Technology Meetup Recap: Constant Contact

On Thursday, February 11, the American Booksellers Association hosted a Technology Meetup on the email marketing service Constant Contact.

This session featured an overview and demonstration of Constant Contact led by Matthew Montoya, channel marketing and enablement manager at Constant Contact. Topics discussed included how to create a template, manage reporting, and grow your contact list.

Booksellers can view a recording of the session on the Education Resources page on BookWeb.org.

Here are some of the key points from the session:

• Montoya said that email marketing is important to businesses because 91 percent of people check their email daily, and 88 percent regularly check email on their smartphones. Email gets delivered 90+ percent of the time, and for every $1 spent on email marketing, there is a $38 average return on investment.
• Using email marketing best practices is the best way to get as much value as possible out of each contact.
• To create an effective email, keep the following in mind:
  • Craft your subject line
  • Know your audience
  • Branding and consistency are key
  • Engage your readers
  • Provide a clear call to action
  • Connect your social pages
• When scheduling an email, target groups as much as possible and be sure to test on both desktop and mobile.
• Constant Contact is a permission-based marketing company. Booksellers must have two kinds of permission to email: expressed/explicit permission (customers have opted in) and implied permission (customers have provided their email address during a business transaction). Booksellers cannot email purchased or rented lists, role addresses (sales@, for example), website scraped addresses, or social media connections. Booksellers are limited to one spam complaint for 1,000 emails sent.  
• To grow a contact list, Constant Contact provides sign-up tools. Users can also use third-party services to do this, in addition to using in-person and online tactics when possible, such as requesting an email address while making a purchase, helping someone, or for events. At events, booksellers can use the Constant Contact app to easily collect emails. Additionally, booksellers can advertise their email marketing via in-store signage, business cards, and fliers.
• Booksellers should also view their reporting on Constant Contact, which will allow them to see who engaged, how their business compares to industry averages, which links performed best, manage bounces, compare campaigns, and removed unengaged contacts.
• Starting at 19:05, booksellers can watch a full demonstration of creating a Constant Contact campaign.