Constant Contact vs. QuickBooks Commerce

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

Using TradeGecko requires to the company to make compromises. Which compromises depends on the business, what they are using for other 3rd party applications and what they sell. You need to be very good with excel since you are able to upload and modify most files, which gives you major control over your data. They however need to modify the way in which new inventory items get loaded, as it is quite awkward if you use variants. 'Reports' as has been described prior has improved dramatically and most if not all can be downloaded in CSV/Excel format. This allows you to build your own reports with the data from the system. If your business is very complex in nature, TradeGecko probably isn't the system for you. If you are doing thousands of transactions a day, again this is not the system. However, if you are a small to smaller mid-sized business, the system, its cost and the 3rd party applications make it worth a first second and third look.

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.

• Interface with WooCommerce.
• Interface with Xero.
• Maintain Perpetual Inventory (less than 0.001% difference in value of inventory in TG and Xero).
• Works with ShipStation extremely well.
• Works with major EDI vendors (with reservations).

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

• - Couldn't integrate with existing QBO account. Had to set up a new QBO account and transfer all data, create lots of journal entries - was very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Caused some financial discrepancies to resolve.
• - Have to process returns on Amazon and Shopify orders manually
• - Tax-inclusive is not allowed - European sales are tax inclusive - can't import order with VAT included. Looks like the software is suitable for US only. Have to create such orders manually in Commerce and then manual journal entries in QBO
• - Supports accrual accounting method only. In cash - it's a mess
• - Support - not knowledgeable enough - I could only call for support (now they have chat) and they always had to get with the back-end and every call was not less than 1 hour. At the end I would get a link for the training materials
• - Inventory not synching timely sometimes - I have a screenshot proving that inventory on our Amazon account was 0 but Commerce still had quantities, I had to manually press synch
• - Shipping line from Shopify orders is not coded to Shipping income account but goes together with Sales of product income account
• - When partial of the PO is received, not able to create a bill for the partial. There're only 2 settings: either bill created at the time of PO creation (for the whole PO amount - which increases your AP right away) or at the time the whole PO received. It works only when PO is shipped as a whole.

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.

TG works well for us.

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

TG is good and easy to use, but could be improved

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.

Support team just sends links to blog posts that are often out of date.

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.

Each of the applications has a specific place. We select and implement the best solutions for our clients based on their budget and requirements. This is often determined by integration requirements. We like to say that every application with do a different 95% of what you need it to. There will always be a different 5% to forgo between applications.

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

• No real ROI - we're stilling pulling reports from multiple platforms.
• Positive - segregation of wholesale and DTC orders in Shopify.

Incentivized