When it comes to email marketing software, two platforms stand out from the pack – Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact. Both tools allow small business owners to create professional email campaigns to connect with customers. However, choosing the right platform is critical for reaching your target audience and driving results.
In this in-depth comparison of Campaign Monitor vs Constant Contact, we look at several criteria that matter most to small business owners, including market position and popularity, ease of use, design customization capabilities, features and integrations, performance, customer support, pricing, and reviews and reputation.
By the end, you’ll have a clear sense of which solution best fits your business needs and email marketing goals.
1. Understanding the Basics
Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform founded in 2004 by designers Ben Richardson and David Greiner. Based in Australia, Campaign Monitor has grown into one of the most popular email marketing tools for small businesses.
It has captured over 10% market share globally, with over 150,000 customers in 190 countries. The platform has an official Facebook community with over 27,000 members.
Constant Contact got its start back in 1998 under founder Randy Parker. Headquartered in Massachusetts, the company has become a leading email marketing provider for small and medium-sized businesses around the world.
Constant Contact holds about 10% of the total email marketing platform market with over 600,000 customers. The Constant Contact community on Facebook has over 188K likes.
2. Features and Functionality
Automation
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor makes it easy to set up triggered email campaigns based on user actions and behaviors. You can create a seamless welcome series for new subscribers, nurture campaigns for leads, and shopping cart abandonment flows to re-engage site visitors. The visual campaign builder lets you set up if/then triggers and schedules with drag-and-drop simplicity.
For example, you can send automatic birthday or anniversary emails by triggering messages based on merge field data in your subscriber list. Or you can set up workflows to move contacts through a multi-touch nurturing campaign depending on their engagement and activity over time.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers robust automation for designing multi-step email campaigns. The Email Automation tool allows you to create packages of emails that get sent when a contact takes (or doesn’t take) a specified action. You can set up sequences in response to form submissions, online purchases, opened emails, clicked links, and more.
With drag-and-drop functionality, you can visually map out conditional content blocks and branching logic to customize streams based on contact behaviors. This simplifies sending hyper-targeted messages while optimizing the timing of your outreach.
Winner: Tie
Both Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact provide user-friendly automation for triggered email campaigns. Their visual workflow builders with drag-and-drop functionality make it straightforward to set up “if this, then that” sequences tailored to contact actions. With easy-to-configure triggers and email design templates, these platforms enable small businesses to execute automated campaigns that turn cold leads into loyal customers. Their automation capabilities are on par, earning this category a tie.
Email Templates
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor provides hundreds of professionally designed email templates to choose from. You can browse by category like welcome series, sales campaigns, notifications, and various other transactional emails. The drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to customize templates by updating images, colors, and text while preserving formatting.
There are also coded HTML templates for further customization by experienced designers. All templates are mobile-optimized so your emails look great on any device. And if you want something completely unique, Campaign Monitor allows you to design emails from scratch.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers over 100 free templates covering categories like promotions, newsletters, welcome series, and events to run successful email marketing campaigns. Easy-to-use editing tools allow swapping graphics and photos, adjusting colors, and updating text while protecting layouts. For simpler customization, you can use customizable content blocks to mix and match.
The system identifies improperly formatted HTML that may cause issues on mobile or webmail. And if you want full creative control over your digital marketing, you can build an email using a blank canvas layout. Constant Contact also lets you save customized templates for reuse in future campaigns.
Winner: Campaign Monitor
With a wider selection of professionally designed, mobile-ready templates and greater creative control, Campaign Monitor edges out Constant Contact for the best email templates. The ability to fully customize HTML templates or create pixel-perfect emails from scratch caters to advanced designers.
For small business owners just looking for an easy starting point, the hundreds of drag-and-drop templates still provide ample attractive options to make engaging emails fast. The combination of template variety, customization, and mobile optimization makes Campaign Monitor a clear frontrunner.
Segmentation
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor enables the creation of highly targeted segments and groups to send tailored messages. You can segment your lists based on subscriber attributes, email metrics, tags, and more. For example, group by location to localize content, create segments based on order history or product interest to boost relevancy or see who opened specific messages.
Segmented groups can be named and saved for easy use across campaigns. You can combine multiple rules to target various subsets like “Opened last newsletter AND has made a purchase in past 60 days”. This empowers personalizing the message, timing, and content for each segment.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact’s segmentation tools help divide your master contact list into more targeted email groups. Segment by category tags, location, purchase history, social media followers – any contact info you track. Apply conditions like email opens/clicks, site visits, and purchase activity to filter contacts. You can save segmented lists dynamically or as static groups for future targeting.
When you send campaigns, pick appropriate email lists to match the promotion. This allows tailoring your message, offers, product selections, and creative content to be hyper-relevant for different subscribers. As contacts meet the criteria for new segments over time, they are automatically added or removed.
Winner: Tie
The Constant Contact Campaign Monitor comparison shows that both platforms offer robust email list segmentation capabilities for personalizing outreach. Their intuitive interfaces allow the creation of groups based on multiple contact attributes, behaviors, and past interactions with your brand. Saved segments also simplify email targeting for future campaigns. Since these core segmentation powers are equally strong in both platforms, this category ends in a tie.
Analytics
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor provides robust email analytics to track open rates, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces, social shares, and more. You get real-time stats on campaign performance plus tools to drill deeper. For example, gauge engagement by contact attributes, view links clicked within messages, or which email lists saw the best results.
A/B testing support lets you directly compare metrics from different email versions. Geographical data shows how performance varies by subscriber location. Integration with Google Analytics for deeper analysis of clicks and conversions provides big-picture insights.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact gives comprehensive email engagement analytics. At-a-glance dashboards show open, click-through, and bounce rates. You can segment data by groups and campaigns or dive deeper into metrics like most-clicked links, social sharing activity, contact responses over time, and subscriber engagement scores. Comparison graphs help you analyze performance trends.
The system integrates directly with Google Analytics for expanded insights beyond the inbox on-site engagement. A/B testing functionality is also available to experiment with subject lines and email content to boost impact. Custom reports and exports round out the toolkit for measurement.
Winner: Tie
Both Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact deliver excellent built-in email analytics with comparable features and functionality for assessing performance. Their tight integration with Google Analytics is equally valuable for bigger-picture analysis of site traffic, clicks, and conversions generated. With neither platform clearly ahead in helping marketers interpret and act on key email metrics and campaign results, this category ends in a tie.
Unique Features
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor provides excellent support for sending targeted Facebook Messenger campaigns via its Channel Connect integration. You can set up automated Messenger broadcasts or one-to-one chat sequences based on user behaviors in your email lists. This expands communication opportunities with contacts.
The platform also enables SMS marketing capabilities through partnerships with leading providers like Twilio, MessageMedia, and others. Integrating messaging channels is easy with the visual campaign builder. Support for things like countdown timers, coupon codes, and easy sharing to Messenger during peak sales events further boost engagement.
Constant Contact
A standout unique feature from Constant Contact is Social Quick Builder for simplifying promotion across channels. You can easily convert email campaigns into Facebook posts or ads. Content syncing automatically displays the right images/text while following best practices for each network.
Constant Contact also has strong event marketing tools like customizable registration forms, attendee management, dedicated email designs, and integration with popular event management platforms. This provides an all-in-one solution for pre/post-event outreach tied to your website.
Winner: Campaign Monitor
While both platforms have strengths, Campaign Monitor pulls ahead based on the native integration with additional communication channels like Facebook Messenger and SMS. The unified cross-channel approach driven by intuitive automation and email-style creation tools for messages provides more options for small businesses to engage their audience. The dynamic content features for campaigns cater well to e-commerce and mobilizing audiences during sales or events.
3. Ease of Use
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor provides an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and visual workflow builder for designing email campaigns. The clean dashboard neatly organizes your lists, templates, and reports for easy access. Step-by-step wizards guide users through setting up segmented contact lists, creating sign-up forms, and launching first broadcasts within minutes.
The email builder makes it fast and easy to drag in templates, images, and blocks of content without any coding. Previewing on mobile helps ensure responsiveness. While some more advanced features take a bit more learning, the platform overall remains approachable for first-time email marketers.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact also offers a user-friendly dashboard presenting contacts, scheduled/sent messages, and analytics in one view. Wizards assist with configuration like contact imports, email sign-up widgets for your website, and integration with e-commerce platforms. Creating basic emails only requires picking a template, editing text, and hitting send.
Drag-and-drop modules let you customize templates on the fly. Viewing real-time previews maintains full control while building responsive layouts. The tool works well for DIY first-timers, though exploring more complex workflows requires familiarizing yourself with some nuances. However, educational content helps shorten the curve.
Winner: Tie
Both Campaign Monitor and Constant Contact equip first-time email marketers with easy-to-grasp interfaces. Their dashboards, templates, and simplified email builders enable crafting professional outreach quickly without technical skills. Streamlined guidance for integrating forms and contacts accelerates configuration too. With comparable strengths in approachability for beginners and intuitiveness overall, this category ends in a tie.
4. Email Deliverability
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor uses proprietary Deliverability Guard technology to optimize inbox placement. Features like link encoding, contact scoring based on engagement metrics, and automated list cleansing help avoid spam filters.
The platform provides deliverability consulting and coaching to implement best practices that maintain the sender’s reputation. Campaign Monitor also enables setting up dedicated IP addresses to isolate customers and monitor individual sending domains.
Diagnostic tools track bounces by type and reason to fix potential issues. Overall deliverability rates typically reach 97% or higher, ensuring your emails make it to the inbox.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact also has strong email deliverability driven by analytics on engagement signals like opens, clicks, and bounces. Behavioral scoring identifies less active contacts most at risk for complaints. Automated re-engagement or removal maintains list quality.
To avoid blacklisting, Constant Contact Android mobile apps verification, link wrapping, image hosting, content optimization, and sender authentication. Consultative services help new users establish good sending reputations. Shared IPs are common, but dedicated options are available for more advanced monitoring.
Bounce management and audit logs provide feedback to continually refine campaigns. Deliverability averages around 95%.
Winner: Campaign Monitor
With slightly higher inbox placement rates and more advanced isolation options via dedicated IPs, Campaign Monitor edges out Constant Contact as the superior platform for email deliverability. Their tight integration of behavioral engagement data and automated hygiene protocols give added protection. The one-on-one deliverability coaching you get access to accelerates picking up best practices for reaching the inbox consistently.
5. Customer Support and Community
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor provides email-based customer support as well as 24/7 live chat and phone assistance for premium users. Their online knowledge base has helpful DIY resources including getting-started guides, walkthroughs, and best-practice content. Users can access webinars and on-demand training videos for self-education too.
There’s an active Peer Group community available for asking questions and networking with the support team and other users. Campaign Monitor also maintains an official Facebook group focused on email marketing strategies and advice on how to optimize your email campaign strategies.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers 24/7 phone, chat, and email support with extended hours for premium users. The searchable Help Center serves up FAQs, step-by-step tutorials, and troubleshooting content. Webinars and on-demand video courses give both beginners and experts ways to hone skills. You can talk to a live rep or search through the well-curated knowledge base on your own.
An exclusive Facebook group for Constant Contact users provides peer discussion of best practices. Users can engage the wider small business marketing community through Constant Contact’s main Facebook page.
Winner: Constant Contact
With a comparable breadth of self-service education content supplemented by direct support channels, Constant Contact pulls ahead based on the strength of its broader user community. Tens of thousands of engaged small business marketers networked through multiple Facebook groups and followers make it easier to access advice from peers actually leveraging email marketing day-to-day.
6. Integrations
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor integrates with over 1,000 apps and services via Zapier including leading CRMs, email tools, payment processors, and webinar platforms. Native connections are also offered for top marketing, sales, and e-commerce solutions like Shopify, WooCommerce, MailChimp, Google Analytics, and more.
Two-way APIs enable deeper linking to sync data across connected systems. The developer resources help brands build custom functionality on top of Campaign Monitor’s email capabilities for more advanced needs.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact also provides integrations with apps like Shopify and WooCommerce for unified contacts and campaign performance data. Two-way Calendar syncing connects online scheduling software. Native connections with CRMs like Salesforce help segment outreach.
Zapier expands options for connecting important productivity, sales, and marketing tools. But capability through Zapier relies on the specific pre-built integrations vs fully customizable API functionality. Some platforms have tighter first-party integration with Constant Contact than others.
Winner: Campaign Monitor
With deeper connectivity capabilities through its developer platform and a broader range of marketing, e-commerce, and CRM integrations, Campaign Monitor edges out Constant Contact for best-in-class email tool integrations. More customization flexibility combined with tighter links to vital small business software gives Campaign Monitor the advantage of unified systems.
7. Pricing
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor pricing plans depend on your number of email contacts and are designed to scale up to add more features like automation, reporting, and design services.
Here are some key pricing highlights for a list of 500 contacts:
- Lite Plan: $11/month. Access the platform’s core features and send up to 2,500 emails.
- Essentials: $19/month. Send unlimited emails and get advanced automation features, including engagement segments and time zone sending.
- Premier Plan: $149/month. Get advanced segmentation plus SMS marketing, and premier support.
Campaign Monitor is ideal for all types of organizations, including nonprofits, universities, and solo entrepreneurs. For a list with 2,500 contacts, you can expect to pay $39, $59, and $149/month respectively for the same features. Volume discounts are available. Campaign Monitor provides a free trial to test drive their platform as well. Pricing is competitive for the robust capabilities provided.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact’s free trial lets you send to 500 contacts. The Lite email plan is $12/month for up to 500 contacts with additional features like the marketing CRM, event management tools, and social marketing features.
The Standard plan is $35/month and comes with 3 users, pre-built automation, and contact segmentation features.
For $80/month, you get the Premium plan, which includes unlimited users, custom automation, custom segmentations, revenue reporting, and Google Ads Manager.
Winner: Campaign Monitor
Despite close contact and email thresholds across initial tiers, Campaign Monitor pulls ahead for the more predictable costs it provides at higher tiers for established businesses. Constant Contacts add-on fees and overages drive up costs unexpectedly for comparable plans. Campaign Monitor’s unlimited emails, premium features, and bulk discounts empower growing brands to control value better.
8. Reviews and Reputation
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor earns strong reviews from users for its intuitive email builder, automation capabilities, and excellent templates. Many praise the app for its ease of use for beginners but advanced functionality for growing brands. The quality and diversity of email designs as well as detailed performance analytics also win kudos.
However, some customers felt pricing became cost-prohibitive for larger email volumes at higher tiers. Support responsiveness and account management garnered occasional mixed responses as well. Overall, Campaign Monitor’s reviews showcase a robust, well-rounded email marketing platform.
Constant Contact
Users give Constant Contact positive marks for simplifying email creation, especially for smaller businesses getting started. Reviewers highlight the platform’s straightforward editor and automation tools that make it easy to set up and manage campaigns. Strong templates and integration with sites/storefronts are also valuable.
Yet some users faced challenges with things like customizing templates, contact management, and analytics depth compared to other market leaders. While responsive, the level of one-on-one support results in moderate satisfaction for some customers expecting more hand-holding. But in general, feedback reflects Constant Contact as a capable starter solution.
See Constant Contact Reviews on G2
Winner: Campaign Monitor
With higher overall user satisfaction and fuller email functionality that serves both novices and sophisticated teams, Campaign Monitor edges out Constant Contact as the winner based on reviews and reputation. More flexibility in design, segmentation, automation, and analytics positions it better for complex needs while still maintaining the ease of use that entry-level users praise.
9. FAQ’s
Campaign Monitor FAQs
- What types of email campaigns can I create?
Campaign Monitor supports welcome emails, newsletters, promotions, automated campaigns, push notifications, and more. - How many contacts can I store?
Campaign Monitor has no hard limits on contact database sizes even at entry tiers, only incremental pricing. You can store unlimited contacts. - What kind of support is offered?
Options range from email support up to 1-on-1 coaching and strategizing with email deliverability experts depending on your plan. - What integrations are available?
1,000+ apps via Zapier including CRMs, analytics tools, and e-commerce platforms. Native integration with leading marketing solutions too. - Can I switch plans easily if my needs change?
Yes, you can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your Campaign Monitor plan at any time with no long-term contracts.
Constant Contact FAQs
- What email types can I design?
From newsletters to promotional blasts, welcome series, follow-up messages, announcements, and more. - Is there a limit on contacts?
Entry-level plans allow up to 500 contacts, expanding up to 15,000 contacts on advanced paid tiers. - What support resources are offered?
Self-service via FAQs/forum plus email support on all plans. Live chat and phone with extended hours on higher tiers. - Does Constant Contact integrate with my storefront?
Yes, native connections with Shopify and WooCommerce to sync contact/sales data. Other platforms may rely on Zapier. - Can I easily switch plans if needed?
Subscribers can upgrade or downgrade at any time based on sending needs month-to-month. No annual contracts to lock in pricing.
Final Thoughts
Choose Campaign Monitor if…
You are an established business seeking advanced email marketing capabilities. Campaign Monitor provides greater customization potential, automation, and cross-channel integration. Growing teams who plan ongoing, high-volume email campaigns and want tighter CRM alignment may benefit most from Campaign Monitor’s flexibility.
Choose Constant Contact if…
You need an easy entry point for email marketing. Constant Contact offers new entrepreneurs and small teams an intuitive starting place to create, send, and monitor email campaigns without expertise. The straightforward editor and availability of templates make blasting first newsletters or announcements simple.
If you’d like to learn more about some different email marketing options compared to this platform, check out my Constant Contact alternatives guide.