Constant Contact Vs Outlook

rickanderson · #1 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 10:46 AM

I just completed my first Constant Contact newsletter. (fwiw..$11,000.00 in sales in under 45 hrs of publication). I kept the newsletter ridiculously simple.....just announced my companys new contact number.

My friend who does the same line of work I do asked whats the difference between an "Outlook Express" campaign vs a Constant Contact one.

Quite frankly I don't know. Is there any reason I **should** be paying $30/ month to Constant Contact instead of shooting off mass emails via OE?

Any input appreciated.

Rick

pdstein · #2 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 05:36 PM

Well, I'm by no means a constant contact expert, in fact I've never used their service, but I'm pretty sure constant contact handle all the subscribe/confirm/unsubscribe processes. I also believe they can track the number of subscribers that open the newsletter and click each link. That's pretty valuable information.

rickanderson · #3 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdstein

Well, I'm by no means a constant contact expert, in fact I've never used their service, but I'm pretty sure constant contact handle all the subscribe/confirm/unsubscribe processes. I also believe they can track the number of subscribers that open the newsletter and click each link. That's pretty valuable information.

Thanks pdstein. Agreed....valuable info.

Rick

rgcote · #4 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 05:39 PM

The main reason we switched to using constant contact vs. sending the email ourselves is the list management. Recipients of the email can unsubscribe without me having to get involved. They can also forward the email to friends who can then subscribe without me having to do anything.

Also, bounces are managed rather than me looking through my inbox to see what email has bounced back. And they keep track of who opened the email and who clicked in the email to get to my website. I would have to do all that myself as well.

As it turns out, the tracking of who opened the email isn't that reliable. We are getting low numbers for opens but we know more people have read the email because we are getting responses from people who, according to Constant Contact, didn't read the email.

So, for my money, it isn't the mechanics of sending the email that I'm paying for. You are right. That can done easily with Outlook Express. I'm paying for list management, bounce management, email message management, etc.

By the way, I am in no way affiliated with Constant Contact.

PVMAA · #5 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 06:14 PM

Constant Contact is enables you to send mass emails without being tagged as a spammer. Typical mail servers you use through an ISP won't allow more than 50 emails to go out in a batch, so any larger group would have to be divided into groups of 50 or less and sent out over a period of time. If your sending email address gets tagged as a spam distributor, lets say, by AOL, then in future AOL will not distribute your email newsletter to anyone using AOL for email. And AOL tags senders as spammers if AOL servers receive group emails of 50 or more by "uncertified" senders (which is why ISP mail servers don't let you send more than 50 at a time...). Constant Contact and other listserv providers offering mass emailing services go through a process that "certifies" the mass emails they send as being "legitimate."

In addition to that protection, Constant Contact and similar companies provide the opt-in and opt-out mechanisms and enable easy management of email lists as well as the tracking data.

WeBuyHouses · #6 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 06:31 PM

I'm not using Constant Contact, but I did switch to Aweber.com I was sending several hundred emails via bellsouth and ACT to a local club. After a certain point, they would not let me send that number anymore and I was having to split the list. So I had to do something.

Aweber flat rates their prices. So for $179 year, I can do pretty much unlimited emails up to 10,000. No per email/compaing charge. The price is good for the first 10,000 and $9.95 for the next 10K and so on.

But not to have to manage the list with the sub-scribe/un-subscribe is worth the price alone. They probably have better delivery rates than I could ever get.

I put a form on the website and they have to opt in, and it's all on auto-pilot. Anyway there are several companies that will do this, but Aweber has worked the best for the money for me.
I've probably been using it two years now. I just recently tried some trial softwares to do my own lists for another business, but could not get any of them to send through by ISP. So if you go that route, make sure you can test it first or get a money back guarantee. Of course even if it works today, your ISP could change their rules tomorrow. I also wanted to be able to get a copy of my list, just in case someone goes out of business. You never know these days, but with this service I can at least download an excel spreadsheet and maintain a seperate list.

mobipocketgrrl · #7 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 07:35 PM

The reason for the discrepancy in number of emails opened vs. how many people actually saw/responded to your mail is that they depend on hidden pixles in the message to determine if a message has been opened, and many people have their mail client tset to not display images in their "preview" pane so more people have actuallu seen your message than would appear so...

Duncan Pollock · #8 (**permalink**) 05-08-2008, 11:59 PM

An additional benefit of using Constant Contact (or its competitors, such as iContact, which has been my choice) is the ability to include a Signup form in your website. This can be for a newsletter, as in my case, but there's also no reason why you can't invite people to let you send them various Sale Announcements, whatever.

Duncan