If you use Constant Contact, please check your sign up forms. We have found that some of the older forms are no longer supported and may NOT be working. Here is a quick tutorial on how to check and what to do if your Constant Contact Sign up Form is not working.
Why Use Constant Contact Sign Up Forms?
Sign up forms facilitate contact growth – they let people sign up to join your email marketing community.
If you use Constant Contact, there are a number of sign up form options. You can create forms that can be used on your website (see the image on this post of the one I use on my website) and you can create hot links that take people to a form. Those links can then be used anywhere from social media posts to blog posts, brochures, etc.
Forms can be customized to be on-brand, using your logo and brand colors, and can be set-up to funnel all signups directly to your Constant Contact account. Ideally, to a destination list set up for this purpose – more on that later.
Note that with some websites, you can create a form and have that linked to your account but the forms I am talking about here are the ones created directly via Constant Contact.
Known Issue
A client called me when he noticed that the Constant Contact sign-up form on his website was no longer working. When I contacted Constant Contact about this, they claimed that it was a ‘known issue’ but could not tell me which forms were affected. This was seriously frustrating but they assured me that all forms created using the current interface are supported and working accurately.
His forms had been created years ago and were probably no longer supported after an upgrade.
How Long Has This Been A Problem?
Unfortunately, we do not know how long this form had been broken. I checked the client’s list (where the sign ups were sent) and could see the last sign up date. This gives us an idea of when it stopped working, but is not definitive. He HAD noticed that his list was not growing as quickly as it had been, but had not thought to check the forms.
Are YOUR Forms Working?
If you are using Constant Contact forms to build your email marketing lists, please check that they are working!
To to this, go to the form and try to add a new email address. A broken form will show an error – something like ‘Error 404 – page not found’ or ‘OOOPS, this link is broken’ – usually right away. It is worth trying to add an email address and then go in to the destination list (the list where your sign-up form is supposed to put your new signups) in your Constant Contact account, to confirm that it is working correctly.
A Note About Lists
If you haven’t worked with an email marketing expert or taken the time to set up lists for your various contacts, you may find that you have a single, ‘catch-all’ list for all contacts. This makes it more difficult to keep track of your new sign-ups, segment your mailings and precludes using it to trip (start) an intro drip sequence. I HIGHLY recommend creating, and using, lists. Give me a call if you would like a quick, free consultation on how this might be able to help you grow your business.
What to Do If Your Constant Contact Sign Up Form is Not Working
If you find your list is NOT working, don’t panic. You can easily create a new one. To do this yourself, log into your Constant Contact account and look for “AUDIENCE” in the left hand menu. Click on that and then on the “GROWTH CENTER” link.
There are a number of helpful tools here to help you grow your email list including forms, QR codes and SMS (text marketing) tools. For now, use the ‘Sign Up Forms’ block and click on “Create a Form”
Sign-Up Form Options
The new pop-up will offer a number of Sign-up form formats, with explanations for each. The Sign-Up Landing Page is easy and straight forward but they walk you through any one you may choose. I use the Sign-Up Landing Page for my website footer, an Inline form on my blog and a Flyout for my eBook download.
If you did not build your own website, you may want to have your web designer, or our team, create the form and install the code.
Whether you do it yourself or have your web designer take care of it for you, be sure it is branded with your logo, colors, fonts and messaging to reinforce trust and brand recognition.
I keep my form simple, requesting only an email address and including a submit button that uses my logo color. There are options to add more fields and your logo, etc. Think about your target audience and your ideal client when crafting the form.
You will also have the option of creating, and branding, a Thank You Message which will display after someone submits their email address. I highly recommend customizing this as well, rather than using the default which can feel impersonal and unprofessional.
As you create these forms, remember, we are welcoming them to join our community. We want them to feel they can trust us. Don’t try to hard sell or sound spammy or you may lose this member before they even complete the form.
If you need help figuring this out, want us to take care of it or want to better understand how to use these tools, please give me a call (212.664.1872) or email me – I would be happy to walk you through this!
