Constant Contact vs. Maximizer CRM

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.

Incentivized

It was not a good experience. Nothing was as advertised, from the user experience to the security of purchase. The address book was not able to be converted from the Leads module and the maps feature wasn’t able to connect from Leads. The mobile version has a lot of bugs and isn’t very functional. They have a tutorial, yet [I think they] aren’t proactive in distributing it to new users. Their focus is on sales. And it’s not a very salable product in my opinion. The worst aspect of this company is that they aren’t risk free. If you purchase a year software and decide after a few weeks it simply isn’t for your company, there are no refunds. I had to initiate a chargeback with my bank after being told that “unfortunately, due to the terms and conditions...” No customer wants to hear that. [I feel] they tried to bully me into keeping their software. There are far too many options in 2021 for CRM to be forced into one, especially one so difficult to use. When I asked about a feature that I needed, I was told, “Perhaps later this year...” Not what I need if I’m paying good money for a software. Their sales VP wouldn’t call me when I requested a call after being denied a refund. When I went through their main website again after my experience with Maximizer, I [felt] that everything they advertise is not in line with the product they put out. They say that there’s a free trial available. Not the truth [in my experience]. This maybe would have been a good CRM in say, 1999. [I think] it’s antiquated and didn’t serve the needs of my business. I used well-known CRM previously and didn’t find Maximizer to be better than the free version of that one. There was a disconnect in usage that wasn’t able to be overcome by myself or my employees in several weeks of trials.

• 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.

• Shared Calendar
• Customer Service cases
• Common database of customer information

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Handling large data. Maximizer needs to improve on this.
• Add additional user-friendly shortcuts for the most frequently used functions in the web version.
• There is no mark for deletion option. They need to provide a way to delete without physically deleting records.

Incentivized

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.

We are heavily entrenched in Maximizer and trying to pull our data out and into another CRM, with the same amount of customization and workflow would take a lot of effort.

Incentivized

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

The CRM didn’t have the capability I expected

No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics

Incentivized

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

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.

The support staff are very knowledgeable and competent. Never really had an issue with them not knowing what they are doing.

Incentivized

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

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.

We chose to go with Microsoft Dynamics CRM over Maximizer because of the customization and marketing options that were associated with Dynamics. The ease of use with Maximizer, however, was far better than that of Microsoft Dynamics.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• It allows us to maximize our service billing
• It is easy to generate service quotes
• It is easy to follow up on leads.

Incentivized