Constant Contact is easy and well-supported, and for years that was enough. The reason small businesses leave is that it stops there: the automation is basic, and the price climbs once you pass a few thousand contacts without giving you much more capability in return.
Brevo answers both complaints. It charges for emails sent rather than contacts stored, which suits a business sitting on years of customer records it emails monthly, and its workflow builder does branching that Constant Contact simply cannot.
The honest downside is support. Constant Contact gives you a phone number; Brevo does not, in the same way. If your email is sent by someone who occasionally needs a human to talk them through a fix, weigh that before you move — and read the whole guide before starting, because the order of operations matters.
How long this takes
1–2 hours
Most of that time goes into rebuilding automations and repointing forms, not the import itself.
Why switch from Constant Contact to Brevo?
Switch if…
- Your Constant Contact bill rises with contacts while your sending stays flat.
- You want branching automation, not just a scheduled series.
- You need transactional email — receipts, confirmations — alongside marketing.
- You want SMS in the same account.
- A light CRM would replace the spreadsheet you are using to track enquiries.
Stay put if…
- You depend on phone support to get campaigns out.
- Event registration and ticketing are central to your business.
- You email a small list very frequently — send-based pricing suits that pattern less well.
Constant Contact vs Brevo: the key differences
| What changes | Constant Contact | Brevo |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Per contact stored | Per email sent, unlimited contacts |
| Free plan | Trial only | Unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day |
| Automation | Basic scheduled series | Branching workflows with conditions |
| Support | Phone support included | Email and chat, tier-dependent |
| Events and ticketing | Built in | Not available |
| Transactional email | Not included | Included |
| CRM | Contact management | Light CRM with deals |
Before you switch, have this ready
- Login access to Constant Contact with export permission.
- A Brevo account — start on the free tier while you set up.
- DNS access for your sending domain, or the person who has it.
- A list of every place people can join your list: website, in-store form, checkout, socials.
- A replacement plan for any event registration you currently run in Constant Contact.
- Ninety minutes when nothing needs to go out that day.
Step-by-step: Constant Contact to Brevo
Step 1: Export your contacts from Constant Contact
In Constant Contact, go to Contacts and use the export option to download a CSV. Include custom fields and list membership so you can rebuild segmentation, and export your unsubscribed and bounced contacts as a separate file.
That second file is not optional. Anyone who opted out of your Constant Contact email must be blocked in Brevo before your first send — legally and practically, re-emailing them is the fastest way to generate complaints and damage a brand-new sending reputation.
Open the file and sanity-check it: are the names in the right columns, are there obvious duplicates, is the join date present? Fixing this in a spreadsheet takes five minutes now and hours later.
Screenshot
Constant Contact contacts export options
Step 2: Set up Brevo and authenticate your domain
Create the account and go to Senders, Domains & Dedicated IPs. Add your domain and publish the DNS records Brevo provides. If someone else manages your DNS, send them this step first — propagation can take a few hours and everything else waits on it.
Add a DMARC record if you do not have one. Gmail and Yahoo require authentication from bulk senders, and this is the difference between the inbox and the spam folder for a new sender.
Set the sender name and reply-to address to exactly what your customers already see from you. Familiarity protects your open rate through the switch.
Screenshot
Brevo sender domain settings with verified records
Step 3: Create lists and import your contacts
Create your contact attributes in Brevo before importing — first name, last name, and any custom field such as customer type or location. Import first and you end up with duplicate, badly named fields.
Create lists that match how you actually send: customers, prospects, newsletter-only. Two or three lists is usually right for a small business; more than five is a sign you should be using attributes instead.
Import the subscriber CSV, mapping every column deliberately. Then import the unsubscribed and bounced file using the blocklist option and confirm the count matches your export.
Screenshot
Brevo contact import with column mapping
Step 4: Build the automations you switched for
Start with enquiry follow-up: someone submits a form, gets an immediate confirmation, then two or three helpful emails over the following ten days, stopping the moment they reply or book.
Add a post-purchase or post-job flow — a review request a couple of weeks later, then a referral prompt. For most small businesses this is the automation that pays for the platform.
Add a reactivation flow for contacts who have not opened in 120 days: one honest email, and if they still do not engage, stop sending to them. That single rule protects your deliverability more than anything else you will do.
Test each workflow on your own address, walking the trigger from a real form submission rather than a manual add.
Screenshot
Brevo automation workflow for enquiry follow-up
Step 5: Repoint your forms and integrations
Replace website signup forms with Brevo forms and test a live submission from your phone. Update WordPress plugins, booking tools, POS or checkout opt-ins, Zapier scenarios, and any social signup links.
Do not forget the offline routes: an in-store tablet, a QR code on a receipt, or a link printed on a leaflet all point somewhere, and that somewhere is probably still Constant Contact.
Keep Constant Contact live for two weeks. Any new contact landing there tells you exactly which form you missed.
Screenshot
Website signup form connected to Brevo
Step 6: Send your first campaign, then widen
Send your first Brevo campaign to contacts who have opened in the last 30 days — a few hundred is plenty. Compare the open rate to your Constant Contact average and check that it landed in the Gmail primary tab rather than promotions or spam.
If that looks healthy, send to 90-day openers, then the full active list over the next few days. Do not email your entire database on day one from a brand-new sending reputation.
Leave contacts with no engagement in over a year out of the ramp entirely. Run them through the reactivation flow later, once your domain has a track record.
Screenshot
Brevo campaign report for the first send
Integrations you need to update
Every one of these is a place contacts or data currently flow into Constant Contact. Work through the list before you stop watching the old account — a missed form is invisible until someone complains they never got your email.
| Integration | What to do |
|---|---|
| Website signup forms | Rebuild as Brevo forms and test a live submission. |
| WordPress | Install the Brevo plugin, reconnect forms, remove the Constant Contact plugin. |
| Booking or scheduling tool | Reconnect so appointments still trigger confirmations and follow-ups. |
| POS or ecommerce checkout | Repoint the marketing opt-in so new customers reach Brevo. |
| Event registration | Brevo has no equivalent — choose a replacement before cancelling. |
| Zapier / Make | Rebuild scenarios on the Brevo connector and test each one. |
| Social profile links | Update every signup link in bios and pinned posts. |
| Offline signup routes | Update QR codes, tablets, and printed URLs pointing at old forms. |
Troubleshooting: common post-migration problems
First campaign went to spam
Almost always authentication. Confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pass for your domain in Brevo, then resend to a smaller engaged segment and rebuild volume gradually.
People who opted out are receiving email again
The unsubscribe file was not blocklisted. Pause sending, import those addresses to the Brevo blocklist immediately, and check your suppression count against the export.
Contact names are in the wrong fields
A mapping error at import. Fix the CSV columns and re-import — Brevo matches on email and updates existing contacts rather than duplicating them.
New signups still appear in Constant Contact
A form or offline route was missed. The contact’s source field usually identifies it; repoint and re-test that path.
You miss having someone to call
Legitimate. Brevo support is email and chat, tier-dependent. If phone support is genuinely load-bearing for you, this migration may not be worth the savings.
Your event registrations have nowhere to go
Brevo does not replace Constant Contact events. Move to a dedicated ticketing tool and connect it to Brevo for the follow-up emails.
Should you make the switch?
The migration itself is rarely the hard part — it is the automations you rebuild and the forms you forget. If the reasons in the "switch if" list above describe your situation, Brevo is worth the afternoon. If you are only moving because you are frustrated with an interface, fix the emails first and keep the platform.
Read both reviews before you commit: our Constant Contact review covers what you would be giving up, and our Brevo review covers what you are buying, including current pricing and where it falls short.