I have utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems over the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have actually been using Beehiiv For Real Estate.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Besides, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I wish to discuss why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I want to deal with the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d additionally such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Big Change In Technique, I talked about exactly how and why I chose to turn my motor home blog right into mainly a newsletter. I made a decision that was the business version I wanted to pursue with that said home.
Yet, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly RV, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Extra on that particular in a little bit.
As I claimed because problem of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a platform with tools constructed into it details to my objective. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send the e-mail concurrently without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated 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 system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click subscription web links. Great for promo in various other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated ad network, if I pick to generate income from with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The system was actually constructed by the individuals who built up the technology for Morning Brew. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the factor here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different function.
And I ended off with this:.
I might without a doubt be moving 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 for it. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s very own residential property so that I can grow it more deliberately too.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capability to be branded as it’s own media entity and grown independently. Gladly RV was young, so simple to change. Yet, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will undoubtedly always be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a distinction between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can host your email checklist everywhere you desire 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 system, the act of posting indicates that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail subscribers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are publishing to that site. However, you are also dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much less complex.
With the majority of email platforms, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is developed completely independently from your website. So, for instance, you may publish a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly need to separately construct and send an email to your checklist to send it to clients. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different activities because post and your e-mails are not naturally connected.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it virtually “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress articles and permits them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong option if I intended to continue to self-host every little thing. Nonetheless, you ‘d shed the growth devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing an e-newsletter inherently includes a different collection of needs than a normal e-mail list.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You don’t generally need autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to aid you build your client base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I selected to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t mean I think Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been around longer, it is elder and has more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple points that at first got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter publishers. As a matter of fact, it is actually built by the exact same people who constructed the technology behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I’m interested in below.
- That branding and distinction also suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather big brand names and large publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the client avatar difference between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter by means of FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only factor I would contemplate shaking points up is if I believed I can GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I really do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as straight competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of customer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being much more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive deeper than just the placing below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv feels like it was constructed by people who recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards designers.
For instance, BeeHiiv offers custom areas on customers. Currently, it isn’t as created as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation functionality is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only action is the capability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to brand-new actions, such as changing custom-made areas, sending out webhooks, etc. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just because I started making use of the system. For example:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which particular embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations similar to this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack just can’t do this since the target market of Substack just wouldn’t think to approach this like an e-mail marketing expert.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the creating interface of BeeHiiv is simply extra geared towards newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it functions. I locate it to be extra intuitive, personally.
Substack’s writing user interface behaves and clean, however it would be more equivalent to the classic editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than simply type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can place Visibility options on that particular section to show it only to paid clients, conceal it from email, conceal from customers, show only to clients, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription model, BeeHiiv does not take any income. As a matter of fact, you essentially attach up to your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on how many clients you get, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the monthly cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear unpopular, but what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outside using devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in any way.
Generally, I just felt like BeeHiiv was extra built towards actual email marketing. It was constructed by people who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page designs appear far better developed for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I would like to see BeeHiiv include, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have said, Substack settings itself towards “designers” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter owners. Because of that, you see some points tailored more toward people who simply think in terms of web content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Additionally, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to multiple magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, but … great for people who could need it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. For example, it has a conversation feature to host talks with customers. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. In general, Substack is established to be more like a social media which sustains long-form content.
Overall, Substack is additionally extra … minimalist. You either care for that or do not. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works rather well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is better fit. I searched for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, however honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently with to be the closest competitors, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer rivals. Both are going after the same target audience and have comparable capabilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), however it is much more highly catering to individuals who do it for company. ConvertKit has great visual automation building, it’s own business platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly great system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure below. ConvertKit is well known already. However, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has a lot more adaptability when it concerns it’s automations. I will certainly likewise state that I locate ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit much more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains labeling. This is simply a basic feature of email checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in a far more flexible method than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some point quickly, frankly. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv For Real Estate.
ConvertKit does now supply the ability to market things using their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly always choose an extra straight alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been around much longer and because of that has way a lot more integration alternatives. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. As an example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated web content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this a lot more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is significantly doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even busy taking on the development devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your newsletter with benefits, yet you can additionally pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are truly amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you recognize ConvertKit obtained Sparkloop? Sparkloop is just one of one of the most well known viral promo systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this indicates for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv For Real Estate
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this phase of the cycle. Nonetheless, it likewise suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually seen virtually regular launch of new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but huge features that are fairly vital. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise very much value just how responsive they are. In fact, one of their product news regarding some style enhancements to the website design features really had a little trouble with the content size. I just responded to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply directly from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was taken care of.
Few days later, I gave them an additional idea …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to cause automations based on the embed kind made use of was included in the system.
That sort of responsiveness and straight involvement of the team is something I truly value.
An additional major point of distinction below is the price. Both platforms provide cost-free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capacity and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more favorable. ConvertKit appears less expensive at first glimpse since their pricing web page shows reduced numbers, nevertheless the customer limitations are FAR lower and your price swiftly increases as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size listing is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their ideal plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your listing up to 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, as well, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different organization when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance prices? They might as time takes place. However, I’m presuming individuals like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you most definitely need to remember is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to advance rather rapidly and make new product statements somewhat usually, however there are some standard features I actually desire they had that I need to just await.
One is that they need to have a setting on membership forms where I can select an automation to run right at the form level. That would be remarkable for many reasons. Currently, registration kinds look OK, however there’s very little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would behave to have labeling at the customer level. This would be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to belong to automations to make integrated automations much easier and lower reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative interface adjustments that would come in handy. For example:
- Ability to bulk edit/remove subscribers.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (as an example, to mark a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of fundamental areas as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the internet site (such as even more adaptable shade options, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some drawbacks. Points I hope they finish with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not virtually as established as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It probably never will be, either. As I stated, the function is different so it wouldn’t much a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never understand, however.
Last Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv fairly a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to change my very own e-newsletters over to the platform despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and owning my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting model especially, I saw enough value in their system to necessitate the modification.
Keep in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my special e-mail list. I utilize BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, however I purposefully have things establish to make sure that I additionally maintain my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just a great insurance coverage, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration changing to BeeHiiv. It will just be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various needs. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import devices for Substack, so the button should be rather straightforward.
If you are on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d most likely stay put unless you have a big e-mail listing and are as a result being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are iterating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good possibility you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a better and a lot more affordable fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very intentional concerning growing an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration 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 among the best video games around right now. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv offers a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at on your own. And if you wind up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll locate the cost-free account to be fairly feature rich.