Constant Contact

Overview

Constant Contact is an email marketing and digital marketing platform widely used by small and medium-sized businesses for newsletters, automated campaigns, event promotions, and subscriber list management. On third-party websites, Constant Contact appears through two mechanisms: embedded email sign-up forms that capture subscriber addresses and add them to mailing lists, and campaign tracking pixels that measure the downstream website behavior of email recipients.

What This Script Does

Constant Contact scripts are loaded from constantcontact.com and CDN domains (r20.rs6.net, em.constantcontact.com) depending on implementation type.

Sign-Up Form Component:

• The form embed loads signup-form.js from static.ctctcdn.com to render an inline or pop-up subscription form
• Collects: email address (required), name, phone, and any custom fields configured by the list owner
• Submissions are POSTed to l.constantcontact.com/dc/submitForm.do endpoints
• Cookie: ctct_consent_[listid] — persistent marker, 90–365 days; suppresses the form from re-appearing to browsers that have already subscribed or dismissed

Campaign Tracking and Attribution Component:

• When recipients click links in Constant Contact emails, links are routed through r20.rs6.net (Constant Contact's click tracking redirect domain) before reaching the destination URL
• This redirect captures the open/click event and appends tracking parameters to the landing URL: cc_key, utm_source=constant_contact, utm_medium=email, utm_campaign=[campaign_name]
• The tracking script on the destination page captures these parameters and sets attribution cookies:
  • ctct_[campaignid] — persistent attribution cookie, typically 30 days; links the current browser session to the email campaign that drove the visit
  • ctct_open_[sendid] — records that this browser has opened a specific campaign email (set via 1×1 tracking pixel in the email body)
• Page view and conversion events (configurable) are transmitted back to Constant Contact for campaign performance reporting

Retargeting Integration:

• Some Constant Contact plans include integration with Facebook Custom Audiences and Google remarketing, which loads additional third-party pixels when enabled

Constant Contact is a US company (Endurance International Group). EU data transfers rely on Standard Contractual Clauses. Constant Contact participates in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

Consent & Compliance

Constant Contact spans marketing and functional categories. The email sign-up form itself is a functional tool — it processes an explicit user request to subscribe — but the campaign attribution cookies and tracking pixels serve marketing measurement purposes requiring consent under GDPR Article 6(1)(a) and Article 5(3) ePrivacy Directive. The email open tracking pixel embedded in emails is also subject to GDPR consent obligations for EU recipients. Under CCPA/CPRA, the campaign attribution and behavioral tracking data constitutes personal information requiring disclosure; any sharing with Facebook/Google retargeting platforms triggers "sharing" obligations.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. The sign-up form embed can be treated as functional if it sets no attribution cookies prior to submission. However, if the full Constant Contact tracking script — including campaign attribution cookies and conversion tracking — is present, block those components until marketing consent is granted. Review your specific implementation to determine which scripts are active.