Connecting Constant Contact to Avid does two things: your Constant Contact email data (sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and opt-outs) syncs into Avid Insights for reporting, and you can push Avid audiences (saved groups of people, also called segments or lists) directly into a Constant Contact contact list using Pathways (the Avid feature that sends audiences to outside marketing platforms). The connection uses a Constant Contact sign-in and syncs on demand when you trigger a Pathway.
Use this article when
- You are connecting Constant Contact to Avid for the first time.
- You want to see your Constant Contact email data in Avid Insights reports.
- You want to push an Avid audience into a Constant Contact contact list.
- You need to reconnect a broken or expired Constant Contact connection.
Applies to
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Avid plan | Insights plan or Trial. The Connections and Pathways areas are not available on the Benchmarks plan. If you do not see Connections under Settings, contact your Account Manager or submit a support ticket. |
| Constant Contact account | A Constant Contact account with permission to manage contacts and view reporting. |
| Avid permission | Access to Settings > Connections to connect. Pushing an audience also requires Pathways access, granted by your Avid admin. |
| Time estimate | About 5 to 10 minutes to connect. |
Permission matrix
When you sign in to Constant Contact during setup, Avid requests the access listed below. You do not grant these manually. They are approved during the Constant Contact sign-in.
| Access you need in Constant Contact | What Avid requests at sign-in | What it enables in Avid | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permission to manage contacts | Access your contact data | Syncs contacts, lists, tags, and custom fields into Avid Insights. Creates or updates the audience list during a Pathway push. | Contacts section in your Constant Contact account |
| Permission to view reporting | Access your campaign and email data | Syncs email sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and opt-outs into Avid Insights reporting. | Campaigns or reporting section in your Constant Contact account |
| Permission to manage contacts | Read your account details | Confirms your account and names the connection in Avid. | Account settings in your Constant Contact account |
| Permission to manage contacts | Keep the connection active | Lets Avid refresh the connection in the background so you do not have to sign in again. | Account settings in your Constant Contact account |
Connect Constant Contact to Avid
- In Avid, go to Settings > Connections.
- Click the Systems sub-tab. You see a Your Connections heading with your current connection count.
- Click Add System. A modal titled Add a System opens.
- Find and select Constant Contact. The tile shows Reporting and Audiences badges.
- Click Authenticate. A Constant Contact sign-in window opens.
- Sign in with the Constant Contact account that has permission to manage contacts and view reporting. Approve the access request when prompted.
- You return to Avid. The connection appears as Constant Contact: {your organization name}.
Expected result: The Constant Contact tile on Settings > Connections shows Active and the name Constant Contact: {your organization name}. You may also see Initializing or Syncing while Avid pulls in your data for the first time.
What the connection enables
Reporting
After connecting, your Constant Contact data flows into Avid Insights. Use it in reports to see how your email engagement connects to the rest of your Avid data.
Data that syncs:
- Contacts, lists, tags, and custom fields
- Email engagement events: sends, opens, clicks, opt-outs, and bounces
- Constant Contact segments
Reporting syncs on a schedule. Data is not real-time, so allow time after connecting before your first data appears in Insights.
Audience push via Pathways
Push an Avid audience (a saved group of people) into a Constant Contact contact list using Pathways.
- Go to Pathways > Add a new Pathway.
- Select your audience and choose Constant Contact as the destination.
- Choose the destination Contact list members and map your columns. You must map Email as the primary identifier.
- Trigger the Pathway to run the push.
Avid creates or updates a Constant Contact contact list named AVID - {segment name}.
To refresh the list later, re-trigger the sync from Pathways > Manage Pathways.
Field mapping reference
Map these Avid fields to Constant Contact columns when setting up your Pathway. Email is required.
| Field | Required? |
|---|---|
| Required (primary identifier) | |
| First name | Optional |
| Last name | Optional |
| Job title | Optional |
| Company name | Optional |
| Anniversary | Optional |
| Birthday month | Optional |
| Birthday day | Optional |
| Phone | Optional |
| SMS | Optional |
| Street address | Optional |
| Street address line 2 | Optional |
| City | Optional |
| State | Optional |
| Zip | Optional |
| Country | Optional |
| Custom fields | Optional. Any custom fields you have configured in Constant Contact. |
Test and verify
| Checkpoint | What to look for |
|---|---|
| After connecting | The Constant Contact tile on Settings > Connections shows Active and the name Constant Contact: {organization name}. |
| After a Pathway push | Go to Pathways > Manage Pathways. Check Sync Status, Estimated Records, Last Sync Successes, Last Sync Failures, and Last Synced. Confirm the AVID - {segment name} list appears in your Constant Contact account. |
| Download synced or failed records | In Manage Pathways, when records are available the counts in the Last Sync Successes and Last Sync Failures columns appear as links. Click a count to download those records. Records are kept for 7 days after the sync. |
Troubleshooting
Connection errors
| Error message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Something went wrong when connecting to Constant Contact. Please try again. |
The sign-in did not complete, or Avid could not read your account. | Retry from Settings > Connections. Clear your browser cache if the error persists. |
Constant Contact returned the following error: "{message}". Please try again later. |
Constant Contact returned an error while Avid read your account summary. | Wait a few minutes and retry. If the error persists, contact support with the exact message text. |
Pathway and audience errors
| Error message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Constant Contact pathways use destination 'contact_list_members' only. |
The Pathway was mapped to a destination other than Contact list members. | Re-create the Pathway mapping and select Contact list members as the destination. |
Constant Contact requires a primary identifier mapping to the email column. |
No field is mapped as the primary identifier on Email. | Edit the column mapping and set Email as the primary identifier. |
Constant Contact import failed ({state}). |
Constant Contact reported the import failed or timed out. | Re-run the push from Pathways > Manage Pathways. If the error persists, contact support with the exact state value. |
| Push rejected because the audience is too large | The audience exceeds 4 MB, 39,999 contacts, or 40,000 total lines. This is a Constant Contact bulk-import limit, not an Avid limit. | Reduce the audience size or split it into multiple smaller pushes. |
| Push is stuck on Syncing | The import is still processing on Constant Contact's side. | Wait. Avid re-checks the status automatically. No action is needed. |
| Push fails after working for weeks | The connection's access was removed in Constant Contact. | Reconnect from Settings > Connections and re-authenticate. |
Known limitations
- Reporting and audiences only. You cannot send emails, create campaigns, or build automations in Constant Contact from Avid.
-
Each push targets one list. Every audience push goes to a single Constant Contact list named
AVID - {segment name}. - Pushes are on demand, not scheduled. Avid pushes data when you trigger a Pathway. To refresh the list, re-trigger the sync from Pathways > Manage Pathways.
- Audience size limits apply. A single push must be 4 MB or smaller, 39,999 contacts or fewer, and 40,000 total lines or fewer. Split larger audiences into multiple pushes. These are Constant Contact bulk-import limits, not Avid limits.
- Reporting is not real-time. Email engagement data syncs on a schedule. Allow time after connecting before data appears in Insights.
- One Constant Contact account per connection. Each connection links to one Constant Contact account.
When to contact support
Contact Avid support if the connection fails repeatedly, a Pathway sync returns an error not listed above, or the error persists after following the steps here.
Include the following when you reach out:
- The exact error message. Copy the full text.
- The name of the Pathway or audience that failed.
- Your Constant Contact organization or account name.
- The email address of the person who connected Constant Contact.
- A screenshot of the error, if visible.