Constant Contact vs. NoteVault

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's is absolutely well suited for all daily reporting/documentation needs, also since it essentially 'self archives' you can revisit past projects by logging into the admin panel faster than going to my own archived job files. It saved our skin by documenting where a bad GC Superintendent had been giving false information to the office, and we were able to prove our conditions/progress and alleviate the issue. It's very well suited for large projects, and ongoing projects. A bit less suited for small fast service type projects. We keep one 'service' job open to document the fast turn over stuff to alleviate that issue.

• 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.

• As a delay has occurred in the field, the foremen are able to report it immediately. The project manager now gets this information as it happened, not just trying to remember the next time they talk or see each other.
• As an RFI arises, the foremen can ask their questions immediately so that the PM can address it right away.
• We input our manpower on a daily basis, which helps us project where we are as it pertains to hours on a job.

• 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

• Difficult to bring back reports from the archives. I don't archive any more; I just sequentially date my projects and keep them all live.
• Notevault is set up for normal work shifts. But I mostly work night shifts from about 10 pm to 6 am. You then have to sort and filter the notes from two separate "days" in the system to get a coherent report from a single night shift. I live with it, but I don't like it.

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.

It flat works and has paid for itself quickly.

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

Simple use of functions. Majority of people can become familiar with this product fairly quick

Incentivized

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.

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.

I have used both Raken and NoteVault. It is my preference to use NoteVault due to the simplicity of it. Raken tended to be a bit cumbersome. I did not like the photo features used with Raken as opposed to the very simple straight forward approach with NoteVault

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

• Daily reports get published the following day after downloaded to NoteVault.
• From an executive standpoint, I am able to track the progress of each project on a daily basis and to be able to focus my efforts to the project that needs help.