I have used a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your own platform. Therefore (and the outstanding features), I have actually been using Beehiiv FAQs.
So, it is undoubtedly a weird move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to review why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while using the system and I ‘d likewise like to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For Newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Strategy, I discussed how and why I made a decision to turn my RV blog site into largely an e-newsletter. I chose that was business design I intended to go after keeping that residential or commercial property.
However, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. Much more on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that issue of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) 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 certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to generate income from with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was actually built by the people who accumulated the technology for Early morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is constructed from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property so that I can grow it a lot more purposefully also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so very easy to shift. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will obviously always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to belong of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and just an email checklist.
You can host your email listing everywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The key distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail clients simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that web site. However, you are likewise dispatching to all customers at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the system much simpler.
With most email platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally independently from your web site. So, for example, you could publish an article to WordPress yet after that you would certainly need to individually construct and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that two separate collections of archives and two different actions because blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it virtually “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and enables them to be the exact same point. Absolutely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to continue to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter inherently includes a different collection of needs than a regular email listing.
You do not normally need much marketing automation. You don’t normally require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth publishing experience and development tools to aid you build your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my subscribers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to select BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. In fact, because Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple things that initially obtained my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically tailored to e-newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally developed by the very same individuals that built the innovation behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want here.
- That branding and differentiation also means that BeeHiiv has some rather large brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo designers. Once again, it just informs me the customer avatar difference in between the two firms.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM really did not exactly suck. The only factor I would consider drinking things up is if I thought I could GROW the checklist faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I think BeeHiiv is targeting a various kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears a lot more geared towards creators.
As an example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new activities, such as modifying customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve already seen improvements to their automations simply since I started utilizing the platform. For example:
- Capability to cause automations based on which certain embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to instantly do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can’t do this since the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it concerns writing your e-newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has similarities to the WordPress block builder in just how it works. I discover it to be more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and clean, but it would certainly be more equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is more than simply kind. For example, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and afterwards put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility options on that section to reveal it just to paid customers, conceal it from email, hide from clients, reveal only to clients, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing such as this.
And when/if the moment comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. Actually, you literally attach up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on the number of clients you get, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the month-to-month price of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv work with the outside utilizing devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more developed towards genuine email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs seem far better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself towards “developers” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared more toward individuals that simply assume in regards to web content production.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated fairly separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, yet … great for individuals that may need it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host chats with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media which supports long-form material.
Generally, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either care for that or don’t. Personally, I do not. Nonetheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I tried to find more points that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often with to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more highly satisfying individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a really great platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, below’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will additionally say that I find ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains identifying. This is simply a basic feature of e-mail checklists that allows segmentation in a much more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking eventually soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv FAQs.
ConvertKit does currently offer the ability to offer points by means of their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would certainly constantly select a much more direct alternative anyway. For me, I favor to utilize my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around a lot longer and for that reason has way more integration choices. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now even supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this extra closely puts ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to release to your website and your email listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically doing not have in these sort of third-party integrations presently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with benefits, however you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most well known viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall wherefore this suggests for the platform moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv FAQs
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also implies that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed practically once a week launch of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t weak little features … yet large features that are quite important. Their rate of development at this point has been impressive.
I additionally quite value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, among their product statements regarding some style improvements to the website design features actually contained a little issue with the content size. I merely responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the issue was dealt with.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more tip …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed type utilized was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another significant factor of distinction right here is the cost. Both systems provide complimentary plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan uses a lot more ability and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more beneficial. ConvertKit appears more affordable initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the client limits are much lower and your price swiftly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size listing is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly utilize), you can expand your listing as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, as well, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it concerns pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually increase costs? They may as time takes place. But, I’m guessing people like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the important things you certainly need to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to evolve rather rapidly and make brand-new item announcements rather usually, yet there are some basic features I truly desire they had that I require to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be incredible for numerous factors. Already, subscription forms look OK, yet there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have identifying at the client degree. This would certainly be effective.
I believe webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface modifications that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Capability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as standard on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more customization choices for the web site (such as more flexible shade selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and absolutely not almost as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I said, the purpose is different so it would not much a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I think you never recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version specifically, I saw enough value in their platform to call for the modification.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my special e-mail listing. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, however I intentionally have points set up to ensure that I also maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the same. It is just a good insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d most definitely consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be a lot more business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a large email list and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not even using a few of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv could quickly be a better and more budget-friendly fit.
Finally, if you plan to be extremely willful regarding expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is developed to be, it is among the most effective games around today. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.