To streamline your email and digital marketing process, many email and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms offer excellent solutions that make your life easier.
The options can seem truly endless for marketers today. It’s completely normal to be overwhelmed at first.
And, Constant Contact is one of the most popular digital marketing solutions today.
But, it’s not particularly wise to invest in any platform without knowing its good and bad aspects and features. We’ve curated this article for anyone considering investing in Constant Contact and its alternatives.
By the end of this article, you’ll be able to:
- Understand what is Constant Contact
- Look at the best features Constant Contact has to offer
- Understand all Constant Contact pricing plans in detail
- Compare the pros and cons of Constant Contact
- See user reviews of Constant Contact
- Find the best alternative to Constant Contact
- Find answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Constant Contact
Are you ready? Let’s jump right in.
What is Constant Contact?
If you haven’t heard of Constant Contact yet, you may be wondering — what is Constant Contact, exactly? Allow us to explain.
Constant Contact is a cloud-based email and digital marketing platform that offers tools for building a successful digital marketing strategy and nurturing customer relationships.
With the help of Constant Contact, you’ll be able to build and segment your email list, use marketing automation workflows to reduce manual effort, schedule posts for your social media channels, and much more.
When Constant Contact was first launched in 1995, it began as an email marketing platform designed for small businesses. Their pricing plans were made with small businesses in mind too.
However, as the years rolled by, Constant Contact has now expanded its portfolio to include digital marketing, social media marketing, and SMS integrations as well.
Currently, Constant Contact is used by both small and mid-size companies. They also have an Enterprise pricing plan for larger companies.
Read also: Constant Contact Competitors: Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons [Tables]
Is Constant Contact the Best Option for You?
Now you may be thinking — that’s all great, but is Constant Contact the best option for me?
To be completely frank with you, ‘best’ is a very subjective word. A solution that works wonders for your competitor down the street may not work for your company!
It’s really about figuring out whether this platform would work for you, given your marketing needs, how many contacts you have, and your budgeting constraints.
Take a look at this breakdown of basic marketing needs by Constant Contact to figure out your exact requirements.
While Constant Contact is definitely one of the better digital marketing platforms out there, it may not always be the best. Several alternatives are more cost-effective and offer the same features too.
Ultimately, it boils down to considering all these factors carefully before investing in one. And, hopefully, this article helps you on this journey and reduces your time spent on research.
Read also: Constant Contact Pricing 101: Plans, User Reviews, and Comparison
Best Features of Constant Contact
Now, let’s get to the burning question in all our minds right now. What are the best features offered by Constant Contact? Here’s a breakdown of our favorite features.
Customer data and segmentation
When you use Constant Contact, you’ll be able to import all your contacts from Microsoft Outlook, Excel, or Salesforce. You’ll be able to gather all your contact lists on the Contact Management Dashboard.
Once you’ve imported contacts, this platform allows you to segment your contact list based on several factors like age, gender, customer location, and even previous customer behavior on your website.
The more your contact list grows, the more important it becomes to segment your contacts. This is because you can send targeted, personalized marketing messages to different segments.
This process is made easy because Constant Contact has the tools to automatically delete expired contacts and contacts who unsubscribe. This means you won’t have to waste your time doing this yourself.
Drag-and-drop email editor
Another Constant Contact feature we loved is the drag-and-drop email editor. We found it easy to use and intuitive, even for first-time users.
When you create a new email using this drag-and-drop builder, you have the option of adding your website to the email. When you do this, Constant Contact will automatically scan your website and pick up your brand colors and logo. This is automatically added to your email as well.
And, there are many video tutorials available on the Constant Contact knowledge base. So, even new users can learn to use this email builder quickly.
Automated drip email campaign editor
A drip email campaign simply means sending a pre-set number of emails at specific intervals to certain segments of your contact list. This is particularly useful for nurturing leads and driving more conversions over time.
You can also choose from a dozen or so email templates to create drip email campaigns.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say a new contact signed up on your website to receive emails and newsletters.
With a drip campaign, you’ll be able to automatically send them a welcome email once you set up the automation workflow. Then, over the next three weeks, you can send them three emails to warm this new lead.
Here are some common drip campaigns used by successful marketers:
- Welcome and unsubscribe emails
- Abandoned cart or saved product emails
- Upsell and cross-sell email campaigns
- Customer milestone campaigns (for customer birthdays and anniversaries)
- Curated blog post emails
- Monthly or bi-weekly newsletter
- Emails to contacts who visited your store physically
- Order and delivery update emails
- Customer service engagement emails
Read more: 13 Mailchimp Alternatives With Pricing, Comparison Tables
Landing Page Builder
Yet another useful feature offered by Constant Contact is their website and landing page builder.
Note that website builders can be purchased for an additional $10 per month. But, the landing page builder is included in both pricing plans. If you’re an eCommerce company, then we recommend getting the website builder as well.
Here, you can create well-designed landing pages for your website. These landing pages can help you generate more leads and improve your conversion rates.
There are landing page templates to choose from and personalize. Alternatively, you can also upload custom landing page templates.
Analytics and Reporting
You’ll be able to monitor the performance of your email and social media campaigns from the analytics and reporting dashboard. With real-time updates, you’ll be able to take better data-based decisions for your marketing campaigns.
Constant Contact’s statistics include open and click-through rates, bounce rates, spam and unopened email reports, successful deliveries, and unsubscribe rates.
Integrations with third-party apps
Constant Contact also has integrations with over 500 popular third-party apps. Some of these apps include:
- Salesforce
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- Zapier
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- Formstack
- Xero
- Typeform
So, there you have it. These were the features we liked the best in Constant Contact.
Read also: Mailchimp vs Constant Contact: What’s Right for You?
Breakdown of Constant Contact Pricing Plans
Now that you have a good idea about Constant Contact’s best features, how much money will you be shelling out each month for these features?
Let’s take a deep dive into the pricing plans.
Constant Contact has two pricing plans on offer — the ‘Core Plan’ and the ‘Plus Plan’.
This may be misleading for new customers. But in reality, Constant Contact has over 20 different tiered pricing plans based on the number of contacts you have in your list.
Basically, if two companies sign up for the same pricing plan, they’ll pay based on the number of contacts they have.
Breakdown of Constant Contact Tiered Pricing Plans
Time to kiss your confusion goodbye, because we’ll give you a detailed breakdown of each tier.
| No. of Contacts | ‘Core Plan’ Tiered Pricing | ‘Plus Plan’ Tiered Pricing |
| 0-500 | $9.99/month | $45/month |
| 501-2,500 | $35/month | $70/month |
| 2,501-5,000 | $55/month | $95/month |
| 5,001-10,000 | $80/month | $125/month |
| 10,001-15,000 | $105/month | $180/month |
| 15,001-20,000 | $130/month | $225/month |
| 20,001-25,000 | $155/month | $270/month |
| 25,001-30,000 | $180/month | $310/month |
| 30,001-35,000 | $210/month | $350/month |
| 35,001-40,000 | $240/month | $370/month |
| 40,001-45,000 | $270/month | $390/month |
| 45,001-50,000 | $300/month | $410/month |
| 50,001 and above | Contact vendor for custom pricing | Contact vendor for custom pricing |
There’s a monthly email send limit of 24 times the number of contacts on your list.
Now, you may be wondering what the difference is between the two plans. It’s a no-brainer that the ‘Plus’ plan will offer more features than the basic ‘Core’ plan.
Read also: Mailgun Pricing Comparison With Top Alternatives
Constant Contact features for each pricing plan
Let’s take a look at the features you’ll get for each plan.
| Feature | Core Plan | Plus Plan |
| No. of users | 5 | Unlimited |
| Website sign-up forms and Landing Page Builder | Available | Available |
| Integrated Facebook and Instagram ads | Available | Available |
| Lookalike Facebook ad targeting | Not Available | Available |
| Google ads integration | Not Available | Available |
| Drag and drop email editor with customizable templates | Available | Available |
| Email subject line A/B Testing | Available | Available |
| Sync with Shopify, eBay, and Etsy | Not Available | Available |
| Dynamic email and website content | Not Available | Available |
| Automated welcome email for new contacts | Available | Available |
| Automated milestone, cart abandonment, and user behavior-based emails | Not Available | Available |
| Email views, clicks, bounce rate, and click heatmap | Available | Available |
| Social posts reach and metrics | Available | Available |
| Conversion and Sales Reports | Not Available | Available |
| Contact segmentation tools | Available | Available |
| Third-party integrations | Available | Available |
| Auto-generated engagement reports for each segment | Not Available | Available |
| Phone and chat support with tutorials | Available | Available |
| Personalized set-up call | Not Available | Available |
| Surveys | Not Available | Available |
| Image storage limit | 1 GB | 2 GB |
This information will empower you to choose the right plan based on your requirements and the number of contacts in your list.
Remember that there’s a free trial of 60 days, no matter which plans you choose. So take advantage of the free trial to decide if it holds good on its promises.
Read more: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp and Other Email Tools [Tables]
Top Constant Contact Reviews by Users
Now, let’s take a look at some super helpful reviews from real users of Constant Contact. We’ve scanned the web to pick the best ones for you.
User Review #1
Here’s a review of Constant Contact from an Associate Director of Marketing from a mid-size business from Gartner.
User Review #2
This video user review of Constant Contact breaks down all the key features of Constant Contact. It will also help you determine if it is the right fit for your company.
User Review #3
Now, let’s take a look at what users from larger companies have to say about their experience using Constant Contact. The reviewer is a social media manager at a firm with around 5,000 employees.
User Review #4
Although the majority of reviews are positive, some users remained dissatisfied with Constant Contact.
Although users mentioned different aspects they didn’t like, we noticed that many reviews mentioned a lack of adequate customer support as a key issue.
Here’s a review from Capterra by the Director of Marketing at a mid-size company, who was not too happy with Constant Contact.
Read more: Mailchimp vs Constant Contact — What’s Right for You?
User Review #5
Finally, we found this review helpful as it lays out the pros and cons of Constant Contact according to this user from Trust Radius.
Now that you’ve heard reviews from real-life users of Constant Contact, we hope this helps make things clearer for you.
Read more: 5 of the Best ActiveCampaign Alternatives (Features, Pricing)
The Pros and the Cons of Constant Contact: A Definitive List
Based on our analysis of Constant Contact and its features, here’s a definitive list of Constant Contact’s pros and cons.
Constant Contact Pros
- Easy-to-use and intuitive user interface. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it’s not too steep compared to other marketing platforms.
- Constant Contact has some unique features, like automatically importing your logo to your emails. You can also receive payments for events created by you at an additional fee. Not many competitors offer these features.
- Overall, the deliverability rate for emails sent through Constant Contact remains very high. That’s definitely an advantage.
- They have a trustworthy data security framework for customers. This ensures that your contact data remains safe and private to you.
- The 60-day free trial is one of the highest trial periods offered by any platform in the industry today.
- They have a long history of experience in the email marketing field and have established themselves as trustworthy.
Constant Contact Cons
- It’s not as cost-effective as some of its competitors. You can get the same features on a smaller budget as well. They also have several add-on services, which may rack up the costs for larger firms.
- If you have over 50,000 contacts, you’ll have to get a custom quote for your firm. This is unlike many competitors that offer a pricing plan for up to 200,000 contacts.
- Their marketing automation tools are not the best in the industry. Especially for larger firms and eCommerce firms that need a lot of bulk automation capabilities, Constant Contact may fall flat in this area.
- Many users have reported issues while canceling their accounts with Constant Contact. There’s no option to cancel your account in the dashboard. Instead, you’ll have to directly phone their customer service if you want to cancel your subscription. This is often a time-consuming process.
Want to find a Constant Contact competitor that’s better suited to your needs? Check out our article on the top Constant Contact competitors.
Read more: Effective Email Strategies for 2023
The Best Constant Contact Alternative for SMBs
Now, there may be some of you who are now considering alternatives because Constant Contact may not have all the features you need.
If you are looking for an email and digital marketing platform that offers more bang for each buck, we highly recommend the all-in-one solution EngageBay.
With powerful marketing automation features, excellent email deliverability rates, a powerful landing page builder, and live chat and SMS integrations for your website, EngageBay does it all for you. And what’s more, you also have a free lifetime plan option for small businesses.
EngageBay has four pricing plans, including the free plan. The basic plan starts at just $12.74 per month.
That’s great. But the real advantage for larger firms comes with the EngageBay Pro plan. In the Pro Plan, you can upload unlimited contacts for just $84.99 per month!
So, as your company scales, this platform can still meet your needs at a fraction of the cost. Get in touch with us for a demo, if this feels like a suitable alternative for your firm. (No pressure, though! 😅)
Here’s a comparison of EngageBay and Constant Contact:
Read More: Constant Contact vs Mailchimp vs EngageBay — Which Tool Is Better?
Constant Contact FAQs
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQs) for Constant Contact.
What is Constant Contact best for?
Constant Contact is best for email marketing. With Constant Contact’s intuitive user interface, you’ll be able to create branded email marketing campaigns with high deliverability rates.
Can two or more people work on Constant Contact at the same time?
Yes, two people can work on Constant Contact at the same time. In the ‘Core Plan’, up to five users can simultaneously work on Constant Contact. With the ‘Plus Plan’, however, any number of people from your team can work at the same time. There’s no user limit in the ‘Plus Plan’.
Does Constant Contact have split testing?
Yes, Constant Contact offers split testing or A/B testing for emails. This feature is available on both payment plans offered by Constant Contact.
Is there a free plan for Constant Contact?
As of now, there is no free plan for Constant Contact. You’ll have to choose from the two pricing plans they offer. They also offer a 60-day trial for both pricing plans, which is one of the highest in the industry.
