Caught in a bad gateway.    All right, I’ll stop riffin’ on pop songs and get to the point. Were you in the middle of a task and suddenly received an error message such as, “Bad Gateway: The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server?” Annoying, right?    The last thing Constant Contact wants is to interrupt your workflow, so let’s consider some ways to avoid, or at least resolve, these types of issues. Take it away, nondescript-pop-singer-who-I-don’t-know-if-I-can-reference-without-legal-ramifications:   First off, make sure the browser you are using is compatible with Constant Contact. It is? Great! Moving along…   I forget to do this myself sometimes, but double check to make sure you have updated the operating system for your Mac OS or Windows PC.   Now, earlier we recommended you verify you are using a compatible web browser, and yet you’re still experiencing a technical issue. What gives? Hiccups can still arise with compatible browsers and the following troubleshooting steps can help identify them so you can get back to doing what you do best!   Try another browser.  This isn’t to encourage you to give up your preferred browser, it’s just a step in investigating what might be causing you problems. If you find the issue does not persist in the new browser, that indicates the problem is (hopefully) localized to the previous browser.   If it is, consider disabling third party extensions or clearing your cache. Warning: When it comes to clearing cache, make sure you aren’t erasing your browsing history, saved passwords, or other site data! You'd just need to be clearing out the cached images and files on the browser.   @William_A's tip: There are a number of elements that can affect website connectivity and accessibility on an individual basis. The most common culprits are typically incompatible browser extensions, problematic caching or cookies that need to be cleared, or interference from an ad/pop-up blocker, VPN, or other security software erroneously trying to block elements from our site from functioning as intended. Temporarily disabling these tools, and then refreshing our site can help narrow down the source of the issues. Testing to see if the issue occurs on other browsers, in Incognito/Private mode, on other devices, or even other networks can also help narrow down the source of the problem. If you find that an ad/pop-up blocker, VPN, or other security programs you're running on your device / network seem to be blocking some of the site's functionalities, then we recommend safelisting the domains we use in those programs.   See if it's just the email.  It's also worth seeing if a specific section of the site is acting slow. For example, if the rest of the site loads smoothly, but the email builder is particularly laggy, then it may have more to do with the amount of content in your email. Since the builder's drag-and-drop aspects and autosaving can use a significant amount of bandwidth, the more graphics and individually formatted text you have, the more processing will be required for it. Think of it in a similar vein to Photoshop or Blender.   With this in mind, we'd recommend seeing if you're able to work in the email builder as expected when working on a fresh, new, blank template. If so, then that can confirm your normal copied template may be getting a bit too large. Make sure to check out some of the following articles for best practices when it comes to email length, driving contacts to your site(s), and making emails easier to read. Make sure to check out our main article on Connectivity Troubleshooting, to make sure you're checking the most common culprits (especially browser extensions and ad/pop-up blockers) for connectivity issues.   That covers the general troubleshooting advice we have, however it is important to note that unique, isolated incidents do occur where none of these steps will help! There might be a system-wide issue impacting everyone or a problem with your Internet Service Provider, such as a downed connection after a storm, etc. We recommend keeping an eye on status.constantcontact.com for more information.   We hope this article was helpful in case the issue ever arises. If you need assistance with any of the above, feel free to post our on Get Help board. ... View more

Keeping your contact lists clean and up to date is a great way to improve your deliverability rate and also your open rate. One way that we recommend doing this is to look at the bounces for each campaign that you send out. In your Constant Contact account, we give you the reason why a particular contact bounced. Some are self-explanatory, like Vacation/auto-reply or Non-existent.   So what exactly does it mean when a contact is Suspended?   Repeatedly sending emails to Non-existent email addresses can have a negative impact on your deliverability rate. A Suspended contact is an address that has consistently bounced as Non-existent. If this happens, the email address is put on a temporary hold for 15 days. During this time, our system will not attempt to send any campaigns to this address from any Constant Contact account. If an account attempts to send to a Suspended address, it will be included in that campaign's Suspended bounce category under the Reporting        After the temporary hold is lifted, we will attempt to send to this address the next time that an email is scheduled for them to receive. If the address bounces as Non-existent again, the email address will be placed on an indefinite hold. We do not automatically remove these contacts, however, we do list them as Recommended for Removal under your reporting.   What if you've never sent to this contact before and they already show as Suspended when you send your first email to them? Emails addresses can become Suspended from any Constant Contact account sending email to it. So although you haven't sent anything to them, there may have been another account that had tried to send to them in the past and we then note them as Suspended.   If you see an address listed as Suspended that you know is a good email address, you can unsuspend the email address to reset the address. However, this will not prevent it from becoming Suspended again in the future if it does bounce as Non-existent so you want to make sure that you have verified that this address is valid.   Want to know even more about these types of bounces? Check out this article that explores Suspended and Non-Existent bounces a little deeper. ... View more

Here at Constant Contact, we are an industry leader in email delivery.  This is no accident.  All of our Terms and Conditions are designed to ensure the best possible delivery rate.  That being said, it’s expected that most email campaigns will have some level of bounces.  Knowing the cause and reasons behind these bounces can help you as a marketer to ensure you are mailing to the cleanest, most engaged list that you can.     What Are Undeliverable Bounces? When Constant Contact sends an email to a recipient, but the receiving server can not be found or connected to, the email will bounce as Undeliverable.   For Example: If someone were to send an email to my address, let's say it's robbctct@example.com; however, at that time the receiving server, in this case it would be example.com, is not responding. The email will bounce as Undeliverable as a result (usually after multiple automated resend attempts).   Isn’t That The Same As A Non-Existent Bounce?   Not at all! A Non-Existent bounce occurs when we connect to the receiving server, but they can not find the address we are trying to send to.   With Undeliverable bounces, that initial connection can’t even be made.   What Are Blocked Bounces? In the never-ending battle against spam, ISPs do what they can to stay ahead of the curb.  Most often, this involves the use of email filters or blocklists to keep there subscribers’ inboxes clean.  Sometimes those filters and blocklists end up preventing Constant Contact’s mail from getting to the intended recipient, resulting in a Blocked bounce.   Does A Blocked Bounce Mean That Constant Contact Is Blocked? Not necessarily,  While it’s true that Constant Contact (like all ESPs) may occasionally experience blocking issues at a particular domain/filter/blocklist, most often Blocked bounces occur on a smaller scale.  These bounces can occur due to content in the email that a spam filter deems problematic, such as an image, email address, or website.  Some ISPs even have rules based around how much mail they accept at a time from any one source, or even block email from bulk senders altogether.   Where Can I Find My Undeliverable and Blocked Bounces? If you look at the Reporting for a specific campaign, click on the number of bounces you have  Then select “Undeliverable” or “Blocked” from the “All Types” drop down.     What Should I Do With Undeliverable and Blocked Bounces? In the case of Undeliverable bounces, it’s acceptable to try sending to the addresses again after a few hours, just in case it is a temporary issue.  If they continually bounce, then we recommend moving them to unsubscribe.   Blocked bounces sometimes take a bit of work to diagnose.  First, check the “Email Delivery” row at https://status.constantcontact.com to see if there are any known issues.  If that doesn’t help, then please contact our Support Team to troubleshoot.   We hope this article was helpful in case the issue ever arises. If you need assistance with any of the above, feel free to post our on Questions & Discussions board. ... View more

When it comes to any business or organization, accounting and billing are top priorities. Especially these days, carefully managing your budget is key to success. For this reason, we wanted to make sure that visitors to the Community are provided an easily noticeable guide to our relevant Billing articles. Additionally, we want to make sure some frequently asked questions regarding Billing are addressed with some more detail.   For security reasons, we cannot go into a lot of account specifics in the Community. While we can provide basic insight and answer general questions, it’s typically better to call Billing directly. That way they can securely discuss your account’s billing details much more thoroughly.   If you're unable to call Billing to address an issue, you're also welcome to post here in the Community (with respect to our Terms and Guidelines), or email our team at social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com. If you're emailing us, please make sure to include your account username, and try to email us from an address verified on your account, such as your main sending or billing address.   Additionally, the features and prices available may vary depending on your plan. To view the features available in your plan, please view the plans and pricing page within your account. For an overview of your account's billing page, make sure to check out this article.     Note for Pro Package customers:  Billing and all other support inquiries for Pro accounts are handled by the specialty Pro team, as it uses a wholly different system from standard account plans. If you're needing any assistance with your Pro account, please check our Knowledge Base for articles tagged as Pro (easily searched for by including "Pro" in the search terms). We ask that Pro users needing to get in touch with the Pro support team submit an email form directly to the team. These requests can expect a follow up within 24 business hours.   Note for India-based customers: For India-based payments, 6- and 12-month prepayment is the only payment setup available due to RBI restrictions on automated card payments.    How does billing work?    We are a subscription-based system, which means that each month your account renews its subscription, regardless of how much the account was used. Your subscription will continue to renew unless we have received a call or online request to cancel the account. The email address you have set for your account’s billing email will be sent an invoice each month to let you know what your charges were. Your pricing is based on the tiered number of contacts you actively have (0-500, 2501-5000, etc.), so if you go into a higher tier in your current month, your next monthly subscription will reflect that. Our system will always try to charge your account’s balance (from prepayments, credits, etc.) before trying to charge your billing info.  Plans have a monthly send limit of 10-24 times your total contacts, depending on your plan. Beyond this, an overage fee of $0.002 per email is applied toward next month's bill. So for example, if you have a send limit of 24x and 10,000 total contacts, you can send up to 240,000 total emails before the overage fee of one-fifth of a cent per email would kick in. Make sure to check out this article for a full overview of how the send cap and overage fees work.   To compare available features between plans, and to view their respective contact tier subscriptions, you can check out the Plans & Pricing page in your account (found in the drop-down menu when selecting your name in the top-right corner).   For a full breakdown of common “how does billing work” type questions, we’d recommend checking out this article.   Please also make sure to read back over the Terms & Conditions agreed to at the time of sign up and payment for an account. The terms cover billing policies, as well as a lot of other important legal and Compliance information.  Make sure to check out our main article on the Billing tab in your account, if you're needing visual reference on any particular areas or further clarifications on their functions.      Where do I find my invoices and payment receipts?   If you’d like to take a look at your previous invoices and payment receipts, you can access them through the My Account page – through the Billing subtab. From there you can view your invoices, print/download them, and manually send them in an email. Click here for a detailed guide. If you're looking to generate an invoice for a 6- or 12-month prepayment setup, you can generate one from the same page.   If you're not receiving the automated monthly invoice notifications, make sure the address you want it sent to is both verified on the account and currently set as the account's billing address. If your email address is the account's billing address already, then please check your promotions and subscription updates inbox tabs (if applicable) and spam / junk folder to see if the emails are being received there instead of your normal inbox.     How do I change my account's billing info? If the recipient of your account's billing information changes, you'll want to make sure their address is no longer being sent invoices and other billing info directly. The account owner can update an account's billing address via the My Account page. The address they're changing to will need to be verified on the account before it's available as an option. The owner can then remove the old address from the account, once it's no longer being used as the billing address. If you ever need to update your account's payment info, the account owner can change this via the My Account page as well.   What if I accidentally go into a higher tier, but don’t want to pay the higher amount?   Accidents can happen, and we understand that. One thing we’ll always suggest is to remove any Recommended for Removal bounces from your most recent email(s), to see if that will lower your contacts enough. The next step would be to segment and remove contacts that have consistently not opened your emails (we recommend adding them to a new Delete list after segmentation to efficiently mass-delete). Otherwise the next suggestion will be to simply remove those most recent contact uploads through the list(s) they were added to, or from your main active contacts view. Once you’ve gotten your contacts back down to the lower tier, please call our Billing team so they can review the contact and send activity, and manually lower your tier.    Please bear in mind that if you send any emails after increasing your contacts to this higher level, our Billing team will not be able to manually lower your tier for your upcoming billing cycle.     How do I remove an add-on / premium service?   We offer a wide variety of add-ons, as well as specialty services to assist with your marketing. Some of these services and add-ons have additional costs, and are continuous monthly charges. All paid add-ons and services require explicit agreements to pay for those services, whether that’s a clearly audible “yes” when agreeing to charges over the phone, or explicitly clicking the checkmark boxes and subsequent large agreement buttons online. Some add-ons, such as Inbox Preview or Search Engine Optimization can be cancelled directly through our Billing team. However some services, such as the Marketing Manager and Marketing Advisor services, either have contracts or have particular ways their teams manage billing elements, and require contacting your service agent to get everything taken care of.    That said, we’re here to help through any of our support channels. If you’re unable to get ahold of Billing or your assigned service agent to cancel the add-on for whatever reason, just let us know by emailing social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com. We’ll make sure your request is recorded and submitted to the proper people to take care of.     Do you offer package deals or bulk subscription payments?   We offer 6- and 12-month prepayment options, with reduced monthly charges as part of those prepayments. The discounts are 10% and 15% off per month respectively (or 20% and 30% off if your account is set up for non-profit status). You can switch into and out of prepayment from within your account. Prepayment subscriptions function like the standard monthly subscriptions, so if you decide you don’t want to renew your next prepayment cycle, make sure to change it within your account before the system charges you for another 6 or 12 months!   When setting up your prepayment, if you wish to use your existing online payment method (card, Amazon, PayPal, etc.), then you'll do this by selecting the "Edit payment plan" button in the Billing tab of your My Account screen. If you wish to pay by paper check (United States only), or wish to generate a prepayment invoice to have on hand, you'll select the button that says "Generate a pre-payment" and print/download it.   Please remember that prepayment doesn’t necessarily “lock in” your price. If you prepay for 0-500 contacts on a lower level plan and then switch to higher level plan or increase your contacts to a higher tier, the prepayment / credit pool in your account will drain faster. Similarly, if you prepay at 5k-10k on a higher level plan, but later downgrade your plan or reduce your contacts to a lower tier, your pool will last longer. You’ll still be “charged” monthly and receive monthly invoices breaking down your subscription, but you’ll still see the prepayment discounts reflected in those invoices.     How do I set up my account for non-profit status?   Our Billing team is able to collect specific documents related to Non-Profits and non-taxable statuses. Please review this guide, and its corresponding links to more specific articles, to make sure you’re collecting and sending the proper info in. Once Billing receives these details, they’ll make sure to notify you regarding your account’s updated status.    Please note, some trial accounts may not have the option to submit paperwork directly through their account until payment info is submitted and subscription agreed to. In these cases, you'll need to provide your tax documentation through the email or physical mail options listed in the article. For more info or for assistance, please call the Billing team.      I have regional / country-specific fees, where do I find how to set those up in my account? Many countries and regions have their own taxes and online fees. This can vary significantly, so we’d recommend looking up the name or acronym of your particular system in our Knowledge Base, or call Billing for more details. For example, some EU customers may have a Value-Added-Tax (VAT) number that needs to be applied to their account. Another example is that some US states have taxes for online purchases (including subscriptions), so your invoice may automatically reflect that if you’re in an applicable state.   Can I pause or suspend my account temporarily?   Sometimes you may only need to use your account for a few months out of the year, or perhaps you need to reduce your costs and account functions during slower periods, but still want to access your account. We understand, and that’s why we have account suspension available. For a significantly reduced price (based on contact tiers), suspension allows certain automated functions of your account (such as sign up forms and welcome emails) to continue while you’re not actively making new ads, social media posts, emails, etc.    You can schedule your account for suspension through our Billing team., or as part of the online cancellation process if it's available. Make sure to check out the full rundown of how suspension works, and what you can and can’t do while suspended.     How do I cancel my account?   If you no longer wish to use our services, or you need to “pause” your account without having to pay, you can cancel your account online or by calling our Billing team. Please keep in mind that some accounts may not have the online option available due to having a billing or review flag on their account, or because they're billed through a 3rd party service they signed up through. If you're not seeing the option to cancel your account online, please call our Billing team, or send us an email so we can assist further. When you cancel, it’s based on the current billing cycle you’re paid for, so you’ll still have full access to your account for the remainder of your current cycle. Please bear in mind that if you choose to cancel while you still have credits / a prepayment pool, they will be surrendered. Any automated functions (sign up form submissions, integration syncs, auto emails, etc.) will also cease functionality.   Accounts are still available for reactivation for at least 120 days post-cancellation, after which they’ll enter a queue for purging. Our system will automatically email you when your cancelled account is close to purging. If you reactivate prior to being purged, all your emails, reporting, contacts, etc. will be as you left them, but previous automation series will need to be copied to “reactivate” them.   Make sure to check out the full rundown of how cancellation works. ---   We hope this post can help efficiently answer some common billing questions you may have. We’re always happy to help here in the Community if you have any general questions regarding billing. If you’re unable to call one of Billing’s phone lines, we can also submit callback tickets to the Billing team on your behalf. Please email social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your account username and billing request. Make sure that the email is coming from either the account’s main email address or its billing email address. ... View more

With increased internet presence comes increased risk of having confidential information compromised. Between sensitive contact and billing info, and anti-spam compliance, increased security on accounts is a must in today's age. Every paid account must have a multi-factor authentication method (also referred to as "two-factor authentication") setup for each user's login. This post will be able to answer some common questions, and get you pointed in the right direction for support if needed.     What is Multi-Factor Authentication?   MFA, sometimes referred to as two-factor authentication (2FA), is an extra layer of security for your account. In addition to your password, MFA requires a secondary factor to verify your identity when logging in. Basically, it’s just a second password that is randomly generated each time you login.   The majority of data breaches and phishing attacks involve stolen or weak login credentials. By using an additional means to confirm it’s really you attempting to access your account, MFA can help prevent these attacks, reduce the risk of other cyber security threats (e.g. account takeovers), and protect your personal information from hackers.     How do I set up MFA in my account, if I haven’t been part of a rollout?   This article covering MFA enrollment can provide you with step-by-step instructions and visual elements to follow along with.     Why is this required?   Constant Contact is committed to doing what is best for our customers, and account security is a major part of that. MFA is considered an industry standard, used by many online services to keep their customers’ data secure. Given the amount of sensitive data stored within our customer’s accounts, particularly contacts’ info and billing, we’re now requiring this to keep your information as safe as possible. Since this is meant to help curb unapproved account logins, it can be instrumental in your account's security and our ability as a company to get your emails into your contact's inboxes, instead of to their spam. The more we can assure that an email is being sent legitimately and not by spammers, the better our sending reputation is and the more you can rely on the deliverability. With that in mind, at this time there is no way to turn off this security feature.     My coworkers and I share login info. How can we get MFA available for all of us?   Sharing login credentials is never recommended. The more people / computers / networks signing in on a single login, the more at risk your information can be, especially for account owner logins which have full accessibility to the account (including billing info).   You can set up multiple users in Standard or Premium plans. After setting up a new user, they’ll be prompted to select the MFA method they prefer during their login creation. If for some reason you're finding that your account isn't allowing the maximum number of users for its level, please call our Billing team so they can check our backend for any antiquated settings.   See also: Account Manager Overview Campaign Creator Overview     What if I don't want to use my private mobile device for MFA?   We understand your concerns, however MFA through a personal device is the standard, most secure, and overall most convenient option. There is of course the voice call option, if you have access to a work phone. Beyond that, if you don't have the data or text messaging available, then the Okta and Google options are encrypted, as is standard with us as well.   If you have additional concerns and questions over privacy, we encourage you to look through our Privacy Notice. If you have questions and concerns beyond what's covered in those policies, you're welcome to reach out to privacy(at)constantcontact(dot)com for additional information, feedback, and guidance.   See also: Constant Contact's Terms & Conditions     I don’t have access to my secondary device, how can I login?   In this regard, we’ll need to take some extra security measures to get you logged in properly. For that reason, we’d advise calling our general support so they can confirm security permissions live with you.     Can I use my email address as an MFA option?   The default for login verification will be the account's main email address. However, multi-factor authentication through one of the apps or via SMS/call are considered more secure. If your account has not moved over to using multi-factor authentication, whether by manually enrolling or being required due to your account type/size, you may need to verify your logins each time via email. See also: Why did I receive a login verification email?  I did not receive the login verification email      I setup MFA, but I’m not getting push notifications / texts / calls, how do I get logged in?   Generally you should receive an MFA notification within a few seconds of logging in and clicking SEND CODE. Depending on your network, there may be short delays when receiving MFA notifications, typically no longer than a minute in extreme delays. It’s usually worth it to see if you’re having issues with accessing other apps on your device, or receiving text messages right away. If you continue to have issues, we’d advise calling our general support so they can securely assist you in accessing your account. If you foresee yourself not having access to your mobile network fairly regularly (e.g. travelling abroad or working during flights), then we'd advise one of the MFA options available via wifi: Okta or Google Authenticator.     How do I change my MFA preference to one of the other options, or change my associated phone number? Once you've logged into your account, you can navigate to the My Account page, and select the Reset MFA button. This will log you out and ask you to log back in once more for account security. Once you've resubmitted your username and password, you'll be prompted to select the MFA method you prefer.  If you're unable to fully login to update your MFA preference, there'll be a link at the bottom of the code-entry page where you can start setting up a new preference, via your main account's email address. Make sure to check out our main article on resetting your MFA preference for visual guidance and written instructions.   I’m a user on the account, but I can’t login. What can I do? You’ll generally want to reach out to your account owner to see what info they have currently set for your phone, as that will affect the functionality of the MFA options. If your account owner has the correct phone number associated with your Account Manager / Campaign Creator login, then you’ll be able to setup MFA for your device. If you continue to have issues logging in as a user, please call our general support team for secure assistance.   Why did I receive a “Login From New Device” email?   This email is automatically sent out when you, or someone else, tries to log into your account from a device that has never accessed CTCT before. It can also be triggered if you: Deleted your cookies or cleared your web browser's cache. Logged in from a different web browser. Accessed Constant Contact in an incognito or private browser window. If you recognize the activity, no action is required. If not, we recommend you reach out to the other users on your account to confirm. Otherwise, we generally advise updating your username / password.   See also: Forgotten Username/Password Overview   Please keep in mind that support cannot make significant account changes, including changes to your MFA method, without live security question confirmations. Therefore, if you need an administrative reset for your MFA method, we'll need you to call in for account security protocols.   If you’re unable to call general support, we can also submit callback tickets to the support teams on your behalf. If you need a callback case, please email social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your account username, contact info, and a description of your MFA issue. Make sure that the email is coming from an address verified on the account.    We hope this article was helpful in case the issue ever arises. If you need assistance with any of the above, feel free to post our on Get Help board. ... View more

This article covers some of the basics with Account Reviews. We’re going to address some of the most commonly asked questions, and hopefully make the review process more easily understood overall.     My account has been flagged for review, what do I need to do?   You may have seen (or currently do see) a banner at the top of your account letting you know that your account or ability to send emails is currently disabled, and that you need to call in for a review.           If your account has been flagged for Review, you won’t be able to send emails until it is complete. For account security and Compliance, Reviews must be completed over the phone. Our Review team has several direct phone lines (including non-US numbers) to help streamline the call-in process.    If you’re unable to call them for whatever reason, please send an email to social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your username, preferred phone number, geographical location if non-US based, and request for a Review callback. Accounts that have been outright canceled for Compliance reasons cannot have callback cases submitted.     What is a List / Account Review?   Reviews are an important part of our business, as they help mitigate spam and scam accounts, ensure compliant emailing, and safeguard sending reputations for you, our other customers, and for our company as a whole.   We utilize a mix of automated functions and scans, as well as manual human reviews to monitor for potentially problematic activity. Other times, we may receive enough public and private abuse reports through various channels that our Compliance team will need to take action.      What can trigger a review?   Some of the more common things that result in reviews are: Comparatively large list uploads Contact imports from problematic sources, or otherwise not meeting either our email permission policies or SMS permissions policies Large numbers of unsubscribes and/or spam reports on a single email Public and/or private abuse complaints from email recipients Email content and business types that go against our prohibited content policy Other factors, such as disreputable IP addresses and email addresses, can also result in accounts being flagged for review or outright canceled.    See also: Reducing spam reports Checking your spam score     What is the threshold for unsubscribes and spam reports?   Unfortunately there’s no simple answer to this. What determines when an account reaches a large-scale unsubscribe and/or spam report threshold is based on a myriad of information that our system tracks and weighs against other data on the account.    Since email programs such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other providers pay extremely close attention to spam reports, even a seemingly small number of spam reports for a single source can significantly impact that source’s sending reputation. Constant Contact follows a 1 SPAM complaint for every 1000 emails delivered guideline to feedback loops. We only look at feedback loops in these situations. A feedback loop is an email address that has the ability to mark an incoming email as spam. In our case, that’d affect not just our company, but our customers that send through us as well.     If my account has been canceled by the system / Compliance team, what can I do? Unfortunately an account canceled for Compliance reasons is unlikely to be able to utilize our system in the future. IP addresses and email addresses with negative reputations are the most common culprits, and we simply cannot change those elements’ reputations, nor have them associated with us. It may seem harsh, but this simply has to be done to comply with the majority of email providers and their delivery algorithms.   I need to perform some clean-ups of my email content or contact list to complete the review. Do I have to call back in again? After speaking with the Review team to figure out what needs to be done, if you still need to complete some additional work after the call, our Review team will keep that in mind. In these scenarios, they’ll send an email through a case in our CRM. Simply reply directly to that email to re-open the case and alert them, once you’ve completed the task. They’ll perform another review of the problematic elements that you worked on, then respond back with either a confirmation of the account being released, or highlighting parts that still need to be addressed by you. That said, calling back in will generally result in a much quicker response and resolution.   Remember our support teams are always here to help. If you need to complete a review, or have additional questions about your account’s compliance, make sure to reach out to the Review team directly. Otherwise, if you’re unable to call, just email our Community & Social Care team at social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your username, contact info, and request, and we’ll get a callback case setup.   We hope this article was helpful in case the issue ever arises. If you need assistance with any of the above, feel free to post our on Get Help board. ... View more

Before we get started, consider brushing up on these subjects:   Import tools and methods for adding contacts to an account Create a pop-up contact sign-up form for your website   The user (i.e. a hypothetical Constant Contact user) wants to send emails to their audience where no two recipients receive the same exact email. It is easier said than done, but let’s see how we can make it easier.   There are a few different ways we might accomplish this, so let’s consider a few different scenarios.   Scenario 1: Special promotions, A/B testing promo pricing, or location-based content Solution: Dynamic Content Blocks     Customize what each contact sees in your email with dynamic content   Dynamic Content blocks allow the user to create one email that serves multiple audiences. The blocks can be anything you want: A promotion for a product or service, an announcement of an event in a specific city, etc. Depending on what you set the criteria for the block, only select contacts will be able to view it based on how their contact profile is set up.    It can also serve as an A/B testing tool where you can compare the engagement of different blocks. For example, you’re selling two dresses and trying to see what captures attention better. The dress promotions connects back to your store with two distinct links in their own dynamic blocks and you can then compare the click activity between the two links.   Of course, if we’re trying to accomplish the goal of no two recipients receiving the same email it would require either A) a small amount of contacts to reduce workload, or a lot of dynamic content blocks. That is probably not feasible for most, but we still recommend using dynamic content blocks when you want to cater to specific audiences in one email.   Bonus: We also offer an A/B Test subject line feature. More info here!   Scenario 2: Each contact could have their own unique email, special coupon code, or many possible combinations Solution: Inserting custom contact fields     Create and manage custom contact fields   Custom contact fields are a great way to cater to many different people through relatively automated means. The first and easiest way to collect the appropriate information is by including it in a sign-up form . What kind of custom fields you include depends on the needs of your organization. For example, you’re a landscaping business who needs to know the square footage of a contact’s yard or you're an ice cream shop that records a patron’s favorite flavor.   If your business is running a promotion and wants to give every contact a unique code, this can be generated a few different ways. Programs such as Microsoft Excel offer processes that will generate random codes. If you search on the Internet for “random code generators” you’ll find third-party sites that offer this service as well. We haven’t tested them personally, so we cannot vouch for them. After the codes are generated you would just need to copy and paste the codes in a new column in a spreadsheet of your contacts. When you re-upload the spreadsheet into Constant Contact, you will assign the coupon codes to a custom field and every contact will be updated with their unique code. When creating an email, select the insert custom field option and choose the field related to your promotion.   There are a lot of different combinations that could be used with this feature. If you think of any, let us know in the comments and we would be happy to make a list!   Scenario 3: Need to separate out entire newsletters to several sub-groups. Solution: Segments     Create a segment of contacts by choosing specific criteria   Segments are great for automating how you organize your audience. For example, maybe after sending a newsletter for a while you see that some contacts engage with it more regularly than others. It’s possible that the least engaged contacts are still interested, but are receiving it too frequently. You can use Segments to identify which contacts are engaging less frequently and sort them into a new list; for example: Once a month versus weekly. Then, you could track their engagement and see if the least engaged contacts are opening the once-a-month newsletter more regularly.   You can also use tags and contact details to sort your contacts. Like above, the easiest way to get this information is through a sign-up form on your site, a sign-up list in your store, or with an integration between Constant Contact and your ecommerce platform. What special interests do your contacts have? Do you cater to contacts in many different regions? If this is reflected in their tags or contact details you can select it while generating a new list from segments.   —   We hope this exploration of how to utilize different tools in Constant Contact will help with your online marketing efforts! If you think of any other ways in which you can automate your workflow, but diversify your output to your audience please let us know! ... View more

First, some helpful links: Prepare images for upload Upload an image to your Library Social Media Image Sizes Guide   You just took the best photo or created the best graphic and you excitedly rush to Constant Contact and attempt to upload the file. Alas, the system won’t allow you to upload the file because the file size is greater than 5 megabytes (MB). Now what do you do?   Canva   Canva has integrated with Constant Contact! After you have crafted your designs in Canva you can import them right into your Library. Canva has the ability to resize image files, too! Integrations    From Tools > Library > Click Create in Canva.        You'll then want to allow the third party cookie so you can get to work and begin creating directly in Canva.      Take a screenshot of the image   This might be the easiest option, whether you’re working on a desktop/laptop computer or on your phone/tablet.   Pictures taken with your smartphone or professional camera are usually saved at a larger size and higher resolution. When you take a screenshot of a picture displayed on your computer or phone screen, it automatically creates a lower resolution version.    All devices usually have screenshot technology built-in. For example, Windows 10 uses a program called Snip & Sketch (might also be called Snipping Tool) and MacOS utilizes keyboard shortcuts to accomplish the task.   Follow the instructions and save the new file to your preferred location and then it will be ready to upload!   Use a photo editing software   There are a variety of photo editing software available now, but the most recognizable is still Photoshop. Of course, Photoshop comes with a cost so if it’s not already part of your menagerie of tools, you could try searching the Internet for “image resize programs” and there are a variety of websites that offer the capability.   Also, Windows 10’s built-in Photos app allows you to resize images. I couldn’t find an official tutorial from Microsoft, so I’ll just say open the image you want to resize, select the three dots in the top-right corner and you’ll see the Resize option. Follow the prompts and you should be all set! MacOS’s built-in Preview program also provides the option.   —   Resizing images can be an unexpected obstacle in the pursuit of creating the perfect Email Marketing campaign, but we hope these options will help! If you happen to have found other methods for resizing images not mentioned above, please let us know in the comments ... View more

The scenario: A Constant Contact user created an event and wants to share the event in an email they are sending to their audience. Additionally, they want a button when clicked will redirect the email recipient to their own Facebook page where they can immediately share a link to the event itself.   First, some helpful links: Create an Event Insert and customize a button in an email   Constant Contact does have many options for you to share your email and event campaigns on Social Media, such as Social Share for email campaigns, but other than recipients being able to share the email they receive on social media, they can’t share specific parts or a specific link within the email without a little manual labor   There is hope, though!   Important: This site requires you to use HTML code.   It turns out Facebook’s developers page has a handy tool that will generate a “New Post” page (the screen you see when you click on ‘Create post’ or ‘What’s on your mind?’ when on Facebook).   I’m going to provide you with the URL you need, but I still want to lay out the steps to find it in case you ever need to do it yourself:   1) Copy the share URL for the landing page/event page/whatever page you want.   2) Visit Facebook’s developer page.   3) Scroll until you see the Share Button Configurator. Where it says URL to share, paste in the URL for the event landing page. Ignore the other stuff and just hit "Get Code."     4) An overlay will pop up showing "JavaScript SDK." In the code on Step 2, identify the URL that starts like this: "https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u="   5) Keep in mind, the actual URL is longer, it will include the URL you shared previously with some extra gibberish. As long as you copy the URL between the two quotation marks, you should be good.   6) Now that you have your new URL, just create a hyperlink text or a button in the email and add the new URL!   I tested it and you don’t have to do these steps every time. Once you have the initial part of the link "https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=" (remove quotation marks) you can just pop in whatever other URL you want at the end and voila!   This tool is useful for any link you want your audience to share on their own Facebook pages, such as if you’re using our Eventbrite integration.    This article contains third-party links. Any links we provide from non-Constant Contact sites or information about non-Constant Contact products or services are provided as a courtesy and should not be construed as an endorsement by Constant Contact.   ... View more

At this time there isn’t a way to edit multiple contacts at once in Constant Contact, but fear not here are some options to consider to make the process easier.    Use Excel or a similar program   We recommend starting with this Knowledge Base article to learn or refresh some formatting principles to keep in mind when preparing a contact upload.   Format a file before importing a contact list into Constant Contact Managing Your Contact List Outside of Constant Contact   Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are probably the two most well-known spreadsheet programs. A popular upload option for Constant Contact is uploading a spreadsheet with your contact list in it. Once selected, Constant Contact gives you the option to select the different categories related to each column, though if titled correctly the upload system will identify them automatically. List Growth      The key with spreadsheet programs is to learn the specific formulas or shortcuts that will save you time and frustration with formatting your data.   Here are a couple of solutions to common obstacles users might encounter.   Replace information en masse    We’ll use Excel as an example, but this should be possible in most spreadsheet programs. Let’s say you use Constant Contact to communicate with many, many people from a specific organization. This organization was previously known as The Example Company and the domain for the email address was @theexamplecompany.com. You have 1,000 email addresses with this domain. Instead of going line-by-line, you can use the Replace shortcut in Excel to identify @theexamplecompany.com in every cell and input the new domain, which is.. uh… @exampleinc.com (there we go).   It’s important to keep in mind that even if all the other information on a contact is the same, if the email address is different it will create a new contact. The previous contact will still exist. You’ll have to weigh your options and decide if losing the contact’s history is okay. After you export the list of contacts (you would search for any contacts with the @theexamplecompany.com domain), keep the contacts selected and delete them when you’re ready, but before you upload the updated contacts.   Otherwise, updating the contacts one-by-one would maintain their history. This isn’t feasible in all situations, though.    Separate first and last names   Another helpful trick to learn is how to separate first and last names in Excel before importing (or updating existing contacts). We don’t need to say too much on it because our wonderful Knowledge Base team already did!   Separate first and last names in an Excel spreadsheet   Helpful guides for changes you can make in bulk on Constant Contact   Let contacts update their information and list preferences with the Update Profile Form   While you can’t guarantee every contact will take the initiative, one way to make things easier on yourself is to send your contacts the Update Profile Form (which you can edit) so they can make any adjustments they deem necessary.   Using contact lists, tags, and segments based on your list size   When it comes to moving contacts around your Constant Contact database our lists, tags, and segments features are a great way to speed up the process. For example, maybe you have multiple contacts with the same tag that are scattered across different lists. You can search for that tag, select all the contacts, and create or move them to a specific list.   *Keep in mind that changing tags in the    Move a contact or multiple contacts to a different list Merge multiple contact lists into a single list Remove contacts from a contact list   Whether you want to move, merge, or purge your contacts we have you covered!   —   This is just a starting point, really. We’re always thinking about other ways users can leverage Constant Contact’s many features in new, nuanced ways. If you’ve come across any new tools or techniques in your travels, feel free to let us know in the comments! ... View more

  For a business to grow, it needs customers. Loyal customers. A healthy customer base creates a strong foundation to accelerate that growth. Positive word-of-mouth is a huge deal that encourages prospective clientele to take notice of your brand.   That said, there are a lot of things vying for your audience’s attention. How do you rise above the rest, attract their focus and keep them coming back for more?   How to engage your audience   Frankly, I like to go right to the experts themselves - our fellow Constant Contact users! For some customers, it’s creating the flashiest, picture-perfect email. For others, it’s about highlighting additional incentives to get them back in the door (literal or digital).    As I mentioned above; once you have excited your base, utilize those happy customers to act as organic outreach. The goal isn’t to force the narrative, but create incentives that are hard to ignore and get people talking. Do you share your email campaigns on social media? Do you create opportunities for your customers to forward your work to their peers?    Every year is filled with opportunities to re-engage with your contacts. Use email marketing to recognize anniversaries , such as birthdays or the first time they signed up to your mailing list, and give your most engaged contacts exclusive content. If the exclusive content is truly appealing, it might not stay exclusive for long because they might tell their friends about it! Think of it this way; your business has a gate, but prospective customers can see through it to the realm of opportunity beyond, and you’ve done your best to show where you’ve hidden the key (underneath the little turtle statue, of course).    Connect with Nift    Incentives are a huge way to draw attention to your brand and keep customers coming back. Constant Contact has partnered with Nift to help you capture new contacts and turn them into loyal customers by giving you the power to offer Nift gift cards through our Lead Generation Landing Pages!   If you don’t have a Nift account, we will create one for you with your Constant Contact credentials. Nift is great because you can only gain by using their service. A prospective contact that likes your business, but might be on the fence with joining the mailing list, could be swayed by the potential gift. Plus, the new contact can select which categories of business (restaurants, athletics, etc.) interests them and Nift will give them the best two of the bunch. Nift works with over 9,000 businesses and will even try to match the recipient with local options!   Offering gift cards to your new sign-ups is great, but it is designed to encourage loyalty, not cement it. What happens after the contact gets their free gift card and redeems it? Keep them engaged by following up on their experience. Use segmentation to put them in an automated email series that keeps them involved with your business in the short-term while you work on your latest and greatest promotion or business move. The goal is to keep your business top of mind so when the contact hopefully needs your goods or services again, they will come to you. On top of that, Nift gift cards can work well to show appreciation for long-time customers when sending out anniversary or birthday campaigns. Still curious how Nift works? Read our overview for all the frequently asked questions and learn how to connect your Constant Contact account to Nift and build your loyalty program today! ... View more

Did you design a flyer for your business that you also want to share with your online audience? A menu for your restaurant? Whatever the document might be, instead of trying to recreate the graphic from scratch in Constant Contact’s email editor, you can utilize a couple different strategies to save time and get the job done!   Create an Email from a PDF   This strategy is the most straightforward. Constant Contact has a PDF-to-Email function that allows the user to upload a PDF file directly into the body of a new email template. It generates a PNG file of the first page of the PDF and will also generate a clickable button already linked to the PDF beneath the image!   This is a great option if you envision your email being almost entirely the PDF in question. For example, if you are a restaurant trying to promote your new menu, this will keep it front-and-center. Keep in mind that you can still make additional edits if you want to build more of your template around the initial creation.   The PDF file and the newly generated PNG file will both appear in the account Library after the email template is created.   Visit the Knowledge Base to read a step-by-step guide.   Important! Please note that sending an image-only email increases the likelihood of your email ending up in the Spam folder.  A balanced text-to-image ratio can make the difference! Consider adding your hours of business, contact information, or a brief message to your audience, for example!   Create an Image From a PDF While Uploading to the Library   Some Constant Contact users like to reuse the same template they’ve already designed, making small tweaks to fit whatever their needs are for that installment. In the event you already have a template ready to go, but still want to feature a graphic of and/or link to your PDF, you can acquire said assets from the account’s Library.   From the Library page, click on Upload To Library, then My Computer. Drag-and-drop the PDF file or click ‘or browse your computer to upload’ to bring the file into the account ecosystem. The great thing is the upload process will automatically generate a PNG image file for you!   Before leaving the page, click on the thumbnail or title of the PDF file you uploaded. A pop-up overlay will appear with the options to change the title of the file, add Alt Text for the Description, add the file to a specific folder, and most importantly for this overview, to copy the URL for the PDF. Copy that URL!   Return to the email template you are working on and in the top-left corner, click on the Image tab between Build and Design. The PNG version of the PDF file will be available for you to click, drag, and drop wherever it is you want to place it. Click on the image in the template and choose the ‘Link’ option in the pop-up toolbar to paste the URL of the PDF file so the image itself is clickable! Why is it worth doing this? Because when viewing an email, the image can only become so large; by making it clickable to the actual PDF file it gives the audience a chance to see it in its intended state.    You can always generate a button to make it clickable as well.   Visit the Knowledge Base to read a step-by-step guide.   -- Interested in Constant Contact? Try it free! Sign up today. ... View more

Jake and Dave of the Constant Contact Blog break down how suspended bounces work and the impact they can have on your email marketing. Introducing The Inbox.     Other Resources: The Suspended Email Address Bounce Category Managing, Removing, and Preventing Bounced Emails   ... View more