Constant Contact vs. Really Simple Systems

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

If you have a customer/job where there are steps to be followed such as quotes, follow up, purchase orders received, etc. You can set reminders for a member of the team with their next step and they will be sent reminders. Works well as long as it is kept updated.

Incentivized

• 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.

• Can send out marketing emailers within 5 minutes of an industry-specific update from any device
• Sales dashboard [can be] built how I want it using the Really Simple Systems widgets
• Activity integration from email accounts included
• Manage my sales pipeline opportunities effectively

• 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

• Resends - I would like a simple [one-click] function to resend email campaigns to [non-openers.]
• [Emails] that have been created but not sent or attached to a campaign I would like to see a place that they could be in [the] draft so I can come back to them at a later date without them appearing on the email list[.]

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.

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 systems is great for smaller sales and marketing teams to log their territories and report on progress on their opportunities. There are many useful features such as tasks and reporting to show to management how opportunities are progressing and when the estimated close date would occur. The two main issues are scalability within larger [organizations] and the ease to duplicate contacts.

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.

Whenever I have had any issues, which is probably only 3 times in 10 years, the back office support has been fantastic and got me up and running again in a very short time. Cannot fault them at all. But as I stated, problems have been very few and far between.

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 choose RSS due to cost. We are a startup and needed a great solution that did not cost [a lot]. RSS [fits] all our needs at the perfect price. We could not be more thrilled with our choice and it has simplified our client interaction[.]

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

• A very positive effect on our understanding of our customers and what kind of events are working well at the venue and which aren't. This will allow us to work more smartly when responsive to enquiries, improving our overall productivity.
• Very positive impact on our current review of marketing and sales strategy.

Incentivized