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 I still receive emails from people with a simple "sent from iPhone or sent from iPad" with little to no signature built-in. While I know not everyone is adept or even interested in changing mobile/tablet settings, WiseStamp makes it easy to have a more official-looking signature, in my opinion. Just because you reply to me via a smartphone or tablet, I expect the same level of professionalism. Plus, I don't need to know what device you use to reply or initiate an email, as poor spelling or grammar are essential. Including a photo, especially with many transactions being one in which you never see the person face-to-face, adds a more human element that is really missing. Studies show that ads including a photo of a person will get greater views. I think the same goes for email signature files. My goal is that regardless if I email someone from my laptop, smartphone, or tablet, they should not know as their transactional experience with me should appear to be precisely the same.
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 Very user-friendly. Loved the simplicity and quick ability to set up. Had lots of themes / designs to choose from and had offered the ability to link social accounts for the most popular current socials. Extremely affordable already, but we also had a promo code which made it even cheaper. 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 In my opinion, animations are glitchy Forced to use built-in templates or pay extra to have them simply copy a signature you create elsewhere. No options to actually build out a signature template to your own specifications. I think it is over priced Doesn't work with "New Outlook" and only certain versions of Classic Outlook. 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 I love it... Wouldn't use anything else
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 is pretty easy to use but the initial setup takes awhile to get right - some of the templates that you can use do not always work for what I had in mind - but overall and once through the initial phase it is super easy to use.
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 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 I actually haven't tried the above, but this form wouldn't let me advance without answering. I built my own signature in Gmail. It would have been fine except embedding video is really tough. I was willing to sacrifice being able to showcase books in order to show my TEDx talk link.
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 I have increased my calendar bookings from outreach emails by more than 200% It makes it easier for people to schedule time with me when multiple people are involved as they can see my availability by clicking the link. I have had customers that have not used me for a period of time book time out of the blue by going back to one of my old emails and seeing the scheduling link there I use the banner tool whenever there is a promotion or to promote some of my sponsor brands to my clients without them even realising they are getting "adverts" Read full review ScreenShots Constant Contact Screenshots