Over two years earlier, I read one of my favorite e-mail e-newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo design for the first time. I clicked on it and instantly began destroying Beehiiv API Access.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so psychological.
Being a full time maker is difficult. I’m frequently getting pitched different tools and solutions that do not seem to be worth my time.
I presume I was psychological due to the fact that I spent the last 6 months trying out different email and e-newsletter platforms to assist build my newsletter. And to be reasonable, there are some terrific choices for composing e-newsletters. Yet I could not locate one that made me offer a definite “yes”.
The concern with many existing e-newsletter platforms is that they do not feel creator-centered. I want a newsletter system that lets me totally customize my newsletter styles, makes it very very easy to compose and send out e-mails, and offers me tools that aid me evaluate metrics and get even more customers.
I assume I have actually finally located the ideal device.
Yet, I recognize beehiiv may not be for everybody. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s actually ideal for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one system for e-newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly e-newsletter platform that makes it simple to style, compose, send out, advertise, monetize, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Developed by former workers at the popular e-newsletter business Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to aid designers launch and monetize their own newsletter– taking great deals of growth concepts from taking Morning Brew to over 4M customers.
In this short article, I’m going to discuss my personal experience with beehiiv, things I love (and hate) regarding it, all of it’s features, and why I made a decision to finally go with it as my e-newsletter platform of selection.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A few months ago, I inadvertently stumbled across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I have actually been on the lookout for a modern-day e-newsletter platform for quite time currently. I’ve put things off hard when it came to ultimately releasing my e-newsletter.
Initially, I tried Mailchimp. Then, a couple of various other indie systems. Then, Substack. And ultimately, I ended up making use of beehiiv.
I make sure lots of newsletter makers look up to preferred newsletters with countless subscribers– I know I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I appreciated a lot. They have great material, tons of clients, and a creative referral program that enables them to get even extra clients.
So, I went on a search to figure out how these big newsletters set up their logistics. What platform do they use? How do they track the ROI of their e-newsletters? How do they get more subscribers? How do they create an e-newsletter layout that remains on-brand?
When I discovered beehiiv for the first time, it seemed to address all of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn individuals that developed this device truly recognize newsletter creation and growth.” I questioned who these developers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were several of the initial marketing and development workers at Morning Brew– my mind took off.
I understood this was mosting likely to be a various e-newsletter platform. One that’s concentrated on creator development.
Because, any developer understands, you require development to be able to earn a living off of an e-newsletter. And locating the appropriate e-newsletter pile (that ranges) commonly implies making use of numerous different tools to aid attain one objective– one platform for your newsletter, one system to generate income from, and one platform to establish referrals. It can obtain expensive.
So when I found out beehiiv did all of these points in one platform, and it was complimentary to start utilizing, it was a piece of cake to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean content developer that wants a platform that permits them to send custom newsletters with or without requiring to have a site.
One of the most successful e-newsletters have the right devices to develop and scale their newsletters. beehiiv targets at offering you those devices.
If you’re an independent author, media business, startup, or material creator, you should seriously thinking about trying out beehiiv. It’s totally free to get started and you only pay when you get to over 2,500 customers on your listing.
If you actually end up having to spend for beehiiv it’s most likely a good sign that people enjoy reviewing your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there already a system for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, of course there is. Substack is a great system made use of by hundreds of independent authors. With Substack you get your own internet site and use the platform as your all-in-one service for sending out e-mails (while developing an archive of previous issues).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s dedication to development. beehiiv permits you do to all things Substack can do, with the advantage of better analytics, even more style flexibilty, and a referral program to urge your existing clients to obtain words out.
beehiiv likewise gives you an internet site comparable to Substack. But, if you have your very own site currently, you can also make use of beehiiv’s sign-up installs (that’s what I make use of) to send your web site clients directly to your beehiiv e-mail checklist. On the same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a device like Revue to allow people to sign up for your newsletter directly from Twitter.
This gives you the adaptability to leverage various marketing channels to get your e-newsletter out into the world, making beehiiv a great Substack alternative.
Just how to start using beehiiv email marketing software program.
Enroll in a free plan
The very first step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Begin trial” switch on beehiiv’s site.
The free plan will enable you to have up to 2,500 customers, offer you access to web site hosting, a newsletter CMS, development modification, analytics, external embed forms, and more. It’s an extremely charitable offering for those simply beginning (or for those searching for a new platform to move to).
Onboarding Beehiiv API Access
After creating an account, you’ll experience an onboarding procedure that will ask things like, “is this your initial e-newsletter?”, “what other systems have you used?”, “do you have any kind of paying subscribers?”, and a lot more.
You’ll then produce a name and URL for your e-newsletter’s site. On the free plan, your e-newsletter will live on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your internet site link may be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding process, you’ll additionally select your brand name design and colors to see to it your e-newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your dashboard
When you reach your main control panel, you’ll see every one of your analytics and settings.
You will have described details on the amount of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see options for “Start writing,” “Messages,” “Audience,” “Expand,” “Monetize,” “Design,” and” Assess.” And at the extremely lower you’ll see the setups choice.
Dashboard is your major control center (screenshot over), Begin writing is where you develop and release newsletters, Blog posts is where you can see every one of your previous newsletter editions, Target market is where you can see who your clients are (and break them down right into segments), Grow is where you have access to a referral program (and growth tutorials) and boosts to run advertisements, Monetize is where you can access the beehiiv ad network and monetize your newsletter with advertisements, Design is where you make your e-newsletter landing page and message template, Analyze is where you can see all your analytics, and Settings is where you can manage every one of your admin things.
Composing your newsletter
beehiiv makes it very easy to start composing, with little to no friction. If you’re just starting out, and have a concept you intend to write about, I advise simply mosting likely to the “Create” area in the navbar and clicking on “Beginning writing”.
You can modify your template and styling later on– concentrate on the material initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor offers a tidy and easy to use user interface for composing.
As soon as you start writing, you can maximize headings, include web links, and design your content exactly how you like.
beehiiv gives you tons of choices for various sorts of web content like video clips, links, photos, and extra.
The team at beehiiv is likewise constantly releasing product feature and updates so I make sure there will be a great deal extra content features depending on when you’re reading this.
Enhancing your setups and templates
When you have an e-newsletter that prepares to send out, it’s time to design your e-mail template and adjust some setups.
Below, you can update the name of your newsletter, give it a summary, include your logo design, turn on or off a welcome email to first time clients, and extra.
Next off, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your design.
You can edit history shades, borders, spacing, font styles, image layouts, and a lot more. I’m not mosting likely to undergo ever before solitary point you can optimize with your e-mail template due to the fact that it’s a great deal. Just try out the system completely free and see it for yourself!
Vital beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of remarkable features that make it an excellent posting platform for any e-newsletter creator.
Right here are some of the important features you can locate with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is a newsletter posting system. It makes it super simple to write and send e-mails. I pointed out over a few of things you can do with your setups and email style so I’ll save you some added analysis.
The thing to note with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has an actually contemporary and minimalistic feel. It’s most definitely among the better email editors I’ve ever written in.
Web site hosting
When you produce a beehiiv newsletter, all of your newsletters (if you desire) reside on a website. Consider it as a website for your e-newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous problems of your newsletter, and a place where individuals can register for your e-newsletter.
If you know with Substack, it’s virtually comparable to that.
All plans, including the free one, provide you an internet site. However, the free plan locations your site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you want to include a custom-made domain name to eliminate all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to update to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Obtaining clients is necessary. Nevertheless, that’s why you have a newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can sign up for your newsletter right from your beehiiv website or with embed forms.
If you currently have a site, and desire individuals to subscribe to your e-newsletter from your existing site, you’ll need to utilize an embed kind. This is what I use on this web site (you can see the sign-up installed on the right hand column of this article if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have three different choices– a full width, a repaired size, and a slim embed. I directly make use of the slim installed.
You can locate the code fragment for these embeds in the “Subscribe Forms” tab in your setups.
There’s likewise an option for acknowledgment tracking if you intend to forward UTM specifications for tracking functions– pretty cool.
Nevertheless, there are a couple of features I want beehiiv had when it came to subscribe features. I’m sure the team is working on updates for these, yet I mentioned a couple of issues I had in the benefits and drawbacks area below.
Referral program
Among the amazing things regarding beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter system, is a solution for producing a referral program.
You can motivate existing clients on your list to onward your emails to close friends and associates and if they obtain other individuals to subscribe to your list, you can reward them. These rewards can be in whatever form you want. I have actually seem numerous newsletter companies give rewards in the form of merch and sticker labels.
This can seriously turn your subscribers right into a word of mouth development engine for your newsletter– providing you an additional avenue for expanding your e-mail list.
Nevertheless, to get access to the referral program feature, you’ll have to upgrade to a more premium plan. I’ll discuss all the plans later in this write-up.
Costs subscriptions
They claim all you require to make a living online is 1,000 true fans. Membership earnings is certainly a beast of its very own. If you’re searching for a system to monetize your e-newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can create “premium” problems of your newsletter that are just sent to paying customers. This can be extremely lucrative relying on what your newsletter has to provide. For instance, Trends.co is a preferred premium newsletter that produces millions in income a year just by having pay-only newsletter web content.
Data analytics
One of things I love concerning beehiiv is how tidy and basic the analytics are. You get real-time day on just how your newsletter is doing, with open/click rates and client matter Beehiiv API Access.
You get access to all the metrics you need to obtain a bird-eye view on exactly how your e-newsletter is in fact doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that subscriber matter go up is absolutely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv offers 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (complimentary) Launch plan provides you whatever you require to get going and expand your newsletter (as much as 2,500 customers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) offers you every little thing in the Launch plan with the addition the advertisement network, referral program, custom domain, surveys, and access to costs subscriptions. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) offers you every little thing in the Grow plan with enhancement of top priority assistance and getting rid of the beehiiv branding.
All of these plans are rather charitable in my viewpoint.
For example, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will pay around $329 per month. In contrast to some rivals, like Kit (formerly ConvertKit), that would certainly bill $679 monthly for the exact same amount– making beehiiv an excellent Kit alternative for many users.
I’m not exactly sure how the device economics deal with this, yet beehiiv is absolutely less expensive (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv pros and cons
Obviously, with every platform, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Right here are several of the advantages and disadvantages I’ve personally experienced while utilizing beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Below are a few of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter platform of option:
Easy to set up and begin sending out e-newsletters free of charge.
Tidy and modern subscriber analytics.
Lots of flexibility with email styles.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Produce costs options to monetize.
Surveys.
To be truthful, I have not seen one more newsletter system that has actually been able to package every one of these features together so well.
But obviously, I don’t intend to be prejudiced so I’m mosting likely to point out some disadvantages.
Cons of using beehiiv
Here are a few of the disadvantages I have actually located while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around adding personalized font styles.
I use Webflow as my web site structure system of choice (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to enter excessive information why I love Webflow a lot yet you can review my Webflow review if you would love to discover more.
Now, there truly is no other method I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow internet site apart from using an iframe embed. I personally do not like utilizing iframe’s because they often tend to reduce my site a bit. Each time a page on my website (with a beehiiv installed) tons, the sign-up embed is the last thing to pack on the page. It’s very visible when you get on a slow-moving internet connection. However I can get around that.
The primary gripe I have is that I can’t make use of a routine Webflow form (which I like utilizing). There are ways around this by using a device like Zapier yet that would simply include added costs that I don’t need. To be straightforward, this is more of a Webflow disadvantage over a beehiiv disadvantage however I believed I would state it.
Besides that, I still think the pros much outweigh the cons right here. I’m also hopeful that Webflow will ultimately develop a much better way to incorporate with beehiiv.
Verdict
On the whole, beehiiv is a great option for any person seeking to study the world of email marketing and newsletters.
The performance of this newsletter platform far surpasses numerous that are currently on the marketplace. And with a generous free plan, you truly have absolutely nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are also rather inexpensive wherefore they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 clients on your list is unprecedented. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k clients, and all of these features beehiiv has, it can cost you well into the thousands monthly.
Anyways, I don’t create testimonial blog posts frequently. I just do when I really use the device myself and would recommend it to a buddy.
I wish you found some clarity on whether or not beehiiv is a good system for you.