Great for analytics and email formatting, sometimes bad for importing large lists
Updated October 24, 2017

Great for analytics and email formatting, sometimes bad for importing large lists

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

Overall Satisfaction with Constant Contact

We us Constant Contact to manage our contact database and to send out email updates. It is great for segmenting our list -- from general interest to communications to fundraising. The automated features are great, especially that it will not allow the same email to appear in the same inbox twice. It also merges duplicate contacts. We use it across the entire organization.
  • Merging duplicate contacts
  • Updating your address book
  • Giving a reliable open rate and thorough reports
  • Allowing you to segment large email lists
  • When uploading additional contacts, CC wants to see how they actively subscribed. This can be problematic when uploading an older email list (i.e. you may just have a spreadsheet of the list and they want to see more evidence).
  • It is a little pricey compared to competitors such as MailChimp.
  • It would be great to be able to export email campaigns as HTML.
  • Great in getting out press releases.
  • Great for managing a large contact database.
Much better in managing your contact database and ensuring that the same email is not sent to the same contact more than one time. Also gives a more thorough report of open rates, times, etc. than MailChimp. Allows for more formatting options than MailChimpp and other competitors. A bit more pricey, but worth it for the analytics.
Be extremely careful when importing contacts. Constant Contact wants to see how they actively subscribed. Sometimes it is hard to prove this when you have entered information for people you have an established relationship with, or if they verbally requested to be added. Constant Contact wants to actually see the (paper) sign-up sheet. This is unachievable for businesses/groups that have been around long enough to have established an email list based on personal relationships or when importing business cards.

Constant Contact Feature Ratings

WYSIWYG email editor
8
Dynamic content
7
Ability to test dynamic content
7
Landing pages
5
A/B testing
Not Rated
Mobile optimization
7
Email deliverability reporting
9
List management
9
Triggered drip sequences
Not Rated
Dashboards
6
Standard reports
7
Custom reports
6

Using Constant Contact

3 - President, communications, public policy
3 - Basic HTML and Excel
  • Sending press releases
  • Sending updates to colleagues
  • Sending quarterly updates for fundraising
  • Manage contact database
  • Segmenting email list.

Evaluating Constant Contact and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Analyst Reports
Email campaign analytics is really what sets Constant Contact apart from its competitors.

Constant Contact Implementation

Change management was minimal - Was already implemented when I started at the organization.

Constant Contact Training

Yes. Also, they have some great videos and send emails with recommendations.

Configuring Constant Contact

Not specifically. It is pretty straightforward.
No - there is no facility to customize the interface
Some - we have added small pieces of custom code - The HTML editor can be a bit glitchy, but it is often not needed in template design.

Constant Contact Support

The support staff seems to have no idea of why/how files are uploaded into segmented lists. They don't seem to have ever actually used the software and it is very difficult to resolve any problems.
ProsCons
Kept well informed
Quick Initial Response
Slow Resolution
Poor followup
Less knowledgeable
Problems left unsolved
Escalation required
Difficult to get immediate help
Need to explain problems multiple times
Support doesn't seem to care
Yes - No -- it look them two months.

Using Constant Contact

Overall great, but the templates and formatting options could be improved.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • File/list uploads
  • Integrations
  • Database management
  • HTML editor is glitchy
  • Drag-and-drop interface limits formatting options
  • Template customization
Yes - Not very well because it really only allows you to enter new contacts (manually) for your list.

Constant Contact Reliability

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.
No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics.
Reports complete very quickly and you can see email opens in real-time.

Upgrading Constant Contact

  • Upgraded to a plan that allowed us to email a larger contact list
  • List management
  • Contact management