I have actually used a great deal of different email list systems throughout the years. In the last number of years, I have actually been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and owning your very own platform. Because of that (and the remarkable features), I have actually been using Matt Mcgarry Podcast.
So, it is undoubtedly an unusual move for me to decide to make use of BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is a hosted application and I am paying month-to-month for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I wish to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my e-newsletters. I intend to resolve the concern of digital sovereignty while making use of the platform and I would certainly additionally like to address why I picked to use it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Constructed For E-newsletters
In Concern # 435 of my newsletter called My Pastime + A Large Change In Technique, I discussed exactly how and why I determined to transform my recreational vehicle blog right into largely a newsletter. I made a decision that was business model I wanted to pursue keeping that residential property.
Yet, to intentionally seek it as a newsletter, I wanted a system that was purpose-built for that. I was utilizing FluentCRM for the e-mail listing for Happily recreational vehicle, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, truthfully, using it for newsletters is a little bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a little bit.
As I stated in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Simply put, BeeHiiv is a system with tools developed into it particular to my function. Points such as:
- Ability to release (to the blog) and send out the email simultaneously without having it be two different actions.
- Integrated in e-newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would certainly have needed a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in capacity to do cross-promotions with various other e-newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are primarily one-click subscription links. Great for promotion in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are means to do that.
- Ability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Built-in ad network, if I pick to monetize with advertisements in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid e-newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was literally constructed by the individuals who accumulated the modern technology for Morning Brew. They know what they’re doing.
That is the point below. BeeHiiv is developed from the ground up for the objective of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a various objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I might certainly 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. In fact, I just went all out. And actually, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, triggered as it’s own property to ensure that I can grow it much more purposefully also.
The goal is that each newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded separately. Happily RV was young, so very easy to change. Yet, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was hidden in a sea of things right 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 constantly be very closely connected with the Blog Marketing Academy, however doesn’t need to be a part of it.
I switched over to BeeHiiv since it was developed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Typical Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can organize your email list anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them around, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The main difference is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your web site and to your e-mail clients at the same time.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that site. Yet, you are likewise sending off to all clients at the same time. The internet site and it’s subscribers are all in one. This makes management of the platform much less complex.
With most email systems, any type of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed completely independently from your site. So, for example, you could publish an article to WordPress but after that you would certainly require to individually construct and send out an email to your listing to send it to customers. These are after that two separate sets of archives and two different actions since blog posts and your emails are not inherently linked.
The closest point that turns WordPress into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a fitting name because it pretty much “glues” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and allows 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. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the development devices that include a system like BeeHiiv.
Publishing a newsletter naturally comes with a different collection of demands than a regular e-mail listing.
You don’t normally require much marketing automation. You don’t generally require autoresponder series, event monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation platform.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth publishing experience and growth devices to help you construct your client base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was mosting likely to switch the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had many people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the truth that I chose to choose BeeHiiv, that does not mean I assume Substack draws. In fact, due to the fact that Substack has been about longer, it is more mature and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is younger, there are a pair things that originally obtained my interest:.
- BeeHiiv is especially tailored to newsletter authors. As a matter of fact, it is essentially constructed by the very same people who developed the innovation behind Early morning Mixture. On the other hand, SubStack targets authors. In the real world, does not matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more common positioning of being a “maker”. Development is what I want below.
- That branding and distinction also suggests that BeeHiiv has some rather huge brand names and large magazines utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended more at solo creators. Once again, it just informs me the consumer character distinction between the two companies.
Sending our my newsletter using FluentCRM didn’t precisely draw. The only reason I would certainly ponder trembling things up is if I believed I can GROW the list much faster. And BeeHiiv talked precisely to that objective.
Because of the targeting, I in fact do not view BeeHiiv and Substack as direct rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a different kind of customer. In fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more straight rivals.
Yet, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning here.
Points That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Generally, BeeHiiv looks like it was developed by individuals who comprehending e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra geared towards makers.
For instance, BeeHiiv provides custom-made fields on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv uses Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a whole lot like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation performance is still early-phase. It is still fairly minimal in triggers and the only activity is the capability to send an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will certainly have new triggers as well as brand-new activities, such as customizing custom-made fields, sending out webhooks, and so on. I have actually currently seen enhancements to their automations simply since I started making use of the platform. As an example:
- Capacity to trigger automations based on which specific embed form they came in on.
- Ability to instantly do re-engagement (and handle people based upon opens and non-opens).
- Capability to do standard conditional logic 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 wouldn’t think to approach this like an email marketer.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the composing interface of BeeHiiv is just extra tailored towards e-newsletters. In fact, it in fact has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in just how it functions. I discover it to be more instinctive, directly.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and clean, but it would certainly be extra equal to the timeless editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This distinction is greater than just type. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and afterwards put anything you want in it. After that, you can put Presence options on that area to show it just to paid clients, conceal it from e-mail, conceal from customers, show just to clients, and so on. Substack supplies absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a premium subscription version, BeeHiiv does not take any revenue. Actually, you actually link approximately your own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your earnings. Relying on the amount of customers you get, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This might seem nerdy, yet what it suggests is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can actually make BeeHiiv deal with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations at all.
In general, I just seemed like BeeHiiv was much more developed towards actual email marketing. It was developed by individuals who “get it”. Even the opt-in kinds and the landing page makes seem much better built for conversions. Growth is nitty-gritty with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I want 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 actually claimed, Substack settings itself towards “designers” more than email marketing experts and newsletter owners. Therefore, you see some things geared more towards people that just think in regards to content production.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support numerous magazines, they are treated rather separately. Whereas Substack does have the capacity to cross-post to numerous publications at the same time. This isn’t something I call for, however … cool for individuals that may need it.
Substack also has more social performance built-in. As an example, it has a chat feature to host talks with customers. It also has a “Notes” feature which functions sort of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from various other “Stacks” you read. Interesting. On the whole, Substack is established to be much more like a social media network which sustains long-form content.
Generally, Substack is likewise a lot more … minimalist. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. However, if the goal is simpleness of interface and, honestly, features … Substack works rather well.
Yet, I’ll be clear right here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not assume there’s much doubt that BeeHiiv is much better fit. I searched for even more factors that make Substack far better than BeeHiiv, yet truthfully … I have a difficult time finding 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 competitors. Both are going after the very same target audience and have comparable abilities.
ConvertKit is additionally placed at designers (like Substack), but it is much more strongly satisfying people who do it for organization. ConvertKit has nice aesthetic automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and a lot more. ConvertKit is a really nice platform.
I’m not mosting likely to birthed you with a complete feature-by-feature break down right here. ConvertKit is popular currently. But, below’s exactly how I really feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
As of now, ConvertKit has extra flexibility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly additionally state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a little bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports identifying. This is simply a standard feature of email listings that allows segmentation in a far more adaptable means than BeeHiiv presently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain marking at some point quickly, honestly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Matt Mcgarry Podcast.
ConvertKit does now give the capability to sell points through their very own system. 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 alternative anyhow. For me, I prefer to use my very own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been around a lot longer and for that reason has way much more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is rather effective. For example, their plugin now also sustains member-gated material along with auto-embed of your newsletter archives right into your site. Fundamentally, this extra closely puts ConvertKit into direct competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is badly lacking in these type of third-party integrations presently. It’ll get there. However, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also busy tackling the development tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Recommendation Engine where you can not just incentivize individuals to share your newsletter with advantages, however you can also pay per lead within the inner ad network of BeeHiiv to grow your checklist. These are truly awesome features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand 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 suggests for the platform going forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Better At … Matt Mcgarry Podcast
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this stage of the cycle. Nonetheless, it additionally suggests that they are swiftly establishing.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually witnessed practically weekly launch of brand-new features right into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … yet big features that are fairly essential. Their speed of advancement at this moment has gone over.
I additionally quite value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, one of their product news concerning some style improvements to the website design features actually consisted of a small issue with the material size. I merely replied to that email to tell them. I promptly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the problem was repaired.
Few days later, I provided one more pointer …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to activate automations based on the embed kind utilized was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I really appreciate.
Another major point of differentiation right here is the cost. Both platforms provide free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies much more ability and even more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
Once you go to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is additionally much more favorable. ConvertKit seems less expensive initially glance because their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much lower and your price rapidly raises as your checklist grows.
With BeeHiiv, your first degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid each year), nevertheless you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That exact same size checklist is going 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 grow your listing approximately 100,000. A list of that dimension would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, also, that puts you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay yearly, too. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for just $84/month if you pay annually.
BeeHiiv remains in a totally different league when it involves pricing (in an excellent way).
Will BeeHiiv eventually raise rates? They might as time goes on. Yet, I’m thinking people like myself who are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how points continue.
Things I Would Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among the important things you certainly need to keep in mind is that BeeHiiv is reasonably young. They do appear to progress rather promptly and make new item announcements somewhat usually, but there are some basic features I really wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they need to have a setup on registration types where I could pick an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would certainly be AWESOME for so many reasons. As of now, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s really little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have labeling at the subscriber level. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to be part of automations to make built-in automations much easier and reduce reliance on outside devices like Zapier.
There are also some minor management user interface changes that would be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to mass edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit blog posts (for instance, to identify a number of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of basic fields as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some more customization alternatives for the website (such as even more versatile color selections, heading control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some imperfections. Things I hope they do with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, yet it isn’t perfect and certainly not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM item.
It possibly never will be, either. As I said, the purpose is various so it wouldn’t a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation system. I presume you never recognize, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Evaluation
I such as BeeHiiv quite a lot. Enough where I determined to change my own newsletters over to the system despite my personal choice for digital sovereignty and having my own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter publishing design especially, I saw adequate worth in their system to call for the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my unique email listing. I utilize BeeHiiv of what it is good at, yet I purposefully have points establish to ensure that I also maintain my list “in home” inside of FluentCRM.
If you make use of BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the same. It is simply an excellent insurance plan, for one. Yet, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your listing will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack today, I ‘d definitely take into consideration switching over to BeeHiiv. It will simply be extra business-friendly. It is targeting different capabilities and various requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the button needs to be rather uncomplicated.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d most likely sit tight unless you have a big email checklist and are consequently being fleeced with their high monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating promptly. There’s likewise a pretty good chance you’re not also making use of several of those fancier features of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv could conveniently be a better and extra budget-friendly fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate regarding growing a newsletter, I think BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and maintain and eye on for you.
If you utilize BeeHiiv with eyes wide open concerning what it is created to be, it is among the very best video games in town today. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It deserves looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll discover the cost-free account to be quite feature abundant.