Over 2 years earlier, I read one of my favored 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 it and quickly started destroying Convert To Beehiiv Kit.
I had not been certain why I really felt so emotional.
Being a permanent designer is tough. I’m usually getting pitched various devices and solutions that don’t seem to be worth my time.
I think I was emotional due to the fact that I invested the last six months checking out various e-mail and e-newsletter platforms to help construct my e-newsletter. And to be fair, there are some wonderful choices for creating newsletters. However I couldn’t locate one that made me give a certain “yes”.
The issue with several existing e-newsletter platforms is that they don’t feel creator-centered. I desire a newsletter platform that lets me fully tailor my newsletter styles, makes it super very easy to create and send out e-mails, and provides me devices that help me evaluate metrics and obtain more customers.
I think I have actually lastly located the appropriate tool.
However, I understand beehiiv might not be for everyone. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s actually best for you.
What is beehiiv?
beehiiv is an all-in-one platform for newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly newsletter system that makes it very easy to style, compose, send, promote, generate income from, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Developed by former staff members at the popular newsletter business Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to assist makers launch and monetize their very own e-newsletter– taking lots of development principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this article, I’m mosting likely to clarify my personal experience with beehiiv, things I like (and hate) concerning it, all of it’s features, and why I determined to lastly choose it as my e-newsletter system of selection.
My individual experience with beehiiv
A few months ago, I accidentally stumbled across beehiiv. The amusing story is that I’ve watched for a contemporary e-newsletter system for rather time currently. I’ve put things off hard when it involved finally launching my e-newsletter.
Initially, I tried Mailchimp. After that, a few other indie platforms. After that, Substack. And lastly, I wound up making use of beehiiv.
I make certain many newsletter creators appreciate prominent newsletters with numerous customers– I understand I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I respected a whole lot. They have great web content, lots of customers, and a smart referral program that allows them to get even a lot more customers.
So, I went on a quest to figure out exactly how these large newsletters established their logistics. What platform do they use? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they obtain more customers? How do they produce an e-newsletter style that remains on-brand?
When I discovered 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 device truly understand e-newsletter production and growth.” I questioned who these makers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were several of the initial marketing and growth staff members at Morning Brew– my mind blew up.
I recognized this was mosting likely to be a various e-newsletter system. One that’s concentrated on creator growth.
Because, any designer recognizes, you require development to be able to earn a living off of a newsletter. And discovering the right e-newsletter stack (that scales) often implies utilizing multiple different devices to aid achieve one goal– one platform for your newsletter, one system to monetize, and one system to set up referrals. It can get costly.
So when I found out beehiiv did all of these things in one system, and it was complimentary to begin using, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content creator that wants a platform that permits them to send custom e-newsletters with or without requiring to have an internet site.
The most effective e-newsletters have the right devices to build and scale their e-newsletters. beehiiv targets at offering you those devices.
If you’re an independent author, media firm, startup, or web content creator, you must seriously taking into consideration checking out beehiiv. It’s totally complimentary to get started and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 subscribers on your checklist.
If you in fact wind up needing to pay for beehiiv it’s possibly a great indicator that individuals enjoy reading your stuff.
beehiiv vs Substack
You may be asking, “isn’t there currently a system for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, yes there is. Substack is a great platform utilized by countless independent authors. With Substack you get your own web site and make use of the system as your all-in-one service for sending out emails (while producing an archive of previous problems).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s devotion to growth. beehiiv permits you do to all the things Substack can do, with the advantage of much better analytics, even more style flexibilty, and a referral program to motivate your existing subscribers to obtain the word out.
beehiiv likewise gives you a web site comparable to Substack. But, if you have your very own website already, you can likewise make use of beehiiv’s sign-up installs (that’s what I utilize) to send your website customers directly to your beehiiv email checklist. On the very same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a device like Performance to enable individuals to sign up for your e-newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the adaptability to utilize various marketing networks to obtain your e-newsletter out right into the globe, making beehiiv an excellent Substack option.
Just how to begin utilizing beehiiv email marketing software.
Register for a free plan
The primary step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking on the “Beginning trial” switch on beehiiv’s web site.
The free plan will certainly permit you to have up to 2,500 customers, provide you accessibility to web site hosting, an e-newsletter CMS, advancement modification, analytics, external embed forms, and a lot more. It’s a really generous offering for those simply beginning (or for those seeking a brand-new platform to migrate to).
Onboarding Convert To Beehiiv Kit
After developing an account, you’ll undergo an onboarding process that will ask things like, “is this your first newsletter?”, “what other systems have you made use of?”, “do you have any type of paying subscribers?”, and much more.
You’ll after that develop a name and URL for your newsletter’s site. On the free plan, your newsletter will reside on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Baking Cakes,” your site link could be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll additionally select your brand name colors and design to make certain your e-newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your control panel
Once you reach your primary control panel, you’ll see all of your analytics and setups.
You will certainly have described information on the number of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see choices for “Beginning composing,” “Messages,” “Audience,” “Expand,” “Generate income from,” “Design,” and” Assess.” And at the extremely lower you’ll see the setups choice.
Control panel is your major control center (screenshot over), Begin composing is where you develop and release e-newsletters, Articles is where you can see every one of your previous newsletter versions, Target market is where you can view who your clients are (and break them down into sections), Expand is where you have accessibility to a referral program (and development 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 newsletter landing page and article template, Analyze is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can handle every one of your admin stuff.
Composing your newsletter
beehiiv makes it very easy to begin creating, with little to no rubbing. If you’re simply beginning, and have an idea you wish to write about, I suggest simply going to the “Write” section in the navbar and clicking on “Begin creating”.
You can modify your template and designing later– concentrate on the content first.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor uses a tidy and user-friendly user interface for composing.
When you begin creating, you can enhance headings, include links, and style your material just how you such as.
beehiiv gives you lots of alternatives for various types of content like videos, links, photos, and much more.
The group at beehiiv is likewise continuously releasing item feature and updates so I make certain there will be a great deal more content features depending on when you read this.
Maximizing your settings and templates
As soon as you have an e-newsletter that prepares to send, it’s time to make your e-mail template and adjust some setups.
Right here, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, provide it a summary, include your logo, turn on or off a welcome e-mail to first time customers, and more.
Next, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your layout.
You can modify background shades, borders, spacing, font styles, picture formats, and extra. I’m not going to undergo ever before single thing you can enhance with your e-mail template since it’s a great deal. Just try the platform totally free and see it on your own!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has tons of remarkable features that make it a fantastic posting platform for any e-newsletter developer.
Right here are some of the important features you can locate with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter posting platform. It makes it extremely very easy to write and send out e-mails. I stated over several of things you can do with your settings and email layout so I’ll save you some additional analysis.
The thing to keep in mind with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has an actually modern-day and minimalistic feeling. It’s most definitely one of the better e-mail editors I’ve ever written in.
Website hosting
When you produce a beehiiv newsletter, all of your e-newsletters (if you desire) survive on a website. Think about it as a website for your e-newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous issues of your e-newsletter, and a place where individuals can register for your newsletter.
If you recognize with Substack, it’s basically similar to that.
All plans, consisting of the cost-free one, give you an internet site. Nonetheless, the free plan locations your web site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you want to include a customized domain to remove all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Obtaining customers is essential. Besides, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can subscribe to your newsletter directly from your beehiiv web site or through embed forms.
If you already have a website, and want people to subscribe to your e-newsletter from your existing site, you’ll have to utilize an embed form. This is what I utilize on this site (you can see the sign-up embed on the right hand column of this blog post if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have 3 different choices– a full size, a dealt with size, and a slim installed. I personally use the slim installed.
You can locate the code fragment for these embeds in the “Subscribe Types” tab in your setups.
There’s likewise an option for attribution tracking if you want to forward UTM specifications for tracking purposes– quite cool.
Nevertheless, there are a couple of features I want beehiiv had when it pertained to subscribe features. I’m sure the group is servicing updates for these, yet I mentioned a few issues I had in the benefits and drawbacks section below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things concerning beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter platform, is a service for creating a referral program.
You can urge existing customers on your listing to onward your e-mails to friends and colleagues and if they get other individuals to register for your listing, you can compensate them. These incentives can be in whatever form you want. I’ve seem numerous newsletter firms provide benefits in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously turn your customers right into a word of mouth growth engine for your e-newsletter– giving you one more opportunity for expanding your email list.
Nonetheless, to get access to the referral program feature, you’ll have to update to an extra superior plan. I’ll discuss all the plans later on in this write-up.
Premium registrations
They claim all you need to earn a living online is 1,000 real followers. Membership profits is definitely a monster of its very own. If you’re searching for a platform to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “premium” issues of your newsletter that are only sent out to paying clients. This can be really profitable depending upon what your e-newsletter needs to offer. For example, Trends.co is a prominent premium newsletter that generates millions in income a year simply by having pay-only e-newsletter web content.
Data analytics
Among the things I like regarding beehiiv is exactly how tidy and basic the analytics are. You get real-time date on how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and client matter Convert To Beehiiv Kit.
You obtain access to all the metrics you require to obtain a bird-eye sight on just how your newsletter is actually doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that customer count rise is absolutely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv uses 4 different pricing plans. You can check them out below.
The (free) Launch plan provides you every little thing you require to get started and expand your newsletter (up to 2,500 clients).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) gives you everything in the Launch plan with the enhancement the advertisement network, referral program, custom domain, surveys, and access to premium subscriptions. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) provides you everything in the Grow plan with addition of concern assistance and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are quite generous in my opinion.
For instance, if you have 100,000 clients you will certainly pay around $329 monthly. Rather than some competitors, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would bill $679 monthly for the very same amount– making beehiiv a terrific Kit alternative for many individuals.
I’m not exactly sure just how the device economics work with this, however beehiiv is certainly cheaper (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv pros and cons
Of course, with every system, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are several of the pros and cons I have actually directly experienced while utilizing beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Below are several of the pros of using beehiiv as your e-newsletter system of choice:
Easy to set up and begin sending e-newsletters for free.
Tidy and modern-day client analytics.
Lots of adaptability with email layouts.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Produce premium choices to monetize.
Surveys.
To be straightforward, I haven’t seen another newsletter system that has actually been able to package all of these features together so well.
Yet naturally, I don’t intend to be biased so I’m mosting likely to point out some disadvantages.
Cons of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the disadvantages I have actually located while using beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around adding custom typefaces.
I utilize Webflow as my internet site building system of selection (I finished from WordPress and Squarespace a long period of time ago). I’m not mosting likely to go in way too much information why I enjoy Webflow a lot yet you can review my Webflow testimonial if you ‘d like to find out more.
Now, there truly is no other method I can integrate beehiiv with my Webflow website apart from using an iframe embed. I directly don’t like making use of iframe’s since they often tend to decrease my web site a bit. Each 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 really visible when you get on a slow web connection. However I can navigate that.
The primary complaint I have is that I can’t make use of a normal Webflow form (which I enjoy making use of). There are means around this by utilizing a device like Zapier yet that would certainly simply include additional costs that I don’t require. To be honest, this is even more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv con yet I thought I would certainly state it.
Besides that, I still think the pros much exceed the disadvantages here. I’m likewise confident that Webflow will eventually develop a far better method to integrate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
Overall, beehiiv is an excellent solution for any person looking to study the world of email marketing and e-newsletters.
The capability of this e-newsletter platform far surpasses many that are presently on the marketplace. And with a generous free plan, you really have nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally relatively cheap of what they are. Paying only $329/month to have 100,000 clients on your listing is uncommon. If you were to have a newsletter with 100k subscribers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it can cost you well into the thousands monthly.
Anyways, I don’t create testimonial messages often. I only do when I really make use of the tool myself and would certainly recommend it to a close friend.
I hope you discovered some clearness on whether or not beehiiv is an excellent system for you.