I was reading among my preferred e-mail newsletters when I scrolled to the bottom of the email and saw the beehiiv logo for the first time. I clicked it and instantly began tearing up. Beehiiv Tyler Denk…
Being a full-time developer is difficult. I’m often getting pitched various tools and services that don’t seem to be worth my time.
I guess I was psychological due to the fact that I invested the last six months checking out different e-mail and newsletter platforms to aid construct my newsletter. And to be fair, there are some fantastic alternatives for writing newsletters. However I could not discover one that made me give a precise “yes”.
The issue with several existing e-newsletter systems is that they do not feel creator-centered. I desire an e-newsletter system that lets me fully customize my e-newsletter designs, makes it super very easy to create and send e-mails, and gives me devices that assist me examine metrics and obtain more customers.
I assume I have actually ultimately discovered the right tool.
But, I know beehiiv might not be for every person. 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 newsletters. It’s a creator-friendly newsletter platform that makes it simple to design, write, send, promote, monetize, and track the ROI of your e-newsletter.
Created by former workers at the well-known e-newsletter company Morning Brew, beehiiv intends to help designers launch and monetize their own e-newsletter– taking lots of development principles from taking Morning Brew to over 4M subscribers.
In this post, 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 finally opt for it as my newsletter system of option.
My individual experience with beehiiv
A few months ago, I inadvertently came across beehiiv. The amusing story is that I’ve watched for a modern-day e-newsletter system for quite time currently. I have actually hesitated hard when it pertained to finally releasing my newsletter.
Initially, I tried Mailchimp. Then, a couple of various other indie platforms. After that, Substack. And finally, I wound up making use of beehiiv.
I make sure numerous newsletter creators appreciate popular e-newsletters with countless clients– I understand I do. The Morning Brew e-newsletter is one I appreciated a lot. They have terrific web content, tons of subscribers, and a clever referral program that permits them to get back at much more subscribers.
So, I went on a hunt to find out just how these huge newsletters set up their logistics. What system do they use? How do they track the ROI of their newsletters? How do they get even more customers? How do they develop an e-newsletter style that stays on-brand?
When I uncovered beehiiv for the very first time, it seemed to respond to every one of my concerns. I believed to myself, “damn the people that developed this tool truly understand e-newsletter development and development.” I examined who these creators of beehiiv were.
So I went to LinkedIn, and saw that the founders were a few of the very first marketing and growth workers at Morning Brew– my mind blew up.
I understood this was mosting likely to be a different newsletter platform. One that’s focused on creator development.
Since, any type 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 suggests utilizing numerous various tools to help achieve one goal– one platform for your newsletter, one platform to generate income from, and one system to set up referrals. It can get pricey.
So when I found out beehiiv did every one of these things in one system, and it was cost-free to start using, it was a no-brainer to give it a try.
beehiiv vs Substack
You might be asking, “isn’t there currently a system for authors called Substack?”.
Yes, yes there is. Substack is a fantastic system made use of by hundreds of independent writers. With Substack you get your own site and make use of the platform as your all-in-one service for sending out e-mails (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 better analytics, even more style flexibilty, and a referral program to motivate your existing subscribers to obtain the word out.
beehiiv likewise provides you a web site similar to Substack. But, if you have your very own web site already, you can also make use of beehiiv’s sign-up embeds (that’s what I make use of) to send your web site customers directly to your beehiiv email listing. On the exact same token, you can incorporate beehiiv with a device like Performance to enable individuals to sign up for your newsletter directly from Twitter.
This offers you the flexibility to utilize different marketing channels to get your newsletter out into the world, making beehiiv a fantastic Substack alternative.
Exactly how to begin making use of beehiiv email marketing software application.
Who is beehiiv for?
beehiiv is for the lean content designer that wants a platform that enables them to send out personalized e-newsletters with or without needing to have a site.
One of the most effective newsletters have the right devices to construct and scale their newsletters. beehiiv focuses on offering you those devices.
If you’re an independent writer, media business, start-up, or content developer, you must seriously considering experimenting with beehiiv. It’s completely complimentary to get started and you only pay when you get to over 2,500 clients on your listing.
If you really end up needing to spend for beehiiv it’s possibly a great indicator that individuals like reading your things.
Sign up for a free plan
The very first step is to enroll in a free plan. You can do this by clicking on the “Begin trial” button on beehiiv’s web site.
The free plan will certainly permit you to have up to 2,500 clients, provide you access to internet site hosting, a newsletter CMS, advance modification, analytics, external embed forms, and a lot more. It’s a really generous offering for those just beginning (or for those seeking a brand-new system to move to).
Onboarding
After creating an account, you’ll go through an onboarding process that will ask things like, “is this your initial newsletter?”, “what various other platforms have you utilized?”, “do you have any type of paying customers?”, and a lot more.
You’ll then produce a name and URL for your newsletter’s website. On the free plan, your newsletter will certainly reside on a beehiiv subdomain. So if your newsletter is called “Cooking Cakes,” your website URL may be something like “baking-cakes. beehiiv.com”.
Throughout the onboarding procedure, you’ll additionally choose your brand name colors and design to make certain your newsletter template looks right.
Browsing your dashboard
As soon as you reach your main dashboard, you’ll see every one of your analytics and settings.
You will certainly have described details on the number of sign-ups you’re getting and where.
In the sidebar, you’ll see options for “Beginning composing”, “Messages”, “Target market”, “Expand”, “Generate income from”, “Style” and” Assess”. And at the very bottom you’ll see the settings alternative.
Dashboard is your main nerve center (screenshot above), Beginning creating is where you produce and publish newsletters, Blog posts is where you can see all of your previous e-newsletter versions, Audience is where you can see who your subscribers are (and break them down into sections), 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 newsletter with ads, Style is where you develop your newsletter landing page and article template, Evaluate is where you can see all your analytics, and Settings is where you can handle all of your admin things.
Creating your newsletter
beehiiv makes it simple to begin creating, with little to no rubbing. If you’re simply beginning, and have an idea you want to discuss, I suggest simply mosting likely to the “Write” area in the navbar and clicking on “Beginning creating”.
You can fine-tune your template and designing later– concentrate on the material initially.
As you can see, beehiiv’s editor offers a clean and easy to use user interface for creating.
Once you begin composing, you can maximize headings, include web links, and style your material just how you like.
beehiiv provides you lots of alternatives for various sorts of material like videos, links, images, and extra.
The team at beehiiv is likewise regularly launching item feature and updates so I’m sure there will be a lot a lot more material features depending upon when you read this.
Maximizing your settings and templates
When you have a newsletter that’s ready to send out, it’s time to create your e-mail template and readjust some setups.
Below, you can update the name of your e-newsletter, give it a description, add your logo design, switch on or off a welcome e-mail to very first time customers, and extra.
Next off, you can head over to the “Email Template” tab to make your layout.
You can edit background shades, boundaries, spacing, font styles, image formats, and more. I’m not going to experience ever before single thing you can maximize with your email template because it’s a lot. Just try out the system for free and see it on your own!
Essential beehiiv features
beehiiv has lots of fantastic features that make it an excellent publishing platform for any type of newsletter developer.
Right here are some of the vital features you can locate with beehiiv:.
Newsletter builder Beehiiv Tyler Denk
At its core, beehiiv is an e-newsletter posting platform. It makes it very easy to write and send out e-mails. I mentioned over several of the things you can do with your settings and email layout so I’ll spare you some additional reading.
Things to note with beehiiv’s newsletter builder is that it has a really modern and minimalistic feel. It’s most definitely among the better email editors I’ve ever before written in.
Web site hosting
When you create a beehiiv e-newsletter, every one of your newsletters (if you desire) live on an internet site. Think about it as an internet site for your e-newsletter that’s a home to all of your previous problems of your newsletter, and an area where individuals can register for your newsletter.
If you’re familiar with Substack, it’s pretty much comparable to that.
All plans, including the totally free one, give you a web site. However, the free plan areas your website on a beehiiv subdomain so if you wish to add a custom-made domain to get rid of all the beehiiv branding you’ll require to update to a paid plan.
Subscribe forms
Getting customers is essential. After all, that’s why you have an e-newsletter right?
With beehiiv, individuals can subscribe to your newsletter directly from your beehiiv website or via embed types.
If you currently have a web site, and want people to sign up for your e-newsletter from your existing website, you’ll have to make use of an embed form. This is what I use on this internet site (you can see the sign-up installed on the right-hand man column of this post if you scroll up).
With embed forms, you have 3 various choices– a full width, a dealt with width, and a slim embed. I personally use the slim embed.
You can discover the code snippet for these embeds in the “Subscribe Kinds” tab in your setups.
There’s also a choice for attribution tracking if you want to ahead UTM parameters for tracking functions– rather neat.
However, there are a couple of features I want beehiiv had when it involved subscribe features. I make sure the team is servicing updates for these, however I discussed a couple of worries I had in the pros and cons section below.
Referral program
One of the amazing things concerning beehiiv, that I have yet to see in any other e-newsletter platform, is a solution for producing a referral program.
You can urge existing customers on your checklist to onward your emails to friends and coworkers and if they get other individuals to subscribe to your listing, you can award them. These benefits can be in whatever kind you want. I have actually seem lots of newsletter business give rewards in the form of merch and stickers.
This can seriously transform your customers right into a word of mouth growth engine for your newsletter– offering you an additional avenue for expanding your e-mail checklist.
Nonetheless, to obtain access to the referral program feature, you’ll need to upgrade to a more exceptional plan. I’ll go over all the plans later in this short article.
Premium subscriptions
They say all you need to earn a living online is 1,000 true followers. Membership income is most definitely a beast of its own. If you’re seeking a platform to monetize your e-newsletter, this is it.
With beehiiv, you can produce “premium” issues of your newsletter that are just sent to paying customers. This can be very rewarding depending upon what your newsletter needs to offer. As an example, Trends.co is a prominent premium e-newsletter that creates millions in earnings a year merely by having pay-only e-newsletter material.
Information analytics
One of things I enjoy concerning beehiiv is 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.
You obtain access to all the metrics you require to get a bird-eye view on just how your newsletter is really doing. Logging right into your dashboard and seeing that subscriber matter increase is absolutely a dopamine booster.
beehiiv pricing plans
beehiiv provides 4 various pricing plans. You can check them out below.
The (complimentary) Launch plan gives you every little thing you need to begin and expand your newsletter (as much as 2,500 subscribers).
The Scale plan ($ 39/month) offers you whatever in the Launch plan with the enhancement the advertisement network, referral program, custom domain name, surveys, and access to premium registrations. This is the plan I get on.
The Max plan ($ 76/month) offers you everything in the Grow plan with enhancement of concern support and getting rid of the beehiiv branding.
All of these plans are fairly charitable in my viewpoint.
As an example, if you have 100,000 subscribers you will certainly pay around $329 per month. As opposed to some competitors, like Kit (previously ConvertKit), that would bill $679 each month for the same quantity– making beehiiv a wonderful Kit option for several individuals.
I’m unsure how the system economics service this, yet beehiiv is most definitely less costly (currently) than what it can be.
beehiiv pros and cons
Certainly, with every platform, it has its advantages and disadvantages. Below are some of the benefits and drawbacks I’ve personally experienced while utilizing beehiiv:
Pros of using beehiiv
Here are several of the pros of using beehiiv as your newsletter platform of option:
- Easy to establish and start sending out e-newsletters absolutely free
- Clean and contemporary subscriber analytics
- Lots of adaptability with e-mail designs.
- Referral program feature Beehiiv Tyler Denk
- Web site hosting
- Develop premium options to monetize
- Surveys
To be sincere, I have not seen an additional e-newsletter system that has actually been able to package every one of these features with each other so well.
Yet naturally, I don’t wish to be biased so I’m mosting likely to state some cons.
Disadvantages of using beehiiv
Here are several of the cons I’ve located while using beehiiv:.
- Limitations around incorporating Webflow and beehiiv
- Limitations around including customized typefaces
I use Webflow as my site structure system of option (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 however you can review my Webflow review if you ‘d like to discover more.
Today, there actually is no other means I can incorporate beehiiv with my Webflow website apart from making use of an iframe embed. I directly don’t such as making use of iframe’s because they often tend to decrease my site a little bit. Every time a web page on my website (with a beehiiv installed) tons, the sign-up embed is the last point to load on the web page. It’s very visible when you’re on a slow internet link. Yet I can get around that.
The primary gripe I have is that I can’t use a regular Webflow type (which I enjoy using). There are means around this by utilizing a tool like Zapier but that would certainly just add added prices that I don’t require. To be truthful, this is more of a Webflow con over a beehiiv disadvantage but I thought I would state it.
Besides that, I still think the pros much exceed the disadvantages right here. I’m likewise hopeful that Webflow will ultimately produce a far better way to integrate with beehiiv.
Conclusion
Generally, beehiiv is a great service for anybody wanting to study the globe of e-mail marketing and e-newsletters.
The functionality of this newsletter system much outweighs several that are currently on the marketplace. And with a charitable free plan, you really have nothing to shed for trying it.
The paid plans are additionally rather inexpensive for what they are. Paying just $329/month to have 100,000 subscribers on your checklist is unusual. If you were to have an e-newsletter with 100k subscribers, and all of these features beehiiv has, it might cost you well into the thousands per month.
Anyways, I don’t write evaluation articles often. I only do when I actually use the device myself and would certainly advise it to a close friend.
I hope you located some clarity on whether beehiiv is a good platform for you.