# Constant Contact. Worth it or not?



## mattmyre (Apr 22, 2010)

Hey all,​ 
I'm toying with the idea with purchasing a years service from Constant Contact(the email marketing tool). I haven't heard of anyone in the screen printing industry using this, but I'm sure some of you have. Has anyone had any success using this? If so, how much? I'm just having a difficult time justifing me paying for this, building it myself, and managing it as well. But, if it works then I have no problem. Also, has anyone had any luck with email marketing in general? Just trying some new things here to drive more business! Any input is much appreciated!


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## txmxikn (Jan 16, 2007)

I guess I don't get it. But what are they charging for? You have to create the mailing list and the email or newsletter. So all I would be paying for is the use of their templates?


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## mattmyre (Apr 22, 2010)

txmxikn said:


> I guess I don't get it. But what are they charging for? You have to create the mailing list and the email or newsletter. So all I would be paying for is the use of their templates?


 
Pretty much. They do offer tech support, ect. but nothing too extreem. It seems to be a pretty big website and I figured a lot of ppl would be using it. The idea is good in my opinion, I just dont want to be another spammer out there and instead of drive business towards my business, do the exact opposite.


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## txmxikn (Jan 16, 2007)

There's so many free templates and cheap software for newsletters and such out there I just couldn't justify spending money on them unless there's something I'm missing.


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## kungfukitty_oz (Feb 18, 2010)

Hey Matt, you should definitely check out Mailchimp Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp I swear by them, they are free until your database hits 500 which for most small businesses takes some time, after that I think it is about US$30 a month. Or you can pay as you use, if your emails are less frequent.

Their templates are easy to set up, customisable, they are super flexible with adding people and lists and they have a sense of humour which is nice in a business! I do email marketing for a few businesses and so I use both constant contact and mailchimp, they both have similar features for reporting and set up, although constant contact makes you pay for all sorts of little things like archiving and storing more than 5 images which is all free with mailchimp.

For a free email service Mailchimp is just great, the only trick you need to know is that if you are copying and pasting text into your template, make sure it is plain text first or it may mess up your font/size etc. So paste it into notepad or something similar and then paste it into your template. That advice is good for most email marketing service templates!

If you have any more questions please let me know.

Good luck!
Serena : )


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## grunt482 (Aug 26, 2008)

I am trying constant contact and it really hasn't worked to well. Maybe I need to put more effort into it. Might try mail chimp.


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## TeesForChange (Jan 17, 2007)

I think it's important to have an email list of customers/prospective customers that you can send newsletters, offers, new product info, etc. to. Whether you use Constant Contact or Mail Chimp or another email provider doesn't really matter so much -it's how you use your email list for sales that matters. There are many businesses whose main income comes from email marketing and I personally get lots of sales each time I send an email out to anyone who has signed up for my mailing list. 

If you don't want to pay for Constant Contact, you can install PHPList on your servers and use it for free. But whatever email marketing software you use, it's important to have a plan and a goal for it.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

We use Constant Contact and so far I like it. They have good e-mail metrics (opens, bounces etc.), but what is really nice is that they are whitelisted with a lot of the ISPs, so you don't have as much of an issue getting your e-mails through. 

If you use a program and send the e-mails through your host or server, you run the risk of being blacklisted.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

mattmyre said:


> Hey all,​
> I'm toying with the idea with purchasing a years service from Constant Contact(the email marketing tool). I haven't heard of anyone in the screen printing industry using this, but I'm sure some of you have. Has anyone had any success using this? If so, how much? I'm just having a difficult time justifing me paying for this, building it myself, and managing it as well. But, if it works then I have no problem. Also, has anyone had any luck with email marketing in general? Just trying some new things here to drive more business! Any input is much appreciated!
> 
> 
> ​


I used to use ConstantContact, but I've switched to CampaignMonitor.com and MailChimp.com

Constant Contact works on a monthly fee basis, so you end up paying monthly even if you don't send a newsletter that month. 

I prefer the "pay per send" model where you only pay when you use the service to send out newsletters.

If your question is "is email marketing worth it", the answer is YES 

If your question is "should I use ConstantContact for my email marketing", the answer is "depends on who you ask" 

Email management services like ConstantContact, MailChimp, CampaignMonitor make it much easier to collect email addresses through newsletter signup forms that they can provide, they also make it easy to confirm the people who signup for your mailing really want it by using double opt in confirmations. They can also make sure your newsletter actually gets delivered and opened by helping you test to see if your newsletter content will trip any spam filters. They work with ISPs to help get their servers whitelisted for using best practices for responsible email marketing so more email gets through.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do just about anything. And not every marketing tool will be something your company is comfortable with, but many businesses have had some great success by responsibly using email marketing to reach current and potential customers.


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