Assertion Partly supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Constant Contact achieved 2.5% monthly churn before $1.4B exit

Emeric Ernoult · 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space · May 26, 2018 · at 8:05

AgoraPulse co-founder Emeric Ernoult cites Constant Contact as the benchmark for best-in-class SMB SaaS retention.

0:00 / 0:08exact quote · 8.9s

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“The best churn rate I've ever heard was constant contact at 2.5. That's the best I've ever heard. And remember, they sold for 1.4 billion and they have 600,000 customers.”

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The claim, plainly

Constant Contact had a monthly churn rate of 2.5%, 600,000 customers, and sold for $1.4 billion.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim bundles three specific metrics regarding Constant Contact. Two of the three assertions are accurate, while the acquisition price is overstated. Specifically: (1) Constant Contact reported in SEC Form 10-K filings for 2014 that its monthly retention rate was 97.8% (±0.5%), representing an implied monthly churn rate of 1.7% to 2.7%, which squarely encompasses the stated 2.5% churn rate. (2) Constant Contact reported serving approximately 635,000 unique paying customers at the end of 2014, and publicly reported serving over 600,000 customers prior to its acquisition. (3) However, when Endurance International Group acquired Constant Contact (announced November 2015, closed February 2016), the transaction valued the company at approximately $1.1 billion ($32.00 per share in cash), not $1.4 billion.

Constant Contact's 2014 SEC Form 10-K reported monthly retention of 97.8% (±0.5%), translating to ~2.2% monthly churn (range of 1.7%–2.7%).
Constant Contact's 2014 SEC Form 10-K reported approximately 635,000 paying customers.
Endurance International Group acquired Constant Contact in a transaction valued at approximately $1.1 billion according to SEC Form 8-K and Form S-4 filings (closed February 2016).

Checked against

[1] sec.gov [2] edgar-online.com [3] usagepricing.com [4] clearygottlieb.com [5] sec.gov [6] constantcontact.com [7] constantcontact.com [8] sec.gov

"Constant Contact" "600,000" customers OR subscribers 10-K OR 10-Q OR SEC "Constant Contact" "Form 10-K" "97.8%" "unique paying customers" "Endurance International Group" "Constant Contact" "November 2, 2015" "$32" OR "billion" "Endurance International" acquires "Constant Contact" "1.1 billion" OR "1.3 billion" OR "1.4 billion" "Constant Contact" "retention rate" OR "cancellation rate" "Form 10-K" "97.8%" "Constant Contact" "retention" OR "churn"

assessed as of 2026-09-02

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Mentioned

Constant Contact Emeric Ernoult

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More from Emeric Ernoult

Insight

Negative churn is impossible for self-serve SMB SaaS

“I don't know anybody in the SMB space who has no churn or negative churn. Negative churn is always, is for higher paid customers.”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 7:49 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Insight

Founders should never turn down a substantial acquisition offer

“One thing I learned in my life is never say no to a good check. I, when I was a business lawyer, I had clients of mine who said no to huge checks because, you know, one guy was proposed nine hundred and fifty million, and he said, no, I'll sell to a four billi…”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 16:07 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Assertion Not checkable as stated

AgoraPulse reduced monthly net revenue churn sequentially from 12% to 3-4%

“So we were at 12. We reduced it to eight the following year. We reduced it to six the following year. We're now between three and four”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 8:50 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Assertion Not checkable as stated

AgoraPulse surpassed 3,000 paying clients in 2017

“And yeah, we have we've passed 3000 clients before the end of the year.”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 2:05 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Disclosure

AgoraPulse bought out early $50,000 angel investor for close to $200,000

“Some of them were like, you know, 4030, 40,000. Probably the highest was 50,000, and you know, the 50,000, we bought them out as a close to 200,000, so like it was a good multiple for them.”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 4:30 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Disclosure

AgoraPulse aims for under 2% monthly net revenue churn in 2018

“My personal goal is to get to Two or below two by the end of this year. So by the end of 2000 18.”

Emeric Ernoult May 26, 2018 ▶ 8:57 1036 How He Took SMB Churn From 12% Monthly to 4% In Social Media Marketing Space

Constant Contact achieved 2.5% monthly churn before $1.4B exit

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