Over two years ago, I read one of my preferred email e-newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo design for the very first time. I clicked it and immediately started destroying Beehiiv Header Image.
I had not been certain why I felt so emotional.
Being a permanent developer is tough. I’m often getting pitched various tools and services that don’t seem to be worth my time.
I presume I was emotional due to the fact that I spent the last 6 months trying various email and e-newsletter platforms to help develop my e-newsletter. And to be reasonable, there are some terrific alternatives for composing e-newsletters. Yet I couldn’t locate one that made me give a definite “yes”.
The issue with numerous existing e-newsletter systems is that they don’t really feel creator-centered. I desire a newsletter system that lets me totally tailor my e-newsletter layouts, makes it incredibly very easy to write and send emails, and gives me tools that aid me evaluate metrics and obtain more clients.
I think I’ve finally located the ideal tool.
But, I recognize beehiiv might not be for every person. 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 newsletter platform that makes it very easy to layout, compose, send, promote, generate income from, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Produced by previous employees at the popular newsletter business Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to assist makers launch and monetize their own newsletter– taking great deals of growth principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this article, I’m mosting likely to describe my personal experience with beehiiv, the things I like (and hate) about it, all of it’s features, and why I decided to lastly select it as my newsletter platform of choice.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A couple of months back, I unintentionally stumbled across beehiiv. The amusing tale is that I’ve been on the lookout for a modern-day e-newsletter platform for quite time currently. I’ve postponed hard when it involved finally introducing my newsletter.
First, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a couple of various other indie platforms. Then, Substack. And ultimately, I wound up using beehiiv.
I make certain numerous e-newsletter creators respect preferred newsletters with millions of subscribers– I recognize I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I admired a whole lot. They have terrific material, tons of clients, and a brilliant referral program that allows them to get even extra customers.
So, I went on a quest to determine how these large newsletters set up their logistics. What system do they utilize? How do they track the ROI of their e-newsletters? How do they get even more clients? How do they develop a newsletter design that remains on-brand?
When I found beehiiv for the first time, it appeared to respond to all of my questions. I thought to myself, “damn individuals that built this tool really recognize newsletter creation and growth.” I examined who these creators of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were several of the initial marketing and development staff members at Morning Brew– my brain exploded.
I recognized this was going to be a various e-newsletter platform. One that’s concentrated on maker growth.
Since, any developer understands, you need growth to be able to make a living off of an e-newsletter. And discovering the right newsletter pile (that ranges) usually means utilizing multiple different tools to aid attain one goal– one system for your newsletter, one system to monetize, and one system to establish recommendations. It can get expensive.
So when I figured out beehiiv did every one of these things in one system, and it was cost-free to start utilizing, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean content maker that wants a platform that permits them to send personalized e-newsletters with or without needing to have an internet site.
The most effective e-newsletters have the right tools to develop and scale their e-newsletters. beehiiv targets at giving you those tools.
If you’re an independent author, media business, startup, or material maker, you must seriously taking into consideration trying out beehiiv. It’s completely cost-free to start and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 subscribers on your listing.
If you in fact wind up needing to pay for beehiiv it’s probably a good indication that people love reading your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You may be asking, “isn’t there currently a system for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, yes there is. Substack is a terrific platform utilized by hundreds of independent authors. With Substack you get your very own internet site and make use of the platform as your all-in-one remedy for sending e-mails (while developing an archive of previous concerns).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s dedication to growth. beehiiv enables you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the benefit of far better analytics, more layout flexibilty, and a referral program to encourage your existing subscribers to get the word out.
beehiiv also provides you a web site similar to Substack. Yet, if you have your very own web site already, you can additionally use beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I use) to send your internet site customers straight to your beehiiv email listing. On the same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a device like Revue to allow individuals to register for your e-newsletter directly from Twitter.
This provides you the versatility to leverage various marketing channels to get your newsletter out into the world, making beehiiv a wonderful Substack option.
Just how to begin using beehiiv e-mail marketing software application.
Sign up for a free plan
The initial step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Beginning trial” switch on beehiiv’s website.
The free plan will certainly enable you to have up to 2,500 clients, offer you access to site hosting, a newsletter CMS, breakthrough customization, analytics, outside embed kinds, and extra. It’s a very generous offering for those just starting out (or for those searching for a new system to move to).
Onboarding Beehiiv Header Image
After creating an account, you’ll experience an onboarding procedure that will ask points like, “is this your very first newsletter?”, “what various other systems have you utilized?”, “do you have any paying clients?”, and much more.
You’ll after that create a name and link for your e-newsletter’s website. On the free plan, your newsletter will reside on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your newsletter is called “Baking Cakes,” your web site URL could be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
During the onboarding procedure, you’ll additionally pick your brand name colors and design to make sure your newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your control panel
Once you reach your main control panel, you’ll see every one of your analytics and setups.
You will have detailed info on the number of sign-ups you’re obtaining and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Start writing,” “Articles,” “Target market,” “Grow,” “Monetize,” “Style,” and” Examine.” And at the very lower you’ll see the settings alternative.
Dashboard is your main nerve center (screenshot over), Begin composing is where you create and release e-newsletters, Articles is where you can see every one of your previous newsletter editions, Audience is where you can watch who your subscribers are (and break them down into sectors), Expand is where you have accessibility to a referral program (and development 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 create your newsletter landing page and post template, Analyze is where you can see all your analytics, and Settings is where you can take care of all of your admin things.
Writing your newsletter
beehiiv makes it very easy to start creating, with little to no rubbing. If you’re simply starting, and have an idea you wish to discuss, I suggest simply mosting likely to the “Compose” area in the navbar and clicking “Begin writing”.
You can fine-tune your template and designing later– concentrate on the material initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor supplies a tidy and straightforward user interface for writing.
Once you start creating, you can enhance headings, add links, and design your content exactly how you such as.
beehiiv provides you lots of choices for various kinds of material like video clips, web links, pictures, and more.
The team at beehiiv is likewise regularly releasing item feature and updates so I make sure there will certainly be a whole lot more content features relying on when you’re reading this.
Enhancing your setups and templates
When you have an e-newsletter that’s ready to send, it’s time to design your email template and change 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 e-mail to very first time clients, and extra.
Next, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your style.
You can modify history colors, boundaries, spacing, fonts, photo layouts, and much more. I’m not mosting likely to undergo ever solitary point you can enhance with your e-mail template due to the fact that it’s a great deal. Just try the platform free of cost and see it for yourself!
Vital beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of impressive features that make it a wonderful posting platform for any e-newsletter designer.
Here are a few of the necessary features you can find with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter publishing platform. It makes it extremely simple to compose and send emails. I pointed out over a few of the important things you can do with your settings and email layout so I’ll spare you some added reading.
The important things to keep in mind with beehiiv’s newsletter builder is that it has a really contemporary and minimalistic feel. It’s most definitely one of the much better e-mail editors I have actually ever before written in.
Site hosting
When you develop a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your e-newsletters (if you want) survive on a website. Consider it as a website for your newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous problems of your e-newsletter, and a location where individuals can register for your newsletter.
If you know with Substack, it’s practically comparable to that.
All plans, including the totally free one, provide you a website. However, the free plan areas your site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to add a custom-made domain to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting clients is very important. Besides, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can subscribe to your e-newsletter straight from your beehiiv internet site or via embed forms.
If you currently have a web site, and want individuals to sign up for your e-newsletter from your existing website, you’ll need to make use of an embed type. This is what I utilize on this web site (you can see the sign-up embed on the right-hand man column of this article if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have 3 various choices– a complete size, a repaired width, and a slim installed. I personally use the slim embed.
You can locate the code snippet for these embeds in the “Subscribe Kinds” tab in your settings.
There’s also a choice for acknowledgment tracking if you intend to onward UTM parameters for tracking purposes– pretty neat.
However, there are a couple of features I wish beehiiv had when it concerned subscribe features. I make sure the group is working with updates for these, yet I pointed out a couple of concerns I had in the benefits and drawbacks section below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things regarding beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter system, is an option for producing a referral program.
You can motivate existing customers on your list to onward your emails to buddies and associates and if they get other people to subscribe to your list, you can compensate them. These benefits can be in whatever form you desire. I’ve appear lots of e-newsletter business give benefits in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously transform your customers right into a word of mouth development engine for your newsletter– giving you an additional avenue for growing your email list.
Nevertheless, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll need to update to a much more exceptional plan. I’ll look at all the plans later on in this short article.
Premium memberships
They say all you require to make a living online is 1,000 real fans. Membership income is absolutely a monster of its very own. If you’re searching for a system to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can create “costs” problems of your newsletter that are just sent to paying customers. This can be extremely financially rewarding relying on what your e-newsletter has to provide. As an example, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that generates millions in earnings a year merely by having pay-only newsletter web content.
Information analytics
One of things I like concerning beehiiv is just how clean and basic the analytics are. You get real-time day on just how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and subscriber matter Beehiiv Header Image.
You get access to all the metrics you need to get a bird-eye view on exactly how your e-newsletter is really doing. Logging right into your control panel and seeing that customer matter increase is most definitely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv uses 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out below.
The (complimentary) Launch plan gives you everything you need to begin and expand your e-newsletter (approximately 2,500 subscribers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) gives you whatever in the Launch plan with the addition the ad network, referral program, custom domain name, surveys, and access to premium memberships. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) gives you whatever in the Grow plan with addition of concern assistance and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are quite generous in my point of view.
For instance, if you have 100,000 customers you will pay around $329 each month. Instead of some competitors, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would charge $679 monthly for the exact same quantity– making beehiiv a wonderful Kit option for many individuals.
I’m unsure just how the device business economics work with this, but beehiiv is most definitely more affordable (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv benefits and drawbacks
Of course, with every system, it has its pros and cons. Below are a few of the advantages and disadvantages I have actually directly experienced while making use of beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Below are some of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter platform of option:
Easy to set up and begin sending out e-newsletters totally free.
Tidy and contemporary client analytics.
Great deals of versatility with email layouts.
Referral program feature.
Web site hosting.
Produce premium alternatives to generate income from.
Polls.
To be straightforward, I haven’t seen an additional newsletter platform that has actually had the ability to package every one of these features together so well.
However certainly, I do not want to be biased so I’m mosting likely to state some cons.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Here are some of the cons I’ve located while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including custom fonts.
I make use of Webflow as my internet site building platform of option (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a very long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to enter way too much detail why I like Webflow so much however you can review my Webflow review if you ‘d like to discover more.
Right now, there truly is no other means I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow site besides utilizing an iframe embed. I directly do not like utilizing iframe’s because they often tend to slow down my web site a bit. Each time a page on my site (with a beehiiv embed) tons, the sign-up embed is the last point to load on the page. It’s really obvious when you’re on a slow web link. But I can get around that.
The main gripe I have is that I can not utilize a regular Webflow kind (which I like using). There are means around this by utilizing a device like Zapier yet that would certainly simply include additional prices that I don’t need. To be sincere, this is even more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv con yet I assumed I would certainly discuss it.
Besides that, I still believe the pros much outweigh the disadvantages below. I’m likewise hopeful that Webflow will at some point create a better way to incorporate with beehiiv.
Final Thought
On the whole, beehiiv is an excellent option for anybody looking to dive into the world of e-mail marketing and newsletters.
The functionality of this e-newsletter platform far outweighs lots of 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 rather low-cost wherefore they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your listing is unprecedented. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k subscribers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it might cost you well right into the thousands monthly.
Anyways, I do not create review articles often. I just do when I in fact make use of the device myself and would certainly recommend it to a friend.
I hope you discovered some clarity on whether beehiiv is an excellent system for you.