List Order

[Matami]

This how how one customer is forced to respond to the bad design that CC recently changed with the "Contacts" pages. Just in order to make my Email Lists show up (in the left column) in the order that is important and logical to us (not the ABC order that CC engineers/designers decided to force the customers), I have to change each Email List to bear 1, 2, 3.... numerical numbers at the head of the list name. So, instead of titling an email list "Engineers" or "Marketing", for example, we now have to title them "1 Marketing" and "3 Engineers", to avoid the CC default of alphabetical list order. We will see if this will alleviate the poor design of CC team. Another way to cope with this is to simply start shopping for other email marketing vendors. Words for all IT and Web designers: There is something seriously wrong with your approach and design decisions if your new advanced design or technology forces the customers to retreat to the non-technology 19th century tactics just to use your product!!

[DJA]

I have a customer that wants to re-order their lists.  Currently in contacts lists are sorted on the left hand side alphabetically, the customer wants to drag and drop, or use an arrow up or down to re-order their lists.

[RonW58]

I would like to be able to see all of my lists instead of only a number of them.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Ron, We would like to understand this further in order to determine what you are seeing. I looked into the account you posted from and I'm not able to see exactly what you mean. Since this is a public forum, can you send an email to Contacts2Support@constantcontact.com with the username of the account you are working in and some more information? Thanks!

[MercyWMW]

Here are some issues I've encountered with the changes to the Contact Management section:

• All of my lists do not display in the list of lists. I talked to customer support and have a work around for now, which is to create or rename an existing list and then all of the lists will appear.
• All of the lists do not display under the Contact's entry either, unless I make a change to the lists that the contact is on.
• I don't believe the search is returning result properly. It may only be an issue with contacts who are on the Do Not Mail list. I usually select "All" and then search by last name or email address, so I can find the contact and see their status, but I am not getting the results I expect. I can provide examples, if necessary.
• I don't see the status of a contact when I have their information displayed. It used to show whether they were considered Active, Removed, or Do Not Mail.
• The pages are very slow to load - or at least that square with the spinning wheel is almost always there.
• I don't see a way to easily look at the list properties.
• I don't see a way to start adding contacts after creating a new list.
• When exporting a list, there are no longer options to select the fields to export.
• I don't see a way to search for a list. I have to scroll through all of them.

[ensembletravelnewsletters]

Also that left-hand side with the lists need to be wider. For lists with long names that narrow section gets cramped. Bring back that wider view of the lists.

[Jared_M]

At this time we are aware of an issue with seeing more than 50 lists in the account. When viewing, it will only display the first 50 but an easy way to get around this for now is to re-name the list. The removed contacts are also not visible on the account so searching for them will not bring up any results. However if you are in a contact details to the right of the email address it will let you know if you have permission to send, if its unsubscribed, if the contact is suspended or you haven't given permission to send yet. If you are having trouble loading on some screens can you please provide which pages you are getting hung up on? Also, the lists are sorted alphabetically and you can still change if they are visible on the join my mailing list form or not through the signup tools.

[MercyWMW]

Thank you for the response. I was already informed of the work-around for the list display issue, however, this has to be done every time I come back out of the Contact details.
The screens aren't necessarily hanging up, they just have the "loading" square on the screen for quite awhile whenever bringing up a new page. I don't recall the older version being so slow.
I know work is being done to correct the issues identified by users, but I used to be a computer programmer, and I have to tell you that this is one of the poorest roll-outs of an "improved" version that I have ever seen.
Is there an estimated timeframe for fixing the list display issue, and is there a plan to reinstate the search feature for all contacts, regardless of their status?
I have begun researching other products that will suit our needs better, and plan to discontinue using Constant Contact unless there is some hope for a quick solution to the issues caused by the recent upgrade.

[AdamH05]

Hi.  I've been perusing the forums and am very disappointed to find out that as an invited tester of the new Constant Contact features, there is no path to return to the original functionality.  While I appreciate the efforts to improve the product, I am amazed that so much functionality that used to exist in reporting and contact management has just disappeared.  

Reporting functions.  A key strength of CC was the ease in which I could create quick reports to print out and share with team members to follow up on campaigns.  Now I can view a bounce/opened/unopened report on screen, but I cannot quickly export the view.  Instead, I have to create a new tag, tag the individual addresses in the report, go to the main contact screen, select the new tag I've assigned, create an export, download the export, open it in Excel, etc.  This is MUCH more time consuming and tedious. 

Again, I can see the value in many of the enhancements; I just don't understand why so much core functionality was removed.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Adam, I am sorry to hear of the frustration but thank you for taking the time to pass along the details. With the ability to add tags, the need for a large number of lists will reduce as you can add a secondary category to each contact. For example, If you mailed to a list called "All Employees" and then you wanted to add a tag for those employees who opened your January email, you can add a tag to those people within that list. Thanks again for taking the time to pass these along, please continue to vote if these are features you would like to see in the new contacts & reporting.

[JanetW9]

I cant seem to check off contacts from different pages to do a quick send email. It clears the checks when I go to a next page.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for getting back to us. I apologize for the frustration, we do have several features planned for the near future that will solve some of the issues you mentioned. First, the list display problem has been resolved. You should now have a scroll option to see all of your lists and will not need to use any workaround. 

Do you see the loading square when you move anywhere in the account or when you click the contacts tab? Does it seem to happen on reporting screens too? We are working on collecting more information on this so any detail will be helpful. 

A more advanced search is coming soon, we can't share an exact timeframe right now but we do realize it's an important feature for you. One thing I would like to address is the search for all contacts, regardless of status. Are you referring to contacts who have been "removed"? If so, there is no more removed status in the account so these contacts are actually fully deleted. In this case they wouldn't show in the search function. 

Thanks for your help,

Hannah M. 

[SamaraY]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for sharing your feedback! It's extremely helpful in letting us know what's working and what's not so we can improve. I wanted to let you know that we understand how important it is for users to be able to export their reporting data directly from a report. This is something we're actively working on and are trying to get out as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

Thanks again,

Samara Yohai

Associate Product Manager- Contacts

[GraceE24]

I have to say guys, that these things should have been tested extensively before they were rolled out, even for testing. I understand that there are going to be bugs, but they should be minor and not things that paying customers have to suffer through just because we were trying to help out.

[RicardoW3]

When I am at the end of your alphabetical list, I cannot scroll to the next page and save my check marks. I have to add and then scroll to the next page. This is time consuming. Then, when I come back from "adding" the list reverts to the letter A rather than the place I left off. To make matters worse, when I click the scroll bar at the bottom, the screen takes me to the top. I must repeat this process repeatedly. The programmers obviously did not care much about making the add process easy. It is unnecessarily time consuming. I wonder why the changes were ever made. I find nothing satisfying as I am mounting a major email campaign. Thanks for the frustration.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Ricardo,

Thanks for your feedback, I apologize for the frustration this has caused. Please continue to vote on this and other ideas you would like to see implemented in the future.

Can you tell me more about how you are seeing the screen bring you back to the top? You said: "click the scroll bar at the bottom, the screen takes me to the top", which scroll bar are you referring to? Does this only happen when you are working in a list with more than 50 contacts?

Thanks for your help!

[BridgetW1]

Trying to edit my contacts by deleting the ones that I know are no longer active. After deleting on a page the screen goes back to the 1st page and I would like it to stay on the page it's on now so I can go forward quickly.

[CWG]

I want to go back to the old way until I learn I don't have time right now.

[a_dream_wedding]

It's not clear to me that the names I've imported are going into the correct mailing list. In fact the lists are now tucked to the left side of screen. I'm not sure why, when something is working efficiently, it gets changed to be less efficient. Also, the page that shows all of the emails, that page was changed a while ago, with bigger fonts, less lists that you can see on your screen. Very disappointing.

[Jared_M]

I am sorry for the issues this has caused you in the transition period. Unfortunately there is no way to go back to the old contacts system, if you have any questions or concerns I would be more then happy to help you.

[CWLI423]

I am not a fan of the new layout under My Contacts. The old layout was much more user friendly.

[Hannah_M]

I am sorry for the frustration this has caused. These changes were made in order to implement lots of requested features and continue to provide the most up-to-date system available. What changes do you think would help the layout for you? Please continue to vote on this topic and others if you agree.

[DougR30639]

Just worked with the new and "improved" system this afternoon. Awkward way to attach individual recipients to mailing lists. My bigger issues are that distribution lists can no longer be ordered and there is no way to select all lists at once. Those are limitations, not improvements. I am disappointed.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Doug, 

I apologize for the frustration with the new system. We're slowly upgrading all accounts to make sure you have the most up-to-date system available. This also gives us the ability to implemet new features customers have been requesting.

Please continue to vote on this and other topics you would like to see implemented in the future!

[DanP25]

I believe you made too many changes at once.  It is very frustrating when I need to get something out that I come into the account and everything is changed.

[AnalieseP]

Not improved in my opinion. I can no longer add zip code and "how you heard about us" when entering contacts. I must click on each email address, select the custom field, populate it, save and repeat. Ugh! Who thought that was an upgrade?

[Hannah_M]

Hi Grace and Dan,

I apologize for the troubles. We did tons of testing with the new features before they were rolled out to anyone (even us!) but I understand how this can be frustrating. Can you share with me a little more detail about what you feel is missing or is hard to learn? We are counting on this feedback to fuel future changes and updates.

Thanks for your help!

[Hannah_M]

Hi Analiese,

I'm sorry to hear of the trouble, there are a couple of ways you can add zip code and the custom field information when importing. First, are you typing in each contact or are you importing a file? 

When you add a contact you can choose the "Add a Contact" option from the menu to add in each person with all their details or you can choose "Add from file" if you have the information in something like an excel sheet. This would allow you to import all the detail you wanted at once.

[JudyI]

Email lists are now only viewed as a sidebar. We have numerous lists and we no longer have the option to view an expanded view of the lists or the option to sort the lists to navigate through the email lists faster. Again, many of these changes have caused/cost us much more time than before and greatly increased our disappointment and dissatisfaction! PLEASE reinstate these features. Thank you!

[Hannah_M]

Great idea, thanks for sharing! Please continue to vote on this and other ideas you would like to see implemented in the future.

[JudyI]

The changes are very frustrating and ends up eating up much valuable time trying to figure how to navigate the changes.   Constant contact is not serving us at all at this point.  Please return to the user friendly format.   We do not mind improvements but this is not good for us.  Honestly, we are considering other options other than constant contact..

[Jared_M]

I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you Judy.  Can you be specific on what the issues you are having are?  Any information would be appreciated so we can either help or try and push a fix out for you.  We are always trying to make the system better for our customers.

[BradS]

With the new interface listing contact lists alphabetical, have lost ability to easily priroitize order of contact lists I use frequently. Realize putting a number on front of lists is one workaround but that's clunky. Would be useful if we could "group" or "cluster" into a folder, for example, our priority contact lists (i.e., the ones we use most frequently) so that we can quickly choose them when sending an e-mail.

[Hannah_M]

Thanks for sharing this idea, Brad! Please continue to vote on ideas you would like to see implemented in the future.

[Westmark]

i miss the old version that allowed ordering of contact lists

[LuciaG0]

The Email list in the new system does not allow to sort the list according to our requests.  It is shown in alphabetical order by default.  So I tried now to "outsmart" it by putting numbers so I get it as it was.

It was working perfectly, until I got to No.10.  As I get to add No. 11 and look up. the system put number 10 and 11 after No. 1. Not after No.9. 

Grrrrr!

Imagine all the time consumed trying to make things work!  My clients are going to fire me!

Please, again, reverse this system to the previous one.  Some of my clients´ accounts are still using the old, great, good, simple previous system. 

Please do not make us suffer!

Plese do not delete my suggestions - this is very serious!

Lucia

[LuciaG0]

The Email list in the new system does not allow to sort the list according to our requests.  It is shown in alphabetical order by default.  So I tried now to "outsmart" it by putting numbers so I get it as it was.

It was working perfectly, until I got to No.10.  As I get to add No. 11 and look up. the system put number 10 and 11 after No. 1. Not after No.9. 

Grrrrr!

Imagine all the time consumed trying to make things work!  My clients are going to fire me!

Please, again, reverse this system to the previous one.  Some of my clients´ accounts are still using the old, great, good, simple previous system. 

Please do not make us suffer!

Plese do not delete my suggestions - this is very serious!

Lucia

[Hannah_M]

Thanks for your feedback, Lucia! We would never delete your suggestions as they are what is making the product better. Your (and others) ideas are being used to make changes in the product that will help it work for you so we appreciate the time you have put into your posts.

[SaraK6]

Good Morning,

I am trying to oraganize my contacts in the box to the left of the emails...How do I do that now, I do not see the process I used at the end of june.

Thanks 

Elise

[Hannah_M]

Hi Elise,

The order of the lists is now alphabetical. If you would like to re-name a list to put them in a different order you can by clicking the down arrow to the right of the email name. At this time, renaming the lists would be the only way to display them in another order. 

[KennethRS]

I would lliketo be able to move the list order

[Jared_M]

1. I am sorry I misinterpreted it before, this is something that would be a good topic to vote on and see if this is a common pain point for our customers to see if we can get it changed.

2.  I do understand it can definitely be annoying and I appreciate your patience with us.

3.  Constant Contact as a whole is not moving towards strictly a CRM we just want to give our customers every tool possible to really expand and grow their business.  Not every tool needs to be utilized to its full extent to still work in Constant Contact effectively and efficiently we just like to give our customers the option.  We have heard some people want it to be more list oriented and we are looking into trying to get the best of both worlds.  At this time please continue to vote if you agree and I really appreciate the valuable feedback you are providing.   

[PhilR33690]

This is far too hard and complicated..too many steps. Prefer the previous screens and processes.

[Hannah_M]

Hi Phil,

Sorry to hear this, can you tell me more about what you don't like? We understand there is a lot to learn and we are happy to help with any trouble you are having!

Thanks for your feedback. Any details we get are being used to help with future updates so please vote on what you would like to see implemented or changed in the future.

Thanks!

[Hannah_M]

Hi Frank,

I am sorry to hear that this process is not working for you. You can check off more than one contact and use the delete button if you would like. I am not exactly sure the process you are using now but this is a time-saver.

When you say the deleting is taking a long time, is it because of the number of contacts you are deleting or the system is running slowly while deleting?

Thanks for your help.

[MichaelB80]

Don't like the new format...Go back to the old format

[JulieF978]

I love your product, and I think it is very easy to use, but the new "improvements" to contact list management are very inefficient. I would really like to see the following features added: 1) Add arrows at the top of the list on each page to go to the next page vs. having to scroll to the bottom on each page-- if you want to go from p. 1 to p. 3, you have to click on the right arrow once, then wait for p. 2 to load, then scroll down to the bottom of the list, then click on the right arrow, then wait for p. 3 to load. 2) After editing a contact, then saving, you return to p. 1 of contacts vs. to the page you were working on... then you have to go through everything listed in point #1 above-- very time-consuming and inefficient. Took me hours to make a few changes to contacts!

[LauraW3]

Most of my work is based on list groups rather than individuals. The new setup makes my work harder than before. Please either return it to the old format or have an option that makes the email lists more prominent. Thanks!

[PatriciaL6]

We prefered the old version of the contacts page with a list of contacts going down the length of the page.  We would like to be able to sort by larger lists first and the only way allowed you to do that.  Also, please put the page numbers at the bottom of the contact lists.  It is too time consuming to page ahead in search for a name.

[Hannah_M]

Thanks for your feedback on this! I understand how page numbers at the bottom would help in scrolling your list. Advanced search is coming soon but you can always use the search box to find a specific person to save time. 

[RachelR]

AGREE. The new update is HORRIBLE. I don't care about the individual contacts in my lists. I don't need to see 1,700 names. I need to see my 50 or so lists. This is enough for me to change products. It is horribly designed and NOT user friendly at all. I hate it. I really, really, really hate it. I can't tell you enough how much time this is wasting. There needs to be a way to see the contacts the old way. This is HORRIBLE.

[Eric_G]

Hi Laura,

Thank you for posting. I'm sorry to hear that this is making your word harder. We have gathered lots of great feedback on bringing this feature back and are looking into implementing this again in the future. Unfortunately, I do not have a time frame for when that would be coming but stay tuned for updates on this feature.