How to Connect Constant Contact to WordPress for Powerful Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your business online. According to Campaign Monitor, email generates a 4,400% return on investment (ROI) which is significantly higher than other marketing channels.

But many small businesses struggle with running successful email campaigns. That‘s where Constant Contact shines…

As an experienced webmaster, I‘ve used Constant Contact with WordPress for over 15 years to drive results through email marketing.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share everything you need to know about integrating Constant Contact into your WordPress website.

Let‘s get started!

Why Every Business Needs an Email Marketing Strategy

Here are some compelling stats that demonstrate the importance of email marketing:

• Email generates $44 in revenue for every $1 spent – An unmatched 4,400% ROI (Campaign Monitor)

• There are over 4 billion active email users worldwide as of 2022 (Statista)

• Around 306 billion emails are sent and received globally per day (Radicati Group)

• Email subscribers have a 760% higher lifetime value than non-subscribers (SaleCycle)

• 71% of consumers prefer to receive promotional content via email (Statista)

• Email nurturing generates 50% more sales than companies that don‘t nurture leads via email (Annuitas Group)

As you can see, email marketing generates significant revenues and provides unparalleled access to your audience.

Here are some of the key reasons why I believe every business should invest in email marketing:

Builds Trust and Loyalty

Regular communication via email newsletters and promotions helps establish credibility and trust with subscribers over time. You are able to nurture leads at their own pace and become a trusted resource.

Drives Website Traffic

Tactically placing links to blog posts, landing pages, and products in your emails is an effective way to drive traffic. Email subscribers are highly engaged and will click on compelling content.

Makes Sales

Email is a direct marketing channel that drives sales. You can promote specific products/services, share coupons/discounts, and trigger behavioral-based campaigns to get purchases.

Boosts Customer Lifetime Value

According to Experian, engaged email subscribers spend 2x more over the lifetime than non-engaged subscribers. Email nurturing increases CLTV.

Improves Brand Loyalty

Email creates touchpoints to keep customers engaged after the initial purchase. They are more likely to buy again due to this continued experience.

Now that you know why email marketing matters, let‘s discuss Constant Contact and how it makes the process incredibly easy…

What is Constant Contact? Overview and Key Features

Constant Contact is an email marketing platform built for small businesses, bloggers, publishers, and ecommerce stores. It makes it simple to create, send, and track email campaigns.

Over 500,000 businesses and organizations worldwide use Constant Contact for their email marketing, including:

• Small businesses – restaurants, retailers, local services, agents, consultants etc.
• Bloggers – food, travel, lifestyle, design, marketing etc.
• Publishers and content sites – news sites, magazines, thought leadership sites etc.
• Ecommerce stores – online shops selling physical/digital products

Some of the key features and capabilities of Constant Contact include:

Easy Email Builder

An intuitive drag and drop email builder with pre-designed templates makes it simple for anyone to create professional emails without technical skills.

Email Design Lab

This tool provides access to hundreds of free images, fonts, color palettes and layouts for custom email design. You don‘t need Photoshop skills.

Signup Forms

Constant Contact enables you to quickly build signup forms using their form builder and embed them anywhere on your site to capture emails.

Contact Management

Detailed contact records of all your email subscribers along with profiles, notes, and activity tracking makes managing your list easy.

Email Automation

Set up automated email sequences like welcome emails for new subscribers, post-purchase thank you messages, abandoned cart reminders and more.

Reports and Analytics

In-depth email analytics help you identify the engagement levels, open rates, click through rates, bounce rates and unsubscribe rates for your campaigns.

List Segmentation

Divide your master email list into targeted segments based on behavior, demographics, interests and other attributes. Send relevant emails to each segment.

Email Scheduling

Schedule your email blasts in advance by picking the exact date and time you want an email to be delivered to your list.

Constant Contact Pricing

Constant Contact offers a free 60-day trial. Paid plans start at $20/month for up to 500 contacts. Volume discounts are available as your list grows.

In summary, Constant Contact provides a robust set of email marketing tools optimized for small businesses at an affordable price point. The integration with WordPress makes it a great choice for users of the popular CMS.

Next, let‘s go through how to set up a Constant Contact account and connect it with your WordPress site…

How to Set Up a Constant Contact Account

Getting started with Constant Contact takes just a few minutes. Simply go to their website and click on "Start Free Trial".

• Enter your email address and create a password
• Provide some basic information like your business name, address, and industry
• Confirm your account via email

Once logged into your Constant Contact dashboard, you‘ll see the 3 simple steps to get set up:

Step 1 – Create Your First Email List

Start by creating your main email list here. I recommend naming it something like "Main Subscribers".

You can create additional lists later for segmented groups based on buyer persona, location, or other attributes. For now, build that master list.

Step 2 – Add Your Organization Details

Constant Contact needs your business name, address, and contact info for their email footers to comply with anti-spam laws.

Enter your company details along with logo, social media links, etc. This also adds legitimacy in subscribers‘ inboxes.

Step 3 – Send Your First Email

Try sending an email using one of Constant Contact‘s pre-made templates to test the system. Get comfortable with the drag-and-drop email builder before launching campaigns.

And that‘s the basic gist of setting up your Constant Contact account! Very straightforward and fast.

Now let‘s move on to integrating it with your WordPress website…

How to Add Constant Contact Opt-In Forms to Your WordPress Site

To grow your email list, you need to add opt-in forms (also called sign up forms or email signup forms) on your WordPress site. This allows visitors to subscribe to your email lists.

There are a two ways to easily add Constant Contact forms in WordPress:

1. Use Constant Contact‘s Default Form Builder

Constant Contact has its own basic form builder to create signup forms. You can then embed them in WordPress.

Here‘s how to use it:

• Go to Contacts Growth Tools in your Constant Contact account
• Click on "Create Signup Form" and go through their form building wizard
  • Select list(s) to add subscribers to
  • Choose form fields like name, email etc.
  • Customize colors and add logo
• Get the embed code for the finished form
• Add embed code to a WordPress page, post or widget

This is a quick way to get a basic form up and running.

However, Constant Contact‘s default forms are very simple and non-optimized. I recommend using a dedicated lead generation plugin instead for higher conversions…

2. Use OptinMonster to Create High Converting Forms

OptinMonster is the most popular lead generation plugin on WordPress. It helps you create beautiful, optimized signup forms that convert traffic into subscribers.

Here are some benefits of using OptinMonster:

• Pre-made form templates designed for high conversions
• Exit-intent and scroll-triggered forms catch abandoning visitors
• Attention-grabbing form types like popups, slide-ins, floating bars etc.
• Detailed conversion analytics on each optin campaign
• A/B testing to improve form performance over time

And OptinMonster seamlessly integrates with Constant Contact and other email providers.

Here‘s how to use it:

• Install the OptinMonster plugin on your site
• Create a new campaign and select "Constant Contact" from the list of connected services
• Build your optin form with their editor and choose from various templates
• Publish your campaign and instantly start capturing more emails!

You can try OptinMonster free for 14 days. It‘s used on over 1 million websites and is my top recommendation for growing your Constant Contact email lists.

Now that you know how to capture emails, let‘s discuss sending blog content…

Repurpose Your WordPress Posts in Constant Contact Emails

Once you have email subscribers, you need to keep them engaged with valuable content.

A great way to do this is by repurposing your existing WordPress blog posts and sending them to your Constant Contact email lists.

Here‘s how to take your blog content and include it in a Constant Contact newsletter:

• When creating a new email campaign, add a "Read More" content block
• Input the full URL of the blog post you want to use
• Constant Contact will automatically pull in the post title, excerpt, featured image etc.
• Embed the post content in your email (or just excerpt + link to full post)
• Send the email to your list

By reusing content you‘ve already created, you can build trust and authority with your subscribers. Just make sure you have permission to republish the full posts in your emails.

If not, provide a short teaser excerpt from the blog post along with a prominent link to read the full article on your website. This still allows you to repurpose that content and drive traffic.

Recommended Plugins to Enhance Constant Contact Email Marketing

Here are some additional WordPress plugins beyond OptinMonster that can improve your Constant Contact integration:

WP Mail SMTP – Use SMTP to ensure your emails reliably reach the inbox and avoid spam folders.

Post SMTP – Create Constant Contact email campaigns directly within WordPress instead of logging into their platform.

WP RSS Aggregator – Automatically import blog post content from other sites into your Constant Contact emails.

Custom Post Type UI – Create custom post types to manage/store your email content if needed.

MailOptin – Connect with 400+ email providers and CRMs beyond just Constant Contact.

WP E-Commerce – Tie into ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce to send cart abandonment emails, promos, etc.

These plugins provide added functionality, automation, and integration capabilities to scale your email marketing efforts over time.

Constant Contact vs MailChimp – Which is Better for Email Marketing?

Constant Contact and MailChimp are two of the most popular email service providers on the market. But which one is right for your business?

Here‘s a quick comparison:

Simplicity – Constant Contact has a slight edge with a simpler interface and onboarding workflow for email beginners.

Templates – MailChimp offers more template options and flexibility for custom designs.

Automations – MailChimp has more advanced options for IFTTT style email automation based on user behaviors.

Analytics – MailChimp provides more detailed email analytics and reports.

Lists – Both allow unlimited email lists. MailChimp enables better segmentation options.

Support – Constant Contact offers phone and chat support which is useful for beginners.

Pricing – Constant Contact is cheaper for smaller lists under 500 contacts. MailChimp is better value for larger lists.

In summary:

• Constant Contact is better for beginners and small businesses starting email marketing.

• MailChimp has more advanced functionality for experienced email marketers.

So evaluate your needs, list size, and skills when choosing an email provider. You can always switch later as your needs evolve.

Expert Tips for Constant Contact Email Marketing Success

Here are some best practices I‘ve learned over the years for getting the best results from Constant Contact:

Create targeted buyer personas – Understand your audience segments and create email lists based on subscriber types like "blog subscribers" or "e-commerce shoppers".

Make mobile-friendly emails – Ensure your messages look great on mobile devices. Over half of emails are opened on mobile now.

Write compelling subject lines – Use emotional triggers like "10x Facebook Ad Retargeting Case Study", intrigue "The #1 Factor Limiting Your FB ROI" or social proof "Join 15,000+ Shopify Stores Using This Strategy".

Send consistently – Email 2-4X month, ramping up slowly as you build relationships. But don‘t overdo it.

Personalize content – Use merge tags to include the reader‘s first name. Make recommendations based on past behaviors.

Ask for feedback – Run surveys to learn what subscribers find valuable. Use this input to improve their experience.

Watch metrics – Review open rate, click through rate, conversion rate and unsubscribe rate. Tweak low performers.

Automate campaigns – Set up sequences for lead nurturing like welcome series, post-purchase follow-ups, win-backs etc.

Integrate with e-commerce – Use Constant Contact‘s WooCommerce integration to capture customers and send cart recovery emails.

Comply with regulations – Ensure you have an unsubscribe link, physical address, and clear opt-in wording.

Back up your lists – Periodically export your Constant Contact subscriber lists as a CSV incase you ever switch providers.

Let me know if you have any other Constant Contact email marketing tips! I‘m always looking to improve my own efforts.

Wrapping Up

I hope this comprehensive guide provided you with all the information needed to successfully integrate Constant Contact into your WordPress site.

The key takeaways are:

• Constant Contact offers a solid email marketing foundation for small businesses
• Strategically grow your list with converted-focused opt-in forms
• Engage your new subscribers by repurposing your best WordPress content via email
• Use best practices like automation, personalization, and compelling content to see results

Email marketing is one of the highest ROI investments you can make for your business. Used correctly, Constant Contact can help you build an audience that continually buys from you.

Let me know if have any other questions! I‘m happy to help fellow webmasters succeed with email marketing.