Ability to send to lists in batches, manual staging; randomize send order/priority

[GSMsince1927]

We would love there to be an auto separation feature. For instance If we have an email campaign we want to send to 16,000 people but do not want to send them all at once. It would be nice to be able to make one campaign then be able to upload that 16,000 contact list and then be able to say, send out in batches of 2,000. Or any size batch. Then after that be able to schedule the dates for each batch that is automatically pulled. 

Currently we have to pull our 16,000 contacts from our software system and export to Excel. Then we have to manually separate the contacts into different excel sheets of 2,000 contacts per sheet. Then we have to individually upload those 8 excel sheets and create 8 Contact lists here in Constant Contact. Then after that we have to make and schedule 8 separate email campaigns and assign each list to different campaigns. It is a nightmare for us. 

[William_A]

Hello @GSMsince1927 ,

Based on how I'm reading your post, you should be able to accomplish this using segmentation, narrow-by-tag (if you're under 10k contacts), or just a simple list selection derived from tags. With large list sendouts, they're already staged to a degree, depending on how large they are.

What is the purpose of separating these contacts out into separate clusters for the exact same email?

What would be determining the "auto separation" for this desired function? What would differentiate this from just creating a list or segmentation based on contact tags that can be uploaded or mass-applied in the dashboard?

Are the contacts always randomized, or are you wanting deliberate elements that can't be segmented or tagged?

If the clusters of 2k or other size contacts are always the same contacts in those unique clusters and not randomized, is there a reason you can't just leave them as separate lists/segments and set your email(s) to send to those? 

[GSMsince1927]

Thanks for your response! So we have 9 different divisions. Some customers use us for multiple divisions so as far as I could tell, the segments would not be beneficial. We send emails for our HVAC members, gutter customers, insulation and crawlspace customers and our commercial customers along with many other categories.

We also like to target specific customers as well. For instance, any person that just got an AC install we would not want to send them a special coupon for money off a new install. But we do want to send that coupon to a homeowner that just had repairs done within a year. We on the back end pull that list of customers but, say the list consists of 5,000 people. We would want to split it up between multiple days and send 1000 emails per day. 

The reason we separate them out is because we do not want to overwhelm our office staff with calls and emails regarding scheduling whatever is on the email campaign. So we have to create smaller batches. 

We also add new customers to our system every day so the lists we create in constant contact are never the same. We have to make new lists for every single campaign. 

[William_A]

Gotcha, how would these contacts be differentiated within the UI for these instances? If you're using tags, would the existing segmentation or creating lists from tags functionalities accomplish what you're needing in these instances?

Regarding splitting up the contacts for these sendouts, if you're not using any particular methodology, could this be accomplished by simply selecting X number of contacts within the existing lists, and adding them to a newly created list? Or is it that you're explicitly wanting to setup your own staging sequences with a singular list selection?

[GSMsince1927]

Due to the number of contacts we already have and the number of services we offer, the existing segmentation would not accomplish what we need. We would have to individually sort 25,000 contacts.

Currently when we pull our contact list from our system we do what you had mentioned above. We upload every email via excel (even though many of them are already listed as contacts) to a new list. Then we get the notification " 700 existing contacts, 300 new contacts added." (Just for an example) 

So to answer your question about a singular list, yes! We would love to be able to make a campaign, upload one singular list for that specific campaign, and there be an option to "send all now" or an option to "Split contacts into multiple campaigns" and the software split the contacts based on the number we have decided for that campaign. 

For example, say we have  a campaign we have created, we then finish the content and move to the "Select Recipients" page, we have the ability to upload a list from there and upload a list of 16,000 people to send it to. Then the next option would be send all now or split contact into multiple campaigns. We decided for the 16,000 people list to split it in groups of 2,000. After that the hope would be the original campaign we have created would then copy automatically 7 more times and divide the 16,000 contacts between those campaigns and make those list automatically with the same name as the campaign. 

[William_A]

Thank you for the follow-up info on your request.

We're updating the status of this idea to more accurately reflect its current status with our engineering team, and also made slight changes to the subject line in order for it to be more easily found. We can't guarantee a commitment to deliver on this feature request, but it should indicate some awareness that we have heard your feedback and could be taken under consideration for a future release.

[GSMsince1927]

Okay great! Thanks for your help! This would be a great feature to add! 

[mcrist6]

On a related note, the reason we would want to send in batches is so that we don't overwhelm our call center, which sending all of the emails on a large list at once would do. A solution to this would be to send in batches of 2,000 (or x amount).