How to Connect Constant Contact to WordPress (Step by Step)

Are you using ConstantContact for your email marketing and want to connect it with your WordPress site?

With a focus on drag-and-drop design and eCommerce integration, Constant Contact is one of the best email marketing services out there. That said, you probably want to connect it with your website so that all leads go straight into your database.

In this ultimate guide, we will show you how to connect Constant Contact with WordPress.

Why Building an Email List is so Important?

Have you ever wondered why every website on the internet wants to have your email address? Whether you are creating an account on Facebook, Twitter, or the New York Times, they all want your email address.

The answer is dead simple: email is the best way to reach customers.

A recent study showed that small businesses get $40 back for every dollar spent on email marketing. It is the most effective way to convert visitors into customers.

But don’t trust our word for it. Here’s what the founder of Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi, had to say about it.

“An email list is critical because you can’t build your content on rented land. So many brands and companies build their audiences on Facebook and Google+, which is fine, but we don’t own those names – Facebook and Google do. If we are thinking like real media companies, the asset is in the audience. Getting an email address is the first critical step to figuring out who my reader is, and hopefully in the future, my customer of some sort. If our goal is to drive sales or keep customers happy in some way, we first need to get them as part of our audience.

If I have one regret as a business owner, it’s not focusing on building our email list earlier in the process”

Joe Pulizzi – Founder of Content Marketing Institute

You can learn more on this topic by reading our article on why you should start building your email list right away.

Now that you know the importance of building an email list, let’s see how to get started with Constant Contact to build an email list for your WordPress site.

What is Constant Contact?

Constant Contact is one of the most popular email marketing service providers in the world. They specialize in sending mass emails to your customers, managing your email lists, and running effective email marketing campaigns.

It can be quite overwhelming for small businesses to start their own email list. Constant Contact makes sure that even absolute beginners can run their email campaigns like a pro.

That said, we’ll cover the two methods for connecting Constant Contact to WordPress.

Method 1: Connect Constant Contact to WordPress Using WPForms

The best way to connect Constant Contact to WordPress is by using WPForms.

No other contact form plugins for WordPress can offer anywhere near the features and customization you get with WPForms.

It has more form fields to choose from, over 1,600 templates, spam protection, and you can easily accept credit card payments. Plus, the free version has Constant Contact integration built in.

Step 1: Installing and Activating WPForms

To get started, you’ll need to install and activate WPForms. For more details, read our step-by-step tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 2: Connect WPForms to Constant Contact

Upon activation, you’ll need to go to WPForms » Settings. Then go to the Integrations tab, and under the Constant Contact icon, expand the option. From here, select ‘+ Add New Account.’

A list of fields will appear below.

Click on the link labeled ‘Click here to register with Constant Contact.’

A new window will appear where you’ll have to log in to your Constant Contact or register a new one.

Once that is completed, you’ll need to click ‘Allow’ to give WPForms access to your Constant Contact account.

From here, you’ll be given a Constant Contact authorization code.

Just copy the code as shown on the screen.

Then, head back over to WordPress. Paste the code to where it says ‘Constant Contact Authorization Code’ and also give this connection a nickname.

Finally, click on ‘Connect to Constant Contact.’

Step 3: Creating your new form

Next, you’ll head over to WPForms » Add New. You’ll be taken to the form builder.

Start by giving your form a name.

Next, you’ll need to choose a template so that you don’t have to start from scratch. With over 1,600+ templates, you’ll find just about every type of form template you need. This includes user registration forms, payment forms, calculator forms, donation forms, newsletter signup forms, and more.

For this tutorial, we’ll select the simple contact form. Hover over the ‘Simple Contact Form’ and click on ‘Use Template.’

Step 4: Customizing your form

Next, you’ll be taken to the drag-and-drop editor.

Here is where you can add or customize form fields.

For example, if you want to customize a field, you can click on it on the right-hand editor.

Then, under the field options, you can change the label, add a description, or make it a required or optional field.

One field you may want to add is a checkbox so that users explicitly give their permission for you to send marketing emails.

Just drag the ‘Checkboxes’ under Add Fields to the editor.

Then, remove the multiple choices so that there is only one check box remaining.

Change the Label to say something like ‘Join Our Email List.’ Under choices, you can provide a description such as ‘Check this box to receive our free email newsletter.’

Step 5: Connecting Email List to Your New Form

Now, you’ll want to go to the Marketing Constant Contact page from the left side panel.

Then, simply click ‘Add New Connection.

This is where you’ll be able to connect a specific email list to this form so that new subscribers are automatically added to your Constant Contact database.

You’ll be asked to enter a connection nickname, such as Newsletter Optin.

Then click ‘OK.’

You’ll be asked to select an account and list you’d like to connect to this form.

Make sure to choose a list appropriate for the form. That way, when you send emails to this list, they’re relevant to the subscriber’s interests.

Then, in the list fields section, you can add any available subscriber data to your Constant Contact email lists.

This way, Constant Contact properly organizes all the data.

Step 6: Publishing the form.

Make sure you save the form before moving on. Then click the ‘Embed’ button at the top.

You’ll be asked to select an existing page to embed the form to or create a new page.

Choose whichever option that fits your needs. You could also use a shortcode as well.

Once you’ve landed on the page, you should see the Constant Contact form appear.

Just click ‘Publish’ at the top.

In addition, you want to preview the form to ensure it looks the way it should on your website.

Here’s what our form looks like.

Step 7: Testing Form

Enter test submission in the contact form to ensure the subscriber data is going straight to your Constant Contact database.

Go to your Constant Contact account and make sure that it appears. If it shows up, then you’re all set!

That’s all; all form submissions will be sent directly to Constant Contact.

Method 2: Connect Constant Contact to WordPress

Another way to connect Constant Contact to WordPress is to use the native Constant Contact Forms plugin.

The advantage of this method is that you don’t need to take the time to connect WPForms to Constant Connect. That said, after testing the Constant Contact Forms plugin, I found that it is lacking in terms of features and ease of use.

In general, it’s missing a lot of form field options, which limits the information you can collect for your email list.

Step 1: Creating a Constant Contact account

First, you need to visit the Constant Contact website and sign up for an account.

To do that, enter your email address and click ‘Sign up free.’

Then, you’ll want to either enter an email or you can connect your Gmail account to get started.

Click ‘Continue.’

Next, you’ll be taken to the Constant Contact dashboard screen. Assuming you already have an email list in place, you’re ready to move on to step 2.

Step 2: Installing and Activating the Constant Contact Plugin

You’ll need to install and activate the Constant Contact Forms plugin in WordPress.

It is a free plugin that allows you to effortlessly create sign-up forms to convert your site visitors into mailing list contacts. All captured email addresses will be automatically added to the Constant Contact email lists of your choosing.

Step 3: Connecting Your Constant Contact Account

Upon activation, you’ll need to connect your Constant Contact account to the plugin.

In your WordPress dashboard, head over to the Contact Form » Connect Now page. Then click on the ‘Get Code’ button.

Next, you’ll be asked for consent to access your Constant Contact account.

Go ahead and click ‘Allow Access.’

From here, you’ll be taken to an Application Authorization page, where you’ll be given code to paste into WordPress.

Just click ‘Copy Code.’

Go back to your WordPress admin dashboard.

Then click on ‘Paste Code.’

You’ll be directed to the Settings » Account page of your Constant Contact Forms plugin.

Paste the code next to ‘Auth Code and State’ and then click ‘Save Changes.’

You should see a success message indicating that your settings have been updated.

Now that your Constant Contact account is connected, you’re ready to start customizing your form.

Step 4: Customizing Your Constant Contact Form

Simply head over to the Contact Form » Add Form. Then, start by giving your form a name so you can easily refer back to it later.

From there, provide a description of the form so that visitors know what the form is about.

Scroll down to the Form Options section.

You can have the option to change the Button text, success message, or even add a redirect URL.

For example, a redirect URL is good for product order forms since you can send them to a thank you page.

Under the Email opt-in section, it’s a good idea to add an opt-in checkbox so that subscribers can provide permission for you to send emails.

Next to the Opt-in Affirmation box, you can even add a quick message that tells visitors what clicking the checkbox entails. This way, users won’t be surprised when you’re sending regular emails to their inboxes.

If you scroll to the bottom to Form Fields, you can add and customize the fields in your contact form.

For example, just click ‘Add Another Field’ to add another field option. You can always customize the Field Label and Description so visitors understand what to input there.

Constant Contact provides a few field options to choose from, including:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Phone Number
• Address
• Job Title
• Company
• Website
• Custom Text Field
• Custom Text Area

We recommend keeping it simple and limiting the number of form fields needed to subscribe, especially for newsletter forms.

But use your own discretion depending on the type of form you’re creating.

You can choose to leave the added form field as optional or check the ‘Required’ box to make it mandatory. You can also move the field up or down using the ‘move up’ or ‘move down’ buttons.

If you’re done with customizing your form, you can scroll to the top and hit ‘Save Draft.’

Then also, click ‘Publish.’

Step 5: Adding the form to a post or page.

From here, you want to add the form you’ve created to a post or page.

When you’re in the block editor, hit the ‘+’ icon and then select the ‘Constant Contact Single Form’ block.

When the block is added, you can choose to display the form title or hide it. Also, you’ll need to select from the dropdown menu the form you’ve just published.

Finally, you will need to hit the ‘Publish’ button at the top.

Now, you’ve successfully embedded your Constant Contact form to your page or post.

Double-check to make sure the form looks exactly the way it should.

From here, you just need to make sure that all visitors are added to your Constant Contact list.

Step 6: Testing Your Form

Go ahead and fill out your form. Then, go to your Constant Contact list.

In this case, we’ll go to our Constant Contact account. Under Contacts » Lists, we see that new contacts have been added to our ‘Email List Subscribers’ list.

Click on the list to which the form is connected.

Here, you’ll see that all the names and dates have been added as well.

We hope this article helped you learn how to connect Constant Contact to WordPress. You may also want to see our list of 19 actionable tips to drive traffic to your WordPress site and our step-by-step tutorial on how to create an email newsletter.

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