I have actually utilized a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a significant proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Quizzes For Growth.
So, it is certainly a strange move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I intend to review why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to address why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Shift In Technique, I discussed exactly how and why I decided to turn my motor home blog site right into largely an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business model I wanted to seek with that residential or commercial property.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I claimed in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built right into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog) and send out the e-mail at the same time without having it be two separate actions.
- 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 capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click registration links. Great for promotion in various other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I choose to generate income from with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at development. The system was actually built by the people that built up the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went for it. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own residential property so that I can grow it extra deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded individually. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will obviously constantly be closely connected with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but does not need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email List
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail list.
You can organize your email listing just about anywhere you want and there are a number of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of publishing suggests that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that web site. However, you are likewise sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With most email platforms, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your website. So, for example, you might release a short article to WordPress but after that you would need to independently construct and send out an email to your list to send it to subscribers. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two different activities due to the fact that blog posts and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is E-newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and enables them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you ‘d lose the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally features a various collection of requirements than a typical e-mail list.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless publishing experience and development tools to assist you build your customer base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to change the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I picked to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I think Substack draws. Actually, due to the fact that Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter authors. Actually, it is essentially developed by the exact same people that constructed the modern technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. Yet, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Growth is what I have an interest in here.
- That branding and differentiation additionally indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and huge magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Again, it just informs me the client avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would consider drinking things up is if I believed I could GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
But, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
On the whole, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies custom fields on subscribers. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that works a lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Quickly sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as modifying custom-made fields, sending webhooks, etc. I’ve currently seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I began utilizing the system. For instance:
- Capability to trigger automations based upon which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and take care of people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack just can not do this since the target market of Substack simply would not believe to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it comes to writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored towards newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I find it to be much more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface behaves and tidy, however it would certainly be extra equal to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is more than simply form. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Section” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can place Exposure choices on that area to show it only to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, hide from customers, show just to customers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of earnings. In fact, you essentially connect approximately your very own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your revenue. Depending upon the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more money than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This might appear nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was more constructed towards real e-mail marketing. It was constructed by people that “get it”. Also the opt-in forms and the landing page makes appear better constructed for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack settings itself toward “designers” greater than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points geared a lot more toward people who simply believe in terms of material development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does sustain numerous magazines, they are treated quite separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, but … awesome for people who could require it.
Substack additionally has even more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social network which supports long-form web content.
In general, Substack is likewise more … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works rather well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns actual marketing, I do not believe there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better matched. I tried to find even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly through to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at makers (like Substack), yet it is a lot more strongly accommodating individuals that do it for organization. ConvertKit has wonderful aesthetic automation building, it’s own business platform, and extra. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature breakdown right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will likewise say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit a lot more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is just a fundamental feature of e-mail lists that enables segmentation in a much more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking eventually soon, honestly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Quizzes For Growth.
ConvertKit does currently give the ability to market points through their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly constantly select a much more direct alternative anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way more integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For instance, their plugin currently also sustains member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. In essence, this much more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competition by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is drastically lacking in these type of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with advantages, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are actually incredible features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface wherefore this means for the system moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Quizzes For Growth
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it likewise means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually observed nearly once a week launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are fairly essential. Their speed of advancement at this point has been impressive.
I additionally quite value just how responsive they are. Actually, one of their item statements regarding some design enhancements to the website design features in fact contained a small trouble with the web content size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was fixed.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed form utilized was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct involvement of the team is something I truly value.
Another significant point of differentiation below is the rate. Both systems use complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capacity and even more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more positive. ConvertKit seems cheaper at first glance since their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are much lower and your price promptly raises as your checklist expands.
With BeeHiiv, your first level paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), nonetheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same dimension list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I directly make use of), you can expand your checklist approximately 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay annually, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various league when it comes to pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise costs? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see just how points proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
One of the things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to evolve rather rapidly and make new item statements somewhat frequently, however there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I require to just await.
One is that they require to have a setup on registration kinds where I might choose an automation to run right at the kind level. That would certainly be amazing for a lot of reasons. As of now, registration forms look OK, but there’s extremely little setups for them to help in segmentation.
It would behave to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to bulk edit blog posts (for instance, to label a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as standard on customers (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the site (such as more flexible shade choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I hope they do with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t best and certainly not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM item.
It probably never ever will be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a lot. Enough where I chose to change my very own newsletters over to the platform in spite of my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter posting version especially, I saw sufficient worth in their platform to require the change.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my exclusive email list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I purposefully have things set up to ensure that I also maintain my listing “in residence” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply a great insurance coverage, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack right now, I ‘d absolutely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay put unless you have a big e-mail checklist and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and a lot more budget-friendly fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful about growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is just one of the best games in the area right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be quite feature rich.