Even if you have never heard of Constant Contact, you have probably received a newsletter or e-mail that was created using this great program. Here is how they view themselves:

Constant Contact®, Inc. helps small businesses, associations, and nonprofits connect with their customers, clients, and members. Launched in 1998, Constant Contact champions the needs of small organizations and provides them with an easy and affordable way to build successful, lasting customer relationships.

Constant Contact’s leading email marketing and online survey tools—supported by its expert personal coaching and support—help all types of small businesses and organizations create professional-looking email newsletters and insightful online surveys and begin a dialogue with their customers. Today, more than 250,000 customers worldwide trust Constant Contact to help them connect with their audience.

Don’t just take their word for it. I have used this tool for years and love how versatile the templates are for those of you that are scared off by terms like HTML, hyperlinks and code. But, it’s also flexible enough for those that want to use these skills to make even more powerful dynamic newsletters. Once you have your own unique layout created with your company logo, colors and information, you can simply copy that e-mail each month to make sure you are consistent with your distribution.

Signing up is also made pretty tempting. Not sure if I have heard of another company giving such a great offer. You can sign up for a 60 day FREE trial, yes, 60 days! This gives you enough time to send out two monthly newsletters! Plenty of time to feel comfortable that this is working for you. Even once the free trial is up, the monthly fee is still low and is based on the number of contacts you have in your database, not the number of e-mails you send. So for less than 500 contacts, at $15 a month, that’s not a bad price. Use this link: Constant Contact to sign up for a trial. Once you have completed the trial and decide to start the paid account, you will get a $30 credit (only if you use this link, and if you do, yes I get a $30 credit too!).

So, what’s the difference between this and sending out an e-mail through Outlook? With Constant Contact you can use functionality known as data fields. This gives you the ability to send out the e-mail personalized with each recipient seeing the e-mail addressed to them with their first name. If you are diligent in your data base collection and get other info, you can impress your audience further still by using their company name and other significant information in the body of the e-mail.

Another thing you don’t have the ability of doing with Outlook is to view reports to show who opened your e-mail and which links they clicked on within the newsletter or bulletin. This will give you the ability to see which links were most popular and if you are reaching your target audience. Valuable information like this can help you plan for next month and beyond. Finally, it gives the audience the ability to opt into other letters or opt out if they so desire. This is important to remain compliant with spamming laws.

Finally, consider adding a link to your site to allow people to sign up directly for your newsletter. Constant Contact provides the html to add this to your web pages. When someone clicks to sign up (see the right of this post for an example on this site) they will immediately be added to your database online. Saves time for you, makes it easy for your reader.

So, 60 days free, as low as $15 a month, and the opportunity to build a loyal fan and client base who are reading about things they are interested in and anticipate receiving. I would say it’s worth it!

Share With Others