The Bounce Manager
I was a bounce manager yesterday. Spending the time to manage bounced e-mails in Constant Contact (CC for the rest of this posting), allows me to say “Welcome, Angelo (Baio), Carolyn (Morrow), Dirk, Kathy (Keefe), Jeety, Kate (Killian), Marc (Clerc), Ara, Judy (Femia), Santosh, Sue (Cross), Bette and Alex!” Starting today, they’ll receive Chamber Connections on Fridays. I logged into a contact report that showed me which e-mails were bouncing back and why, correcting the missing letter here, the missing “dot” there, the extra letter here, the changed e-mail provider there, the new manager here.
What initially made CC so attractive to the Board as an e-mail service provider were:
#1: Its Business Partnership program. The Chamber can offer a substantial discount (from 20-25%!) to anyone—Chamber member or not--who signs up for a free trial period through our co-branded link and chooses to pre-pay for a 6-month or 12-month period, once the trial ends. When you sign up via the co-branded link, you save money and we earn money via commission. If you already use CC, you can also move your account to the Chamber’s program and benefit from the discount at your next billing cycle and we will benefit too.
#2: Its special program for Chambers. We can use the company’s e-mail and survey programs for free in exchange for hosting two CC seminars or events each year. Zak Barron, the NE regional director, is receptive to new ideas, enabling us to create the newsletter tutorials tailored to our members zipping by that quota! We plan to offer other targeted seminars on different aspects of e-mail marketing in the coming months.
Another reason. . .
#3: Its stellar customer service. I will admit that learning the in’s and out’s of CC has been challenging. When I hit a snag, though, Search Our Answers on the Get Help page usually unsnags me. On the occasions when I need more help, I call Customer Service and talk to a live person in the same country and in the same time zone. We can even look at the same screen!
Let me get back to pricing. CC’s fees are determined by your e-mail list size.
The monthly fee for an E-mail List Size of 0-500, for example: 
E-mail Marketing: $15
Survey: $15
Bundle: $22.50
| Prepay Options | | Standard Prepay | | |
| 6 Month Prepay | 10% Discount | 20% Discount | ||
| 12 Month Prepay | 15% Discount | 25% Discount |
Those who signed up for a CC trial at the January seminar were automatically signed up to receive the co-branded discounts if they prepay for either the 6 or 12 month option at the end of the trial.
Those who signed up for a CC trial before attending the tutorial, should double check with CC that they are in the co-branded program since I think I provided the wrong link to you. (See below for instructions on how to do this.)
Those who already use CC can be transferred to the co-branded program now. However, the discount will not be applied until your next billing cycle.
To make changes to an existing CC account, send an e-mail to businesspartner@constantcontact.com and provide them with your User Name. Ask to be associated with the Arlington Chamber co-branded program.
Here is the correct link. You will see the Chamber’s logo next to CC’s when you land on the page.
All of this information will be added to the Chamber’s website in the next several weeks and will be readily accessible there.
HTML or text--no matter what form the Chamber’s email newsletter takes in your e-mail box, its goal today is the same as it was four years ago: to keep members connected.
