Over 2 years back, I was reading among my favored email newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the email and saw the beehiiv logo design for the first time. I clicked it and instantly began destroying Beehiiv Publications.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so psychological.
Being a full-time creator is tough. I’m frequently obtaining pitched various devices and solutions that don’t appear to be worth my time.
I presume I was emotional since I spent the last 6 months checking out various email and e-newsletter platforms to help develop my e-newsletter. And to be reasonable, there are some great choices for writing newsletters. However I couldn’t find one that made me offer a precise “yes”.
The issue with several existing e-newsletter platforms is that they do not feel creator-centered. I desire an e-newsletter system that lets me totally tailor my e-newsletter layouts, makes it extremely very easy to write and send out e-mails, and offers me devices that help me examine metrics and get more clients.
I think I have actually lastly discovered the best device.
However, I know beehiiv might not be for everybody. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s in fact right for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one platform for newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly e-newsletter system that makes it easy to style, compose, send, promote, generate income from, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Created by former employees at the renowned newsletter company Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to assist makers launch and monetize their very own newsletter– taking lots of development concepts from taking Morning Brew to over 4M clients.
In this write-up, I’m mosting likely to describe my personal experience with beehiiv, the things I enjoy (and hate) concerning it, all of it’s features, and why I made a decision to finally opt for it as my e-newsletter system of choice.
My individual experience with beehiiv
A few months ago, I mistakenly came across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I’ve watched for a modern e-newsletter system for quite time currently. I have actually hesitated hard when it involved lastly releasing my newsletter.
First, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a couple of various other indie systems. After that, Substack. And finally, I ended up making use of beehiiv.
I’m sure many newsletter creators appreciate preferred newsletters with numerous customers– I recognize I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I appreciated a whole lot. They have wonderful content, lots of subscribers, and a creative referral program that allows them to get back at extra clients.
So, I took place a quest to find out exactly how these huge newsletters established their logistics. What system do they use? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they obtain more subscribers? How do they develop an e-newsletter layout that remains on-brand?
When I discovered beehiiv for the first time, it appeared to address every one of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn the people that constructed this tool really comprehend newsletter creation and growth.” I examined who these designers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were a few of the very first marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my mind exploded.
I knew this was mosting likely to be a various e-newsletter system. One that’s focused on designer growth.
Since, any maker knows, you need development to be able to earn a living off of an e-newsletter. And finding the right e-newsletter stack (that ranges) frequently indicates utilizing multiple various tools to aid attain one objective– one platform for your newsletter, one system to generate income from, and one system to set up references. It can obtain pricey.
So when I learnt beehiiv did all of these things in one system, and it was complimentary to start utilizing, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content developer that wants a system that enables them to send out personalized e-newsletters with or without needing to have a site.
The most effective e-newsletters have the right devices to build and scale their e-newsletters. beehiiv aims at offering you those devices.
If you’re an independent author, media business, startup, or material designer, you ought to seriously taking into consideration experimenting with beehiiv. It’s absolutely free to get going and you only pay when you reach over 2,500 clients on your listing.
If you actually end up needing to spend for beehiiv it’s possibly a good indication that individuals enjoy reviewing your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You may be asking, “isn’t there currently a system for authors called Substack?”.
Yes, of course there is. Substack is an excellent platform used by hundreds of independent writers. With Substack you get your own 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 commitment to growth. beehiiv permits you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the advantage of far better analytics, more design flexibilty, and a referral program to urge your existing subscribers to get words out.
beehiiv also gives you a website similar to Substack. Yet, if you have your own internet site already, you can likewise utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I utilize) to send your site customers directly to your beehiiv email listing. On the very same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a tool like Revue to allow people to register for your newsletter directly from Twitter.
This offers you the adaptability to utilize different marketing networks to obtain your newsletter out into the globe, making beehiiv a terrific Substack choice.
Exactly how to begin utilizing beehiiv e-mail marketing software application.
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” button on beehiiv’s website.
The free plan will certainly permit you to have up to 2,500 clients, offer you access to web site hosting, an e-newsletter CMS, advancement personalization, analytics, exterior embed types, and extra. It’s an extremely charitable offering for those simply starting out (or for those trying to find a new system to move to).
Onboarding Beehiiv Publications
After creating an account, you’ll experience an onboarding process that will ask things like, “is this your initial newsletter?”, “what various other systems have you used?”, “do you have any kind of paying customers?”, and much more.
You’ll after that create a name and link for your e-newsletter’s site. On the free plan, your e-newsletter will survive a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your internet site URL could be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll likewise choose your brand name design and colors to ensure your e-newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your dashboard
As soon as you reach your main dashboard, you’ll see every one of your analytics and setups.
You will certainly have described information on the number of sign-ups you’re obtaining and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see options for “Beginning creating,” “Blog posts,” “Target market,” “Expand,” “Generate income from,” “Layout,” and” Examine.” And at the really lower you’ll see the settings alternative.
Dashboard is your primary nerve center (screenshot above), Start writing is where you produce and publish e-newsletters, Blog posts is where you can see all of your previous e-newsletter editions, Target market is where you can watch who your subscribers are (and damage 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 e-newsletter with advertisements, Design is where you design your newsletter landing page and article template, Assess is where you can see all your analytics, and Settings is where you can take care of every one of your admin stuff.
Creating your newsletter
beehiiv makes it easy to start composing, with little to no rubbing. If you’re simply starting, and have an idea you want to write about, I recommend simply going to the “Create” section in the navbar and clicking “Start creating”.
You can tweak your template and styling later– concentrate on the web content initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor provides a tidy and straightforward user interface for writing.
Once you begin composing, you can optimize headings, add links, and design your material just how you like.
beehiiv provides you lots of options for various kinds of web content like video clips, web links, pictures, and more.
The group at beehiiv is likewise frequently releasing item feature and updates so I’m sure there will certainly be a whole lot extra material features relying on when you’re reading this.
Optimizing your settings and templates
When you have a newsletter that prepares to send out, it’s time to make your email template and adjust some settings.
Below, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, give it a description, add your logo, turn on or off a welcome e-mail to very first time subscribers, and more.
Next off, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your design.
You can edit background shades, borders, spacing, typefaces, picture layouts, and much more. I’m not mosting likely to undergo ever solitary point you can optimize with your e-mail template due to the fact that it’s a lot. Just try out the system totally free and see it for yourself!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has tons of fantastic features that make it a fantastic posting platform for any newsletter designer.
Here are some of the important features you can discover with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter posting system. It makes it extremely simple to compose and send emails. I pointed out over some of the things you can do with your settings and e-mail layout so I’ll spare you some added analysis.
Things to note with beehiiv’s newsletter builder is that it has a truly contemporary and minimalistic feel. It’s certainly one of the much better email editors I’ve ever written in.
Website hosting
When you produce a beehiiv newsletter, all of your e-newsletters (if you desire) live on a site. Consider it as a website for your newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous issues of your newsletter, and a place where individuals can register for your newsletter.
If you’re familiar with Substack, it’s pretty much similar to that.
All plans, consisting of the free one, provide you an internet site. However, the free plan areas your internet site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you intend to add a customized domain to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting customers is very important. After all, that’s why you have a newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can subscribe to your e-newsletter directly from your beehiiv website or through embed forms.
If you currently have a web site, and want individuals to subscribe to your newsletter from your existing site, you’ll need to utilize an embed form. This is what I utilize on this website (you can see the sign-up installed on the right hand column of this blog post if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have 3 different options– a full size, a fixed size, and a slim embed. I directly utilize the slim installed.
You can find the code fragment for these embeds in the “Subscribe Forms” tab in your settings.
There’s also a choice for attribution tracking if you intend to ahead UTM criteria for tracking functions– rather neat.
Nonetheless, there are a couple of features I wish beehiiv had when it concerned subscribe features. I make sure the team is servicing updates for these, however I discussed a few worries I had in the pros and cons section below.
Referral program
Among the amazing things about beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other e-newsletter system, is an option for creating a referral program.
You can encourage existing clients on your listing to forward your e-mails to pals and coworkers and if they obtain other people to sign up for your checklist, you can award them. These incentives can be in whatever kind you desire. I’ve appear lots of e-newsletter companies give rewards in the form of merch and sticker labels.
This can seriously transform your customers right into a word of mouth growth engine for your e-newsletter– offering you another avenue for expanding your email checklist.
Nonetheless, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll need to upgrade to a much more exceptional plan. I’ll discuss all the plans later in this write-up.
Premium subscriptions
They say all you need to make a living online is 1,000 true followers. Registration profits is most definitely a beast of its very own. If you’re trying to find a system to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “costs” concerns of your newsletter that are only sent out to paying clients. This can be very lucrative relying on what your newsletter needs to use. For instance, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that produces millions in profits a year just by having pay-only newsletter content.
Data analytics
One of things I love concerning beehiiv is just how tidy and simple the analytics are. You obtain real-time day on exactly how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click rates and client matter Beehiiv Publications.
You get access to all the metrics you need to obtain a bird-eye sight on how your newsletter is in fact doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that subscriber count rise is certainly a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv uses 4 different pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (complimentary) Launch plan provides you whatever you need to begin and grow your e-newsletter (up to 2,500 subscribers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) offers you whatever in the Launch plan with the enhancement the ad network, referral program, custom-made domain name, polls, and accessibility to premium memberships. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) provides you every little thing in the Grow plan with enhancement of top priority assistance and getting rid of the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are fairly charitable in my point of view.
For instance, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will certainly pay around $329 each month. Rather than some rivals, like Kit (formerly ConvertKit), that would charge $679 each month for the exact same quantity– making beehiiv a great Kit option for many customers.
I’m uncertain just how the device business economics service this, but beehiiv is certainly less costly (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv advantages and disadvantages
Naturally, with every system, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few of the benefits and drawbacks I have actually directly experienced while utilizing beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Here are some of the pros of using beehiiv as your newsletter system of selection:
Easy to establish and begin sending out e-newsletters totally free.
Clean and modern client analytics.
Great deals of versatility with email designs.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Create premium choices to monetize.
Surveys.
To be sincere, I have not seen an additional e-newsletter platform that has actually been able to package all of these features together so well.
Yet naturally, I do not want to be biased so I’m mosting likely to state some cons.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the cons I’ve located while using beehiiv:.
Limitations around incorporating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including personalized font styles.
I use Webflow as my internet site building system of selection (I graduated from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to enter too much detail why I like Webflow a lot but you can review my Webflow review if you wish to find out more.
Now, there actually is nothing else method I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow web site besides utilizing an iframe embed. I personally don’t such as using iframe’s since they tend to decrease my internet site a little bit. Whenever a page on my site (with a beehiiv embed) lots, the sign-up embed is the last point to pack on the page. It’s extremely obvious when you’re on a sluggish web connection. However I can navigate that.
The main complaint I have is that I can not use a normal Webflow type (which I like making use of). There are means around this by using a tool like Zapier however that would certainly simply include added prices that I do not require. To be sincere, this is even more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv disadvantage however I believed I would certainly state it.
Besides that, I still think the pros much surpass the disadvantages here. I’m also enthusiastic that Webflow will ultimately produce a far better method to integrate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
Overall, beehiiv is a fantastic option for anyone looking to study the world of e-mail marketing and e-newsletters.
The capability of this newsletter system far exceeds numerous that are currently on the marketplace. And with a generous free plan, you really have nothing to lose for trying it.
The paid plans are likewise rather low-cost wherefore they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your checklist is unprecedented. If you were to have a newsletter with 100k clients, and all of these features beehiiv has, it could cost you well into the thousands monthly.
Anyways, I do not write testimonial blog posts frequently. I just do when I in fact use the device myself and would certainly advise it to a close friend.
I hope you located some quality on whether beehiiv is an excellent platform for you.