Over 2 years ago, I was reading among my favorite email newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo for the first time. I clicked on it and promptly started destroying Beehiiv CEO.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so emotional.
Being a full-time designer is difficult. I’m frequently getting pitched different devices and solutions that do not seem to be worth my time.
I think I was psychological due to the fact that I invested the last six months trying various e-mail and newsletter platforms to assist construct my e-newsletter. And to be fair, there are some excellent options for writing newsletters. But I could not discover one that made me offer a certain “yes”.
The problem with many existing newsletter platforms is that they do not feel creator-centered. I desire an e-newsletter system that lets me totally customize my newsletter styles, makes it super very easy to create and send out emails, and gives me devices that aid me assess metrics and obtain more clients.
I assume I have actually lastly discovered the right device.
However, I understand beehiiv might not be for every person. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s really appropriate for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one platform for e-newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly e-newsletter platform that makes it very easy to layout, write, send out, promote, generate income from, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Created by previous workers at the famous newsletter company Morning Brew, beehiiv aims to assist designers launch and monetize their very own e-newsletter– taking lots of growth principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this short article, I’m mosting likely to discuss my personal experience with beehiiv, things I like (and hate) about it, all of it’s features, and why I made a decision to ultimately opt for it as my e-newsletter system of selection.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A couple of months back, I accidentally stumbled across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I’ve been on the lookout for a contemporary newsletter system for rather time now. I have actually hesitated hard when it involved ultimately releasing my newsletter.
Initially, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a few other indie systems. After that, Substack. And finally, I wound up making use of beehiiv.
I make certain several newsletter makers appreciate popular e-newsletters with countless subscribers– I understand I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I admired a great deal. They have fantastic content, tons of subscribers, and a clever referral program that permits them to get even a lot more subscribers.
So, I went on a search to identify just how these big newsletters set up their logistics. What system do they use? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they get even more customers? How do they develop a newsletter style that remains on-brand?
When I found beehiiv for the first time, it seemed to respond to every one of my inquiries. I thought to myself, “damn the people that constructed this device really understand newsletter development and development.” I questioned who these designers of beehiiv were.
So I went to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were some of the very first marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my mind took off.
I understood this was going to be a various newsletter system. One that’s focused on designer development.
Since, any kind of developer understands, you require development to be able to make a living off of a newsletter. And finding the best newsletter stack (that scales) typically means utilizing numerous various tools to aid accomplish one goal– one platform for your e-newsletter, one system to monetize, and one platform to set up references. It can get costly.
So when I learnt beehiiv did all of these points in one system, and it was free to start using, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content designer that desires a platform that allows them to send personalized e-newsletters with or without requiring to have an internet site.
The most successful newsletters have the right tools to construct and scale their e-newsletters. beehiiv focuses on giving you those tools.
If you’re an independent writer, media company, startup, or web content designer, you must seriously taking into consideration trying out beehiiv. It’s entirely cost-free to begin and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 subscribers on your checklist.
If you actually end up needing to pay for beehiiv it’s probably a great indicator that people love reviewing your stuff.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there already a system for authors called Substack?”.
Yes, yes there is. Substack is an excellent platform made use of by hundreds of independent writers. With Substack you get your very own site and make use of the platform as your all-in-one option for sending out e-mails (while developing an archive of previous problems).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s commitment to growth. beehiiv allows you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the advantage of much better analytics, even more style flexibilty, and a referral program to motivate your existing customers to get words out.
beehiiv additionally provides you a website comparable to Substack. But, if you have your own website currently, you can also utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I utilize) to send your site clients straight to your beehiiv e-mail checklist. On the very same token, you can incorporate beehiiv with a device like Revue to enable individuals to register for your newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the adaptability to take advantage of different marketing networks to obtain your e-newsletter out right into the world, making beehiiv a wonderful Substack alternative.
Exactly how to start utilizing beehiiv e-mail marketing software.
Enroll in a free plan
The first step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Begin trial” switch on beehiiv’s website.
The free plan will certainly enable you to have up to 2,500 customers, provide you accessibility to site hosting, a newsletter CMS, advancement customization, analytics, exterior embed kinds, and a lot more. It’s a very generous offering for those simply starting out (or for those trying to find a new system to migrate to).
Onboarding Beehiiv CEO
After creating an account, you’ll go through an onboarding process that will ask points like, “is this your first e-newsletter?”, “what other platforms have you utilized?”, “do you have any kind of paying subscribers?”, and much more.
You’ll after that develop a name and URL for your e-newsletter’s web site. On the free plan, your newsletter will reside on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Baking Cakes,” your web site URL might be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
During the onboarding procedure, you’ll likewise select your brand name design and colors to ensure your newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your dashboard
When you reach your major dashboard, you’ll see all of your analytics and settings.
You will have outlined information on the amount of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Begin writing,” “Posts,” “Target market,” “Grow,” “Generate income from,” “Design,” and” Assess.” And at the really bottom you’ll see the settings alternative.
Control panel is your main nerve center (screenshot above), Begin composing is where you develop and release newsletters, Messages is where you can see all of your previous newsletter versions, Audience is where you can view who your customers are (and damage them down into sections), Expand is where you have access to a referral program (and growth tutorials) and boosts to run ads, Monetize is where you can access the beehiiv ad network and monetize your newsletter with ads, Style is where you make your e-newsletter landing page and post template, Assess is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can handle every one of your admin things.
Creating your newsletter
beehiiv makes it very easy to start composing, with little to no rubbing. If you’re just beginning, and have an idea you want to cover, I suggest just mosting likely to the “Compose” area in the navbar and clicking “Beginning writing”.
You can tweak your template and styling later on– concentrate on the material first.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor offers a tidy and user-friendly interface for creating.
When you start composing, you can maximize headings, include links, and style your content just how you like.
beehiiv gives you lots of alternatives for different types of web content like video clips, web links, photos, and extra.
The group at beehiiv is likewise regularly launching item feature and updates so I’m sure there will certainly be a lot much more content features relying on when you’re reading this.
Optimizing your setups and templates
As soon as you have an e-newsletter that’s ready to send, it’s time to develop your e-mail template and readjust some setups.
Here, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, give it a summary, include your logo design, switch on or off a welcome email to very first time subscribers, and much more.
Next, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your style.
You can modify background shades, borders, spacing, fonts, picture formats, and much more. I’m not going to undergo ever before solitary point you can optimize with your email template due to the fact that it’s a great deal. Simply check out the system free of cost and see it on your own!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has tons of incredible features that make it a great publishing system for any type of newsletter maker.
Right here are some of the important features you can find with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter publishing platform. It makes it very simple to write and send e-mails. I discussed above some of the things you can do with your settings and email layout so I’ll save you some additional analysis.
The thing to keep in mind with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has a truly modern and minimalistic feeling. It’s certainly one of the much better email editors I’ve ever written in.
Web site hosting
When you produce a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your newsletters (if you want) survive on a site. Think about it as an internet site for your e-newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous problems of your e-newsletter, and an area where individuals can register for your e-newsletter.
If you recognize with Substack, it’s practically comparable to that.
All plans, including the cost-free one, provide you a web site. Nevertheless, the free plan areas your website on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to add a custom-made domain to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Obtaining clients is necessary. After all, that’s why you have a newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can register for your newsletter directly from your beehiiv website or with embed kinds.
If you already have a site, and want people to subscribe to your newsletter from your existing website, you’ll need to make use of an embed form. This is what I utilize on this 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 options– a full size, a fixed size, and a slim embed. I directly make use of the slim embed.
You can locate the code snippet for these embeds in the “Subscribe Types” tab in your setups.
There’s additionally an alternative for acknowledgment tracking if you intend to forward UTM specifications for tracking objectives– quite neat.
Nonetheless, there are a few features I wish beehiiv had when it involved subscribe features. I make certain the group is dealing with updates for these, but I stated a few issues I had in the advantages and disadvantages section below.
Referral program
Among the amazing things regarding beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter platform, is a service for developing a referral program.
You can motivate existing clients on your checklist to ahead your e-mails to good friends and associates and if they get other individuals to register for your listing, you can compensate them. These rewards can be in whatever type you want. I have actually seem lots of newsletter business offer benefits in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously turn your subscribers into a word of mouth development engine for your e-newsletter– providing you an additional method for growing your email list.
Nevertheless, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll have to update to a more superior plan. I’ll review all the plans later in this post.
Costs memberships
They say all you require to make a living online is 1,000 real fans. Membership revenue is most definitely a beast of its own. If you’re looking for a platform to monetize your e-newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “premium” issues of your e-newsletter that are just sent out to paying customers. This can be really profitable relying on what your e-newsletter needs to offer. For instance, Trends.co is a prominent costs newsletter that produces millions in income a year just by having pay-only e-newsletter content.
Data analytics
One of things I enjoy about beehiiv is how tidy and easy the analytics are. You obtain real-time day on how your newsletter is doing, with open/click rates and client count Beehiiv CEO.
You obtain access to all the metrics you require to get a bird-eye view on exactly how your newsletter is in fact doing. Logging right into your dashboard and seeing that customer matter go up is certainly a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv offers 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (cost-free) Launch plan offers you everything you require to get going and grow your e-newsletter (up to 2,500 customers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) offers you everything in the Launch plan with the enhancement the ad network, referral program, customized domain, polls, and accessibility to costs memberships. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) offers you whatever in the Grow plan with enhancement of concern support and removing the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are rather generous in my opinion.
As an example, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will pay around $329 monthly. As opposed to some competitors, like Kit (formerly ConvertKit), that would certainly charge $679 each month for the very same amount– making beehiiv a terrific Kit choice for many individuals.
I’m uncertain exactly how the device economics work with this, however beehiiv is absolutely cheaper (right now) than what it can be.
beehiiv benefits and drawbacks
Obviously, with every platform, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Right here are some of the advantages and disadvantages I have actually directly experienced while using beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Right here are some of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter platform of choice:
Easy to establish and begin sending newsletters absolutely free.
Tidy and modern subscriber analytics.
Great deals of adaptability with email layouts.
Referral program feature.
Web site hosting.
Produce costs alternatives to monetize.
Surveys.
To be honest, I haven’t seen another e-newsletter system that has had the ability to package all of these features with each other so well.
However of course, I do not wish to be prejudiced so I’m mosting likely to point out some cons.
Cons of using beehiiv
Below are several of the disadvantages I’ve found while using beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including custom typefaces.
I use Webflow as my site structure system of choice (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not going to go in too much detail why I like Webflow so much but you can read my Webflow evaluation if you ‘d like to find out more.
Now, there truly is nothing else means I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow internet site aside from utilizing an iframe embed. I directly don’t such as using iframe’s because they often tend to reduce my internet site a little bit. Each time a web page on my website (with a beehiiv embed) tons, the sign-up installed is the last thing to pack on the web page. It’s very visible when you’re on a sluggish internet connection. Yet I can navigate that.
The main gripe I have is that I can’t use a normal Webflow form (which I enjoy using). There are ways around this by utilizing a device like Zapier yet that would simply include additional expenses that I don’t require. To be truthful, this is more of a Webflow disadvantage over a beehiiv con yet I thought I would state it.
Besides that, I still believe the pros far exceed the cons below. I’m likewise confident that Webflow will eventually develop a much better means to incorporate with beehiiv.
Final Thought
Generally, beehiiv is a fantastic service for any person looking to study the globe of email marketing and e-newsletters.
The performance of this newsletter platform much exceeds several that are currently on the market. And with a generous free plan, you really have absolutely nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are likewise rather affordable for what they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 clients on your listing is unusual. If you were to have a newsletter with 100k clients, and all of these features beehiiv has, it could cost you well right into the thousands each month.
Anyways, I don’t create testimonial blog posts commonly. I just do when I really make use of the tool myself and would certainly recommend it to a pal.
I hope you discovered some clarity on whether or not beehiiv is a great platform for you.