Tips for managing your LGL/Constant Contact integration

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Once you've set up an integration with Constant Contact and have added constituents to Constant Contact lists within LGL, here are some tips to help you manage the integration.

Tip #1: Add/edit constituent emails to Constant Contact lists only via LGL

LGL does not pull list subscribers from Contact Contact into Little Green Light. This means that any contacts added directly to a list within Constant Contact (i.e., via the Constant Contact email subscription widget) will not be imported into Little Green Light. 

We also recommend using an LGL form to collect new email subscribers online rather than using a Constant Contact email widget. You can map the LGL form to ensure that those constituents will be added to LGL.

NOTE: While whole records won't be brought from Constant Contact into LGL, certain information about your subscribers will be shared from Constant Contact into LGL, including unsubscribe requests and errors caused by undeliverable email addresses. These are global status settings for the contact, and you'll see them in a status filter within the constituent record in your LGL account.

Tip #2: Use the "Replace existing lists" option

This option completely replaces all emails in LGL-managed lists in Constant Contact with the most up-to-date list assignments stored in your LGL account nightly. Using this option ensures that the data you have in LGL always matches the data you have in Constant Contact. 

Tip #3: Understanding the subscription status of your constituents synced to Constant Contact

LGL provides a global Constant Contact status for all constituents subscribed to an LGL-managed Constant Contact list as well as an individual status for each list to which that constituent is assigned. Global Constant Contact subscription statuses and List statuses cannot be manually changed by an LGL user; rather, they are automatically assigned based on the syncing of data between LGL and Constant Contact.

Global Constant Contact Subscription Statuses and List Statuses and what they mean:

  • Active: Assigned to a constituent record that has an email address and has been assigned to at least one LGL-managed Constant Contact list. This designation will also be added to constituents that are assigned to a list but have not yet been synced to Contact Constant (i.e., are yet to be processed.). LGL automatically pushes all lists nightly, so a record should never take more than 24 hours to process.
  • Inactive: Any LGL constituent that was previously assigned to one or more LGL-managed Constant Contact lists and has since been removed from them all.
  • Unsubscribed: Includes any constituent that has unsubscribed by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in a Constant Contact email you've sent. When an email subscriber clicks the "unsubscribe" option, it removes them from all lists to which they were assigned. 
  • Invalid Email: Includes any record that contains an improperly formatted email address or has no email address but has been added to an LGL-managed list.
  • Error: Includes any record that was not able to be synced to Constant Contact, usually as a result of an error with the API.
  • Pending: This status is applicable to lists only and identifies when a constituent has been added to a list but that list has not yet been synced with Constant Contact.

NOTE: if you want to remove the "Active" subscriber status from a constituent record, you will need to remove that constituent from all lists that are assigned to them. This would then make them "Inactive."

You can search for Constant Contact subscription status in a variety of ways, including:

  • Using the filters or "Advanced search" function on the All Constituents page
  • Viewing it within the constituent profile
  • Viewing it on the Constant Contact Integration settings page
  1. You can filter constituents by their Constant Contact Status as well as by Constant Contact Lists in the Filter Results section of the All Constituents page:

2. You can also view an individual's Constant Contact Status and their Constant Contact list assignments in the constituent profile, by scrolling to this section of their constituent details page:

3. Or you can view the lists and constituents assigned to that list in the Constant Contact Integration Settings page:

This view shows a breakdown of statuses by list, as well as when the list was last updated. ( NOTE: A full sync is initiated every night automatically, but you can initiate a manually sync for an individual list by clicking the Push List button for that list.) 

Clicking on the name of the list shows you a table of all constituents who are assigned to that list, along with their status:

Tip #5: Keep your Constant Contact email list clear of "Do not email" constituents

A Dashboard alert keeps you up to date on the presence of any constituents on your Constant Contact list whose email address is classified as "No valid email", "Do not email", or "Deceased":

You can also click the "Email me?" option to receive the alert by email:

By clicking on the link, you will be taken to the  Needs Review page in your Constant Contact Integration Settings area, where you will have options to remove those constituents. 

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