I have actually made use of a great deal of different e-mail list systems throughout the years. In the last couple of years, I have actually been a massive advocate of digital sovereignty and owning your very own system. Therefore (and the incredible features), I have been making use of Matt Mcgarry Write Grow Sell.
So, it is without a doubt an odd move for me to determine to use BeeHiiv. Nevertheless, it is an organized application and I am paying monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv testimonial, I intend to look at why I made the switch to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I intend to address the issue of digital sovereignty while utilizing the platform and I ‘d also such as to resolve why I selected to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Developed For E-newsletters
In Problem # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Large Change In Strategy, I talked about how and why I made a decision to turn my recreational vehicle blog into mostly a newsletter. I determined that was business version I wanted to pursue with that said residential or commercial property.
But, to intentionally pursue it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was making use of FluentCRM for the email checklist for Happily motor home, however FluentCRM is not an e-newsletter system. It is built to be a CRM and marketing automation tool and, honestly, using it for newsletters is a bit of a waste. A lot more on that in a bit.
As I claimed in that issue of the e-newsletter …
Basically, BeeHiiv is a platform with devices constructed right into it certain to my purpose. Things such as:
- Capacity to publish (to the blog) and send out the e-mail simultaneously without having it be two separate activities.
- Built in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM doesn’t have that and I would certainly require a third-party tool like Sparkloop.
- Integrated capacity to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv system.
- ” Magic Hyperlinks”, which are generally one-click membership web links. Great for promo in other e-newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are methods to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to promote your e-newsletter.
- Integrated advertisement network, if I select to monetize with advertisements in the newsletter. And I may.
- Integrated ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and basically run a costs newsletter. And BeeHiiv does not take a cut.
Primarily, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for e-newsletter authors with features focused on growth. The system was literally constructed by the individuals who built up the technology for Early morning Brew. They understand what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is developed from scratch for the purpose of running an e-newsletter. FluentCRM has a different objective.
And I finished off with this:.
I may indeed be moving The Side over to BeeHiiv as well. A minimum of, I’m highly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. As a matter of fact, I just went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Morning WP, set off as it’s own residential or commercial property so that I can grow it much more purposefully too.
The goal is that each e-newsletter has the ability to be branded as it’s very own media entity and expanded independently. Gladly recreational vehicle was young, so simple to shift. But, The Early morning WP (previously The Edge) was hidden in a sea of stuff below at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to expand it on it’s own. It will clearly always be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, yet doesn’t have to be a part of it.
I switched to BeeHiiv due to the fact that it was developed for this purpose. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Simply A Normal Email Listing
There’s a difference between a newsletter platform and just an email listing.
You can organize your e-mail checklist anyplace you desire and there are a variety of them out there, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted alternatives like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the difference?
The primary difference is that, with an e-newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your site and to your e-mail customers concurrently.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are publishing to that internet site. However, you are likewise sending to all subscribers at the same time. The internet site and it’s clients are done in one. This makes management of the platform much simpler.
With many email systems, any type of newsletter you established is done as an e-mail campaign. It is constructed completely separately from your website. So, for example, you might publish an article to WordPress however after that you would certainly require to separately construct and send out an email to your list to send it to customers. These are then two separate collections of archives and 2 different activities due to the fact that article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest thing that transforms WordPress into a true newsletter system is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name since it pretty much “adhesives” your e-newsletter to your WordPress posts and permits them to be the exact same point. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a strong alternative if I intended to continue to self-host whatever. Nonetheless, you ‘d lose the growth devices that feature a system like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter naturally comes with a various collection of needs than a regular email list.
You do not typically require much marketing automation. You do not normally need autoresponder series, occasion monitoring, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO requirement, however, is one smooth posting experience and development tools to aid you build your customer base that are specific to newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my subscribers that I was mosting likely to switch over the e-newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was choosing it over Substack.
To be clear, even besides the reality that I selected to choose BeeHiiv, that does not indicate I think Substack draws. As a matter of fact, because Substack has been around much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Even though BeeHiiv is more youthful, there are a pair things that at first obtained my focus:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to e-newsletter publishers. Actually, it is actually constructed by the very same people that developed the modern technology behind Morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, doesn’t matter. But, the evident positioning of BeeHiiv towards e-newsletter development called me out over the even more generic positioning of being a “developer”. Growth is what I want below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise implies that BeeHiiv has some relatively huge brand names and large publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo makers. Once more, it simply informs me the client character difference in between both business.
Sending our my e-newsletter via FluentCRM didn’t exactly suck. The only factor I would certainly ponder trembling points up is if I assumed I can expand the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke precisely to that objective.
As a result of the targeting, I really do not watch BeeHiiv and Substack as direct competitors. I assume BeeHiiv is targeting a different type of consumer. As a matter of fact, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being a lot more direct competitors.
However, let’s dive much deeper than simply the positioning below.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv seems like it was built by people that recognizing email marketing. On the other hand, SubStack seems much more geared toward creators.
For example, BeeHiiv uses custom-made areas on subscribers. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack doesn’t.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. In fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a 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 ability to send an e-mail. Nevertheless, improvements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have brand-new triggers in addition to new activities, such as changing customized fields, sending webhooks, and so on. I’ve currently seen improvements to their automations simply given that I started using the system. For instance:
- Capability to activate automations based upon which details embed kind they came in on.
- Capability to immediately do re-engagement (and deal with individuals based on opens 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 because the target audience of Substack just wouldn’t believe to approach this like an e-mail marketer.
When it involves composing your newsletters, the creating user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more tailored towards e-newsletters. Actually, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in exactly how it functions. I find it to be extra intuitive, personally.
Substack’s creating user interface is nice and tidy, yet it would certainly be extra equal to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar at the top.
This difference is greater than just type. For instance, with BeeHiiv you can place a “Area” and after that placed anything you want in it. After that, you can put Visibility options on that particular section to reveal it only to paid subscribers, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, reveal just to subscribers, etc. Substack provides absolutely nothing like this.
And when/if the moment comes that I begin a costs registration version, BeeHiiv does not take any profits. Actually, you literally connect up to your very own Stripe account and it charges straight to it. With Substack, they will take 10% of your profits. Depending on how many clients you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit more cash than the regular monthly price of BeeHiiv.
Lastly, BeeHiiv has an API. This could appear nerdy, but what it implies is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can really make BeeHiiv work with the outdoors utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack essentially has … absolutely nothing. No integrations whatsoever.
Generally, I simply seemed like BeeHiiv was more developed toward genuine e-mail marketing. It was developed by people who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page makes appear far better constructed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Despite the fact that there are still features I wish to see BeeHiiv include, I like the instructions it is going more than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack placements itself towards “designers” greater than email marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Because of that, you see some points geared a lot more toward individuals that just think in terms of material development.
For example, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Also, while BeeHiiv does support several magazines, they are treated fairly independently. Whereas Substack does have the ability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I require, however … amazing for people who might need it.
Substack also has more social functionality built-in. For example, it has a conversation function to host chats with subscribers. It likewise has a “Notes” function which works kind of like a social media sites newsfeed where you can share points from other “Stacks” you’re reading. Fascinating. In general, Substack is set up to be much more like a social media network which sustains long-form web content.
On the whole, Substack is likewise more … minimal. You either take care of that or don’t. Personally, I don’t. Nevertheless, if the goal is simplicity of user interface and, honestly, features … Substack works pretty well.
However, I’ll be clear here …
When it comes to real marketing, I do not think there’s much uncertainty that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I looked for even more factors that make Substack better than BeeHiiv, however frankly … I have a tough time finding them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are often via to be the closest rivals, I actually see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer competitors. Both are going after the same target audience and have similar capacities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at developers (like Substack), but it is a lot more strongly accommodating people who do it for company. ConvertKit has nice visual automation structure, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly good system.
I’m not going to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature malfunction below. ConvertKit is popular currently. However, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Points ConvertKit Is Much Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has extra versatility when it involves it’s automations. I will likewise state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit much more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports marking. This is just a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables division in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to sustain tagging at some time quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing out on Matt Mcgarry Write Grow Sell.
ConvertKit does now offer the capability to offer points using their very own system. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it might be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly select a much more straight choice anyway. For me, I prefer to utilize my very own system powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has been about a lot longer and therefore has way much more integration options. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins integrate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their own WordPress plugin that is quite effective. For instance, their plugin currently also supports member-gated material in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Basically, this more carefully puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you be able to publish to your site and your e-mail checklist at the same time.
BeeHiiv is severely lacking in these type of third-party integrations right now. It’ll get there. But, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also active tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. For instance, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with benefits, but you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really remarkable features of BeeHiiv. Yet …
Did you know ConvertKit got Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most well known viral promotion platforms for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the composing on the wall surface of what this means for the system moving forward.
Things BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Matt Mcgarry Write Grow Sell
BeeHiiv is a lot earlier in it’s item cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that implies much less features and less integrations, which is natural for this phase of the cycle. However, it also indicates that they are swiftly creating.
In the short time that I have actually been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have actually experienced practically once a week release of brand-new features into the system. And these aren’t puny little features … but large features that are quite crucial. Their rate of growth at this moment has gone over.
I likewise very much value exactly how responsive they are. Actually, among their item news concerning some style enhancements to the website design features really consisted of a small issue with the web content size. I just replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly obtained a reply straight from the chief executive officer:.
That very same day, the concern was taken care of.
Couple of days later, I gave them one more recommendation …
Sure enough, in a bit over a week of that exchange, the ability to set off automations based on the embed type made use of was included in the system.
That type of responsiveness and straight participation of the group is something I really appreciate.
Another significant factor of differentiation below is the rate. Both systems offer cost-free plans, nevertheless the BeeHiiv free plan supplies extra capability and more customers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
As soon as you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is likewise much more desirable. ConvertKit seems less costly initially glimpse due to the fact that their pricing page shows lower numbers, nonetheless the subscriber limitations are FAR lower and your rate rapidly enhances as your listing expands.
With BeeHiiv, your initial degree paid plan begins at $42/mo (paid every year), however you can have up to 10,000 customers. That very 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 make use of), you can expand your list approximately 100,000. A list of that size would run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay each year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay each year.
BeeHiiv remains in an entirely different organization when it comes to pricing (in a great way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point boost prices? They may as time goes on. Yet, I’m guessing individuals like myself that are currently in will be locked-in. We’ll see exactly how things continue.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
Among things you absolutely require to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do appear to evolve rather swiftly and make new item news somewhat commonly, however there are some standard features I truly want they had that I require to just wait on.
One is that they need to have a setting on registration forms where I might choose an automation to run right at the form level. That would certainly be incredible for so many reasons. Already, subscription kinds look OK, yet there’s extremely little settings for them to assist in segmentation.
It would be nice to have tagging at the subscriber degree. This would certainly be effective.
I assume webhooks need to become part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and reduce dependence on outdoors tools like Zapier.
There are additionally some minor administrative user interface changes that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capacity to bulk edit/remove clients.
- Capability to mass edit messages (as an example, to tag a lot of them at the same time).
- Having a couple of standard areas as conventional on clients (like the name).
- Some even more personalization choices for the web site (such as even more versatile color options, heading control, etc).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they perform with it in the future. BeeHiiv is respectable, however it isn’t ideal and absolutely not virtually as created as something like FluentCRM or any other actual CRM product.
It possibly never will be, either. As I claimed, the objective is different so it would not a lot a lot of sense for BeeHiiv to come to be a complete marketing automation platform. I presume you never recognize, though.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a whole lot. Enough 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 own platform.
Put simply, for the newsletter posting model particularly, I saw adequate value in their platform to call for the modification.
Remember, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I make use of BeeHiiv wherefore it is efficient, yet I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I likewise maintain my listing “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the exact same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. However, having a full-featured marketing automation system for your checklist will certainly be of high use (FluentCRM is a full marketing automation platform and BeeHiiv is not and likely never ever will be).
So, the question is … should YOU use BeeHiiv?
In my opinion, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly consider switching to BeeHiiv. It will just be much more business-friendly. It is targeting various capabilities and different requirements. Plus, BeeHiiv even has import tools for Substack, so the switch needs to be rather simple.
If you get on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably stay unless you have a huge e-mail list and are consequently being fleeced with their high regular monthly expense. You will certainly not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, yet they are iterating quickly. There’s additionally a pretty good opportunity you’re not also utilizing some of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you don’t even require them. Because of that, BeeHiiv might conveniently be a far better and extra affordable fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be extremely deliberate regarding growing a newsletter, I assume BeeHiiv is THE platform to think about and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is created to be, it is among the best games in town right now. This is the system to view.
BeeHiiv provides a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth looking into on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be quite feature rich.