Over 2 years back, I was reading one of my favorite e-mail e-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 promptly started tearing up Is Beehiiv Good.
I had not been certain why I felt so psychological.
Being a permanent creator is tough. I’m frequently obtaining pitched various tools and services that do not seem to be worth my time.
I guess I was psychological due to the fact that I invested the last 6 months trying various e-mail and newsletter platforms to aid build my e-newsletter. And to be fair, there are some fantastic choices for composing newsletters. But I could not find one that made me provide a definite “yes”.
The issue with many existing e-newsletter platforms is that they do not really feel creator-centered. I want an e-newsletter platform that lets me completely customize my e-newsletter styles, makes it extremely easy to write and send e-mails, and gives me devices that help me analyze metrics and get more clients.
I think I’ve finally found the best tool.
Yet, I know beehiiv may not be for everyone. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s actually right 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 easy to style, write, send out, advertise, generate income from, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Developed by former employees at the well-known e-newsletter business Morning Brew, beehiiv aims to aid developers launch and monetize their own newsletter– taking lots of growth concepts from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this short article, I’m mosting likely to describe my personal experience with beehiiv, the important things I enjoy (and hate) concerning it, all of it’s features, and why I chose to finally choose it as my e-newsletter system of selection.
My individual experience with beehiiv
A couple of months back, I accidentally came across beehiiv. The funny tale is that I have actually been on the lookout for a modern newsletter system for fairly a long time currently. I’ve hesitated hard when it came to finally introducing my e-newsletter.
First, I tried Mailchimp. After that, a few various other indie platforms. After that, Substack. And ultimately, I wound up utilizing beehiiv.
I’m sure several e-newsletter creators appreciate preferred newsletters with numerous subscribers– I know I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I respected a lot. They have great web content, lots of clients, and a brilliant referral program that allows them to get even much more clients.
So, I went on a quest to determine just how these huge newsletters established 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 develop a newsletter layout that stays on-brand?
When I discovered beehiiv for the first time, it seemed to address all of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn individuals that built this tool truly recognize newsletter production and growth.” I questioned who these designers of beehiiv were.
So I went to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were a few of the first marketing and growth employees at Morning Brew– my mind took off.
I recognized this was going to be a various e-newsletter system. One that’s focused on developer development.
Due to the fact that, any creator recognizes, you need growth to be able to earn a living off of a newsletter. And discovering the right newsletter pile (that scales) typically indicates utilizing several different devices to assist accomplish one goal– one system for your e-newsletter, one platform to monetize, and one system to establish referrals. It can obtain expensive.
So when I found out beehiiv did all of these things in one system, and it was cost-free to begin using, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean web content maker that wants a platform that permits them to send out customized newsletters with or without needing to have a web site.
One of the most successful newsletters have the right devices to build and scale their newsletters. beehiiv focuses on providing you those devices.
If you’re an independent writer, media business, start-up, or web content developer, you need to seriously taking into consideration trying out beehiiv. It’s totally complimentary to get going and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 customers on your listing.
If you really wind up having to pay for beehiiv it’s most likely a good indication that individuals like reviewing your things.
beehiiv vs Substack
You could be asking, “isn’t there already a system for writers called Substack?”.
Yes, of course there is. Substack is a terrific system used by thousands of independent writers. With Substack you obtain your very own web site and make use of the platform as your all-in-one remedy for sending emails (while developing an archive of previous problems).
What sets beehiiv apart is it’s dedication to growth. beehiiv allows you do to all things Substack can do, with the benefit of far better analytics, even more layout flexibilty, and a referral program to urge your existing customers to obtain the word out.
beehiiv also provides you a site comparable to Substack. Yet, if you have your own internet site already, you can likewise make use of beehiiv’s sign-up installs (that’s what I utilize) to send your internet site customers directly to your beehiiv email checklist. On the same token, you can integrate beehiiv with a tool like Performance to enable individuals to register for your newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the adaptability to utilize different marketing channels to get your newsletter out right into the world, making beehiiv an excellent Substack option.
Just how to begin utilizing beehiiv e-mail marketing software.
Register for a free plan
The primary step is to sign up for a free plan. You can do this by clicking on the “Begin trial” switch on beehiiv’s web site.
The free plan will permit you to have up to 2,500 customers, offer you accessibility to web site hosting, an e-newsletter CMS, advancement personalization, analytics, exterior embed types, and extra. It’s a really charitable offering for those just starting (or for those trying to find a new platform to migrate to).
Onboarding Is Beehiiv Good
After developing an account, you’ll undergo an onboarding procedure that will ask things like, “is this your very first e-newsletter?”, “what other platforms have you used?”, “do you have any type of paying clients?”, and a lot more.
You’ll after that produce a name and link for your e-newsletter’s internet site. On the free plan, your newsletter will reside on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your e-newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your internet site link might be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
During the onboarding procedure, you’ll also pick your brand name design and colors to ensure your e-newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your dashboard
When you reach your main control panel, you’ll see every one of your analytics and settings.
You will have detailed info on the amount of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see options for “Begin creating,” “Articles,” “Target market,” “Grow,” “Generate income from,” “Layout,” and” Assess.” And at the extremely lower you’ll see the settings choice.
Dashboard is your primary control center (screenshot above), Begin composing is where you develop and publish e-newsletters, Posts is where you can see every one of your previous e-newsletter versions, Audience is where you can watch who your clients are (and damage them down right into segments), Grow 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 ads, Style is where you create your newsletter landing page and post template, Evaluate is where you can see all your analytics, and Settings is where you can manage every one of your admin things.
Composing your e-newsletter
beehiiv makes it simple to start writing, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting, and have an idea you intend to blog about, I recommend just going to the “Write” area in the navbar and clicking on “Beginning composing”.
You can tweak your template and designing later on– focus on the content first.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor uses a clean and straightforward interface for writing.
As soon as you begin creating, you can maximize headings, add links, and style your web content just how you like.
beehiiv provides you lots of options for various kinds of web content like video clips, web links, photos, and a lot more.
The group at beehiiv is likewise constantly releasing item feature and updates so I make sure there will be a lot extra material features depending upon when you’re reading this.
Maximizing your settings and templates
As soon as you have an e-newsletter that prepares to send out, it’s time to design your email template and change some settings.
Right here, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, provide it a description, add your logo, switch on or off a welcome e-mail to first time clients, and extra.
Next off, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your layout.
You can modify history colors, borders, spacing, font styles, picture formats, and more. I’m not mosting likely to undergo ever single point you can optimize with your e-mail template since it’s a lot. Just try out the platform free of cost and see it on your own!
Important beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of remarkable features that make it a terrific publishing system for any e-newsletter maker.
Here are several of the vital features you can locate with beehiiv:.
E-newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter posting platform. It makes it very simple to compose and send out emails. I discussed over some of the important things you can do with your settings and email layout so I’ll spare you some added reading.
The thing to note with beehiiv’s newsletter builder is that it has a really modern-day and minimalistic feel. It’s definitely among the better email editors I have actually ever before written in.
Web site hosting
When you create a beehiiv e-newsletter, all of your e-newsletters (if you desire) survive on an internet site. Think of it as a site for your e-newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous problems of your newsletter, and an area where people can register for your e-newsletter.
If you know with Substack, it’s basically similar to that.
All plans, consisting of the free one, offer you a site. Nevertheless, the free plan places your web site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you want to add a custom-made domain to eliminate all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to upgrade to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting clients is essential. After all, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can register for your newsletter right from your beehiiv website or via embed types.
If you already have a website, and desire individuals to register for your e-newsletter from your existing site, you’ll need to use an embed form. This is what I use on this web site (you can see the sign-up installed on the right-hand man column of this post if you scroll up).
With embed kinds, you have 3 various alternatives– a complete width, a fixed width, and a slim embed. I personally utilize the slim embed.
You can find the code snippet for these embeds in the “Subscribe Types” tab in your setups.
There’s also an option for attribution tracking if you intend to onward UTM parameters for tracking objectives– quite neat.
However, there are a couple of features I wish beehiiv had when it came to subscribe features. I make sure the team is dealing with updates for these, but I mentioned a few concerns I had in the benefits and drawbacks section listed below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things regarding beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter system, is a service for producing a referral program.
You can urge existing clients on your list to forward your e-mails to close friends and coworkers and if they get other people to subscribe to your checklist, you can reward them. These rewards can be in whatever type you want. I have actually seem several newsletter firms give rewards 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– offering you one more opportunity for expanding your e-mail list.
Nevertheless, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll have to upgrade to a more premium plan. I’ll go over all the plans later on in this post.
Premium subscriptions
They state all you require to make a living online is 1,000 real fans. Registration revenue is definitely a monster of its own. If you’re trying to find a system to monetize your newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can develop “premium” issues of your newsletter that are only sent to paying customers. This can be very profitable relying on what your e-newsletter needs to supply. For instance, Trends.co is a preferred costs newsletter that creates millions in income a year just by having pay-only e-newsletter web content.
Information analytics
Among the things I like about beehiiv is exactly how tidy and basic the analytics are. You get real-time day on just how your newsletter is doing, with open/click prices and customer matter Is Beehiiv Good.
You get access to all the metrics you require to obtain a bird-eye sight on exactly how your e-newsletter is actually doing. Logging into your control panel and seeing that client count increase is definitely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv provides 4 different pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (totally free) Launch plan offers you whatever you need to start and expand your newsletter (approximately 2,500 customers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) provides you everything in the Launch plan with the addition the ad network, referral program, personalized domain name, surveys, and access to premium registrations. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) provides you every little thing in the Grow plan with addition of priority support and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
All of these plans are fairly generous in my opinion.
For instance, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will pay around $329 each month. Instead of some rivals, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would certainly charge $679 each month for the same amount– making beehiiv an excellent Kit option for several individuals.
I’m uncertain just how the unit business economics service this, however beehiiv is certainly less expensive (currently) than what it can be.
beehiiv advantages and disadvantages
Certainly, with every system, it has its pros and cons. Here are a few of the pros and cons I have actually personally experienced while using beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the pros of using beehiiv as your newsletter platform of option:
Easy to set up and start sending newsletters totally free.
Clean and contemporary client analytics.
Great deals of adaptability with e-mail styles.
Referral program feature.
Internet site hosting.
Produce premium choices to generate income from.
Surveys.
To be straightforward, I have not seen an additional newsletter platform that has actually had the ability to package all of these features with each other so well.
But naturally, I do not want to be prejudiced so I’m mosting likely to discuss some cons.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Right here are several of the disadvantages I have actually located while making use of beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around including custom-made typefaces.
I use Webflow as my site structure system of option (I graduated from WordPress and Squarespace a long period of time ago). I’m not mosting likely to go in excessive information why I enjoy Webflow so much however you can review my Webflow testimonial if you wish to learn more.
Today, there actually is no other method I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow internet site other than making use of an iframe embed. I personally don’t like using iframe’s because they have a tendency to reduce my internet site a bit. Every single time a page on my site (with a beehiiv embed) lots, the sign-up installed is the last thing to fill on the page. It’s extremely noticeable when you’re on a slow internet link. But I can get around that.
The main complaint I have is that I can’t use a regular Webflow type (which I enjoy utilizing). There are ways around this by utilizing a device like Zapier but that would certainly simply add added prices that I don’t require. To be truthful, this is even more of a Webflow disadvantage over a beehiiv con yet I thought I would state it.
Besides that, I still believe the pros much outweigh the cons below. I’m additionally confident that Webflow will at some point create a far better method to incorporate with beehiiv.
Verdict
Overall, beehiiv is a terrific service for any person looking to study the world of e-mail marketing and e-newsletters.
The capability of this e-newsletter platform much surpasses many that are presently on the market. And with a charitable free plan, you actually have nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally fairly economical of what they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 subscribers on your list is uncommon. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k customers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it can cost you well right into the thousands each month.
Anyways, I don’t write testimonial articles typically. I just do when I really make use of the tool myself and would recommend it to a close friend.
I hope you discovered some clearness on whether or not beehiiv is a great platform for you.