Constant Contact vs. SignUpGenius

Constant Contact is great when trying to target specific market segments. We typically like to segment our master list by region, but also have product segments, as well. They do provide pre-made segments to start you off too. We don't usually use their email builder, we find others to be more flexible, intuitive, and have more variety. We do prefer emailing from Constant Contact, however.

SignUpGenius is a great option for teachers and instructors looking to find a digital way to have their students sign up for anything that involves "slots," whether those slots are temporal/time-based (e.g., presentation days/times that are pre-scheduled), or whether they are more abstract (e.g., a limited range of subjects or topics that students need to pick from). Its free version is ad-supported, does not require registration, and operates primarily using links within emails for authentication, so while it isn't necessarily "secure," it is perfect for situations where the honor system is enough.

Incentivized

• Constant Contact allows the users to send unlimited emails and just pay per list size.
• The software does welcome emails pretty well and allows you to set up all sorts of automation.
• The branded templates and starter templates are very useful and look good.

Incentivized

• Post-sign up communications - allows for pre-event communication to specific rsvp types or to all respondents
• Post-event reporting - allows for export of signup information
• Easy to use - for our community, both management and volunteers use SignUpGenius to facilitate participation and planning for a wide variety of events and activities

Incentivized

• Sometimes some software provides outdated and useless features and functions, but this email marketing tool gives advanced kinds of functionalities with modern features.
• I like the ease of use of this platform also appreciate its professional customer support team.
• I am no longer desperate after getting this tool at my work.

Incentivized

• I think an area that needs improvement is allowing for more than 5 slots at a time. I would like to see at least 10 offered instead of having to keep adding 5 at a time.
• Adding additional templates or templates in which you can just change a color selection would be great. Really utilize this for school PTO/Booster Clubs would be beneficial. Cater to them.
• Allowing for a 'cheaper' price than what you have for the souped up version would be nice as well.

Incentivized

There is no doubt that we are going to renew Constant Contact. We have not just invested a lot of time in learning and creating a great looking product but we have developed a strong database of information that allows us to track how we are doing for each newsletter. This supports our goals of creating products that residents desire and are excited to receive.

It is a great product that works efficiently for our needs

Incentivized

There is always room for improvement. I don't know how they test their systems, but they should invite not-so computer savvy people to test it. If I, as an expert have problems, they need to think like the technophobe. Since I've used Constant Contact in the past as part of my former employment, I have not viewed any of the tutorials and just jumped in to work on my client's newsletter. With that said, I found some areas easy and some a bit cumbersome

No major problems in sending out the email campaigns and accessing the analytics

Incentivized

The system seemed quite slow sometimes. Specifically, there was sometimes a delay in sends if it was during a high traffic period. There were time-outs when uploading new code for an email, and a lag in reporting analytics which was sometimes as long as 72 hours

I think the overall support for Constant Contact has always been incredible; I have nothing negative to say. Our customer support representative was attentive, easy to understand, and very knowledgeable. I never felt like I wasn't a priority of his and my issues, while very small, were fixed in a very short time frame.

I don't have any feedback for support because I have not had to use support (if referring to IT support). If this question is in referral to support from other staff/company, then it has been received well in that sense.

Incentivized

Implementation is very easy for someone who wants to send out the “batch and blast” type newsletters. If you want to use their templates with no customizations, the product works fine. However, the more customizations you get into involving link color, etc, that’s where things can get tricky for someone who may not be familiar with coding

We selected Constant Contact due to pricing constraints. However, if the pricing were to increase, we may look at alternative products that offer more features. We are looking for a product that will allow us to stand out from other organizations like ours that are appealing to the same customers—a product that will set our company apart from the others.

Incentivized

We briefly used another sign-up website called "Bring the Cups."Needless to say, this website did not nearly offer the same amount of robust features as SignUpGenius did. Bring the Cups was streamlined and simple, but it bordered on simplistic. In all honesty, Bring the Cups did not nearly meet our needs the way SignUpGenius did. Consequently, I returned to using SignUpGenius as quickly as possible.

Incentivized

Very reliable in sending email campaigns and controlling the recipients so that no contact is sent the same email more than once, even if they are on a resent list

Incentivized

• I can't report hard numbers, however, being able to execute sales and marketing campaigns led to a noticeable increase in brand awareness in our industry.
• We were able to offer white-labeled email communication services to clients, which is not something that other administrators typically offer. This helped us win and retain business.

• Students and even other staff love it! It improved the turn-around time from when I respond to student requests for academic coaching to setting up the intake meeting about 50%. Also, in the case that I respond quickly but the student is delayed several days, the link I sent is still live and always has relevant dates and times (whereas in the past, I would send a few days' worth of options and by the time a procrastinator looked at them, they were passed).
• It's an easy, mobile-friendly option that helps students to see that we're with it, not trapped in the stone age. That factors into their overall perception of our department, our services and our organization.

Incentivized