Constant Contact is popular for its email marketing services. Recently, it created a service it tags the best builder available. But how accurate is this claim?
In this Constant Contact website builder review, you’ll find out how the website builder works and if it’s worth the hype. From its features, pricing, customer support, and interface, you’ll get a complete look at the website builder.
Let’s get started.
How Does the Website Builder Work?
Constant Contact’s website builder uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate websites/eCommerce stores. It does this primarily by asking you questions. And as you answer, the builder creates your website.
After you sign in to your account, the first step is to select a category from the options available.
This lets the website builder know what the site you want to create will be all about. The website builder then creates pages and sections you may want to use automatically.
Next, you’ll get a prompt to select a title for your website. Then, you’ll get to pick images for your website.
Constant Contact’s website builder allows you to choose royalty-free images from Unsplash’s picture collection. Alternatively, you can upload a picture or logo from your device.
From there, you’ll get to pick the colors you want on the page, your desired font, and a navigation style. A progress bar shows you the result of your changes and offers suggestions.
Next, the system takes you to Constant Contact’s editor. Here, you can make design adjustments and edits. At this stage, you can also input your website’s content.
When you’re done picking and updating elements, click on ‘Finish,’ and the builder creates your website for you.
If you’re new to website development, Constant Contact offers a quick tour to learn about the essential elements and how to navigate through the platform.
It also has an interactive user-interface, and its ADI ensures you get your functional and well-designed site running in no time.
Everything You Need to Know About Constant Contact Website Builder
Before you decide whether Constant Contact’s website builder is a suitable tool for your business, you should weigh its website-building services, and features.
Constant Contact Website Builder Review: Pricing
Constant Contact has two plans for small business owners looking to build websites. They are:
1. Free plan: This option comes with the features you need to build basic websites. You don’t need a credit card to get started, and you can create a website within minutes.
However, the plan has some limitations.
Firstly, you don’t get an independent domain name. Instead, the domain name of your site will be linked to that of Constant Contact.
For example, if you got a web developer to build a website for you from scratch, viewers will log on to www.truckcompany.com.
However, with Constant Contact’s free version, you’ll have www.truckcompany.constantcontact.com as your domain.
Also, the sites you create with the builder’s free option shows Constant Contact ads. And you won’t be paid for running them on your website.
Furthermore, you can only sell three products with this plan.
The free plan doesn’t come with phone support from Constant Contact’s customer service. However, you can reach out to the team via email or webchat.
2. Website Builder plan: This option costs $10 per month. It allows you to build a website without the limitations of the free plan.
For example, you can sell unlimited products if you pick this plan. There won’t be ads on your site. More importantly, you’ll be able to build eCommerce sales funnels.
Website-related features of this plan include:
- Mobile-responsive websites: Your site’s website, design, text, and images will adapt to different screen sizes.
- Website analytics: The reporting tool will give periodic information about your website.
- SSL certificate: This encrypts your website to keep your details private.
- Unlimited storage: You’ll get to upload as many files and images as you want.
- Constant Contact website hosting: This hosting is free, reliable, and secure.
Constant Contact Website Builder Review: Customization Features
Constant Contact’s website builder allows you to pick your website’s layout. The builder contains blocks, and there are three to five options to pick from. On each, you’ll get buttons, subtitles, a Call to Action (CTA), etc. Still, you can remove these elements.
As we’ve established in this Constant Contact website builder review, templates from the platform are mobile-responsive. Hence, you can preview websites you create on your phone, tablet, desktop, or laptop.
Constant Contact’s design quality is decent. While the color palettes aren’t state-of-the-art, business owners can use them to create attractive websites.
Constant Contact Website Builder Review: Customer Service
The company has a reliable customer support team through the knowledge center, live chat, or via the phone.
1. Knowledge base
Constant Contact’s knowledge base is where business owners learn how to carry out simple to complex tasks. It contains screenshots to help you understand how to navigate the platform.
While the knowledge base is quite helpful, it has hitches. The formatting is not great or user-friendly. The images are small and not so clear.
Also, you don’t get a forum, which could have helped users interact and help one another. In established website builders, having one is a friendlier and faster way to solve user problems.
2. Live chat
Constant Contact’s live chat isn’t available in every country. For users that have access, they can easily hit the question mark button. This leads to the option that states, “Chat with a web advisor.”
Upon clicking this option, you’ll be directed to a text box where you can summarize the issue. Within a few minutes of explaining the problem, the site will connect you to an agent.
Usually, an agent will request your verification code through email and log in to your account to resolve the issue for you.
3. Phone and email
The last option you can use is to call or send an email to the customer support team. Constant Contact replies to emails within 48 hours. Calling the team is toll-free irrespective of your location.
Before you call the team, Constant Contact recommends that you:
- Wait for 24 to 48 hours after you published your website
- Clear your cache and cookies
- Try out a different computer if you’re experiencing network issues
- Reset your router or unplug for at least 30 seconds
Constant Contact Website Builder Review: Blogging and SEO
Through its website builder, Constant Contact also offers blogging and SEO services to business owners.
Constant Contact blogs are available only in RSS format. Therefore, you will see your recent posts first.
Using the builder, you can’t put posts in categories, archive them or enable user comments. Also, it is tasking to include blogs to landing pages or home pages.
A Constant Contact blog offers the basics to write posts and articles.
On the other hand, Constant Contact doesn’t have many SEO tools for businesses to rank high on search engines.
While this issue is prevalent in several website builders, the established ones have SEO tools that increase online visibility.
Constant Contact Website Builder: eCommerce
As we’ve established, you can set up a Constant Contact online store using its AI-powered builder. From services to physical products and digital downloads, the platform allows you to sell anything you want.
When a customer pays for an item, Constant Contact takes a 1.5% cut on the transaction fee. The platform uses PayPal and Stripe to process payments. Therefore, additional fees could arise from this payment system.
A Constant Contact’s eCommerce website comes with some advanced features. For example, you can select how many times someone can pay for a download.
The builder also allows you to create as many pages as you want on your online store and link them together. When you do this, you also get to manage the backend of your store.
On the downside, you can’t add sub-menus to pages. This could make it challenging for customers to search your store.
Take an online gym website, for example. If you create one with Constant Contact’s website builder, you can have pages for gym equipment, gym gear, shoes, etc. If you have a lot of categories, sorting through the store would be tasking.
Nevertheless, Constant Contact has other exciting features. It includes integrated shipping services and tax calculations.
If you’d like, you can also track every customer’s purchase through its dashboard to drive your business’s objectives.
Take a company that produces fast consumer manufacturing goods (FCMG), for example.
If they decide to open a Constant Contact online store, stakeholders can track the delivery of goods. In turn, this can help to improve the company’s customer service.
Constant Contact allows you to A/B test the strategies you use to sell products on the website it generates for you.
Constant Contact Website Builder: Bonus Features
Asides from the basic features the AI-powered platform provides, you can also get a logo designer tool. This additional feature is available on the Website Builder plan, not the free version.
Creating a logo with this tool is similar to building a website. You get to explore designs quickly without knowing how to code.
Constant Contact Website Builder Vs. Wix
There are several website builders available like Weebly, Squarespace, and Shopify.
In this section of Constant Contact website builder review, we’ll compare Constant Contact’s key features and that of its close competitor, Wix.
1. Ease of use: Both Wix and Constant Contact have user-friendly interfaces. You get to see your website as it is being built by both platforms. Also, it takes less than 30 minutes to build a great quality website in both cases.
While Wix allows drag-and-drop settings, you only need to click through Constant Contact’s prompts to get a website.
2. Customer support: Wix has an online help center that’s similar to Constant Contact’s knowledge base. Unlike Constant Contact, where you can immediately place a call, Wix allows customers to only request a callback.
Both website builders have customer care experts that work round the clock.
3. Pricing: Unlike Constant Contact, Wix has several plans for people who want to build websites quickly. Wix pricing starts at $14 per month, while Constant Contact’s basic plan goes for $10 per month.
Alternatively, you can create a website with both builders for free. Such websites have ads, no custom domain, and other restrictions.
4. Customization and flexibility: Wix is as customizable as Constant Contact. Both sites allow you to change things like the layout, text, images, site’s color, menu, and lots more.
They also have templates that customers can choose from instead of starting from scratch.
5. SEO and Blogging: Wix has more SEO tools than Constant Contact’s website builder. You can write optimal SEO titles, descriptions, and file alt text with it. However, both website builders often lack basic blogging features.
Constant Contact Website Builder vs. WordPress
1. Ease of use: In terms of simplicity, WordPress and Constant Contact’s website builder are suitable for beginners. You don’t need to learn how to code or design websites.
With WordPress, all you need to do is drag and drop elements you want on your page.
While WordPress isn’t the best fit for creating an online store, the platform is a popular builder for blogs. On the other hand, you can use Constant Contact to create an eCommerce site or a blog.
2. Customer support: WordPress has a toll-free number you can call. Like Constant Contact, you can only call the customer support team if you’re on a paid subscription.
Nevertheless, WordPress recommends that customers check the platform for quick tips on how to resolve their complaints. The platform also has 24/7 live chat support for premium customers, like Constant Contact.
3. Pricing: WordPress is free for a lifetime, but the platform has three other plans. The best one for small businesses costs $25 per month, while Constant Contact’s base plan is $10 per month.
WordPress requires you to create an account before building your website if you choose its free version. With Constant Contact, you can create a website before an account.
4. Customization, design, and flexibility: WordPress and Constant Contact are customizable. With the WordPress Business plan, you get custom plugins and themes and can change all other elements to suit your needs. However, you only have 200GB of storage.
5. SEO and blogging: As we’ve established, WordPress a popular content management tool, especially when you want to build a blog.
You can use SEO plugins to make your website rank higher.
Constant Contact Website Builder vs. Weebly
1. Ease of use: Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder. Hence, it is easy to use. You’ll get outputs on the screen and won’t have to deal with writing code, pressing buttons, or text boxes.
Constant Contact is just as easy to use and a tad more intuitive for beginners. You also don’t need tech experience to get started.
2. Customer support: Weebly allows you to reach out to its customer support via phone, live chat, or a support ticket.
While the chat and live phone support are available only in the US, business owners in other countries can use email support to resolve any issue.
The customer support team opens on Monday through Saturday, and there are a few steps to follow before you get started.
For example, Weebly recommends you open an account and type questions in the text box, after which it’ll suggest helpful articles.
On the other hand, Constant Contact has three ways to reach its customer support team.
3. Pricing: As with other established website builders, you can use Weebly for free. However, there are four other plans you can select.
You have to pay separate fees for a fully integrated online store and to get email marketing services with the builder.
The business plan costs $25 per month, while the Business Plus plan costs $38 per month. Both options are billed annually.
4. Customization, design, and flexibility: Weebly’s website builder allows you to customize your website. You can add text, maps, and several other elements.
The tool allows you to include video backgrounds, customize headers and experiment with color backgrounds. And if you know how to use HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, you can touch things up to suit your taste.
Constant Contact’s website builder allows just about the same customization features
5. SEO and blogging: Constant Contact has templates for creating blogs on the fly, and so also does Weebly. With both tools, you can integrate photos, videos and customize every aspect of the blog.
Weebly’s Editor handles most of the SEO tools the platform provides.
It also has a checklist to ensure you remember to carry out the most important tasks. In contrast, Constant Contact has only a few tools to rank high on search engines.
How to Use Constant Contact’s Email Marketing Service
Email marketing is a vital aspect of Constant Contact. With the service, you can send stylized emails, create surveys, and track progress reports.
Here is how to go about it:
1. Set up your email list
While you can send generic emails to everyone, you should set up lists when sending out specialized emails.
Tap the menu for the option that allows you to do this.
2. Enter your contacts
There are several ways to enter contacts in your email with Constant Contact. Firstly, you can choose to input them manually.
If your contacts are in a spreadsheet, you can also upload the list. This is a more convenient way to enter contacts. Alternatively, you can get your contacts from Outlook or Gmail.
Creating a form on your website is another way to get contacts.
3. Create your email content
Constant Contact allows you to track people who read your email. This way, you have an idea of how your email performs. Here’s a complete guide on how to create an email list with Constant Contact.
FAQs
Do You Pay Extra Fees for an Online Store?
When you pay for any Constant Contact plan, you can create an online store without paying any extra fee.
The only cost from Constant Contact that you may incur is a 1.5% cut on your sales. Any other fee would be from the payment processor platform you choose.
Does a Website Come With a Domain?
After publishing a site, Constant Contact allows you to use its domain. Your site’s name can be the subdomain. Alternatively, you can buy a domain from Constant Contact or any other domain registrar.
Once you have one, you should connect it to your site directly or transfer it to Constant Contact. The second option allows you to manage billing options and other domain-related issues with your Constant Contact account.
Are There Discounts?
Constant Contact offers discounts to non-profit organizations. There are two options:
- A 20% discount to be repaid in 6 month
- A 30% discount to be repaid in 12 months
The platform doesn’t have monthly discounts.
Do You Need to Pay for Email Marketing Services?
From our review of the Constant Contact website builder, subscribing to the paid plan allows you to send emails.
If you have new subscribers, you can send them automatic welcome emails. And if you have an online store, transactional emails can help you stay on top of deliveries.
Nevertheless, you can create and save other types of emails but not send them. To do otherwise, you’ll need to pay for Constant Contact’s Email or Email Plus plans.
Final words
In a nutshell, Constant Contact’s website builder is useful for building basic but attractive websites. It’s designed for business owners who need websites within minutes and don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for one.
While you can use it to build an online store, this platform doesn’t have extensive blogging features.
From our review, one of the most exciting things about the Constant Contact website builder is its excellent customer support team and user-friendly interface.
