I have used a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and having your very own system. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have been using Is Beehiiv Good For Email Marketing.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I want to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly likewise like to address why I selected to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For Newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Method, I discussed just how and why I determined to transform my RV blog site right into primarily a newsletter. I decided that was the business version I intended to seek with that said building.
Yet, to deliberately seek it as an e-newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Gladly recreational vehicle, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, utilizing it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I said in that problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools built into it specific to my purpose. Things such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the email concurrently without having it be two different actions.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated ability to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click registration web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capacity to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I select to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Generally, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was actually built by the people who accumulated the innovation for Morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is built from scratch for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv also. At least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. In fact, I just went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can grow it a lot more deliberately also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown independently. Happily motor home was young, so simple to change. However, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet does not have to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this objective. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Regular Email List
There’s a difference in between a newsletter system and just an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anyplace you want and there are a number of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of publishing means that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail customers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that web site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With the majority of email systems, any kind of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is built entirely independently from your website. So, as an example, you may publish a write-up to WordPress however then you would require to separately develop and send out an email to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 different sets of archives and two separate actions since blog posts and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress right into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “glues” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and enables them to be the same point. Certainly, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong alternative if I wished to continue to self-host whatever. Nevertheless, you ‘d lose the development tools that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally includes a different collection of demands than a common e-mail list.
You do not generally require much marketing automation. You don’t normally need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO demand, however, is one smooth posting experience and growth devices to help you build your subscriber base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my customers that I was going to change the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the fact that I selected to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I believe Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that initially obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially built by the exact same individuals that constructed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the obvious positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “designer”. Growth is what I want right here.
- That branding and distinction likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large magazines using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo makers. Once again, it just tells me the client character difference in between the two business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly consider trembling points up is if I thought I might expand the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked exactly to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the positioning below.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
In general, BeeHiiv looks like it was constructed by individuals that comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears more geared towards developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv supplies customized fields on clients. Now, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv supplies Automations. Actually, it is a visual automation builder that functions a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite restricted in triggers and the only action is the capacity to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will have brand-new triggers as well as brand-new actions, such as modifying customized areas, sending webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply considering that I started utilizing the system. For instance:
- Ability to activate automations based upon which particular embed form they was available in on.
- Capability to automatically do re-engagement (and manage people based on opens up and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can not do this due to the fact that the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it pertains to creating your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared towards e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I locate it to be much more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s composing user interface behaves and tidy, however it would be a lot more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is greater than simply kind. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Section” and then placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Exposure choices on that particular area to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from email, hide from clients, reveal only to clients, and so on. Substack offers nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium registration version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of profits. In fact, you literally connect up to your own Stripe account and it bills directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your revenue. Relying on the number of clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Last but not least, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack literally has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was a lot more constructed towards real e-mail marketing. It was built by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page designs appear much better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have stated, Substack settings itself towards “makers” greater than e-mail marketing professionals and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some points tailored more toward people that just believe in regards to content development.
As an example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple magazines, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … trendy for people that might require it.
Substack also has more social capability built-in. For instance, it has a chat feature to host chats with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Interesting. In general, Substack is set up to be more like a social network which supports long-form content.
On the whole, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I don’t. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, frankly, features … Substack functions quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to actual marketing, I don’t believe there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I looked for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a tough time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often through to be the closest rivals, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at makers (like Substack), however it is much more highly dealing with people who do it for company. ConvertKit has good aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is an actually wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction here. ConvertKit is well known currently. Yet, right here’s how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it involves it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is simply a basic feature of email listings that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some point soon, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Is Beehiiv Good For Email Marketing.
ConvertKit does now supply the capacity to sell points via their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is essential to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would certainly always pick a more direct choice anyway. For me, I favor to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and for that reason has way extra integration alternatives. Lots of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin now even supports member-gated material as well as auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. In essence, this much more carefully puts ConvertKit right into direct competition by having you be able to release to your website and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even hectic dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, but you can likewise pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your list. These are truly outstanding features of BeeHiiv. However …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among one of the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the writing on the wall surface wherefore this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Is Beehiiv Good For Email Marketing
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally indicates that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly weekly launch of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are fairly essential. Their rate of growth at this point has been impressive.
I additionally very much value how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product statements concerning some style enhancements to the web design features really had a tiny problem with the web content width. I merely replied to that e-mail to tell them. I promptly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the concern was repaired.
Few days later, I provided an additional pointer …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to cause automations based upon the embed kind utilized was added to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more significant point of differentiation below is the price. Both systems use cost-free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan supplies more ability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise FAR more desirable. ConvertKit seems less expensive at first look due to the fact that their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR lower and your rate rapidly increases as your list grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size listing is going 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 list up to 100,000. A list of that size 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, too. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different league when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately raise prices? They could as time takes place. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself who are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the important things you most definitely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to develop rather swiftly and make brand-new item news somewhat typically, however there are some basic features I actually wish they had that I need to simply await.
One is that they need to have a setting on subscription forms where I could choose an automation to run right at the form degree. That would certainly be remarkable for numerous factors. As of now, membership kinds look OK, however there’s really little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the customer degree. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and decrease reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some small administrative interface changes that would come in handy. As an example:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (as an example, to label a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as basic on customers (like the name).
- Some more personalization alternatives for the web site (such as more versatile shade selections, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t excellent and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It probably never will be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I think you never ever recognize, however.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a whole lot. Sufficient where I chose to switch my own newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and possessing my very own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw sufficient worth in their system to warrant the adjustment.
Remember, I do not utilize BeeHiiv as my unique e-mail checklist. I make use of BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, however I intentionally have things set up to make sure that I likewise keep my listing “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I recommend you do the exact same. It is just 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 full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU make use of BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the button ought to be rather straightforward.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a huge email checklist and are for that reason being wooled with their high monthly bill. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating promptly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not also using some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a far better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be extremely deliberate about expanding a newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open about what it is created to be, it is just one of the very best video games around now. This is the system to see.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves taking a look at for yourself. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the totally free account to be quite feature rich.