I have actually made use of a great deal of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have been using Flight Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to make a decision to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I want to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to resolve the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also such as to attend to why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Huge Shift In Approach, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to turn my recreational vehicle blog right into mainly an e-newsletter. I made a decision that was the business model I wished to pursue keeping that property.
However, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a bit.
As I claimed because concern of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools developed right into it particular to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capability to release (to the blog site) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be 2 separate activities.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are basically one-click registration web links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features targeted at development. The system was essentially developed by the people who developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own home to ensure that I can expand it extra purposefully also.
The objective is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded separately. Happily recreational vehicle was young, so very easy to transition. Yet, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be carefully linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv because it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and just an email checklist.
You can organize your email list anywhere you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting suggests that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are releasing to that site. But, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes management of the system much simpler.
With many email platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally independently from your website. So, for instance, you may publish a post to WordPress however then you would certainly need to separately construct and send out an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and two separate activities because post and your e-mails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress into a real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it practically “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress posts and enables them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I wished to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly shed the growth tools that come with a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a various collection of needs than a regular e-mail listing.
You don’t usually require 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, though, is one seamless publishing experience and growth devices to aid you develop your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I introduced to my customers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the truth that I chose to go with BeeHiiv, that does not mean I believe Substack draws. In fact, since Substack has been about longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that initially got my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. Actually, it is literally built by the same folks who constructed the modern technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real life, does not matter. But, the apparent positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter growth called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I’m interested in right here.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some fairly large brand names and big publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Again, it just informs me the customer avatar difference between the two companies.
Sending our my e-newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t exactly draw. The only factor I would certainly consider shaking things up is if I believed I might expand the listing much faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not watch 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 a lot more direct competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv appears like it was constructed by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still rather minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just because I began making use of the platform. For example:
- Capacity to set off automations based upon which particular embed form they came in on.
- Ability to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do fundamental conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just would not believe to approach this like an e-mail online marketer.
When it involves writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is just more geared toward e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I locate it to be more intuitive, personally.
Substack’s composing interface behaves and clean, yet it would certainly be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is greater than just form. For example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that particular area to show it just to paid customers, hide it from e-mail, conceal from clients, show just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any kind of earnings. As a matter of fact, you literally connect as much as your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more money than the monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could seem unpopular, but what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was extra developed towards real email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in types and the landing page develops seem much better built for conversions. Development is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself toward “designers” more than e-mail online marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some things tailored extra towards people that simply believe in terms of web content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple publications, they are treated rather independently. 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 could need it.
Substack additionally has even more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with clients. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works kind of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. Generally, Substack is set up to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is additionally more … minimalist. You either take care of that or do not. Directly, I don’t. Nonetheless, if the objective is simplicity of interface and, truthfully, features … Substack works pretty well.
Yet, I’ll be clear below …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are usually with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the very same target market and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is additionally positioned at designers (like Substack), however it is a lot more strongly accommodating people that do it for company. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation structure, it’s own business platform, and much more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is just a basic feature of email lists that enables segmentation in an even more versatile method than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some time soon, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Flight Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now provide the capability to sell things using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would always pick a much more direct choice anyhow. For me, I favor to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about much longer and therefore has way extra integration options. Lots of online devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite powerful. For example, their plugin now even sustains member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this more carefully places ConvertKit into direct competition by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail listing at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly lacking in these sort of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the interior advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are actually amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of the most well known viral promo platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall of what this suggests for the system going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Better At … Flight Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise means that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly weekly release of new features right into the system. And these aren’t undersized little features … however big features that are quite essential. Their rate of development now has been impressive.
I also significantly appreciate exactly how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product statements about some layout enhancements to the web design features in fact consisted of a tiny problem with the material size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the problem was repaired.
Couple of days later on, I provided an additional pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to trigger automations based upon the embed kind utilized was added to the system.
That sort of responsiveness and direct involvement of the group is something I really appreciate.
An additional significant factor of distinction here is the rate. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies a lot more capability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more favorable. ConvertKit appears less costly initially glance due to the fact that their pricing web page shows lower numbers, however the subscriber limitations are FAR lower and your cost quickly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid annually), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same dimension listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their finest plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your list up to 100,000. A listing of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire 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 obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay every year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it pertains to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise costs? They could as time goes on. However, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things proceed.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the things you absolutely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do seem to evolve instead rapidly and make new product statements rather typically, but there are some basic features I actually desire they had that I require to simply await.
One is that they require to have a setting on registration kinds where I might select an automation to run right at the form degree. That would be AWESOME for many reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, however there’s really little setups for them to assist in division.
It would certainly behave to have marking at the customer degree. This would certainly be powerful.
I believe webhooks must be part of automations to make built-in automations less complicated and decrease reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small management user interface modifications that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to mass edit posts (for example, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few standard areas as typical on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the internet site (such as more versatile color choices, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and absolutely not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a full marketing automation system. I guess you never recognize, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Testimonial
I like BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I determined to change my very own e-newsletters over to the platform regardless of my individual choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter posting version especially, I saw adequate value in their platform to require the adjustment.
Remember, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive email listing. I use BeeHiiv of what it is good at, but I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I also keep my checklist “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the concern is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack now, I ‘d certainly take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and various demands. And also, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the switch should be quite uncomplicated.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a big email listing and are consequently being wooled with their high regular monthly costs. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable opportunity you’re not also utilizing several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. For that reason, BeeHiiv can conveniently be a better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very willful regarding growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to think about and maintain and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is made to be, it is just one of the most effective games in town now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the free account to be fairly feature rich.