Every business needs a way to organize and manage its business relationships. CRM systems are one of the best ways to do so.
However, with hundreds of CRM systems on the market today, it can be difficult to keep track of which marketing technology has a CRM feature and which ones don’t.
You might’ve heard of Constant Contact as a powerful email marketing tool, but is it also a CRM?
Understanding whether Constant Contact can serve as a comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution could simplify your workflow and save you time. Let’s jump into what Constant Contact offers and see if it meets your CRM needs.
What defines a CRM?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) helps businesses manage relationships with both existing and potential customers.
CRM tools capture and manage all interactions between your business and customers, allowing you to be more in tune throughout the entire customer lifecycle. They store customer data, track interactions, and automate tasks like sending welcome emails and appointment reminders.
According to Capterra, there are three core traits that “make or break a system’s inclusion in the CRM category”: contact management, interaction tracking, and lead management.
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Contact Management: storing key information regarding contacts
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Interaction Tracking: viewing the history of conversations with specific contacts
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Lead Management: scoring leads as you move them through your sales pipeline
Additional features that most reputable CRMs have include:
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Data Storage: Store customer details securely.
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Task Automation: Automate follow-ups, reminders, and email campaigns.
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Analytics: Gain insights through detailed analytics and reports
Does Constant Contact Function as a CRM?
Constant Contact is commonly known for its email marketing capabilities, but it also incorporates several CRM features into its software.
In fact, within Constant Contact, there is a Lead Gen & CRM platform which aims to centralize customer relationship management. This is done to blend email marketing with some aspects typically found in dedicated CRM systems. Lets look deeper.

CRM Features of Constant Contact
I pointed out above about Constant Contact’s Lead Gen & CRM platform, and this includes tools for lead management, customer contact databases, and tracking interactions.
Lead Generation: Users can capture leads through email and social marketing. Leads are automatically scored based on activity, helping prioritize high-potential ones.
Custom fields: Constant Contact allows you to store as much info on your contacts as you want with custom fields. Some of the typical fields businesses store include name, phone number, website, etc. However, you can store any other information that might be relevant to you such as favorite color for instance.
If you have a list of email subscribers and corresponding information on them, Constant Contact allows you to easily mail merge, so that you can easily personalize your emails.
Segmentation and tagging: With segmentation and tagging you can divide your email subscribers into smaller segments based on commonalities between subscribers. For instance, you can send emails based on the time subscriber joined your list, how they signed up for your email list or location. There are hundreds of possibilities.
Workflow Automations: These features simplify tasks, sending welcome emails, follow-ups, and appointment reminders without additional input
Tracking and analytics: With Constant Contact, you can track which of your contacts have opened and clicked in your emails in visually pleasing graphs. Additionally, you can segment your email outreach based on how your subscribers have engaged with previous email campaigns.
Comparing Constant Contact to Traditional CRMs
There are various email marketing tools with a built-in CRM. Constant Contact offers only some CRM-like features, and it is worth noting these are limited compared to dedicated CRM systems.
Key Differences
Traditional CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot include extensive features that go beyond simple contact management. They can handle deal tracking, sales pipeline management, and detailed customer profiling.
Constant Contact focuses on automating email sequences and segmenting contacts, which is useful but not as comprehensive.
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Feature Set: CRMs provide tools for managing customer interactions across various channels. Constant Contact excels in email marketing but lacks features like sales pipeline management.
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Data Analytics: CRM systems offer advanced analytics to help understand customer behaviors. Constant Contact offers basic metrics like open rates and click-through rates for email campaigns.
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Integration and Scalability: CRMs often integrate with multiple business tools and are scalable to grow with your needs. Constant Contact integrates with fewer platforms and is mainly designed for email marketing.
Situations Where Constant Contact May Suffice
For small businesses or startups, Constant Contact may be sufficient. If you need an easy-to-use email marketing platform with some customer management capabilities, it performs well. Businesses focused on email outreach and lead nurturing through campaigns will find it beneficial.
But, for those requiring detailed customer tracking, extensive analytics, and multi-channel engagement, a traditional CRM such as HubSpot remains essential.
Related Article: Constant Contact vs HubSpot: Which is Best for Small Businesses?
Pros and Cons of Using Constant Contact as a CRM
Pros of Using Constant Contact as a CRM
Integration Capabilities: Constant Contact integrates with over 5,500 systems, including popular CRM platforms. These integrations help streamline workflows and enhance data management. For example, connecting Constant Contact with Salesforce can blend your email marketing with comprehensive customer relationship management.
Basic CRM Features: The platform offers essential CRM tools like customer list management, interaction tracking, and email automation. Features such as landing pages, surveys, and analytics can aid in customer relationship management by providing insights and engaging customers.
Cons and Drawbacks
Limited CRM Functionality: While Constant Contact offers some CRM features, its functionalities are not as extensive as those found in dedicated CRM systems. Advanced capabilities like deal tracking and sales pipeline management are missing. This limitation means you might struggle to manage more complex customer interactions effectively.
Analytics Constraints: The platform’s analytics focus primarily on email marketing metrics. If your business requires in-depth reporting and multi-channel engagement insights, a traditional CRM like HubSpot CRM may be more suitable.
Integration Limitations: Although integration options are available, they often require additional investments and technical setup. Seamless integration between Constant Contact and other key business tools may not always be straightforward, potentially leading to fragmented data and workflows.
Constant Contact… a CRM or not?
Constant Contact is a powerful tool for email marketing with some CRM-like features. Whilst this is great, it doesn’t quite compare to comprehensive CRM solutions like Salesforce or HubSpot CRM.
It can definitely do the job for smaller businesses or startups looking to manage customer interactions and automate marketing tasks. There are various other free alternatives to Constant Contact that might pique your interest as well.