Constant Contact 1.1 Setup

Initial Setup

  1. Following standard Solspace Installation / Upgrade proceedures, install the Constant Contact extension into your website.

  2. You'll need to create or have an existing Constant Contact account. Once that's done, you'll need to create an API key on the Constant Contact website.

  3. In the ExpressionEngine Custom Member Fields area, create a new custom field for the Opting In process. For example, you could name this field 'opt_in'. Set the field as a Dropdown List type, and enter the values 'yes' and 'no'. Then, create an additional custom member field for each Constant Contact Mailing List. The name of the field is not necessarily important, but it must be suffixed with an underscore, and the Mailing List ID (tricky, but can be found in the URL when editing the Mailing List on the CC site). For example: 'annoucements_1', 'news_2', 'short_shorts_3'. Set the fields as Dropdown List type, and enter the values 'yes' and 'no'.

Extension Configuration

  1. In the Constant Contact extension settings, add your Constant Contact username, password, and the API key generated.

  2. You can choose whether or not you'd like to recieve a notification email if a user subscribes to a mailing list successfully and/or unsuccessfully. Additionally, you can provide an email address of your choice.

  3. In the Opt In / Out field, select the 'opt_in' custom member field you created from the dropmenu.

  4. In the Interest Fields select menu, select all applicable Interest Categories you created as custom member fields.

  5. The Constant Contact extension allows you to map custom member fields to Constant Contact fields. For example, you can transfer over data from a custom field you created - 'last_name' over to the 'last name' field in Constant Contact. Add as many fields as you wish.

Examples

Below is an example of how your code might look like in a Register form:

<p><input type="checkbox" name="opt_in" id="opt_in" value="yes" /> <label for="opt_in">Subscribe to our Mailing List?</label></p>
 
<h4>Please select all lists you'd like to subscribe to:</h4>
 
<p><input type="checkbox" name="announcements_1" id="announcements_1" value="yes" /> <label for="announcements_1">Annoucements</label></p>
<p><input type="checkbox" name="news_2" id="news_2" value="yes" /> <label for="news_2">Latest News</label></p>
<p><input type="checkbox" name="short_shorts_3" id="short_shorts_3" value="yes" /> <label for="short_shorts_3">Short Shorts</label></p>