Constant contact full review 2021 : pros and cons, feature and pricing

 

What is Constant Contact? 

This is an email marketing software which aims at businesses which host in-person or online events. This software makes it easy to manage events by sending invites, registering participants and distributing tickets. Basic features offered include basic automation, integration, reporting and segmentation. 

Constant Contact Pros and Cons 

Pros

Event Management: It is a unique feature that offers ability to send email invites which match a brand's aesthetic. Additionally, a person can also see real-time registration, number of tickets sold and payments collected straight from the event page. 

Deliverability Rates: Constant Contact has best deliverability rates when compared to other email software providers. In order to have a successful email campaign, subscribers are needed for opening and reading emails. For this, emails need to reach a subscribers' inbox and not in the spam 

Social media campaign integration: This feature allows to create content for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. You can either post to an individual platform or set it to distribute a particular content piece over multiple Additionally, it allows to save time by creating a series of content that you can schedule for a later date.

Site and online store builder: Constant Contact has everything you need to build a beautifully designed eCommerce Not having to pay for an additional platform like Shopify or WooCommerce can save significant amount of money. Even though it is not incredibly advanced, it still gives you the option to have an online store while also paying for email marketing. 

Cons 

• Basic Automation: This is a far more superior email marketing software which offers advanced automation. Unfortunately, Constant Contact isn't one of them. It will help set up basic automation. The automation is easy to use, where sometimes super-advanced automation is quite overwhelming and much time is spend figuring things out.  
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• No Spam testing: there is a feature which checks whether emails have any errors or missing links. To check if your emails are landing in your subscribers' inbox, 3rd party providers need to be integrated like Mailtester or Mailgenius. 
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• Premium Pricing: There certainly are other softwares which offers advanced features with better value for money. Unfortunately, Constant Contact doesn't offer a free plan and only gives 30-60-day free trial, depending on where you live.

                

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Who is Constant Contact Good for? 

Beginner-friendly software- Any beginner can easily navigate their way through the software and create a successful email campaign. The editor has some limited features, but it works fast. If you ever get stuck using the software, it offers an extensive library filled with video tutorials that take you step-by-step through the software.  

If you are in a niche-specific industry- The software list segmentation isn't the most advanced but still allows the basics. If you are a business that has built a brand around one product, you will find it much easier to segment your list into people who want daily updates or people only looking to hear from you when you have a 20% OFF sale. 

If you want a variety of template designs- Create templates from scratch or choose from over 240+ templates. You can even use one of their features that generates a template for you based on your website's colors and logo. Having a wide variety of templates to choose from is great since some softwares is lacking in this department. 

Constant Contact is not recommended for:

If you are on a tight budget-

Constant Contact's entry-level plan offers 500 contacts. The price starts to climb once you add more contacts. This can be a considerable expense if you are a small business heavily focused on email marketing. 

If you are focused on lead capturing-

 Their opt-in forms are very basic with minimal customisation. You can't add more field options which means you will get little information. On top of that, there is a limit of 200 signups per day when using embedded forms

       Constant Contact Pricing

Constant Contact does not offer a free plan and instead has a 1-month free trial. Both plans can send an unlimited number of emails, and the price changes with the number of contacts added. Email Plus includes the following features: eCommerce segmentation, polls, coupons, and online donations.

Email:

Starting at $20/month with a free 1-month trial

(Price will varies based on the total number of contacts)

• Unlimited emails

• Customizable templates

• Pop-up forms

• List segmentation

• Tracking and reporting

• Apps and integrations

• Google Ads

• Landing pages

• Ecommerce Marketing Basic 

Email PLUS:

Starting at $45/month with a free 1-month trial

(Price will vary based on the total number of contacts)

• All features of the basic Email plan
• Ecommerce Marketing Advanced
• Customizable pop-up forms
• Subject line A/B testing
• Event marketing
• New customer consultation
• Dynamic content
• Automated email welcome series
• Surveys and polls

Constant Contact Cancellation/Refund Policy

For this you will have to directly contact the billing team by requesting a cancelation which can take up to 24 hours before they reply to you with an email confirming your cancelation. Constant Contact offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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My Opinion

After testing the software, I found that Constant Contact is a valuable tool for small businesses looking to jumpstart their email marketing and online engagement.

What I Liked about Constant Contact

If you’re new to using email marketing services, then you’ll like Constant Contact. In fact, it’s my most favorite as far as ease of use and navigation go.

Apart from that, I really liked its function which automatically scours your website to detect its color scheme and even find your logo as well as social media profiles. This can be really useful for customizing the template you want to use for your campaigns.

Of course, you have the option of choosing from its over 400 selection of free templates.

That aside, the availability of various help articles, customer support options, and a wide Knowledge Base makes it really for those who need answers with their questions. Lastly, its 400+ integration alongside native integrations are useful for extending the reach of your brand.

What I Didn’t Like about Constant Contact

Despite Constant Contact’s positive features, it’s not without its flaws. Among its many downsides is the lack of automated A/B testing.

Also, its automation functions are quite limited. It has been designed for most beginners, although some of its plans have a high premium.

Finally, even though it offers a free 30-day trial, you can find several email marketing programs that come with their own free plan as well.

 

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