Constant Contact is a really great piece of software for marketers. They have social media marketing, SMS marketing campaigns, e-commerce integrations, lead nurture automation, abandoned cart notification emails and even Google Ads and SEO integration.
But what if your goal is not to generate commercial revenue? What software can you use if you’re looking for a Constant Contact alternative in Canada?
In this article we explore how Envoke, a Canadian Constant Contact alternative designed for communication professionals, compares to Constant Contact.
There are three key differences:
- Constant Contact is for marketers, Envoke is for Canadian communication professionals.
- Data storage and CASL compliance. Envoke stores all customer data on servers in Canada and it’s fully CASL compliant.
- Subscription management. Constant Contact is list based and doesn’t allow sending emails without an unsubscribe option. Envoke includes more sophisticated list segmentation tools and you can use it to send mandatory or regulatory content that recipients cannot unsubscribe from.
Constant Contact is for marketers. Envoke is for communicators.
Constant Contact has two products: one is for small business (SMB) marketers, another for marketers with larger teams. Either way the focus is on commercial revenue generation. All features are designed with this in mind: with every setting the emphasis is to generate leads and sell to those leads using a combination of digital marketing automation tools. The contact list of Constant Contact users are typically prospects, leads and customers. The end result is that Constant Contact can work well for marketers because the features are well designed and intuitive to use.
However, the mandate of communication professionals is not commercial revenue generation but stakeholder engagement via content that recipients want to receive and content they need to receive. The contact list of these communication professionals is made up of stakeholders, members, staff and registrants where the objective is to foster long term relationships, not sales.
Data storage in Canada and CASL compliance
As a Canadian Constant Contact alternative, Envoke stores all customer data on servers in Canada. This means your organization’s Canadian data storage requirement is satisfied when you have an account with Envoke.
Even if it’s not a hard requirement for your organization to keep data in Canada, it’s worth remembering that the USA Patriot Act permits U.S. law enforcement officials to seek a court order allowing them to access the personal records of any person without that person’s knowledge.
As for CASL compliance, Envoke is fully CASL complaint out of the box, supporting common use cases and even edge cases.
Subscription management and mandatory content
Constant Contact and Envoke have similar list management tools to help grouping of contacts in order to send relevant emails. Both platforms have lists (subscriptions), tags and segments (custom lists based on user defined conditions) and allow dynamic content in emails to show or hide entire blocks of content based on the interest of recipients. The combination of these options create a very flexible work environment when it comes to managing contact lists in both platforms. When it comes to sending emails Constant Contact only allows sending to lists (subscriptions) while Envoke allows sending an email to contacts that match certain tags or custom segments.
Where Envoke adds extra value is the customizable email preferences page and the ability to send important messages in bulk (not just single transactional emails) to contacts without an option to unsubscribe from those mandatory messages. Let’s explore how these two options help:
Customizable email preferences page
The customizable email preferences page with Envoke means that you can empower your contacts to fully understand what type of messages they receive from you and why. In essence, you’re managing relationships, not unsubscribes. The page can be fully branded with your fonts, colours and even domain name, custom text and sections that can be added or removed. It’s about giving administrators full control so the email preferences page fits seamlessly into their communications workflow.
Mandatory messages that contacts cannot unsubscribe from
The ability to send important messages is a solution to a legal challenge and in turn it reduces overhead: you can fulfill your internal obligation to send mandatory emails that your contacts can’t unsubscribe from and save time contacting contacts manually who didn’t receive your important messages because they’re unsubscribed from newsletters at some point.
You’re not missing out on core features
Using a Constant Contact alternative in Canada doesn’t mean you’re compromising on features you’ve come to depend on. Drag and drop email editing, unlimited forms, custom fields, great inbox delivery, in-depth reporting and a secure infrastructure are part of every Envoke account.
Cost comparison
Because functionality varies it’s not possible to provide a direct comparison (the same is true with any two software) but the difference in pricing is large enough even when we account for the variation in features offered in each billing plan.
Who uses Envoke?
Organizations of all sizes use Envoke to engage stakeholders from small associations to government agencies. One user or one hundred, the flexible pricing structure starts low and scales as your organization and contact list grows.
As for customer support, you get to interact with a human – and even speak with management if needed. From day one, our goal is to help customers be successful with their email communications and offer truly helpful support. Read reviews on Capterra.
Interested to try a Canadian alternative to Constant Contact?
You can book a live demo here to discuss your requirements and confirm or rule out a fit or start a free trial to test drive functionality.
