I have used a great deal of different email list systems for many years. In the last couple of years, I’ve been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Therefore (and the amazing features), I have actually been utilizing Beehiiv Glassdoor.
So, it is indeed an unusual move for me to choose to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to look at why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I wish to address the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also like to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Let’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Leisure activity + A Huge Change In Strategy, I talked about exactly how and why I determined to turn my RV blog site right into largely a newsletter. I made a decision that was business design I intended to pursue keeping that residential property.
Yet, to purposefully seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a platform that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the e-mail list for Gladly recreational vehicle, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter platform. It is constructed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, honestly, utilizing it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that particular in a little bit.
As I stated because problem of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a system with devices built right into it details to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capacity to release (to the blog) and send the email simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Constructed in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, however, so there are means to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with ads in the newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and essentially run a premium newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Basically, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features aimed at growth. The platform was essentially constructed by the people who built up the modern technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point right here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the function of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different purpose.
And I ended off with this:.
I may undoubtedly be moving The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I simply went all out. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s own property so that I can expand it extra intentionally also.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s own media entity and expanded individually. Happily motor home was young, so simple to transition. But, The Morning WP (formerly The Side) was buried in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Marketing Academy. By separating it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will obviously constantly be closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was constructed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Checklist
There’s a distinction in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail checklist.
You can organize your e-mail list anywhere 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 primary distinction is that, with an e-newsletter system, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have an internet site. You are publishing to that website. However, you are likewise dispatching to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are done in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much simpler.
With many e-mail systems, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally individually from your site. So, for example, you could publish a write-up to WordPress however then you would certainly require to separately develop and send an email to your checklist to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and 2 different actions because blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest thing that turns WordPress into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name because it basically “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress articles and allows them to be the exact same thing. Absolutely, something like Newsletter Glue would be a strong choice if I wanted to remain to self-host every little thing. However, you would certainly lose the development devices that come with a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting a newsletter naturally includes a various collection of demands than a typical email checklist.
You don’t usually need much marketing automation. You don’t usually need autoresponder series, event tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, however, is one seamless posting experience and development tools to assist you build your client base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my customers that I was going to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many individuals ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the reality that I picked to choose BeeHiiv, that doesn’t suggest I think Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, because Substack has actually been around longer, it is elder and has even more features.
Although BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a couple things that initially got my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is especially customized to e-newsletter authors. In fact, it is actually developed by the same individuals that developed the technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real life, doesn’t matter. Yet, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter growth called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “creator”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and differentiation also implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brands and huge publications using it. Whereas SubStack is aimed more at solo makers. Once again, it simply informs me the consumer character difference between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter through FluentCRM really did not specifically draw. The only reason I would contemplate drinking things up is if I assumed I might GROW the checklist quicker. And BeeHiiv spoke specifically to that goal.
Because of the targeting, I actually do not check out BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different sort of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra direct rivals.
Yet, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv feels like it was developed by individuals who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems a lot more geared towards makers.
As an example, BeeHiiv offers customized fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as developed as something like FluentCRM. Yet, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides 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 limited in triggers and the only action is the capability to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Quickly enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as new activities, such as changing customized fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen improvements to their automations just since I began making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capacity to trigger automations based upon which particular embed form they can be found in on.
- Capacity to instantly do re-engagement (and take care of people based upon opens up and non-opens).
- Capacity to do fundamental conditional reasoning branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never ever will. Substack simply can not do this since the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it pertains to writing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply much more geared toward newsletters. In fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it works. I locate it to be much more user-friendly, directly.
Substack’s writing interface behaves and clean, however it would certainly be more equivalent to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Area” and after that put anything you desire in it. After that, you can place Visibility alternatives on that particular section to show it just to paid customers, hide it from email, hide from customers, reveal only to subscribers, etc. Substack offers absolutely nothing similar to this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any type of earnings. As a matter of fact, you essentially attach approximately your own Stripe account and it charges directly to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your earnings. Depending upon the number of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be a fair bit more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may appear unpopular, however what it indicates is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors making use of tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … nothing. No integrations in all.
Overall, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more built towards actual email marketing. It was constructed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page creates appear far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv add, I such as the instructions it is going greater than Substack.
Things That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually said, Substack settings itself toward “developers” more than email marketing professionals and e-newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some things geared extra toward people that simply think in terms of content production.
For example, Substack supports podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, yet … cool for individuals that might need it.
Substack likewise has even more social functionality built-in. As an example, it has a conversation feature to host chats with clients. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Intriguing. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social media which supports long-form web content.
Overall, Substack is also more … minimalist. You either take care of that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the goal is simplicity of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works quite well.
However, I’ll be clear right here …
When it pertains to real marketing, I don’t think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, but truthfully … I have a hard time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are commonly with to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have comparable capacities.
ConvertKit is also positioned at designers (like Substack), but it is a lot more highly dealing with people who do it for business. ConvertKit has great aesthetic automation building, it’s very own commerce system, and much more. ConvertKit is a really great platform.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature break down below. ConvertKit is popular currently. Yet, right here’s just how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has much more flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will likewise claim that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more intuitive than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit sustains marking. This is simply a basic function of email listings that allows segmentation in an even more flexible means than BeeHiiv currently does. I expect BeeHiiv to sustain labeling at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Beehiiv Glassdoor.
ConvertKit does currently give the capability to offer things through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is very important to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, nonetheless, I would always pick a much more straight option anyway. For me, I favor to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way a lot more integration alternatives. Lots 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 content along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your website. Fundamentally, this a lot more closely places ConvertKit right into straight competitors by having you be able to release to your website and your e-mail list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll arrive. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is even active dealing with the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Suggestion Engine where you can not only incentivize people to share your newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal ad network of BeeHiiv to expand your listing. These are really outstanding features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion platforms for e-newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall wherefore this means for the platform going forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Beehiiv Glassdoor
BeeHiiv is much previously in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. Nevertheless, it also means that they are rapidly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have experienced almost once a week release of new features into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … but huge features that are quite crucial. Their speed of development at this point has actually been impressive.
I likewise very much value exactly how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their product statements concerning some layout enhancements to the website design features in fact included a small trouble with the content size. I just responded to that e-mail to tell them. I quickly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That exact same day, the issue was dealt with.
Few days later on, I gave them another pointer …
Certainly, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capacity to set off automations based upon the embed form used was contributed to the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
An additional significant factor of distinction below is the price. Both systems supply complimentary plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers extra ability and more clients (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more positive. ConvertKit seems less costly initially glance because their pricing page reveals reduced numbers, nonetheless the subscriber restrictions are FAR lower and your rate quickly increases as your listing grows.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That very same dimension checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you upgrade to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I directly use), you can expand your listing approximately 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, as well. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely various organization when it involves pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point enhance rates? They might as time takes place. However, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will certainly be locked-in. We’ll see how things continue.
Points I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of things you certainly require to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to evolve instead rapidly and make brand-new product announcements rather commonly, however there are some standard features I really want they had that I need to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration kinds where I can pick an automation to run right at the type degree. That would certainly be outstanding for numerous factors. As of now, subscription forms look OK, but there’s really little settings for them to help in division.
It would certainly be nice to have tagging at the client level. This would certainly be powerful.
I think webhooks need to belong to automations to make built-in automations much easier and lower dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface changes that would certainly come in handy. For instance:
- Ability to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capacity to mass edit messages (as an example, to identify a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a few basic areas as conventional on customers (like the name).
- Some more modification alternatives for the web site (such as more adaptable color selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I wish they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t ideal and definitely not almost as created as something like FluentCRM or any other real CRM item.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the objective is different so it wouldn’t a lot a great deal of sense for BeeHiiv to end up being a full marketing automation platform. I presume you never ever recognize, though.
Final Thoughts On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Sufficient where I made a decision to switch my very own newsletters over to the system despite my individual choice for digital sovereignty and having my very own platform.
Simply put, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw adequate value in their system to require the modification.
Bear in mind, I do not use BeeHiiv as my unique email checklist. I utilize BeeHiiv wherefore it is good at, but I intentionally have things establish to ensure that I additionally keep my listing “in house” within FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance policy, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will certainly be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d certainly consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be extra business-friendly. It is targeting various capacities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be quite uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit currently, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a big e-mail list and are consequently being wooled with their high month-to-month bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, but they are iterating swiftly. There’s also a pretty good chance you’re not even using several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you do not even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv can easily be a better and more economical fit.
Lastly, if you plan to be really willful regarding expanding a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to consider and keep and eye on for you.
If you make use of BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is made to be, it is one of the very best games in the area right now. This is the system to enjoy.
BeeHiiv supplies a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking with the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature rich.