, this feature helps me generate my own ideas. Read full review Saleslogix functionality can be managed to a very granular level for each individual using it. Within the users profile you can restrict access to modules, remove write permission, remove export privileges, etc. Saleslogix has one of the best sync engines I have ever seen. If you allow your outside sales reps to have their own database, they can modify customer record while off line and when they do have internet access they can sync changes in both directions. This functionality works great when you have inside and outside sales staff covering the same territory. Saleslogix can be customized using Visual Basic Code syntax. This is a positive aspect as well as a negative. Our existing Saleslogix is so customized that if we were to upgrade to 8.0 it would cost us over $20k to redo some of the customizations. Upgrades are frequently incompatible with customizations. Read full review Cons It would be nice if we had more customizable options for emails - like moving around pictures and text boxes, rather than a set spot for everything to go. I would like it if multiple people could work on a document at one time. So if I'm in charge of graphics, I can get those updated while someone else is entering content, etc. Read full review InforCRM has made dramatic improvements in the web client though in some cases it has been painfully slow to get the most needed things updated. An example is the slow speed of the web client. The newest update is supposed to fix this. The web client does not autosave, so users have to remember to hit the 'save' button at each screen. This is the biggest complaint of users going from the desktop client to the web client. I personally would like to see data panes (account, contact, etc.) with the capability to set up a different view for each team and/or security level that would access the data. Read full review Likelihood to Renew There is no doubt that we are going to renew Constant Contact. We have not just invested a lot of time in learning and creating a great looking product but we have developed a strong database of information that allows us to track how we are doing for each newsletter. This supports our goals of creating products that residents desire and are excited to receive.
Read full review Because we've already made the investment in the original on-premise version, the cost per user is relatively low. The product has grown with us and we can now choose a LAN or Web client version and host the site internally, giving us total control of our data. The iPhone and iPad versions allow the sales team quick access in the field and the voice-to-text option is quite handy. SalesLogix doesn't require that our technology stack be constantly up to date which again, keeps our cost down. They are always making enhancements to the product and we can choose to update/upgrade when those enhancements appeal to us enough to justify adding the service pack.
Read full review Usability There is always room for improvement. I don't know how they test their systems, but they should invite not-so computer savvy people to test it. If I, as an expert have problems, they need to think like the technophobe. Since I've used Constant Contact in the past as part of my former employment, I have not viewed any of the tutorials and just jumped in to work on my client's newsletter. With that said, I found some areas easy and some a bit cumbersome
Read full review It can be a bit slow at times. Its that refresh don't always need to refresh slowing down the user.
Read full review Reliability and Availability No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics
Read full review Performance The system seemed quite slow sometimes. Specifically, there was sometimes a delay in sends if it was during a high traffic period. There were time-outs when uploading new code for an email, and a lag in reporting analytics which was sometimes as long as 72 hours
Read full review Support Rating I think the overall support for Constant Contact has always been incredible; I have nothing negative to say. Our customer support representative was attentive, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable. I never felt like I wasn't a priority of his and my issues, while very small, were fixed in a very short time frame.
Read full review We utilize the support of a local-ish vendor. SimpleSoft is their name. they are great, and very responsive
Read full review Implementation Rating Implementation is very easy for someone who wants to send out the “batch and blast” type newsletters. If you want to use their templates with no customizations, the product works fine. However, the more customizations you get into involving link color, etc, that’s where things can get tricky for someone who may not be familiar with coding
Read full review Alternatives Considered Constant Contact is much more intuitive for people who are not tech-savvy. Also, while
sendgrid offered more options in it's drag and drop interface, it displayed differently across different email clients, which made it very cumbersome to use. It also took much longer to upload contact lists and it was harder to manage existing contacts. Performance in
sendgrid was much slower as well, and the Preview feature was quite buggy. Our team initially chose
sendgrid because of the integration options that it's API offered, but we ultimately switched to Constant Contact because it was much easier to build campaigns and better suited our requirements.
Read full review We selected INFOR CRM over
Salesforce simply because it was affordable and didn't have so many 'bells & whistles' that
Salesforce has that we were not using. We didn't realize that the compatibility with upgrades were going to be such an issue.
Read full review Scalability Very reliable in sending email campaigns and controlling the recipients so that no contact is sent the same email more than once, even if they are on a resent list
Read full review Return on Investment I have had nothing but positive impacts from using Constant Contact. The church is large, and there are many subgroups and axillary groups within the church. Setting up specific groups based on responsibility, interest, member goals, and service needs allows me to send information quickly, saving valuable time for other tasks. Constant Contact allows leadership to stay personally engaged with the members I work with, without over-taxing my time. It feels so seamless. Read full review It's a CRM, so using a CRM as opposed to not using one is typically a step in the right direction. Slightly lower TCO than other CRMs. Complete end-to-end workflows allow you to quantify and analyze every step in the business process, leading to improved efficiency. Read full review ScreenShots Constant Contact Screenshots