Over two years back, I read among my favorite e-mail newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail and saw the beehiiv logo design for the first time. I clicked on it and instantaneously began wrecking Best Beehiiv Newsletters.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so emotional.
Being a full time creator is difficult. I’m commonly obtaining pitched various devices and services that don’t seem to be worth my time.
I think I was emotional due to the fact that I spent the last six months checking out various email and e-newsletter systems to assist construct my newsletter. And to be fair, there are some wonderful alternatives for composing e-newsletters. But I could not locate one that made me provide a definite “yes”.
The issue with lots of existing newsletter platforms is that they don’t really feel creator-centered. I desire a newsletter system that lets me totally customize my newsletter styles, makes it super very easy to write and send e-mails, and gives me devices that aid me examine metrics and obtain even more subscribers.
I think I’ve ultimately discovered the appropriate device.
But, I know beehiiv may not be for everybody. 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 e-newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly e-newsletter platform that makes it simple to design, compose, send, promote, monetize, and track the ROI of your newsletter.
Developed by former workers at the well-known e-newsletter firm Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to aid makers launch and monetize their own e-newsletter– taking great deals of development principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M customers.
In this post, I’m going to explain my individual experience with beehiiv, the important things I love (and hate) about it, all of it’s features, and why I decided to lastly choose it as my e-newsletter platform of choice.
My individual experience with beehiiv
A few months earlier, I mistakenly stumbled across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I have actually been on the lookout for a modern-day newsletter system for rather a long time currently. I have actually procrastinated hard when it concerned finally launching my newsletter.
First, I attempted Mailchimp. Then, a couple of other indie systems. After that, Substack. And finally, I ended up utilizing beehiiv.
I make certain several newsletter creators respect prominent e-newsletters with countless subscribers– I know I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I looked up to a great deal. They have fantastic material, tons of clients, and a creative referral program that enables them to get back at more clients.
So, I went on a quest to identify how these big newsletters set up their logistics. What system do they make use of? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they obtain even more clients? How do they create a newsletter style that remains on-brand?
When I found beehiiv for the first time, it appeared to respond to all of my concerns. I thought to myself, “damn individuals that built this tool truly comprehend newsletter production and development.” I examined who these makers of beehiiv were.
So I went to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were several of the initial marketing and growth staff members at Morning Brew– my mind took off.
I knew this was going to be a various newsletter system. One that’s focused on developer development.
Due to the fact that, any kind of designer knows, you require development to be able to make a living off of an e-newsletter. And discovering the right e-newsletter stack (that scales) often implies utilizing several various devices to assist achieve one objective– one platform for your e-newsletter, one system to generate income from, and one platform to set up referrals. It can get expensive.
So when I found out beehiiv did all of these things in one platform, and it was complimentary to begin using, it was a piece of cake to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean content designer that wants a platform that permits them to send personalized newsletters with or without needing to have a website.
The most effective newsletters have the right devices to construct and scale their newsletters. beehiiv aims at providing you those devices.
If you’re an independent writer, media business, startup, or content creator, you must seriously thinking about trying beehiiv. It’s totally complimentary to get going and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 customers on your checklist.
If you actually wind up needing to spend for beehiiv it’s most likely a great indicator that individuals enjoy reviewing your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You may be asking, “isn’t there currently a platform for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, yes there is. Substack is a terrific platform made use of by hundreds of independent authors. With Substack you get your very own website and utilize the platform as your all-in-one remedy for sending out e-mails (while creating an archive of previous concerns).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s devotion to development. beehiiv enables you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the benefit of much better analytics, more layout flexibilty, and a referral program to encourage your existing clients to get words out.
beehiiv likewise provides you an internet site similar to Substack. However, if you have your very own site already, you can also use beehiiv’s sign-up installs (that’s what I make use of) to send your web site subscribers directly to your beehiiv email list. On the same token, you can incorporate beehiiv with a tool like Performance to enable people to register for your e-newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the flexibility to leverage various marketing channels to get your newsletter out into the globe, making beehiiv a great Substack option.
Exactly how to start using beehiiv e-mail marketing software.
Sign up for a free plan
The primary step is to enroll in a free plan. You can do this by clicking the “Beginning trial” button on beehiiv’s internet site.
The free plan will certainly permit you to have up to 2,500 subscribers, offer you access to website hosting, an e-newsletter CMS, advancement modification, analytics, outside embed types, and much more. It’s a very charitable offering for those simply starting out (or for those trying to find a new platform to migrate to).
Onboarding Best Beehiiv Newsletters
After producing an account, you’ll go through an onboarding procedure that will ask points like, “is this your first newsletter?”, “what other systems have you used?”, “do you have any type of paying clients?”, and extra.
You’ll then produce a name and URL for your newsletter’s website. On the free plan, your newsletter will certainly live on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Baking Cakes,” your web site link could be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll likewise pick your brand colors and design to ensure your e-newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your dashboard
When you reach your major control panel, you’ll see every one of your analytics and settings.
You will have described info on the amount of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see options for “Start composing,” “Messages,” “Target market,” “Expand,” “Monetize,” “Layout,” and” Assess.” And at the really lower you’ll see the setups choice.
Control panel is your main control center (screenshot over), Begin composing is where you create and publish e-newsletters, Articles is where you can see every one of your previous newsletter editions, Target market is where you can view who your clients are (and break them down right into sectors), Expand is where you have access 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, Layout is where you design your newsletter landing page and message template, Evaluate is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can take care of every one of your admin things.
Writing your e-newsletter
beehiiv makes it easy to begin creating, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting out, and have an idea you wish to discuss, I suggest simply mosting likely to the “Create” area in the navbar and clicking on “Beginning composing”.
You can modify your template and styling later on– focus on the material initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor supplies a clean and easy to use user interface for creating.
When you begin composing, you can maximize headings, include web links, and design your web content how you such as.
beehiiv gives you lots of alternatives for various kinds of web content like video clips, links, photos, and more.
The team at beehiiv is additionally regularly launching item feature and updates so I’m sure there will certainly be a whole lot much more content features depending upon when you read this.
Optimizing your settings and templates
When you have an e-newsletter that’s ready to send, it’s time to develop your e-mail template and adjust some settings.
Right here, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, provide it a summary, add your logo design, turn on or off a welcome email to very first time clients, and much more.
Next, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your layout.
You can edit background shades, borders, spacing, font styles, photo formats, and a lot more. I’m not mosting likely to experience ever solitary point you can maximize with your email template due to the fact that it’s a great deal. Just try out the platform free of cost and see it on your own!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of fantastic features that make it a great posting system for any type of e-newsletter developer.
Right here are a few of the necessary features you can locate with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter posting platform. It makes it incredibly easy to create and send out e-mails. I mentioned above a few of things you can do with your settings and email design so I’ll spare you some extra analysis.
Things to note with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has an actually modern and minimalistic feel. It’s absolutely among the far better email editors I’ve ever before written in.
Website hosting
When you create a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your newsletters (if you desire) reside on a site. Think of it as a web site for your newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous concerns of your e-newsletter, and an area where people can subscribe to your e-newsletter.
If you recognize with Substack, it’s practically comparable to that.
All plans, consisting of the cost-free one, give you a site. Nevertheless, the free plan areas your website on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to add a customized domain name to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll need to update to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting clients is necessary. After all, that’s why you have a newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can subscribe to your e-newsletter right from your beehiiv website or with embed forms.
If you already have an internet site, and want people to sign up for your newsletter from your existing site, you’ll have to make use of an embed type. This is what I use on this site (you can see the sign-up installed on the right-hand man column of this article if you scroll up).
With embed types, you have 3 various alternatives– a complete size, a fixed size, and a slim installed. I directly utilize the slim installed.
You can discover the code snippet for these embeds in the “Subscribe Forms” tab in your settings.
There’s additionally a choice for acknowledgment monitoring if you intend to ahead UTM specifications for tracking objectives– quite neat.
Nevertheless, there are a couple of features I wish beehiiv had when it came to subscribe features. I make certain the group is servicing updates for these, however I stated a few 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 e-newsletter system, is a solution for developing a referral program.
You can urge existing subscribers on your checklist to onward your emails to good friends and colleagues and if they obtain other people to register for your listing, you can compensate them. These benefits can be in whatever form you desire. I have actually appear many newsletter firms offer benefits in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously transform your customers right into a word of mouth growth engine for your newsletter– giving you an additional method for expanding your e-mail listing.
Nevertheless, to obtain access to the referral program feature, you’ll need to upgrade to a more superior plan. I’ll go over all the plans later on in this write-up.
Costs subscriptions
They claim all you require to make a living online is 1,000 true fans. Subscription profits is absolutely a monster of its very own. If you’re looking for a platform to monetize your e-newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can create “premium” problems of your newsletter that are just sent out to paying subscribers. This can be really rewarding depending on what your newsletter needs to supply. For example, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that generates millions in revenue a year merely by having pay-only newsletter material.
Information analytics
Among things I enjoy about beehiiv is exactly how tidy and straightforward the analytics are. You obtain real-time day on just how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and subscriber count Best Beehiiv Newsletters.
You obtain accessibility to all the metrics you require to get a bird-eye view on exactly how your newsletter is really doing. Logging right into your dashboard and seeing that customer matter rise is absolutely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv offers 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out below.
The (cost-free) Launch plan provides you every little thing you need to begin and expand your newsletter (approximately 2,500 clients).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) gives you every little thing in the Launch plan with the addition the ad network, referral program, customized domain, surveys, and accessibility to premium subscriptions. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) offers you everything in the Grow plan with enhancement of top priority support and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are quite charitable in my opinion.
As an example, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will pay around $329 each month. Instead of some rivals, like Kit (formerly ConvertKit), that would charge $679 each month for the same amount– making beehiiv a terrific Kit option for numerous users.
I’m not sure exactly how the unit economics work with this, yet beehiiv is certainly cheaper (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv benefits and drawbacks
Naturally, with every system, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Right here are a few of the advantages and disadvantages I’ve personally experienced while making use of beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter platform of choice:
Easy to establish and begin sending newsletters totally free.
Tidy and modern subscriber analytics.
Lots of flexibility with email designs.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Create costs choices to monetize.
Polls.
To be straightforward, I have not seen another e-newsletter system that has had the ability to package all of these features with each other so well.
However of course, I don’t intend to be prejudiced so I’m going to discuss some cons.
Cons of using beehiiv
Here are a few of the cons I’ve found while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including custom font styles.
I use Webflow as my web site structure system of option (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a very long time ago). I’m not going to enter excessive detail why I like Webflow a lot but you can read my Webflow review if you would love to learn more.
Now, there actually is nothing else method I can integrate beehiiv with my Webflow website other than using an iframe embed. I personally do not like utilizing iframe’s since they have a tendency to decrease my internet site a bit. Every single time a page on my website (with a beehiiv installed) loads, the sign-up embed is the last point to load on the page. It’s really noticeable when you’re on a slow-moving internet connection. But I can navigate that.
The main gripe I have is that I can not make use of a regular Webflow type (which I enjoy making use of). There are ways around this by using a tool like Zapier yet that would simply add extra prices that I don’t require. To be sincere, this is more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv con however I believed I would certainly discuss it.
Besides that, I still think the pros far exceed the cons here. I’m also confident that Webflow will ultimately produce a better way to incorporate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
On the whole, beehiiv is a terrific option for anyone wanting to study the world of e-mail marketing and newsletters.
The performance of this e-newsletter system far exceeds numerous that are currently on the market. And with a charitable free plan, you truly have absolutely nothing to lose for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally relatively cheap for what they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your checklist is unheard of. If you were to have a newsletter with 100k subscribers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it could cost you well right into the thousands each month.
Anyways, I don’t write testimonial blog posts often. I just do when I in fact use the tool myself and would recommend it to a close friend.
I hope you discovered some clearness on whether beehiiv is an excellent system for you.