Over 2 years back, I was reading among my favorite email newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo design for the very first time. I clicked on it and instantaneously began destroying Beehiiv Magic Links.
I wasn’t sure why I really felt so emotional.
Being a full-time designer is difficult. I’m commonly getting pitched different devices and services that do not appear to be worth my time.
I guess I was emotional since I invested the last six months experimenting with different e-mail and newsletter platforms to aid construct my e-newsletter. And to be fair, there are some terrific options for composing e-newsletters. But I could not find one that made me provide a definite “yes”.
The concern with lots of existing newsletter platforms is that they do not feel creator-centered. I want a newsletter system that lets me totally tailor my newsletter layouts, makes it very simple to write and send out emails, and offers me tools that aid me evaluate metrics and obtain even more customers.
I think I have actually lastly found the right device.
However, I know beehiiv may not be for everyone. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s in fact appropriate for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one platform for newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly newsletter system that makes it simple to layout, compose, send out, advertise, generate income from, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Developed by former staff members at the popular e-newsletter business Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to assist makers launch and monetize their own newsletter– taking great deals of development concepts from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this write-up, I’m going to clarify my individual experience with beehiiv, the things I love (and hate) about it, all of it’s features, and why I chose to ultimately go with it as my newsletter platform of option.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A few months back, I mistakenly came across beehiiv. The amusing tale is that I’ve been on the lookout for a contemporary newsletter system for quite a long time now. I have actually procrastinated hard when it came to finally launching my newsletter.
Initially, I tried Mailchimp. After that, a couple of other indie platforms. After that, Substack. And finally, I ended up making use of beehiiv.
I make sure several newsletter makers admire popular e-newsletters with countless subscribers– I know I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I appreciated a great deal. They have great material, lots of subscribers, and a clever referral program that enables them to get even much more clients.
So, I took place a quest to find out just how these big newsletters established their logistics. What system do they utilize? How do they track the ROI of their e-newsletters? How do they obtain more subscribers? How do they create a newsletter style that stays on-brand?
When I uncovered beehiiv for the very first time, it seemed to respond to every one of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn the people that built this tool actually understand newsletter production and development.” I examined who these designers of beehiiv were.
So I went to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were a few of the very first marketing and development workers at Morning Brew– my mind blew up.
I understood this was going to be a various newsletter platform. One that’s focused on designer development.
Because, any maker recognizes, you require growth to be able to make a living off of an e-newsletter. And locating the ideal newsletter stack (that ranges) typically implies making use of multiple different devices to aid achieve one goal– one system for your newsletter, one platform to generate income from, and one platform to set up referrals. It can obtain pricey.
So when I figured out beehiiv did all of these things in one system, and it was free to start utilizing, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content creator that desires a system that enables them to send custom e-newsletters with or without needing to have an internet site.
The most effective newsletters have the right tools to develop and scale their newsletters. beehiiv aims at giving you those devices.
If you’re an independent writer, media firm, start-up, or material creator, you must seriously taking into consideration trying beehiiv. It’s completely complimentary to get going and you just pay when you reach over 2,500 customers on your listing.
If you really wind up needing to pay for beehiiv it’s probably a good sign that people enjoy reading your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You may be asking, “isn’t there already a platform for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, indeed there is. Substack is an excellent platform made use of by thousands of independent writers. With Substack you obtain your very own site and utilize the platform as your all-in-one option for sending out emails (while creating an archive of previous issues).
What collections beehiiv apart is it’s commitment to development. beehiiv enables you do to all things Substack can do, with the benefit of far better analytics, more layout flexibilty, and a referral program to urge your existing customers to obtain words out.
beehiiv likewise gives you a site similar to Substack. However, if you have your own site already, you can additionally utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I utilize) to send your site clients right to your beehiiv email listing. On the very same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a tool like Performance to enable people to subscribe to your e-newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the adaptability to leverage different marketing channels to obtain your newsletter out into the globe, making beehiiv an excellent Substack choice.
How to start making use of beehiiv email marketing software application.
Enroll in a free plan
The first step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Beginning trial” button on beehiiv’s website.
The free plan will allow you to have up to 2,500 clients, offer you access to site hosting, a newsletter CMS, development personalization, analytics, exterior embed forms, and more. It’s a really charitable offering for those simply starting out (or for those looking for a brand-new platform to move to).
Onboarding Beehiiv Magic Links
After producing an account, you’ll go through an onboarding process that will ask points like, “is this your initial e-newsletter?”, “what other systems have you used?”, “do you have any kind of paying customers?”, and extra.
You’ll then produce a name and URL for your newsletter’s website. On the free plan, your newsletter will certainly survive on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your newsletter is called “Baking Cakes,” your website URL might be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll also pick your brand design and colors to see to it your e-newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your dashboard
Once you reach your main dashboard, you’ll see all of your analytics and settings.
You will certainly have outlined info on the amount of sign-ups you’re obtaining and from where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Begin composing,” “Messages,” “Audience,” “Expand,” “Monetize,” “Layout,” and” Analyze.” And at the really lower you’ll see the settings option.
Dashboard is your primary nerve center (screenshot above), Beginning writing is where you produce and release e-newsletters, Messages is where you can see every one of your previous newsletter editions, Target market is where you can see who your subscribers are (and damage them down into sectors), Grow is where you have accessibility 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 advertisements, Layout is where you create your e-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.
Creating your newsletter
beehiiv makes it simple to start creating, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting, and have a concept you wish to discuss, I advise just mosting likely to the “Write” section in the navbar and clicking on “Begin writing”.
You can fine-tune your template and designing later on– focus on the content initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor uses a tidy and easy to use interface for creating.
When you begin creating, you can maximize headings, add web links, and design your web content just how you like.
beehiiv gives you lots of choices for various sorts of content like videos, web links, images, and more.
The group at beehiiv is likewise frequently launching product feature and updates so I make certain there will certainly be a whole lot more content features relying on when you read this.
Maximizing your setups and templates
When you have an e-newsletter that’s ready to send, it’s time to create your email template and adjust some settings.
Here, you can upgrade the name of your e-newsletter, give it a description, include your logo, activate or off a welcome e-mail to first time subscribers, and more.
Next off, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your layout.
You can edit history shades, boundaries, spacing, typefaces, picture styles, and extra. I’m not mosting likely to go through ever before single thing you can optimize with your e-mail template because it’s a great deal. Just try the system absolutely free and see it for yourself!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has tons of impressive features that make it a wonderful posting system for any e-newsletter maker.
Below are several of the crucial features you can find with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is a newsletter posting system. It makes it super easy to write and send out emails. I mentioned over some of the things you can do with your setups and email style 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 modern-day and minimalistic feeling. It’s definitely one of the far better email editors I’ve ever written in.
Site hosting
When you develop a beehiiv e-newsletter, all of your newsletters (if you desire) live on a site. Consider it as a web site for your newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous issues of your newsletter, and a location where individuals can sign up for your e-newsletter.
If you know with Substack, it’s virtually similar to that.
All plans, including the totally free one, offer you a website. However, the free plan areas your internet site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to include a customized domain to eliminate all the beehiiv branding you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Obtaining clients is essential. After all, that’s why you have a newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can subscribe to your e-newsletter right from your beehiiv web site or with embed kinds.
If you currently have a web site, and want people to subscribe to your newsletter from your existing website, you’ll have to utilize an embed type. This is what I use on this web site (you can see the sign-up embed on the right-hand man column of this post if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have 3 various choices– a full size, a dealt with width, and a slim installed. I personally use the slim installed.
You can discover the code fragment for these embeds in the “Subscribe Kinds” tab in your settings.
There’s additionally an option for attribution tracking if you want to ahead UTM parameters for tracking objectives– rather neat.
Nonetheless, there are a few features I wish beehiiv had when it concerned subscribe features. I’m sure the group is dealing with updates for these, yet I mentioned a few issues I had in the advantages and disadvantages area below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things regarding beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter platform, is an option for developing a referral program.
You can encourage existing clients on your list to onward your e-mails to buddies and coworkers and if they obtain other individuals to register for your list, you can award them. These benefits can be in whatever kind you desire. I have actually appear lots of newsletter companies give incentives in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously turn your clients right into a word of mouth development engine for your e-newsletter– giving you another method for growing your email checklist.
However, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll have to update to a much more premium plan. I’ll discuss all the plans later in this article.
Costs subscriptions
They say all you need to make a living online is 1,000 real fans. Membership profits is certainly a beast of its own. If you’re seeking a platform to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “premium” concerns of your newsletter that are just sent out to paying clients. This can be extremely financially rewarding depending on what your e-newsletter has to use. For example, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that produces millions in profits a year simply by having pay-only newsletter material.
Information analytics
Among the important things I enjoy concerning beehiiv is how clean and easy the analytics are. You get real-time day on how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and client matter Beehiiv Magic Links.
You get access to all the metrics you require to obtain a bird-eye sight on how your newsletter is actually doing. Logging right into your dashboard and seeing that customer count go up is definitely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv supplies four different pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (complimentary) Launch plan gives you whatever you need to get going and grow your newsletter (approximately 2,500 clients).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) provides you every little thing in the Launch plan with the addition the advertisement network, referral program, custom-made domain name, surveys, and access to costs subscriptions. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) gives you everything in the Grow plan with addition of priority assistance and removing the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are fairly charitable in my opinion.
For instance, if you have 100,000 clients you will pay around $329 monthly. In contrast to some rivals, like Kit (formerly ConvertKit), that would certainly charge $679 monthly for the exact same quantity– making beehiiv a great Kit alternative for lots of customers.
I’m unsure exactly how the device business economics work with this, however beehiiv is most definitely cheaper (right now) than what it can be.
beehiiv advantages and disadvantages
Of course, with every platform, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Below are a few of the benefits and drawbacks I’ve directly experienced while utilizing beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Right here are several of the pros of using beehiiv as your newsletter platform of choice:
Easy to set up and start sending e-newsletters absolutely free.
Tidy and modern-day subscriber analytics.
Lots of versatility with e-mail layouts.
Referral program feature.
Website hosting.
Produce costs choices to monetize.
Polls.
To be truthful, I haven’t seen another newsletter system that has been able to package all of these features with each other so well.
However certainly, I do not intend to be prejudiced so I’m going to state some disadvantages.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the disadvantages I have actually discovered while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including custom-made fonts.
I use Webflow as my site building platform of option (I graduated from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to go in too much information why I like Webflow a lot but you can read my Webflow evaluation if you want to learn more.
Right now, there actually is no other method I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow site apart from using an iframe embed. I personally do not such as utilizing iframe’s due to the fact that they tend to reduce my internet site a little bit. Every time a web page on my website (with a beehiiv embed) tons, the sign-up installed is the last thing to pack on the page. It’s very recognizable when you get on a slow net connection. But I can navigate that.
The major gripe I have is that I can not make use of a normal Webflow kind (which I love utilizing). There are methods around this by utilizing a device like Zapier however that would just include additional prices that I do not need. To be straightforward, this is more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv disadvantage however I assumed I would certainly state it.
Besides that, I still believe the pros far exceed the cons right here. I’m also confident that Webflow will eventually produce a better method to integrate with beehiiv.
Final Thought
On the whole, beehiiv is a great service for any person looking to study the globe of e-mail marketing and newsletters.
The functionality of this newsletter platform far outweighs numerous that are presently on the market. And with a charitable free plan, you really have nothing to lose for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally relatively cheap wherefore they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your list is unusual. If you were to have a newsletter with 100k customers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it might cost you well right into the thousands monthly.
Anyways, I don’t write testimonial messages commonly. I only do when I actually use the tool myself and would suggest it to a close friend.
I wish you discovered some clarity on whether beehiiv is a good platform for you.