Constant ContactPRO

This knowledge base article relates to the WS Form Constant Contact V3 add-on. Included with the Freelance & Agency editions or buy separately for the personal edition.

The Constant Contact add-on lets you push new contacts using an action, pull contact data using the WS Form autocomplete feature, and create new forms from your lists in a single click on the add form page.

This knowledge base article relates to the Constant Contact V3 add-on which uses version 3 of the Constant Contact API.

Installation

The plugin is installed in the same way as installing the WS Form PRO plugin.

Once installed you will need to activate the license for the plugin. When you purchase the plugin, you will be given a license key. If you have lost your license key(s), click here.

To activate your license key:

  1. Click WS Form in the WordPress administration menu.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Click the Constant Contact tab at the top of the page.
  4. Enter your license key.
  5. Click the Activate button.

If your license key fails to activate, please ensure you are using the correct license key and not your WS Form PRO license key.

Connecting to Constant Contact

In order to use the add-on, you need to connect it to Constant Contact. Connecting is easy!

  1. Click WS Form in the WordPress administration menu.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Click the Constant Contact tab at the top of the page.
  4. Click Connect and follow the onscreen prompts

If you do not have a Constant Contact account, you can create a new account here.

Creating a Form for Constant Contact

Automatically

WS Form can create a form for any of your Constant Contact lists in a single click. This process not only creates a form but also fully configures WS Form so that the form is ready to use immediately.

To create a Constant Contact form in WS Form:

  1. Click WS Form in the WordPress administration menu.
  2. Click Add New.
  3. Select the Constant Contact tab at the top of the page.
  4. Click on any of your Constant Contact lists to create a form.
  5. Wait a few moments while the form is created.

That’s it! Your form will be created and is ready to add to your website.

If your list does not appear, click the refresh icon in the Constant Contact tab.

Manually

It is also possible to use any form created in WS Form and add an action so that it is submitted to Constant Contact when a user saves or submits their form.

To add the action:

  1. When editing your form, click the Actions icon at the top of the page. The Actions sidebar will open on the right-hand side of the page.
  2. Click the Add  icon to add a new action.
  3. Select Add to a Constant Contact List from the Action pulldown. A series of settings will appear.

As with all sidebars in WS Form, click to the Save button at the bottom to save your changes, or click Cancel to disregard your changes.

The action settings are as follows:

When Should This Action Run?

You can choose to run the action when the form is saved, submitted, or both.

Constant Contact List

Choose which list to assign the contact to.

Additional List Memberships

Constant Contact supports assigning contacts to more than one list. You can assign a contact to additional lists by using this setting.

To add a list to assign the contact to:

  1. Click the Add  icon at the bottom right of the Additional List Memberships setting.
  2. Choose an additional list.
  3. Repeat this process for each list you want the contact to be assigned to.
  4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.

Opt-In Field

Use this setting to select which of your fields to act as the opt-in field. We recommend adding a checkbox field with a single checkbox. It is always recommended that you have an unchecked opt-in checkbox on your forms to ensure you comply with GDPR requirements.

Field Mapping

Field mapping tells WS Form which of your form fields relate to the corresponding fields in Constant Contact. For example you would want to map your Email field to the Email field in Constant Contact.

To map a field:

  1. Click the Add  icon at the bottom right of the field mapping section.
  2. In the left-hand column, select your form field.
  3. In the right-hand column, select the corresponding Constant Contact field.
  4. Repeat this process for each field on your form.
  5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.

Custom Mapping

Custom mapping allows you to set a Constant Contact field to any value you wish, including the use of WS Form variables. For example you might want to map a lead source hidden field to a custom field in Constant Contact.

To add a custom mapping:

  1. Click the Add  icon at the bottom right of the field mapping section.
  2. In the left-hand column, enter a value or a WS Form variable.
  3. In the right-hand column, select the corresponding Constant Contact field.
  4. Repeat this process for each field on your form.
  5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.

Tag Mapping

Tags are labels you create to help organize your contacts. You can add any number of tags to a contact.

Tags are identified by a unique ID. The easiest way to obtain those IDs is to create a form using the Constant Contact form template under Add New.

Tags are set by mapping a select, checkbox or radio field containing tag values. To map a tag field:

  1. Click the Add  icon at the bottom right of the tags section.
  2. Choose the field on your form to map.
  3. Repeat this process for each field.
  4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.

If Duplicate Found

When a duplicate contact is found with a matching email address you can determine how WS Form should deal with that condition:

  • Do nothing
  • Update
  • Halt (Stops further actions from running)

Merge Lists

If Update is chosen under If Duplicate Found, you can check this setting to merge the lists assigned to the contact if an update occurs. If unchecked, the lists assigned to the contact will be replaced.

Merge Tags

If Update is chosen under If Duplicate Found, you can check this setting to merge the tags assigned to the contact if an update occurs. If unchecked, the tags assigned to the contact will be replaced.

Populate Forms Using Constant Contact

As well as pushing form data with this add-on, you can also retrieve contact data and populate the fields on your form.

This feature is only available if a website visitor is signed in and their WordPress email address matches the email address of a contact in Constant Contact.

To enable this feature:

  1. Click the form settings icon in the top toolbar when editing a form.
  2. Click the Auto Populate tab in the sidebar on the right.
  3. Enable the Populate Using Action setting.
  4. Choose Constant Contact from the Action To Populate From pull-down menu.
  5. Select the list you wish to populate data from in the List To Populate From pull-down menu.
  6. Map the Constant Contact fields to your form fields.
  7. Click Save at the bottom.

Note that if you created your form using a Constant Contact template the field mappings will automatically be created for you.