Over 2 years ago, I was reading one of my favored email newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo design for the first time. I clicked it and instantly began wrecking Beehiiv Website Creator.
I had not been certain why I felt so emotional.
Being a permanent maker is difficult. I’m frequently obtaining pitched different tools and services that do not appear to be worth my time.
I presume I was psychological because I spent the last 6 months experimenting with different e-mail and newsletter platforms to assist develop my newsletter. And to be reasonable, there are some terrific alternatives for writing e-newsletters. Yet I couldn’t locate one that made me provide a definite “yes”.
The problem with several existing newsletter platforms is that they do not feel creator-centered. I desire a newsletter system that lets me fully personalize my newsletter styles, makes it very simple to write and send out e-mails, and provides me devices that help me evaluate metrics and get even more clients.
I believe I’ve ultimately found the appropriate device.
But, 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 system for newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly newsletter platform that makes it very easy to layout, compose, send out, promote, monetize, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Created by previous employees at the popular e-newsletter company Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to help makers launch and monetize their very own e-newsletter– taking great deals of development principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this write-up, I’m going to discuss my individual 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 individual experience with beehiiv
A couple of months back, I inadvertently came across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I have actually been on the lookout for a contemporary e-newsletter platform for fairly time now. I have actually hesitated hard when it pertained to lastly launching my e-newsletter.
First, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a few various other indie platforms. Then, Substack. And lastly, I wound up utilizing beehiiv.
I make certain numerous newsletter designers appreciate preferred e-newsletters with numerous subscribers– I recognize I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I appreciated a great deal. They have terrific content, lots of customers, and a brilliant referral program that permits them to get back at more customers.
So, I went on a hunt to figure out just 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 obtain more clients? How do they produce an e-newsletter layout that remains on-brand?
When I uncovered beehiiv for the first time, it seemed to respond to every one of my questions. I thought to myself, “damn individuals that constructed this tool really comprehend newsletter development and growth.” I examined who these designers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were some of the initial marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my mind took off.
I knew this was mosting likely to be a various e-newsletter system. One that’s concentrated on developer growth.
Since, any kind of creator knows, you require growth to be able to make a living off of a newsletter. And locating the right e-newsletter pile (that scales) frequently indicates using several various tools to help attain one goal– one platform for your newsletter, one platform to monetize, and one platform to establish referrals. It can get expensive.
So when I discovered beehiiv did all of these things in one system, and it was complimentary to begin making use of, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean material developer that desires a system that enables them to send custom newsletters with or without needing to have a web site.
The most successful newsletters have the right tools to develop and scale their e-newsletters. beehiiv focuses on offering you those tools.
If you’re an independent writer, media company, start-up, or web content maker, you should seriously taking into consideration trying out beehiiv. It’s totally cost-free to get going and you just pay when you reach over 2,500 subscribers on your list.
If you in fact wind up having to spend for beehiiv it’s most likely a good indication that individuals love reading your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there already a platform for authors called Substack?”.
Yes, indeed there is. Substack is an excellent platform used by hundreds of independent authors. With Substack you get your very own web site and make use of the system as your all-in-one service for sending out e-mails (while developing an archive of previous issues).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s commitment to development. beehiiv allows you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the advantage of better analytics, more design flexibilty, and a referral program to encourage your existing customers to obtain words out.
beehiiv also gives you a site comparable to Substack. Yet, if you have your own internet site already, you can also utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I make use of) to send your site clients right to your beehiiv email listing. On the exact same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a device like Revue to enable individuals to subscribe to your newsletter directly from Twitter.
This provides you the adaptability to leverage various marketing channels to obtain your e-newsletter out right into the globe, making beehiiv a fantastic Substack option.
Just how to start using beehiiv email marketing software application.
Sign up for a free plan
The initial step is to enroll in a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Start trial” switch on beehiiv’s website.
The free plan will allow you to have up to 2,500 customers, give you access to web site hosting, a newsletter CMS, advance personalization, analytics, exterior embed kinds, and a lot more. It’s an extremely generous offering for those just beginning (or for those searching for a new platform to move to).
Onboarding Beehiiv Website Creator
After producing an account, you’ll go through an onboarding process that will ask things like, “is this your first newsletter?”, “what various other platforms have you made use of?”, “do you have any type of paying subscribers?”, and a lot more.
You’ll after that create a name and link for your e-newsletter’s internet site. On the free plan, your e-newsletter will certainly survive on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your web site link could be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll additionally choose your brand name design and colors to make certain your newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your dashboard
When you reach your main control panel, you’ll see all of your analytics and setups.
You will certainly have detailed details on the amount of sign-ups you’re obtaining and from where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Begin writing,” “Posts,” “Target market,” “Expand,” “Monetize,” “Design,” and” Evaluate.” And at the really bottom you’ll see the settings option.
Dashboard is your major control center (screenshot above), Begin creating is where you create and release e-newsletters, Blog posts is where you can see every one of your previous e-newsletter versions, Audience is where you can view who your clients are (and break them down into segments), Expand is where you have access to a referral program (and growth tutorials) and boosts to run advertisements, Monetize is where you can access the beehiiv ad network and monetize your e-newsletter with advertisements, Style is where you create your newsletter landing page and article template, Examine is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can take care of every one of your admin things.
Creating your newsletter
beehiiv makes it simple to begin composing, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting, and have a concept you wish to write about, I advise simply mosting likely to the “Create” area in the navbar and clicking “Begin composing”.
You can fine-tune your template and styling later– concentrate on the web content initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor offers a clean and user-friendly interface for composing.
As soon as you start composing, you can maximize headings, include web links, and style your content exactly how you such as.
beehiiv gives you lots of options for different types of material like videos, links, images, and extra.
The team at beehiiv is likewise continuously launching item feature and updates so I make sure there will be a lot extra content features relying on when you’re reading this.
Optimizing your settings and templates
Once you have an e-newsletter that’s ready to send out, it’s time to design your e-mail template and adjust some settings.
Here, you can upgrade the name of your e-newsletter, provide it a description, include your logo design, activate or off a welcome e-mail to very first time customers, and extra.
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 mosting likely to undergo ever solitary thing you can maximize with your e-mail template due to the fact that it’s a great deal. Just check out the system free of charge and see it for yourself!
Crucial beehiiv features
beehiiv has tons of outstanding features that make it a terrific posting system for any type of e-newsletter designer.
Below are a few of the essential features you can discover with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter publishing platform. It makes it incredibly very easy to write and send e-mails. I mentioned above some of the things you can do with your settings and e-mail design so I’ll save you some additional reading.
The thing to note with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has a truly modern and minimalistic feeling. It’s most definitely one of the much better email editors I have actually ever written in.
Website hosting
When you produce a beehiiv newsletter, all of your e-newsletters (if you want) reside on a website. Think of it as a site for your e-newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous issues of your newsletter, and a place where people can subscribe to your e-newsletter.
If you know with Substack, it’s virtually similar to that.
All plans, consisting of the cost-free one, give you a web site. However, the free plan areas your internet site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you want to include a custom-made domain name to eliminate all the beehiiv branding you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting subscribers is necessary. Nevertheless, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can subscribe to your newsletter directly from your beehiiv site or through embed kinds.
If you currently have a web site, and desire individuals to sign up for your newsletter from your existing website, you’ll have to utilize an embed form. This is what I utilize on this internet site (you can see the sign-up embed on the right-hand man column of this blog post if you scroll up).
With embed forms, you have three various options– a full size, a dealt with size, and a slim installed. I directly utilize the slim installed.
You can locate the code bit for these embeds in the “Subscribe Forms” tab in your settings.
There’s also an alternative for acknowledgment monitoring if you intend to forward UTM specifications for tracking functions– rather neat.
Nevertheless, there are a couple of features I wish beehiiv had when it pertained to subscribe features. I’m sure the group is dealing with updates for these, but I pointed out a few issues I had in the advantages and disadvantages area listed below.
Referral program
Among the amazing things about beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other e-newsletter system, is a remedy for developing a referral program.
You can encourage existing customers on your checklist to onward your emails to close friends and associates and if they obtain other people to subscribe to your listing, you can compensate them. These benefits can be in whatever type you desire. I have actually appear several e-newsletter firms offer benefits in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously transform your subscribers into a word of mouth growth engine for your e-newsletter– offering you an additional opportunity for expanding your e-mail listing.
Nonetheless, to obtain access to the referral program feature, you’ll need to upgrade to an extra superior plan. I’ll review all the plans later on in this write-up.
Premium subscriptions
They say all you require to make a living online is 1,000 true fans. Subscription earnings is certainly a beast of its own. If you’re trying to find a system to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can develop “premium” problems of your e-newsletter that are just sent out to paying subscribers. This can be really rewarding depending on what your e-newsletter has to offer. For instance, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that produces millions in profits a year just by having pay-only e-newsletter material.
Data analytics
Among things I enjoy regarding beehiiv is just how clean and easy the analytics are. You get real-time date on exactly how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and client matter Beehiiv Website Creator.
You obtain access to all the metrics you require to get a bird-eye view on just how your newsletter is actually doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that subscriber matter increase is most definitely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv uses four various pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (free) Launch plan provides you whatever you require to get going and expand your newsletter (as much as 2,500 subscribers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) provides you whatever in the Launch plan with the enhancement the advertisement network, referral program, custom domain name, surveys, and access to premium subscriptions. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) provides you every little thing in the Grow plan with enhancement of priority support 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 clients you will pay around $329 each month. Instead of some rivals, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would bill $679 each month for the exact same amount– making beehiiv a terrific Kit alternative for several customers.
I’m unsure just how the unit economics deal with this, however beehiiv is certainly less expensive (right now) than what it can be.
beehiiv pros and cons
Obviously, with every system, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Right here are a few of the pros and cons I have actually personally experienced while using beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Below are several of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter system of selection:
Easy to set up and start sending e-newsletters absolutely free.
Clean and modern client analytics.
Great deals of versatility with e-mail layouts.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Develop premium choices to monetize.
Polls.
To be sincere, I haven’t seen an additional newsletter platform that has had the ability to package all of these features with each other so well.
Yet certainly, I don’t want to be biased so I’m mosting likely to state some disadvantages.
Cons of using beehiiv
Below are some of the disadvantages I’ve found while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around incorporating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around adding customized typefaces.
I make use of Webflow as my internet site building platform of option (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a long time ago). I’m not going to enter too much detail why I love Webflow so much but you can review my Webflow review if you want to discover more.
Now, there actually is no other method I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow website besides using an iframe embed. I directly do not such as using iframe’s due to the fact that they tend to reduce my internet site a little bit. Whenever a web page on my site (with a beehiiv installed) lots, the sign-up embed is the last point to pack on the web page. It’s extremely obvious when you get on a slow-moving web link. Yet I can get around that.
The primary gripe I have is that I can not utilize a routine Webflow type (which I enjoy utilizing). There are methods around this by using a tool like Zapier but that would simply add added costs that I do not need. To be sincere, this is even more of a Webflow disadvantage over a beehiiv con yet I thought I would certainly state it.
Besides that, I still believe the pros much outweigh the cons here. I’m likewise enthusiastic that Webflow will at some point create a better way to integrate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
In general, beehiiv is a great solution for any individual aiming to dive into the world of email marketing and e-newsletters.
The performance of this e-newsletter system much surpasses many that are currently on the market. And with a generous free plan, you really have nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally rather inexpensive wherefore they are. Paying only $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your listing is uncommon. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k customers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it could cost you well into the thousands each month.
Anyways, I do not create review posts frequently. I just do when I in fact utilize the tool myself and would advise it to a close friend.
I hope you located some clarity on whether or not beehiiv is an excellent system for you.