Constant Contact Killed Bantam Live

April 4th, 2011

After I publicly asked “Why Bantam Live Customers are Waiting for Constant Contact?” on March 20th I had a phonecall with Dave Gilbertson Sr. Director, Corporate Development & Business Strategy of Constant Contact, in which he was clear Contact Contact was killing Bantam Live. The official phrase was of course incorporating the great tool inside the business platform of Constant Contact, but I had to expect 12-18 months of integration process. They love to help in transferring my data to another supplier. Damn its a pitty they just pay 15 million in cash and then take the product off the market… to ‘possibly’ relaunch again a year later.

BatchBook an Alternative?

Well export was actually fairly easy, since we just started with Bantam Live so only needed to export the contacts. I got a CSV-file. The JSON and XML that exports all Bantam Live data could not be imported in BatchBook, and BatchBook support was clear: no resources would be spend on a new import option for Bantam Live. So now I got my account in BatchBook and transition from Bantam Live.

Acquisition of BatchBook in the Making?

I am just completely lost in web 1.0 world I guess, where we think that growing paid users counts for something (I’m just old fashioned I guess). When an opportunity arises like the shutdown of an important competitor I would jump at the oppertunity to make a custom import script (Adobe Omniture, when you kill your testing product, call me!). But this is the main message I get from Pamela O’Hara’s email. She is President of BatchBlue Software, and she writes me:

“Unfortunately we do not have the resources right now to script the import from Bantam Live. It might be worth talking to one of the BatchBook experts (http://batchblue.com/experts) to see if they can help. I’m happy to give you a suggestion… (we) … are focusing our resources right now on some exciting new things happening in Batchbook.”

So what could be the exciting new things happenings that you cannot find the resources to take over all clients of your competitor? In my old worldview, that would be the killer growth option… unless your also to busy with your own take-over talks. I know they can be very time consuming. Even so that they can make you forget that growing clients is important… so how long can I enjoy BatchBook before someone takes them over as well, and they kill that…

Constant Contact Email

Below the email I got today from Contact Contact bout Bantam Live.

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for letting us share the latest updates with you. We’ve certainly been busy here at Constant Contact since our February acquisition of Bantam Live. And over the next year, we’ll be transitioning and integrating Bantam Live’s technology into our new contact management and marketing engagement services for small businesses.

As part of that transition process, our plans call for a phasing out of the current version of Bantam Live by July 1, 2011.

Your account, of course, will remain free to use until then. And because you’re a valued customer, we intend to provide you with a significant discount when we release the new product in the first half of 2012.

In the days and weeks ahead, you’ll need to export all the data from your Bantam Live account. But don’t worry. We’ve upgraded our world-class support to make this process as seamless as possible. If you have any problems, we’re here to help. Just email support@bantamlive.com.

We apologize for this short-term inconvenience. And we look forward to delivering a powerful new product set next year to help you connect with your customers and grow your business.

Please log in to your account to learn more in the special Q&A section.

Thank you,

The Constant Contact Team

Update June 17, 2011: Xioup name a import for Bantam Live users to BatchBook, read here. Just in time before Constant Contact stops the service on July 1st.

http://www.smartcloud.ie Mike McKenna

If you are looking for an alternative sCRM app take a look at Nimble – universal inbox (Outlook/Gmail, Twitter, Facebook & Linked In) plus Calendar and Collaboration as well as your social stream.For full disclosure, I am a Nimble launch partner, smartcloud.ie
http://www.reedge.com Reedge – Personalization Tools

Hi Mike, I have a Nimble account. But I feel its still in its infancy to actually take care of our business. Might be an alternative for Batchbook in a year…
Maxbley

It’s really appalling that CC/Bantam aren’t making it easier to transition from Bantam to another solution, and that — as you point out — competitors like Batchbook or Highrise aren’t scripting import routines to pick up Bantam customers. I have 6 months of detailed call and meeting notes in Bantam, which aren’t even part of their offered export routine!

Is anybody listening??
http://twitter.com/egill_masson Egill Másson

By acquiring BantamLive, Constant Contact acquired the customers and ConstantContact has just exposed how they view their own customers and how their customers can expect to be treated in the future. “We apologize for this short-term inconvenience.” Great phrase.
http://www.reedge.com Reedge – Personalization Tools

I got an email from BatchBook that they are now thinking of making an import. Contact their support and send your file.

Dennis
Anonymous

Hey guys, I compiled a list of alternatives here:

http://bit.ly/bundles/richardmuholland/2

Let me know of any good ones I’ve missed. So far podio and worketc seem really promising.
http://batchblue.com Michelle Riggen-Ransom

Hey folks – we’ve had a couple of customers asking about this as well so we’ve put together an FAQ to help get the contact info over. Here’s a link:
http://support.batchbook.com/kb/importing-exporting-data/how-do-i-import-my-bantam-live-contacts

If anyone’s looking for a longer trial period with Batchbook before they make their decision, we’ve also created a promo code to extend the trial period for an extra 30 days. Just enter “cowbell” in the promo code field when you create your new account.

Best,
~Michelle Riggen-Ransom
Co-Founder & CCO, BatchBlue Software
http://twitter.com/leadzeppelin Lead Zeppelin

Please contact us at info@leadzep.com and we’ll work with you to get your contacts imported into our system (paid accounts). Please do note, that apparently not everything exports OUT of Bantam live, i.e. social profile info, etc.
http://www.reedge.com Reedge – Personalization Tools

I did not find the missing of social profile a problem. Twitter, LinkedIn can be imported with help of Batchbook Support as well. My guess is that within several days they have a more decent import option.
http://twitter.com/lhd Long

Does leadzep also have a “Projects” tab or only Deals? I use Bantam as much for project management as I do CRM. Maybe more.
Daspence76

I use Solve360 (www.norada.com) for CRM and PM – it has great Gmail and Zendesk integration. Check it out
Ronen

Thanks Mike for the posts

We could not wait for Batchbook to develop the import, as I wanted to move forward so I had developed a code that migrated all of our information ( That was available through the Bantam Live export ) into Batchbook.

This is a heck code ( I am the VP of BD ) but worked for us – Bantam live does not export all items in their XML file ( as far I could tell ) but in our case I’ve imported for all “Persons” their info ( work web , phones , emails ) as well as comments provided.

Please contact me if interested : ronen@clinigence.com

Best
Ronen
Maxbley

Solve360 looks pretty good, perhaps over-featured depending on what you’re looking for. What is useful is that they *may* develop a specific import routine for former Bantam customers, if enough people express an interest: see here –> http://norada.com/forums/viewthread/2432/.
http://xioup.com/blog/834/import-your-bantam-live-archive-into-batchbook/ Import Your Bantam Live Archive into BatchBook

[...] Bantam customers, news soon started to leak out that Constant Contact was actually planning to shut the service down on July 1, 2011, with vague plans to reopen it some time in [...]