I have utilized a lot of different e-mail list systems for many years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a massive proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own platform. For that reason (and the awesome features), I have been making use of Beehiiv Acquisition.
So, it is certainly an odd move for me to choose to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a hosted application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to go over why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while making use of the system and I would certainly additionally like to attend to why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For Newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Technique, I spoke about how and why I made a decision to turn my recreational vehicle blog site right into mostly an e-newsletter. I determined that was business version I wanted to go after with that residential property.
But, to intentionally pursue it as an e-newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the e-mail checklist for Gladly motor home, yet FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, using it for e-newsletters is a bit of a waste. Much more on that in a little bit.
As I stated because problem of the e-newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices constructed right into it specific to my function. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the email all at once without having it be 2 different activities.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click registration links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Links, however, so there are ways to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in capacity to run a paid newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features aimed at growth. The system was literally constructed by the individuals who accumulated the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They know what they’re doing.
That is the factor below. BeeHiiv is constructed from the ground up for the objective of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may certainly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv too. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I didn’t consider it for long. Actually, I just went all out. And in fact, The side was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s very own residential or commercial property to ensure that I can grow it much more deliberately also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly motor home was young, so easy to transition. However, The Morning WP (formerly The Edge) was buried in a sea of things right here at the Blog Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly always be closely linked with the Blog site Marketing Academy, yet does not need to be a part of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv since it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
Newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can hold your email checklist everywhere you desire 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 difference?
The primary difference is that, with a newsletter system, the act of posting means that it is going to your site and to your email customers all at once.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a website. You are releasing to that web site. Yet, you are also sending off to all subscribers at the same time. The web site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes administration of the platform much less complex.
With many email platforms, any e-newsletter you set up is done as an e-mail campaign. It is built totally independently from your internet site. So, as an example, you could release a write-up to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to independently build and send an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are after that two different collections 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 real e-newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress messages and permits them to be the same thing. Definitely, something like E-newsletter Glue would be a solid choice if I wished to continue to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly lose the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally includes a various set of needs than a normal e-mail list.
You do not normally require much marketing automation. You do not usually require autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, however, is one seamless posting experience and development devices to aid you build your customer base that are specific to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I announced to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was selecting it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been around much longer, it is more mature and has even more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair points that originally obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is particularly tailored to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is literally built by the very same individuals that constructed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, does not matter. However, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation additionally means that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brand names and huge magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is aimed even more at solo creators. Once more, it just informs me the client character difference in between both firms.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM really did not precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly consider shaking things up is if I believed I could GROW the listing faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that goal.
As a result of the targeting, I actually don’t see BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a various type of customer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive deeper than just the placing right here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by individuals that understanding email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared toward developers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom-made areas on clients. Now, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is an aesthetic automation builder that functions a lot like what we have within FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still quite minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. Nonetheless, improvements are coming. Soon sufficient, automations will certainly have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as changing customized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen improvements to their automations simply considering that I began using the system. For example:
- Capability to cause automations based on which certain embed kind they was available in on.
- Capacity to immediately do re-engagement (and take care of individuals based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do basic conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations such as this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can’t do this due to the fact that the target market of Substack simply would not think to approach this like an email marketing expert.
When it concerns composing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is simply a lot more geared towards newsletters. Actually, it in fact has similarities to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be much more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s composing user interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be a lot more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This distinction is more than just form. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can put a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can place Visibility choices on that section to reveal it just to paid subscribers, conceal it from e-mail, hide from clients, reveal just to customers, and so on. Substack offers nothing such as this.
And when/if the time comes that I begin a premium registration design, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of revenue. Actually, you essentially connect up to your very own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit even more cash than the regular monthly price 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 actually make BeeHiiv work with the outside using tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was much more constructed toward real email marketing. It was developed by individuals that “get it”. Also the opt-in kinds and the landing page develops appear much better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want 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 stated, Substack settings itself towards “developers” more than e-mail marketing experts and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared much more toward people that simply assume in terms of material development.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does sustain several magazines, they are dealt with fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to multiple publications at the same time. This isn’t something I require, but … awesome for individuals that may need it.
Substack additionally has even more social performance built-in. For instance, it has a chat function to host talks with clients. It likewise has a “Notes” feature which functions type of like a social networks newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. In general, Substack is established to be a lot more like a social media network which sustains long-form material.
In general, Substack is additionally a lot more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works quite well.
Yet, I’ll be clear here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is better fit. I tried to find even more points that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, yet frankly … I have a hard time discovering them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly via to be the closest rivals, I really see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the exact same target market and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at creators (like Substack), but it is much more highly catering to individuals who do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation building, it’s own commerce system, and extra. ConvertKit is a truly good platform.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a full feature-by-feature breakdown below. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit compare …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has more flexibility when it pertains to it’s automations. I will also say that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit extra user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports tagging. This is just a standard function of e-mail checklists that enables division in an even more adaptable way than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to support tagging at some point quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Beehiiv Acquisition.
ConvertKit does currently provide the ability to market things using their very own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that’s important to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, nevertheless, I would certainly constantly select a much more straight option anyway. For me, I choose to use my own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way more integration options. Lots of web-based tools and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin now also supports member-gated content along with auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this more closely places ConvertKit right into direct competitors by having you have the ability to release to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these kinds of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not just incentivize people to share your e-newsletter with advantages, but you can additionally pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your checklist. These are actually remarkable features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is one of the most popular viral promotion systems for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall for what this means for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Acquisition
BeeHiiv is a lot previously in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that indicates less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. However, it also suggests that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced virtually regular launch of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but big features that are rather essential. Their speed of development at this moment has been impressive.
I likewise quite appreciate just how responsive they are. As a matter of fact, among their item news about some design enhancements to the web design features actually consisted of a little issue with the content size. I simply replied to that e-mail to tell them. I swiftly obtained a reply directly from the chief executive officer:.
That same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later on, I provided one more tip …
Sure enough, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to trigger automations based upon the embed kind used was included in the system.
That kind of responsiveness and direct participation of the team is something I actually value.
An additional major factor of differentiation here is the cost. Both systems supply free plans, however the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also even more favorable. ConvertKit seems cheaper initially look because their pricing web page reveals reduced numbers, nevertheless the client limits are FAR reduced and your cost swiftly increases as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 customers. That exact same size list is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Range” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can grow your list as much as 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you want their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can obtain all that for just $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it involves pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv ultimately boost costs? They might as time takes place. Yet, I’m presuming people like myself that are currently in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Add
Among things you absolutely require to remember is that BeeHiiv is fairly young. They do seem to develop rather promptly and make brand-new product news somewhat often, yet there are some standard features I truly wish they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership types where I can choose an automation to run right at the type level. That would be remarkable for numerous factors. Currently, registration forms look OK, but there’s really little setups for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have tagging at the customer level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks should belong to automations to make built-in automations easier and decrease reliance on outside tools like Zapier.
There are likewise some minor administrative interface changes that would certainly be handy. As an example:
- Ability to mass edit/remove customers.
- Ability to bulk edit blog posts (for example, to tag a number of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental areas as standard on clients (like the name).
- Some more personalization options for the internet site (such as even more adaptable color choices, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Points I wish they make with it in the future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t best and certainly not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It most likely never ever will certainly be, either. As I claimed, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a full marketing automation system. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I decided to switch my own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my individual preference for digital sovereignty and owning my very own platform.
Simply put, for the e-newsletter publishing version especially, I saw adequate value in their platform to necessitate the change.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my exclusive e-mail list. I use BeeHiiv of what it is proficient at, but I deliberately have points set up to ensure that I additionally keep my list “in residence” inside of FluentCRM.
If you use BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will certainly be).
So, the inquiry is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are utilizing Substack today, I ‘d certainly consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will just be more business-friendly. It is targeting different abilities and various needs. And also, BeeHiiv even has import devices for Substack, so the button needs to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d possibly sit tight unless you have a huge e-mail listing and are as a result being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating rapidly. There’s additionally a pretty good chance you’re not even making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even need them. For that reason, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a much better and a lot more economical fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate concerning growing an e-newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is designed to be, it is one of the best games in town today. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves having a look at for yourself. And if you wind up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the free account to be fairly feature rich.