Constant Contact Doesn’t Support Marketing Automation

Constant Contact is an entry-level email marketing platform. Constant Contact has many of the features you’d expect to see in an entry-level email marketing platform. You’re able to manage and segment your lists, use the modulized email campaign builder and get detailed stats on the campaign results. Constant Contact also has features such as personalization and autoresponders. One thing Constant Contact doesn’t have though, is automated drip campaigns.

What Is A Drip Campaign / Automated Workflow?

A “Drip Campaign” (Also referred to as “Marketing Automation” or “Automated Workflows”) is an automated series of emails. Drip campaigns can be forked using if/then statements, sending recipients down different automation paths depending on criteria. This criteria can be based on data, campaign interactions like opens and clicks and a wide range of other criteria.

There’s different ways to enter a recipient into a drip campaign as well. The most common method of entry is when a recipient opts into a specific list. If the email marketing platform is integrated into a CRM, POS or e-commerce platform, it’s possible to opt a recipient into an automation after making a purchase. Many other things can be used to trigger a campaign automation as well.

Drip campaigns have been known to have some of the largest percentage of clicks and opens. That is because the campaign series is tailored

How Much Better Are Drip Campaigns Than Autoresponders?

That depends how you’re going to use the drip campaigns. If you’re planning on building out these robust automated workflows, complete with different campaign paths based on different criteria, there’s no comparison. Autoresponders are strictly linear and date-based. You can only have one series, and criteria can’t be used to halt or continue the campaigns.

If you’re only going to use campaign automation for birthday/anniversary emails, or a welcome email series for new opt-ins, Constant Contact will work fine. If you want anything more robust than that, you’ll want to look into an email marketing suite that supports drip campaigns.

Does Constant Contact Plan On Supporting Drip Campaigns?

I actually just got off the phone with Constant Contact sales a few weeks ago. Drip campaigns, as well as other features such as dynamic/conditional content is something I asked them about. The sales rep stated that he wasn’t able to disclose anything currently in the skunkworks so couldn’t answer the question. If Constant Contact does ever implement drip campaigns, we’ll be sure to announce it on the site and update this post, as it’ll no longer be correct.

Constant Contact Alternatives For Drip Campaigns

Looking for Constant Contact alternatives that support drip campaigns? Check out our Email service provider comparison. The chart contains tons of valuable information that makes it easy to compare all the different email marketing platforms side-by-side. See which platforms support autoresponders or drip campaigns and find the email marketing automation platform that’s the best fit for your business.