Using E-Mail Marketing Through Constant Contact
A Constant Contact Run-Through:
Great Pre-Made Templates
Through ConstantContact.com, there are many different free (who doesn’t like free) pre-coded templates that are available for your use. You might be thinking they’ve got to be very basic or might not have a good selection, but you would be pleasantly surprised. There are mass e-mail templates for many different types of e-mails from promotions to newsletters- multiple versions of each- and they are created pretty customizable.
Customize and Replicate Templates
Even if you’re starting your letter from a pre-coded template (or your own from scratch, which Constant Contact has the feature for), there are many customizable features at your disposal. For instance, there are the ‘blocks’ that are different types of sections of a page, such as headers or diveiders. With these blocks (whose color, size, etc. is up to you), you can create your own masterpiece and then fill in the blanks. This includes a multitude of features, such as:
- Headers/Banners
- Logos
- Dividers
- Introduction
- Body Text- w/ options of header/picture additions
- Buttons
- Coupons
- Contact Info
With all of these features, the design is in your hands, whether you start with a premade template or not. The great part about this as well is you can save this created template right on the website for later use. Simply click ‘Copy’ under options and you can fill in the blanks differently on the same template.
Social Media/Surveys/Payments
Constant Contact comes equipped with special buttons and codes. For instance, it can give you a Facebook icon that will click and lead to your Facebook page in order to attract likes, follows, etc. There is this same button for Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and all of your favorite social media sites. In addition, you can create a poll or survey through Constant Contact that will actuall track results of how your recipients answered. Pretty cool. Last but not least for buttons, there are a couple of payment buttons such as a PayPal and a Coupon button that can lead to your future sales. At this point, you’re basically creating a mini website as an e-mail.
Get a preview and send ‘Test E-mails’ for Compatibility
While you’re experimenting with different templates, you should probably also worry about how your design might react on different devices (computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.) and what it looks like in general. Lucky for you, there is a ‘Preview’ button. Next to your ‘Save’ button, which is constantly updating your file as you make changes, you can click ‘Preview to see what it looks like in computer form. However, you can’t be too safe with just this. There is also a ‘Send Test E-mail’ button, which allows you to send it to up to five recipients. This way, you’re not sending it to your thousand potential customers who can see that you accidentally used six different fonts. Also, you can look at the e-mail on your phone and tablet to make sure the e-mail is compatible with these devices.
Sending to Thousands (stored)
Instead of typing in all of your contacts or storing your contacts in some huge folder, you can keep them right on Constant Contact in your private profile. You can even sort them into groups by city, age class, or whatever demographic you want to specify. This way, you can target particular groups with a certain set of mass e-mails. At the click of a button, you can send your customized designed newsletter to ten thousand people. Vualah. It’s like magic.
Checking Results
My favorite feature on Constant Contact is the Results feature. Once you’ve developed, filled in, and sent your e-mail, typically you’d be wondering “Oh man, is anyone going to even open this?” or “I wish I could see how many people click back to my website.” Well, yet again your wish is granted with Constant Contact. When viewing results, you can see how many people:
- You sent it to
- Opened your e-mail
- Clicked on a link in your e-mail
- Marked you as Spam- uh oh
- Registered for a certain promotion
- Many, many more
All of these are some of the major features of Constant Contact, but as you can see there are plenty of positive impacts it can have on mass e-mails. There are also other companies like MailChimp and Campaigner, but I’ve found it best to use CC. If you’ve never sent a mass e-mail or you’ve been making your own word documents into them, it’s time to get with modern technology.
Interested in trying Constant Contact? Sign up for your free 60 day free trial (with no limits on the number of emails that you can send to a maximum of 100 contacts) or contact Bower Web Solutions to learn how we can work with you to make your email marketing campaigns as painless and simple as possible.
