Over 2 years back, I was reading one of my preferred email e-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 tearing up What Is The Difference Between Beehiiv and Substack.
I had not been sure why I really felt so emotional.
Being a full time designer is difficult. I’m frequently getting pitched various devices and solutions that don’t appear to be worth my time.
I think I was psychological due to the fact that I invested the last 6 months checking out different e-mail and e-newsletter platforms to assist construct my e-newsletter. And to be fair, there are some great alternatives for creating e-newsletters. Yet I couldn’t locate one that made me offer a precise “yes”.
The concern with numerous existing e-newsletter platforms is that they don’t feel creator-centered. I want an e-newsletter platform that lets me completely personalize my newsletter layouts, makes it super very easy to compose and send emails, and offers me tools that help me analyze metrics and obtain even more customers.
I assume I have actually lastly located the best device.
But, I recognize beehiiv may not be for every person. So let’s dive deep and see if it’s in fact ideal 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 simple to design, write, send, advertise, monetize, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Created by former workers at the famous e-newsletter firm Morning Brew, beehiiv aims to aid designers launch and monetize their very own e-newsletter– taking lots of growth concepts from taking Morning Brew to over 4M customers.
In this article, I’m going to describe my personal experience with beehiiv, things I enjoy (and hate) about it, all of it’s features, and why I decided to lastly opt for it as my newsletter platform of choice.
My personal experience with beehiiv
A couple of months earlier, I accidentally came across beehiiv. The funny story is that I have actually watched for a modern-day e-newsletter platform for quite a long time now. I’ve postponed hard when it pertained to lastly introducing my newsletter.
First, I tried Mailchimp. After that, a couple of various other indie systems. After that, Substack. And finally, I ended up making use of beehiiv.
I make certain numerous newsletter makers appreciate popular e-newsletters with numerous subscribers– I understand I do. The Morning Brew newsletter is one I appreciated a great deal. They have fantastic web content, lots of clients, and a smart referral program that permits them to get back at much more clients.
So, I went on a quest to figure out how these big newsletters set up 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 produce an e-newsletter layout that stays on-brand?
When I found beehiiv for the first time, it seemed to address all of my questions. I believed to myself, “damn individuals that constructed this device really understand e-newsletter creation and development.” I questioned who these makers of beehiiv were.
So I mosted likely to LinkedIn, and saw that the co-founders were a few of the initial marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my brain took off.
I knew this was going to be a different e-newsletter system. One that’s concentrated on creator growth.
Due to the fact that, any type of maker knows, you require growth to be able to earn a living off of an e-newsletter. And locating the best newsletter pile (that scales) frequently suggests using numerous various tools to assist attain one goal– one system for your e-newsletter, one system to generate income from, and one platform to set up recommendations. It can obtain pricey.
So when I figured out beehiiv did all of these things in one platform, and it was totally free to begin making use of, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean content maker that wants a system that allows them to send custom e-newsletters with or without requiring to have a site.
One of the most effective newsletters have the right devices to build and scale their newsletters. beehiiv focuses on giving you those tools.
If you’re an independent writer, media company, startup, or material designer, you ought to seriously taking into consideration experimenting with beehiiv. It’s absolutely free to begin and you just pay when you get to over 2,500 subscribers on your list.
If you actually end up needing to pay for beehiiv it’s probably an excellent indicator that people enjoy reviewing your stuff.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there currently a system for authors called Substack?”.
Yes, indeed there is. Substack is a wonderful platform utilized by countless independent authors. With Substack you obtain your own web site and use the platform as your all-in-one option for sending emails (while creating an archive of previous issues).
What collections beehiiv apart is it’s dedication to development. beehiiv enables you do to all the important things Substack can do, with the benefit of far better analytics, even more layout flexibilty, and a referral program to urge your existing clients to get the word out.
beehiiv additionally offers you a website similar to Substack. However, if you have your own web site currently, you can also utilize beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I use) to send your web site clients straight to your beehiiv email list. On the exact same token, you can incorporate beehiiv with a device like Revue to allow individuals to subscribe to your e-newsletter straight from Twitter.
This provides you the versatility to utilize various marketing networks to get your newsletter out into the world, making beehiiv a great Substack option.
How to begin using beehiiv e-mail marketing software program.
Sign up for a free plan
The initial step is to register for a free plan. You can do this by clicking on the “Begin trial” button on beehiiv’s internet site.
The free plan will enable you to have up to 2,500 subscribers, offer you accessibility to website hosting, a newsletter CMS, advancement personalization, analytics, outside embed kinds, and much more. It’s an extremely generous offering for those just starting out (or for those trying to find a brand-new system to migrate to).
Onboarding What Is The Difference Between Beehiiv and Substack
After producing an account, you’ll experience an onboarding process that will ask points like, “is this your first e-newsletter?”, “what other platforms have you used?”, “do you have any paying clients?”, and more.
You’ll then develop a name and URL for your e-newsletter’s site. On the free plan, your e-newsletter will certainly live on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your site link may be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll additionally select your brand name colors and design to see to it your newsletter template looks right.
Navigating your dashboard
When you reach your main dashboard, you’ll see every one of your analytics and setups.
You will have detailed information on the amount of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see alternatives for “Begin writing,” “Messages,” “Audience,” “Grow,” “Monetize,” “Layout,” and” Examine.” And at the really bottom you’ll see the setups option.
Dashboard is your main control center (screenshot over), Beginning creating is where you develop and publish newsletters, Messages is where you can see every one of your previous e-newsletter editions, Target market is where you can see who your clients are (and damage them down right into segments), Expand is where you have accessibility 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 newsletter with advertisements, Design is where you create your newsletter landing page and message template, Examine is where you can see all your analytics, and Setups is where you can manage all of your admin stuff.
Composing your newsletter
beehiiv makes it easy to begin creating, with little to no friction. If you’re simply starting out, and have a concept you wish to discuss, I suggest just going to the “Create” section in the navbar and clicking on “Start composing”.
You can fine-tune your template and styling later– concentrate on the material first.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor provides a tidy and straightforward user interface for composing.
Once you begin composing, you can enhance headings, add links, and style your web content how you like.
beehiiv offers you lots of options for various types of content like video clips, links, images, and much more.
The group at beehiiv is likewise continuously launching product feature and updates so I’m sure there will be a whole lot extra material features depending upon when you read this.
Enhancing your settings and templates
As soon as you have a newsletter that’s ready to send, it’s time to develop your e-mail template and change some settings.
Below, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, offer it a summary, include your logo, switch 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 modify history shades, borders, spacing, fonts, photo formats, and much more. I’m not mosting likely to go through ever single thing you can enhance with your e-mail template because it’s a great deal. Just check out the system completely free and see it on your own!
Crucial beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of outstanding features that make it a fantastic posting platform for any newsletter developer.
Below are some of the necessary features you can discover with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder
At its core, beehiiv is a newsletter publishing system. It makes it extremely easy to write and send e-mails. I stated over several of things you can do with your settings and email style so I’ll save you some added reading.
The thing to keep in mind with beehiiv’s e-newsletter builder is that it has an actually contemporary and minimalistic feel. It’s definitely among the far better email editors I’ve ever before written in.
Internet site hosting
When you create a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your e-newsletters (if you want) survive a site. Consider it as a website for your e-newsletter that’s a home to every one of your previous concerns of your e-newsletter, and a location where people can sign up for your e-newsletter.
If you recognize with Substack, it’s pretty much comparable to that.
All plans, including the free one, give you a web site. Nonetheless, the free plan places your web site on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to include a customized domain name to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to update to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting subscribers is important. After all, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, people can subscribe to your newsletter straight from your beehiiv web site or via embed kinds.
If you already have an internet site, and desire people to sign up for your newsletter from your existing site, you’ll need to make use of an embed form. This is what I make use of 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 types, you have 3 different alternatives– a full width, a dealt with width, and a slim installed. I directly make use of the slim embed.
You can locate the code snippet 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 criteria for tracking purposes– quite neat.
However, there are a few features I desire beehiiv had when it pertained to subscribe features. I make certain the group is dealing with updates for these, yet I mentioned a couple of issues I had in the pros and cons area listed below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things about beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other newsletter platform, is a service for producing a referral program.
You can motivate existing subscribers on your listing to ahead your e-mails to good friends and colleagues and if they obtain other people to sign up for your list, you can award them. These benefits can be in whatever kind you want. I’ve seem several e-newsletter business offer incentives in the form of merch and sticker labels.
This can seriously transform your customers right into a word of mouth growth engine for your newsletter– giving you an additional avenue for growing your e-mail listing.
However, to obtain accessibility to the referral program feature, you’ll need to upgrade to an extra superior plan. I’ll go over all the plans later in this short article.
Costs registrations
They claim all you require to earn a living online is 1,000 true followers. Registration earnings is absolutely a monster of its very own. If you’re seeking a system to monetize your e-newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “premium” issues of your newsletter that are only sent out to paying customers. This can be extremely profitable depending upon what your newsletter needs to supply. For example, Trends.co is a preferred premium e-newsletter that creates millions in profits a year merely by having pay-only newsletter web content.
Information analytics
One of things I like concerning beehiiv is just how clean and straightforward the analytics are. You get real-time day on exactly how your e-newsletter is doing, with open/click rates and customer matter What Is The Difference Between Beehiiv and Substack.
You obtain 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 dashboard and seeing that client count rise is most definitely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv offers 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out listed below.
The (totally free) Launch plan gives you every little thing you need to get going and grow your e-newsletter (approximately 2,500 customers).
The Scale plan ($ 49/month) offers you every little thing in the Launch plan with the addition the ad network, referral program, personalized domain, surveys, and access to costs memberships. This is the plan I am on.
The Max plan ($ 109/month) gives you everything in the Grow plan with addition of concern support and eliminating the beehiiv branding.
Every one of these plans are quite charitable in my viewpoint.
For example, if you have 100,000 customers you will certainly pay around $329 per month. Instead of some competitors, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would charge $679 monthly for the same amount– making beehiiv a wonderful Kit choice for several individuals.
I’m uncertain exactly how the system economics work on this, but beehiiv is certainly less expensive (presently) than what it can be.
beehiiv benefits and drawbacks
Certainly, with every platform, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Right here are several of the pros and cons I’ve 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 begin sending e-newsletters free of charge.
Tidy and modern subscriber analytics.
Lots of adaptability with email styles.
Referral program feature.
Web site hosting.
Create premium options to monetize.
Surveys.
To be honest, I haven’t seen another newsletter platform that has had the ability to package every one of these features with each other so well.
However certainly, I do not wish to be biased so I’m going to state some disadvantages.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Right here are a few of the cons I’ve found while utilizing beehiiv:.
Limitations around integrating Webflow and beehiiv.
Limitations around adding custom typefaces.
I make use of Webflow as my website building platform of selection (I graduated from WordPress and Squarespace a very long time ago). I’m not mosting likely to go in too much information why I enjoy Webflow a lot but you can review my Webflow review if you would love to find out more.
Now, there really is no other means I can integrate beehiiv with my Webflow web site aside from making use of an iframe embed. I directly don’t such as using iframe’s since they often tend to reduce my internet site a little bit. Every single time a page on my site (with a beehiiv installed) loads, the sign-up installed is the last thing to fill on the web page. It’s extremely obvious when you’re on a sluggish web connection. But I can get around that.
The primary complaint I have is that I can not use a normal Webflow kind (which I like utilizing). There are methods around this by utilizing a device like Zapier however that would certainly simply include extra expenses that I don’t require. To be truthful, this is even more of a Webflow disadvantage over a beehiiv disadvantage yet I assumed I would mention it.
Besides that, I still think the pros far surpass the disadvantages here. I’m likewise confident that Webflow will ultimately develop a far better way to integrate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
On the whole, beehiiv is a terrific solution for any person seeking to dive into the world of e-mail marketing and newsletters.
The capability of this newsletter system far surpasses several that are currently on the marketplace. And with a generous free plan, you truly have nothing to lose for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally relatively inexpensive of what they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 customers on your list is unprecedented. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k customers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it might cost you well right into the thousands each month.
Anyways, I don’t create testimonial blog posts commonly. I only do when I actually use the device myself and would advise it to a close friend.
I wish you discovered some quality on whether beehiiv is an excellent platform for you.