Constant Contact is a full-featured email marketing solution with capabilities such as social media integration, drag-and-drop editing, and real-time reporting. It is a bulk email tool designed for SMB customers. Since 2019, Constant Contact also offers marketing automation features, a website and landing page builder, and other tools to support midsize businesses.
$12
per month
Mailchimp
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Mailchimp is the email marketing and marketing automation platform. Most email marketing platforms tell you how your campaigns perform, but Mailchimp goes a step beyond and tells you why by analyzing the data from half a billion emails sent through the platform every day to offer personalized recommendations for improving content, targeting, automations, and driving revenue using emails
$0
per month
Pricing
Constant Contact
Mailchimp
Editions & Modules
Lite
Starting at $12.00
per month
Standard
Starting at $35.00
per month
Premium
Starting at $80.00
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Constant Contact
Mailchimp
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
The SMS Marketing tool can be added to any Standard or Premium Constant Contact account. SMS is only available in the US for Standard and Premium paid plans. SMS can be added when logged in to an account after purchase. Plans start at $10/month for up to 500 messages.
Mailchimp and Constant Contact are email marketing solutions designed to allow businesses to create and automate email marketing campaigns. Both include features such as email templates, form creation, and email analytics.
Both Mailchimp and Constant Contact are popular with small and mid-sized businesses, likely due to their flexible pricing plans that scale based on an organization’s email volume.
Features
Mailchimp and Constant Contact both include essential email marketing features, but they also both have some standout features that set them apart from each other.
Mailchimp offers a wide variety of automation features for email campaigns and email sequences. Users can easily set up automation rules to save time. Mailchimp also provides robust customization options for form and email template creation, including custom fields and branding. Lastly, Mailchimp offers detailed reporting and analytics features, including geographical tracking and social media reporting. Users can also use Mailchimp’s analytics tools to compare their organization’s analytics with industry averages.
Constant Contact offers a large volume of email templates, allowing users to create most emails with minimal customization. Additionally, Constant Contact includes a spam testing feature so that users can ensure their emails are unlikely to end up in the recipient’s spam folder. The spam testing feature likely contributes to many users stating improved deliverability when using Constant Contact compared to other options.
Limitations
Though Mailchimp and Constant Contact both have key strengths, they also both have some limitations that are important to consider.
Mailchimp offers fewer email templates out of the box compared to Constant Contact. As a result, users that send a variety of different emails may need to spend time creating a custom template library to fill in the gaps. Mailchimp also has a lower delivery rate than Constant Contact, meaning more emails are likely to go undelivered or land in a spam inbox.
Constant Contact has more limited image storage compared to Mailchimp, where users can store an extensive library of images. Additionally, while constant contact includes analytics tools it lacks some advanced features, such as industry comparisons. Lastly, though Constant Contact contains an easy to use drag and drop editor for forms, it is missing some of the visual customization features provided by Mailchimp.
Pricing
Both Mailchimp and Constant Contact offer scaling prices. All of their pricing packages have a starting rate that is increased based on the buyer’s number of contacts.
Mailchimp offers a free package that includes basic email features for up to 10,000 emails a month. Their Essentials package starts at $9.99 per month and includes email templates, 24/7 email support, and custom branding. The Standard package costs $14.99 per month and includes automation features and custom templates. Lastly, the premium package starts at $299.00 per month and includes phone support, advanced segmentation, and support for unlimited users.
Constant Contact provides 2 pricing packages. The Email package includes basic email tools and templates and starts at $20.00 per month. The Emal Plus package starts at $45.00 per month and includes additional automation tools, as wells as customizable forms and polls.
Features
Constant Contact
Mailchimp
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
8.0
117 Ratings
2% below category average
Mailchimp
8.0
475 Ratings
3% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor
8.1100 Ratings
8.1440 Ratings
Dynamic content
7.9101 Ratings
7.8423 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content
8.482 Ratings
7.9404 Ratings
Landing pages
8.075 Ratings
7.5327 Ratings
A/B testing
7.171 Ratings
8.0358 Ratings
Mobile optimization
8.586 Ratings
8.1434 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting
9.0113 Ratings
8.5462 Ratings
List management
8.3115 Ratings
8.1462 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences
7.259 Ratings
7.7319 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
8.0
114 Ratings
3% above category average
Mailchimp
7.6
460 Ratings
1% above category average
Dashboards
8.388 Ratings
7.7123 Ratings
Standard reports
8.3112 Ratings
8.0458 Ratings
Custom reports
7.458 Ratings
7.250 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
8.1
66 Ratings
4% below category average
Mailchimp
-
Ratings
URL Validation
8.231 Ratings
00 Ratings
Link Tracking
7.934 Ratings
00 Ratings
Image Validation
8.832 Ratings
00 Ratings
Inbox Display
8.635 Ratings
00 Ratings
Email Accessibility Tools
7.928 Ratings
00 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check
8.053 Ratings
00 Ratings
Spam Testing
6.026 Ratings
00 Ratings
Email Previews
9.265 Ratings
00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Mailchimp
9.1
2 Ratings
16% above category average
Lead nurturing automation
00 Ratings
6.22 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading
00 Ratings
10.01 Ratings
Data quality management
00 Ratings
10.01 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks
00 Ratings
10.01 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Mailchimp
8.1
50 Ratings
6% above category average
Calendaring
00 Ratings
8.445 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing
00 Ratings
7.836 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact
-
Ratings
Mailchimp
8.2
44 Ratings
9% above category average
Social sharing and campaigns
00 Ratings
8.342 Ratings
Social profile integration
00 Ratings
8.135 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Constant Contact is an excellent tool for sending out flyers and newsletters. However, I feel the content's appearance is typically all the same. When I receive an email from Constant Contact, I can immediately identify it - the templates usually all look the same. When sending out communications with images, it is easy to use Constant Contact and link webpages. However, the email layout is always vertical and can get very lengthy. I prefer a more flip-book approach with options to flip the page.
With Mailchimp we are able to revive and enhance our personal connect with the customers. The easy-to-use tools allows us to personalize the email content, segregate and target important leads & send relevant messages. Also, it offers interactive analysis on the performance of a particular campaign. We can judge the effectiveness of our mailers in real time.
Market segmentation is great: my main segmentation is by region because that's how our sales team is divided.
Lists: making customized email lists is easy and intuitive; the custom fields allow some flexibility in case our fields don't exactly line up with Constant Contact's.
Campaigns: creating campaigns is quick and simple. I especially appreciate the 'resend to non-openers' option. I am constantly using this feature.
Subject line generator: I like using the recommended subject lines. I'm able to plug in their recommended ideas, or sometimes, this feature helps me generate my own ideas.
Mailchimp allows you to manage your mailing list really well. You can subscribe people, unsubscribe people manage the mailing list directly into segments, and what not.
Mailchimp has features where you can create campaigns based on your mailing lists and send out newsletters to your subscribers based on a multitude of parameters that you can setup. Such as send email daily, weekly, monthly and they also have event based mails that you can send out.
Mailchimp also has a feature where you can design your emails. The look and aesthetics are very important when sending emails to your subscribers and all those needs are addressed here.
It would be nice if we had more customizable options for emails - like moving around pictures and text boxes, rather than a set spot for everything to go.
I would like it if multiple people could work on a document at one time. So if I'm in charge of graphics, I can get those updated while someone else is entering content, etc.
The interface remains a cluttered, non-intuitive mess. That's true from the haphazard way features are organized to the actual email layout.
Analytics have never been a priority, and I don't see that changing with Intuit's new ownership. I'm very frustrated over the limited choices for reporting, even when using third-party solutions. If I needed that function, I would not use MailChimp.
I would love to develop a workflow screen that lets me focus on the things that I use all the time. Customizing the interface where the content actually goes into the software would help.
I never understood why we couldn't import a document into a MC template. At best, we're spending time copying-and-pasting from one app into MC.
There is no doubt that we are going to renew Constant Contact. We have not just invested a lot of time in learning and creating a great looking product but we have developed a strong database of information that allows us to track how we are doing for each newsletter. This supports our goals of creating products that residents desire and are excited to receive.
We've had Mailchimp for about ten years, I want to say. I started with the company about four years ago, and I don't see us ever diverting to another source. It's easy for us to use, and we have all our clients already built into the database. I imagine we'll use them for as long as we have the company.
There is always room for improvement. I don't know how they test their systems, but they should invite not-so computer savvy people to test it. If I, as an expert have problems, they need to think like the technophobe. Since I've used Constant Contact in the past as part of my former employment, I have not viewed any of the tutorials and just jumped in to work on my client's newsletter. With that said, I found some areas easy and some a bit cumbersome
Our team use Mailchimp almost every week. Overall UI is simple for anyone to get started with it. The resource library around using particular features is also there, so we don't have to train our team on this product. We also used a lot of other features as well.
I have, in the 4+ years that I've used Mailchimp, never seen an issue that restricted the use of their software/tools. I don't know of a single time when they're system crashed or went down. I could be wrong, but I honestly haven't experienced any issues with outages, errors or unplanned downtime
The system seemed quite slow sometimes. Specifically, there was sometimes a delay in sends if it was during a high traffic period. There were time-outs when uploading new code for an email, and a lag in reporting analytics which was sometimes as long as 72 hours
I haven't noticed any slow speeds from Mailchimp or their tools. I think the landing pages load quickly and look nice. The email reports and editing operates smoothly and doesn't take time to load. Additionally, when I use Mailchimp in conjunction with Zapier + Hubspot I don't notice any drag between any of these tools
I think the overall support for Constant Contact has always been incredible; I have nothing negative to say. Our customer support representative was attentive, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable. I never felt like I wasn't a priority of his and my issues, while very small, were fixed in a very short time frame.
Website tools were easy to use and understand so a novice can easily meet or exceed their client's expectations! Loved that we were able to totally customize so that the e-mail we created conveyed our client's overall messaging consistent with their branding! Client love that we can provide turnkey services to support their sales and marketing teams!
Implementation is very easy for someone who wants to send out the “batch and blast” type newsletters. If you want to use their templates with no customizations, the product works fine. However, the more customizations you get into involving link color, etc, that’s where things can get tricky for someone who may not be familiar with coding
It's pretty easy to get up and running! There's a slight learning curve on a few things, but once you find where everything is located, you can import your list and send your first email. It really makes our clients feel great to see how quickly they can get that first email out.
Constant Contact is much more intuitive for people who are not tech-savvy. Also, while sendgrid offered more options in it's drag and drop interface, it displayed differently across different email clients, which made it very cumbersome to use. It also took much longer to upload contact lists and it was harder to manage existing contacts. Performance in sendgrid was much slower as well, and the Preview feature was quite buggy. Our team initially chose sendgrid because of the integration options that it's API offered, but we ultimately switched to Constant Contact because it was much easier to build campaigns and better suited our requirements.
Mailchimp is a means to an end and a way to stay within GDPR laws. We may not use it if this wasn't a requirement. Other platforms are better for design or management of contacts, but Mailchimp offers that secure storage of data that is required. I have not tried other bulk mail applications, so am unable to compare these.
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
Mailchimp over the years I've used it has grown in leaps and bounds. They have added so many additional features than were previously available. They are truly an all-in-one marketing platform now. If you're a small operation and just want to add email to your marketing efforts, they're there for you. If you're a larger operation and want to start sending postcard advertisements, they can do that. If you'd good with that and want to kick up your marketing by going social, you can do that on their platform. They are truly able to be as small as you need, but also get quite large in whatever it is you'd like to do through their system.
I have had nothing but positive impacts from using Constant Contact.
The church is large, and there are many subgroups and axillary groups within the church. Setting up specific groups based on responsibility, interest, member goals, and service needs allows me to send information quickly, saving valuable time for other tasks.
Constant Contact allows leadership to stay personally engaged with the members I work with, without over-taxing my time. It feels so seamless.
Mailchimp has allowed us to communicate effectively with thousands of customers with ease.
Mailchimp's use during our second year of business helped us expand our list of brands considerably (almost 30% YTD) because of regular interactions that we've launched.
Mailchimp ramp-up time is minimal for new users so I can turn things over to junior staff - saving me time and money.
