Is Constant Contact the Right Email Marketing Tool for Your Business?
July 20, 2015

Is Constant Contact the Right Email Marketing Tool for Your Business?

Sherri Kesinger | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Constant Contact

In working with a variety of clients who are fairly new to email marketing, Constant Contact is a reliable platform that makes it easy to get started with email marketing.

Of particular benefit, is a scenario where maybe you have an older list you haven't emailed to in a while, or have never emailed. Constant Contact is one of the more tolerant platforms in regard to bounces and spam. Some providers will lock your account if the bounce rate is too high. This can happen easily if you haven't sent to your list in some time. It's proven to be a reliable source to clean up lists and get clients on their way to ongoing and successful email marketing.

Constant Contact is easy to use, walks you through the email design process and gives you customization options for color schemes to match existing company branding. There are also additional add ons for functions such as event marketing (and obtaining RSVPs).

Pros

  • List clean up.
  • Getting started with email marketing.
  • Ease of design options / customizations.
  • Tags for segmentation of lists for better targeted marketing campaigns

Cons

  • Tags have improved ability to segment lists for target marketing, which is likely enough for smaller businesses. Larger businesses with a need for CRM integration my require a more robust platform.
  • Staying on top of mind with potential clients.
  • Making it easy to get started or continue with consistent email marketing campaigns.
  • Faster lead conversion - call to action in email linking to a landing page focused on sales funnel.
  • Helps with sales funnel - who opened (interested), clicked (very interested), bounced (good reason to contact), etc.
  • MailChimp,Infusionsoft

Constant Contact and MailChimp are somewhat similar in ease of design, use and cost. A few differences:

MailChimp is much more strict on bounces and spam than Constant Contact. If your list has a high bounce rate, MailChimp may lock the account and require you to answer a variety of questions about how you obtained your list, when you emailed them last, whether they opted in and other questions to explain why the bounce rate is high. If you're doing a list clean up, Constant Contact is the better option here.

MailChimp integrates more easily - and looks nicer in most cases - with WordPress than Constant Contact does.

Constant Contact lets you select numerous lists (and list segments) to send to, while MailChimp only allows 1 list to be selected for a send.

Constant Contact and Infusionsoft are very different in terms of functionality and cost.

Infusionsoft has a high level of integration that includes CRM, ecommerce and email marketing with many ways to segment contacts. Infusionsoft is a significantly higher cost as well, but may be worth it for mid to larger companies requiring this type of seamless integration.

Businesses should address their integration (CRM) needs. If they require an email platform to easily design and stay in touch with leads and clients (including list segmentation) on an ongoing basis, Constant Contact is a good tool. If they need more advanced integration with systems such as CRM, they will likely need to explore more robust platforms that can accommodate that level of need.

Constant Contact Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
7
Dynamic content
Not Rated
Ability to test dynamic content
Not Rated
Landing pages
Not Rated
A/B testing
3
Mobile optimization
10
Email deliverability reporting
9
List management
9
Triggered drip sequences
8
Dashboards
10
Standard reports
10
Custom reports
Not Rated

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