Broaden Your Policies to change with the times

[BillV0782]

The world has changed and Constant Contracts should as well.  After setting up our account, speaking to 5 employees, including the hour plus on-boarding,  and uploading all our contacts, we were informed that our company violated the "no promotion of prescription medication" policy.  While this may have been associate solely with spam 20 years ago, it excludes plenty of important non-profit organizations who need to tell their patients about updates to their programs. Many more Americans use telemedicine due to the pandemic and order their medications for accredited, licensed pharmacies. Excluding them ultimately hurts at-risk patients and actually cheapens CC branding.

[JackieH762]

Sounds like they are trying to play police again.  Constant Contact should stick to handling email program and let the people who pay for their services decide what content should or should not be included.  Trying to "help me" or "for my security" excuses are B.S.  I'm sure the customers are all adults and they should be treated as such.  If the government gives you a license to sell pharmaceuticals, it's not up to Constant Contact to limit your marketing of them.

[BillV0782]

I agree, Jackie. 

As a non-profit, mail-order pharmacy that plays an important role in the healthcare safety net, the hundreds of free and charitable clinics and doctors that serve the poor rely on our services.  The FCC/DEA as well as social media have strict limitation on advertising of prescription medications (which we follow) so the ability to directly update our patients and prescribers on program updates and new medications is crucial.  We've never had this issue with any of the other email marketing services.  It is especially frustrating because every single email is either a patient, healthcare provider, or someone who requested to get the monthly update.  We tried to explain this to CC, but they fell back on their outdated policy that blanketed included these type emails as typically associated with spam. 

When asked how I could request an updating of this policy, they referred me to this forum. I guess we'll see if there is an official response!  

[Frankie_P]

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing this feedback with us! We thank you for this information and suggestion and will pass this along to those that make updates and changes to our Policies and Terms Of Service. If you have any further questions or concerns we ask that you please contact our Account Review Department directly at these hours and numbers.

[BillV0782]

Thanks for the response, Frankie. 

In light of the pandemic and the loosening of some of the restrictions regarding telemedicine by the governments around the world, I hope that your Policies and Terms Of Service will evolve as well.

Because of the antiquated policies, we had to go to instead. Although they are less expensive than Constant Contacts, they were not our first choice.