Over two years ago, I was reading one of my favorite e-mail e-newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the email and saw the beehiiv logo for the first time. I clicked it and immediately started destroying Beehiiv Course.
I wasn’t certain why I felt so psychological.
Being a full-time developer is tough. I’m typically obtaining pitched various tools and solutions that do not appear to be worth my time.
I guess I was emotional because I spent the last six months checking out different email and e-newsletter systems to assist develop my newsletter. And to be reasonable, there are some great options for creating e-newsletters. But I couldn’t discover one that made me provide a certain “yes”.
The concern with several existing newsletter systems is that they don’t feel creator-centered. I desire an e-newsletter system that lets me totally personalize my newsletter styles, makes it incredibly very easy to compose and send out emails, and offers me tools that help me evaluate metrics and get more customers.
I assume I’ve finally found the appropriate tool.
However, I understand beehiiv might not be for everybody. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s in fact best for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one platform for e-newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly e-newsletter system that makes it simple to layout, compose, send, advertise, monetize, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Produced by previous staff members at the well-known newsletter firm Morning Brew, beehiiv aims to aid developers launch and monetize their very own e-newsletter– taking great deals of development principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M clients.
In this article, I’m mosting likely to describe my individual experience with beehiiv, the important things I love (and hate) regarding it, all of it’s features, and why I determined to finally select it as my e-newsletter system of selection.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A couple of months earlier, I unintentionally stumbled across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I have actually been on the lookout for a modern newsletter platform for fairly time now. I’ve hesitated hard when it involved finally introducing my e-newsletter.
First, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a couple of other indie systems. After that, Substack. And ultimately, I ended up utilizing beehiiv.
I make sure many newsletter makers look up to popular e-newsletters with countless subscribers– I understand I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I respected a lot. They have fantastic material, tons of clients, and a smart referral program that permits them to get even extra subscribers.
So, I took place a quest to determine how these large e-newsletters established their logistics. What system do they make use of? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they get even more customers? How do they create a newsletter layout that stays on-brand?
When I found beehiiv for the first time, it appeared to answer all of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn individuals that built this tool truly recognize newsletter development and development.” I questioned who these developers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were some of the very first marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my brain blew up.
I recognized this was mosting likely to be a various newsletter platform. One that’s focused on designer development.
Because, any type of creator understands, you need development to be able to make a living off of a newsletter. And finding the right newsletter pile (that ranges) frequently implies making use of several various devices to aid attain one objective– one platform for your e-newsletter, one platform to generate income from, and one system to establish recommendations. It can get expensive.
So when I found out beehiiv did every one of these points in one platform, and it was totally free to begin utilizing, it was a piece of cake to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content developer that wants a system that permits them to send customized e-newsletters with or without needing to have a website.
One of the most effective newsletters have the right tools to develop and scale their newsletters. beehiiv targets at providing you those tools.
If you’re an independent writer, media company, startup, or material designer, you ought to seriously taking into consideration trying out beehiiv. It’s absolutely complimentary to get started and you just pay when you reach over 2,500 customers on your list.
If you really wind up having to spend for beehiiv it’s most likely a good indicator that people like reading your stuff.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there already a platform for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, indeed there is. Substack is an excellent system used by hundreds of independent writers. With Substack you obtain your own internet site and make use of the platform as your all-in-one option for sending out emails (while creating an archive of previous problems).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s dedication to growth. beehiiv allows you do to all the things Substack can do, with the benefit of much better analytics, even more design flexibilty, and a referral program to motivate your existing subscribers to get words out.
beehiiv also offers you an internet site comparable to Substack. But, if you have your very own site currently, you can likewise utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I make use of) to send your website customers right to your beehiiv email listing. On the very same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a device like Revue to enable individuals to register for your e-newsletter directly from Twitter.
This gives you the flexibility to take advantage of different marketing networks to obtain your e-newsletter out right into the world, making beehiiv a wonderful Substack alternative.
How to begin using beehiiv email marketing software.
Sign up for 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 site.
The free plan will certainly allow you to have up to 2,500 customers, provide you accessibility to site hosting, a newsletter CMS, advance modification, analytics, outside embed kinds, and more. It’s a very generous offering for those simply starting out (or for those trying to find a new platform to migrate to).
Onboarding Beehiiv Course
After creating an account, you’ll undergo an onboarding procedure that will ask points like, “is this your initial newsletter?”, “what other platforms have you used?”, “do you have any kind of paying subscribers?”, and a lot more.
You’ll then develop a name and URL for your e-newsletter’s website. On the free plan, your newsletter will certainly live on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your website link may be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll likewise choose your brand design and colors to see to it your e-newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your control panel
Once you reach your primary dashboard, you’ll see all of your analytics and settings.
You will certainly have described details on how many sign-ups you’re getting and from where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Beginning creating,” “Articles,” “Target market,” “Expand,” “Generate income from,” “Design,” and” Evaluate.” And at the extremely lower you’ll see the setups choice.
Control panel is your major nerve center (screenshot over), Beginning writing is where you develop and release e-newsletters, Articles is where you can see every one of your previous e-newsletter editions, Audience is where you can watch who your customers are (and break them down into segments), Grow is where you have access to a referral program (and development tutorials) and boosts to run ads, Monetize is where you can access the beehiiv ad network and monetize your e-newsletter with ads, Layout is where you make your newsletter landing page and article template, Examine is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can handle every one of your admin stuff.
Writing your e-newsletter
beehiiv makes it simple to start writing, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting out, and have an idea you wish to discuss, I suggest simply going to the “Create” area in the navbar and clicking “Begin creating”.
You can fine-tune your template and styling later on– focus on the web content first.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor provides a clean and user-friendly interface for composing.
When you begin creating, you can enhance headings, include links, and style your content exactly how you like.
beehiiv gives you tons of options for various sorts of web content like videos, links, pictures, and extra.
The group at beehiiv is additionally regularly releasing item feature and updates so I’m sure there will be a great deal more material features depending upon when you read this.
Optimizing your settings and templates
Once you have a newsletter that prepares to send, it’s time to create your email template and adjust some setups.
Here, you can upgrade the name of your e-newsletter, offer it a description, add your logo, switch on or off a welcome email to very first time subscribers, and more.
Next, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your style.
You can edit background shades, borders, spacing, typefaces, image styles, and a lot more. I’m not going to experience ever before single thing you can enhance with your email template since it’s a great deal. Just try out the system completely free and see it for yourself!
Essential beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of outstanding features that make it a wonderful posting system for any e-newsletter maker.
Here are several of the essential features you can find with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is a newsletter posting system. It makes it super simple to compose and send e-mails. I discussed above a few of the important things you can do with your setups and email layout so I’ll spare you some additional reading.
The important things to note with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has an actually contemporary and minimalistic feeling. It’s most definitely one of the much better email editors I’ve ever written in.
Web site hosting
When you create a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your e-newsletters (if you desire) live on a site. Think about it as an internet site for your e-newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous concerns of your newsletter, and a location where people can register for your newsletter.
If you recognize with Substack, it’s basically comparable to that.
All plans, including the free one, provide you a site. Nonetheless, the free plan locations your site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to add a custom domain to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting customers is important. After all, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can sign up for your e-newsletter directly from your beehiiv internet site or with embed types.
If you currently have a web site, and desire people to register for your newsletter from your existing site, you’ll have to make use of an embed form. This is what I make use of on this web site (you can see the sign-up installed on the right-hand man column of this post if you scroll up).
With embed forms, you have three different options– a full width, a taken care of width, and a slim installed. I personally make use of the slim installed.
You can locate the code bit for these embeds in the “Subscribe Types” tab in your settings.
There’s additionally an option for attribution tracking if you wish to ahead UTM specifications for tracking objectives– rather neat.
Nevertheless, there are a few features I wish beehiiv had when it concerned subscribe features. I’m sure the team is working with updates for these, however I stated a few issues I had in the benefits and drawbacks area listed below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things about beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter platform, is a service for producing a referral program.
You can motivate existing customers on your listing to forward your e-mails to buddies and associates and if they get other individuals to register for your checklist, you can award them. These rewards can be in whatever kind you want. I’ve seem lots of e-newsletter business offer rewards in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously transform your clients right into a word of mouth growth engine for your newsletter– offering you another method for growing your email listing.
Nevertheless, to get accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll need to update to an extra exceptional plan. I’ll look at all the plans later on in this write-up.
Premium memberships
They claim all you need to make a living online is 1,000 real followers. Membership profits is certainly a monster of its own. If you’re trying to find a system to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can develop “costs” concerns of your newsletter that are only sent out to paying customers. This can be extremely financially rewarding relying on what your e-newsletter needs to use. For example, Trends.co is a preferred premium newsletter that generates millions in earnings a year merely by having pay-only newsletter web content.
Data analytics
One of the important things I like regarding beehiiv is exactly how clean and straightforward the analytics are. You get real-time day on how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click rates and customer count Beehiiv Course.
You get access to all the metrics you require to obtain a bird-eye view on exactly how your e-newsletter is actually doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that subscriber matter increase is certainly a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv uses 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (totally free) Launch plan gives you every little thing you need to start and expand your newsletter (as much as 2,500 customers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) offers you whatever in the Launch plan with the enhancement the advertisement network, referral program, personalized domain name, surveys, and access to costs memberships. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) provides you everything in the Grow plan with addition of top priority support and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
All of these plans are rather generous in my opinion.
For example, if you have 100,000 clients you will certainly pay around $329 monthly. Rather than some rivals, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would certainly bill $679 each month for the same amount– making beehiiv a fantastic Kit alternative for several users.
I’m unsure exactly how the system business economics service this, but beehiiv is most definitely more affordable (currently) than what it can be.
beehiiv pros and cons
Obviously, with every system, it has its pros and cons. Right here are several of the advantages and disadvantages I’ve personally experienced while making use of beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Right here are several of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter system of option:
Easy to establish and begin sending out e-newsletters free of charge.
Clean and modern-day customer analytics.
Great deals of versatility with e-mail designs.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Produce costs alternatives to generate income from.
Surveys.
To be honest, I haven’t seen one more e-newsletter system that has actually had the ability to package all of these features with each other so well.
Yet of course, I do not want to be biased so I’m mosting likely to discuss some disadvantages.
Cons of using beehiiv
Here are a few of the cons I’ve discovered while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including personalized font styles.
I use Webflow as my web site structure platform of selection (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to enter excessive detail why I like Webflow a lot yet you can review my Webflow testimonial if you would love to discover more.
Today, there really is no other method I can integrate beehiiv with my Webflow internet site besides making use of an iframe embed. I directly do not such as using iframe’s because they often tend to slow down my internet site a little bit. Each time a page on my site (with a beehiiv installed) tons, the sign-up installed is the last point to pack on the page. It’s extremely obvious when you’re on a slow net link. But I can get around that.
The major gripe I have is that I can’t utilize a normal Webflow form (which I enjoy making use of). There are methods around this by using a device like Zapier however that would certainly just include extra expenses that I do not require. To be straightforward, this is more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv disadvantage however I believed I would certainly discuss it.
Besides that, I still think the pros far exceed the disadvantages right here. I’m additionally confident that Webflow will at some point create a better method to integrate with beehiiv.
Verdict
On the whole, beehiiv is a terrific service for any person wanting to dive into the globe of e-mail marketing and e-newsletters.
The functionality of this e-newsletter platform much exceeds many that are currently on the marketplace. And with a charitable free plan, you truly have nothing to lose for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally fairly low-cost wherefore they are. Paying only $329/month to have 100,000 subscribers on your list is unusual. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k clients, and all of these features beehiiv has, it could cost you well right into the thousands per month.
Anyways, I don’t write evaluation messages commonly. I just do when I actually use the device myself and would certainly suggest it to a good friend.
I wish you discovered some clarity on whether beehiiv is a great system for you.