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Based on weighted criteria below
Low Pricing icon

Low Pricing (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers 2 list based pricing plans:

E-mail Plan:

$15/month
for 0-500 subscribers,

$35/month
for 501-2,500 subscribers,

$55/month
for 2,501-5,000 subscribers,

$85/month
for 5,001-10,000 subscribers,

Custom quotation for more than 10,000 subscribers.

Email Plus Plan (includes more advanced features like surveys, registration forms, coupons, and more):

$45/month
for 0-500 subscribers,

$60/month
for 501-2,500 subscribers,

$80/month
for 2,501-5,000 subscribers,

$110/month
5,001-10,000 subscribers.

Custom quotation for more than 10,000 subscribers.

Constant Contact has no setup fees, 60 day free trial (for 100 contacts), 10% discount if you prepay for 6 months in advance, or 15% off for a year in advance. They also offer double the incentive to prepay for nonprofits, with a 20% discount for 6 months and a 30% discount for annual payments.

GetResponse

$15/month
for 0-1,000 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

$25/month
for 1,001-2,500 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

$45/month
for 2501-5,000 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

$65/month
for 5,001-10,000 subscribers,unlimited emails, access to all features

$145/month
for 10,001-25,000 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

$250/month
for 25,001-50,000 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

$450/month
for 50,001-100,000 subscribers, unlimited emails, access to all features

You'll have to get a custom quote for more than 100,000 subscribers.

As you can see, GetResponse has access to all of its features out of the gate. They also have a 30-day free trial, so you can try it out first to see if it fits your needs. They have unlimited image hosting for all of their plans as well.

Design icon

Design (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact's design looks a bit dated. The email templates are kind of boring.

You still get access to more than 400 built-in templates and with the use of the drag and drop editor you can customize the templates to put your own personal spin on them. That said, GetResponse has a much nicer and more fully featured editor.

A HTML editor is also available if you are planning to code a custom email.

If you want to ensure that your email will render well on mobile devices you’ll have to look for mobile-friendly templates. The downside is that you don’t have a mobile preview, so you have to be careful when you design your template.

Sadly, Constant Contact does not offer preview for mobile devices or different kinds of email clients. This is a big deal, and using Constant Contact will have you wasting hours in testing. GetResponse has mobile devise preview right out of the gate.

GetResponse

If you want to create a new campaign with GetResponse, you’ll get a choice between a drag and drop email editor and a HTML source editor.
GetResponse has more than 500 templates available to get you started.

If you're code savvy, the HTML editor allows you to create your own emails. You can also import a template from a zip file or a web page, create a plain text email, or have one of GetResponse's designers create one for you for an extra fee.

An extremely useful feature is the mobile device preview, which shows how the custom email will look on a mobile device, complete with interactive scrolling and landscape/portrait toggle. Constant Contact does not offer this.

The template selection is very good; templates are arranged into a wide range of categories.

The editor offers drag and drop design elements, and there are a lot of templates to choose from. However, the customization is a little limited.

Frontend Features icon

Frontend Features (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact gives you access to the basics, like subscriber profiles, list growth tools and list segmentation, social media support, multiple user accounts and signup forms.

Other features like split A/B testing and trigger-based messaging aren't in Constant Contact. If you want to use either of those you'll need third party integrations. This is a bit of a shame. A/B testing can be really useful in making a successful email marketing campaign, and it is disappointing that it's not included in Constant Contact.

Constant Contact also only lets you create one sign-up form per account. That is a little absurd. Any email marketing campaign has to target different kinds of users, and they won't all respond to the same form.

They've got Android and iOS apps as well. Those are pretty impressive. They allow you to create new emails, send emails, and track your data from your phone. This strikes me as pretty slick for a program that doesn't have mobile preview.

GetResponse

GetResponse includes a great selection of features for all customers like: email creator, landing page creator, inbox preview, A/B split testing, autoresponders, form builder, and email analytics.

GetResponse offers some very useful features that are not available in Constant Contact like A/B testing, and trigger based messaging. GetResponse really has the edge here with A/B testing. It is very useful for making a effective campaign.

The iOS and Android apps have a useful number of features to help you mange your email marketing campaigns directly from your mobile device.

Backend Features icon

Backend Features (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact's interface might look a bit dated, especially for tech-savvy users with a background in web design.

Nevertheless, the user interface is pretty intuitive.

There's five huge buttons on the left side of the screen:

  • Home - This is where you go when sending your first email. Once you get started these options will be replaced by a dashboard with your recent campaign activity, list growth, and other recent events.
  • Campaigns - You'll find all the necessary tools for customizing email templates and managing a campaign here.
  • Contacts - This lets you manage your subscriber lists and your lone sign-up form.
  • Reporting - This has real-time reporting on all your campaigns.
  • Library - Here you can manage you stored files and access the image library, where you can find a huge collection of stock photos, both free and paid.

GetResponse

GetResponse is pretty straightforward to use, and the menu covers all the basic and more advanced features very clearly.

  • Contacts - This tab lets you manage your lists. (import contacts, edit custom fields)
  • Messages - Create and test newsletters, setup autoresponders, and manage your RSS to email automation.
  • Statistics - This is where GetResponse has all of its analytics.
  • Surveys - Here you can create and manage your customer surveys. The statistics gathered from your surveys will be found under the Statistics menu.
  • Forms - GetResponse has a bunch of different form templates to suit your needs. They also have blank forms if you don't find what you're looking for in their templates.
  • Landing Pages - These are great for converting visitors quickly. They provide you with a visually appealing front page that lets visitors opt-in to whatever it is you need them to opt-in to.
Reports & Statistics icon

Reports & Statistics (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact sticks to the basics when it comes to reports. You'll be able to track opens, clicks, spam reports, unsubscribes, bounces, and contact growth by source.

You can't do A/B split testing, or location tracking in the app itself. You'll have to use their Google Analytics integration if you want that kind of data.

You can view both total opens and unique opens, and you can also view a list of individual subscribers who opened your email or clicked on a link.

You can also see contact growth by source, which is handy if you want to see where your new subscribers are coming from.

One nifty feature is their industry average comparison. You can select an industry and compare your statistics against the industry average. This is pretty much the only feature that is missing in GetResponse.

GetResponse

Reports and statistics are a strong point for email marketing campaigns, since you need the stats in order to improve your delivery and open rates or even the efficiency of your signup forms.

GetResponse’s reporting section covers both the basics and a number of advanced statistics. The basic reports appear directly on the dashboard via a pie chart and raw numbers.

You can access the Email Analytics page for information on opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, and complaints. You can view which members within your email list performed any given action and compare desktop versus mobile activity, list growth compared to prior campaigns, and find autoresponder statistics.

GetResponse's reporting tool is definitely one of the most advanced and fully featured out there. They don't have the industry average comparison like Constant Contact, but that is honestly not that big of a loss.

Flexibility icon

Flexibility (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact’s import tool makes it very easy to gather your subscribers into a single list without needing to reconfirm their subscription.

You can upload spreadsheets and TXT files, or you can import contacts from mail or CMS services service like Salesforce. For creating small lists, you have the option of manually adding contacts.

Constant Contact offers a 60 day free trial, but after that it’s quite difficult to cancel your subscription. You cannot suspend your account over email or chat so you have to call a billing specialist. If you cancel your account and then change your mind, it can be reactivated within 90 days of the cancellation.

Constant Contact also only allows you to store up to 2GB of files online before they charge you for more storage. GetResponse offers free unlimited image storage on their site.

GetResponse

GetResponse's design features allow it to be very flexible for a number of different uses. The open-ended drag and drop editor allows you to make custom emails that can be used for almost anything.

With GetResponse you can import your contacts from a CSV, TXT, XSL, XLSX, VCF, or ODS file (the file cannot be bigger than 10 MB) , from other web services like SalesForce, Google, Magento and many others. The option to manually add your contacts is also available.

All imports will add your subscribers to your list without sending them a confirmation email or asking them to click a link to verify their subscription. Before the list is imported GetResponse will estimate the list quality and depending on the results, the list can be approved or rejected.

GetResponse does not issue a refund for fees you’ve already paid, even if you have paid for a whole year so be careful about paying in advance!

Automation icon

Automation (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact's autoresponder feature lets you set up an email series for similar customers and send targeted messages.

You can also send automated emails to customers that make a purchase or sign up for your mailing lists.

Strangely, you have to wait a day after adding your contacts to your autoresponder list before sending out any autoresponse emails. This might get old pretty quickly.

Also you can't copy emails created in autoresponder to use as standard emails. That is also pretty weird. There are definitely a few situations where that might be necessary.

GetResponse

With GetResponse you have the power to schedule either time-based or action-based messages to reach your subscribers at the perfect moment.

Time-based autoresponders are sent automatically to every new subscriber who joins your list (you can specify the timing of each message). Action-based autoresponders are “trigger messages” sent to your subscribers when they perform a specific action - like, clicking a link or opening a message.

Both of these features work well, and with GetResponse's 99% deliverability you can trust that the emails made it to your customers.

GetResponse doesn't have any of the automation weirdness that Constant Contact does.

Extensibility icon

Extensibility (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers over 200 apps and integrations.

They also let you develop your own apps, if you are so inclined.

Some of the most popular integrations are Google Analytics, WordPress, PayPal and social media-specific apps, including the Constant Contact Facebook app.

GetResponse

There are just 112 add-ons and integrations available for GetResponse. This is not nearly as many as you can find for Campaign Monitor, but all the major programs are available.

Obviously, Constant Contact beats GetResponse here, but not by much.

Support icon

Support (weighted 11%)

Constant Contact

Perhaps Constant Contact's best feature is their support (the company has even won three Stevie awards over the years for its customer service). They offer phone, chat, and email support and they have a dedicated Twitter account for customer service @CTCTHelp.

Phone support is available for different time zones:

USA & Canada: Monday - Thursday 7am - 11pm EST, Friday 7am - 9pm EST, and Saturday - Sunday 10am-8pm EST;

UK: Monday - Friday 9am - 4am GMT,
Saturday - Sunday 3pm - 1am GMT;

International: Monday - Thursday7am - 11pm ET, Friday7am - 9pm ET, Saturday - Sunday10am - 8pm ET

Online Chat is available Monday-Friday, 7am-9pm EST.

Constant Contact offers a variety of live and recorded webinars, blog posts covering tips and industry news, and a massive knowledge base with frequently asked questions arranged by different topics.

Constant Contact offers in-person classes and seminars for an additional fee ($199+).

Their customer support is really responsive and helpful. They just edge out GetResponse in terms of customer service with their myriad service options and their quick responses to questions.

GetResponse

GetResponse has a live chat service that is 24 hours a day on weekdays. They also have a phone line that is open 9 - 5 EST. Of course, they also offer email support.

They also offer a FAQ section, video tutorials, and live and pre-recorded webinars, but navigating the FAQ section can be a little frustrating.

They are active on Social Media and will quickly respond to user comments and questions on Facebook and Twitter.

Besides the FAQ, GetResponse's support is quick and reliable. They offer a lot of options to fix whatever problem you may be having.

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