I have used a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Because of that (and the awesome features), I have actually been making use of Beehiiv Branding.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to deal with the issue of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly additionally such as to deal with why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Large Shift In Strategy, I spoke about just how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog into largely a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I wished to pursue keeping that property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. More on that in a bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices developed right into it specific to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Built in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The platform was literally built by the individuals that accumulated the innovation for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can expand it much more purposefully also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown separately. Gladly motor home was young, so simple to shift. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be very closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email Listing
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail listing anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of publishing indicates that it is mosting likely to your website and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a web site. You are releasing to that website. Yet, you are additionally sending off to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s customers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With the majority of e-mail systems, any type of e-newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed entirely individually from your web site. So, for instance, you could release a short article to WordPress but after that you would certainly need to separately develop and send out an e-mail to your list to send it to customers. These are then two separate collections of archives and two separate activities due to the fact that blog posts and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a solid alternative if I wanted to continue to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you ‘d shed the development tools that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a regular email listing.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one smooth posting experience and development devices to help you build your customer base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my clients that I was going to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. Actually, it is literally constructed by the exact same folks who built the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some fairly huge brand names and huge publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Once again, it simply informs me the client avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only factor I would certainly contemplate shaking things up is if I believed I can GROW the listing quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that goal.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
Yet, let’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv feels like it was built by people who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears much more tailored towards developers.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses personalized fields on customers. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still fairly limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an e-mail. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as customizing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just since I began using the system. For example:
- Ability to set off automations based on which details embed form they came in on.
- Capacity to automatically do re-engagement (and manage individuals based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this since the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it pertains to creating your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just a lot more tailored toward newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s writing user interface is nice and clean, yet it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that section to reveal it only to paid customers, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, reveal only to customers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any type of income. As a matter of fact, you actually link as much as your very own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your income. Relying on the amount of subscribers you get, that 10% can be a fair bit more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was much more constructed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I would love to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself towards “makers” more than e-mail marketers and newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points geared extra toward people that simply assume in regards to content creation.
For instance, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are dealt with fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … trendy for individuals who may require it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be extra like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimal. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better matched. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are typically with to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the exact same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at makers (like Substack), but it is far more highly satisfying people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful visual automation structure, it’s very own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly nice platform.
I’m not going to birthed you with a full feature-by-feature failure right here. ConvertKit is popular already. However, below’s how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more instinctive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is just a fundamental feature of e-mail checklists that enables division in a much more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support labeling at some point soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Branding.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to sell points through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always select a more direct choice anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and because of that has way much more integration alternatives. Lots of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly powerful. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this more carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy taking on the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with perks, however you can likewise pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are truly remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promo systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface of what this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Branding
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it additionally indicates that they are rapidly establishing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced almost weekly launch of new features into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet large features that are fairly crucial. Their rate of advancement now has been impressive.
I likewise significantly appreciate exactly how receptive they are. Actually, one of their item news concerning some layout improvements to the web design features really consisted of a tiny problem with the web content size. I simply responded to that e-mail to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the problem was taken care of.
Few days later, I provided another tip …
Indeed, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed form utilized was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I actually value.
One more significant factor of differentiation here is the rate. Both systems supply complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more ability and even more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally FAR more desirable. ConvertKit appears less costly in the beginning glance because their pricing web page shows lower numbers, nevertheless the customer limits are much lower and your price swiftly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid annually), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly use), you can grow your checklist approximately 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv is in a totally different organization when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance rates? They may as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking individuals like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you definitely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to evolve instead promptly and make new item news rather frequently, yet there are some fundamental features I actually want they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration types where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be AWESOME for numerous factors. Already, membership forms look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to aid in division.
It would be nice to have labeling at the customer level. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks must be part of automations to make integrated automations easier and decrease dependence on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some small management interface modifications that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit posts (for example, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as typical on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the web site (such as more versatile color selections, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, however it isn’t ideal and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It most likely never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never recognize, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I decided to switch my own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my own system.
Basically, for the e-newsletter publishing model especially, I saw sufficient value in their system to require the change.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special email checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, but I purposefully have things establish to ensure that I likewise maintain my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my viewpoint, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be much more business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and different needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the switch needs to be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a large email list and are for that reason being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating quickly. There’s also a respectable chance you’re not also using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a much better and more budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be really willful concerning expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is made to be, it is just one of the best video games around right now. This is the platform to watch.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll find the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.