I have actually utilized a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a huge proponent of digital sovereignty and having your own system. Because of that (and the outstanding features), I have been using Beehiiv Segmentation.
So, it is certainly a weird move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv review, I wish to go over why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to attend to the concern of digital sovereignty while using the platform and I ‘d also such as to address why I selected to use it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my e-newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Shift In Strategy, I talked about just how and why I chose to transform my recreational vehicle blog site into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was the business model I wished to go after with that residential or commercial property.
However, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly motor home, yet FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, using it for e-newsletters is a little bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I said because concern of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it certain to my function. Things such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog site) and send out 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.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with various other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I pick to monetize with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated capability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and primarily run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter publishers with features aimed at development. The platform was actually built by the people that developed the innovation for Morning Mixture. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the function of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I ended off with this:.
I might indeed be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And actually, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, triggered as it’s own residential property to ensure that I can grow it more deliberately as well.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Gladly motor home was young, so very easy to transition. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s very own. It will clearly always be closely tied with the Blog site Marketing Academy, but doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv since it was built for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Checklist
There’s a difference in between a newsletter platform and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your e-mail list anyplace 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 distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting suggests that it is going to your site and to your email subscribers at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that web site. But, you are additionally sending off to all clients at the same time. The website and it’s clients are done in one. This makes administration of the system much easier.
With a lot of email systems, any type of newsletter you set up is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your website. So, for instance, you may publish an article to WordPress but after that you would require to independently develop and send an e-mail to your list to send it to clients. These are after that 2 different sets of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that post and your emails are not inherently connected.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a true e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name due to the fact that it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress messages and allows them to be the very same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid option if I intended to remain to self-host every little thing. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that feature a platform like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally features a various set of demands than a regular e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You don’t typically require autoresponder sequences, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO requirement, though, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to assist you construct your subscriber base that specify to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was going to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I picked to go with BeeHiiv, that doesn’t indicate I believe Substack sucks. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Despite the fact that BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair points that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is literally constructed by the exact same individuals who built the technology behind Morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward e-newsletter growth called me out over the more generic positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and huge publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Again, it just tells me the consumer character difference in between both business.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would contemplate trembling things up is if I believed I might expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv talked specifically to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I in fact do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight competitors.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by people who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems more tailored towards makers.
For example, BeeHiiv supplies personalized areas on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. However, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. In fact, 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 limited in triggers and the only action is the ability to send an email. Nevertheless, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have brand-new triggers along with brand-new activities, such as customizing personalized areas, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations just considering that I started utilizing the system. For example:
- Capability to trigger automations based on which details embed form they was available in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based on opens and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this because the target audience of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it comes to creating your newsletters, the writing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored toward e-newsletters. As a matter of fact, it actually has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I discover it to be extra intuitive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and tidy, but it would be a lot more equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just type. For example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and then put anything you desire in it. After that, you can put Presence choices on that particular area to reveal it only to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show just to customers, and so on. Substack supplies nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs subscription version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. Actually, you actually connect up to your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Relying on how many customers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the month-to-month cost of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, however what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside making use of devices like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … nothing. No integrations at all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was extra constructed toward real email marketing. It was developed by people that “get it”. Even the opt-in forms and the landing page develops appear better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Even though there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the direction it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack positions itself toward “developers” greater than e-mail marketers and e-newsletter proprietors. For that reason, you see some things geared a lot more toward people who simply believe in regards to material development.
As an example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain multiple magazines, they are dealt with rather individually. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … cool for individuals that may require it.
Substack additionally has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a conversation function to host talks with subscribers. It additionally has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which supports long-form material.
Generally, Substack is likewise much more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack functions quite well.
But, I’ll be clear below …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not believe there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better suited. I tried to find more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a tough time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest competitors, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the same target market and have similar capabilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at creators (like Substack), but it is much more strongly dealing with people who do it for service. ConvertKit has great visual automation structure, it’s very own business system, and extra. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular already. Yet, here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Currently, ConvertKit has much more adaptability when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains tagging. This is just a standard function of e-mail checklists that makes it possible for segmentation in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv presently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point quickly, truthfully. It seems like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Segmentation.
ConvertKit does now supply the capability to sell things through their own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would always choose an extra direct choice anyhow. For me, I like to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around much longer and for that reason has way more integration options. Tons of online tools and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit even has their own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For example, their plugin currently even sustains member-gated content as well as auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your website. Basically, this more closely places ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your website and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely doing not have in these kinds of third-party integrations currently. It’ll arrive. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active taking on the growth devices of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can also pay per lead within the inner advertisement network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are really incredible features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you recognize ConvertKit got 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 of what this means for the system going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Beehiiv Segmentation
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that suggests less features and much less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it also indicates that they are quickly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed nearly once a week release of new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet large features that are fairly vital. Their rate of growth at this moment has actually gone over.
I additionally significantly value just how receptive they are. Actually, one of their product announcements about some design improvements to the website design features really included a tiny trouble with the content width. I just replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was fixed.
Few days later on, I gave them another suggestion …
Indeed, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based on the embed type utilized was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight involvement of the group is something I truly appreciate.
One more significant factor of differentiation right here is the price. Both systems provide totally free plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally even more positive. ConvertKit appears cheaper initially look since their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, however the subscriber limitations are much lower and your rate promptly raises as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first level paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very same size list is going to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally make use of), you can grow your listing as much as 100,000. A listing of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, also, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely different league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase rates? They might as time goes on. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points proceed.
Points I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among the important things you definitely need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to progress rather promptly and make new item news somewhat usually, yet there are some standard features I really desire they had that I need to simply wait on.
One is that they require to have a setting on membership types where I can pick an automation to run right at the type level. That would be amazing for so many reasons. Currently, registration types look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to help in division.
It would be nice to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks ought to become part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and lower dependence on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some small administrative interface changes that would certainly be handy. For example:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Ability to bulk edit messages (for instance, to identify a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic fields as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some even more modification alternatives for the website (such as more adaptable shade choices, headline control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, but it isn’t best and absolutely not nearly as established as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of feeling for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never understand, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I like BeeHiiv quite a great deal. Enough where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the platform regardless of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and possessing my own platform.
Basically, for the newsletter publishing version especially, I saw adequate worth in their system to warrant the change.
Bear in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email list. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is efficient, however I deliberately have points establish so that I also maintain my list “in house” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is simply a great insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your list will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are making use of Substack right now, I ‘d most definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch ought to be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a big email list and are therefore being fleeced with their high month-to-month expense. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are repeating swiftly. There’s likewise a pretty good chance you’re not also making use of some of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not also need them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could easily be a better and a lot more inexpensive fit.
Finally, if you plan to be very deliberate regarding growing an e-newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is one of the best games around now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth checking out for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll locate the complimentary account to be rather feature rich.