The Experts Guide to Boosts

What’s up with “verification”?

In order to ensure the best results, and also disincentivize others from attempting to abuse the marketplace, we have created a verification process to validate all new subscribers generated from Boosts.

We purposely keep the verification process opaque to prevent users from gaming the system, but it is some combination of email engagement, location, IP addresses, user agents, behavior, and several additional factors.

You will only ever pay for verified subscribers — meaning those who we have vetted and accepted as legitimate and qualified subscribers. In turn, you will be refunded for all subscribers who do not meet the criteria and pass the verification process.

You can choose between two types of verification when creating an offer: Standard and Relaxed.

Standard: optimized for quality, but takes a bit longer to verify (thus your funds are held up in escrow (i.e. “pending”) for a longer period of time.

Relaxed: optimized for speed (less time your funds are held up in a pending state), but may lead to slightly lower quality subscribers as a result.

Understanding the Boosts Dashboard (Grow)

There are some important definitions to call out here to better understand all of the data being presented on this dashboard above.

• Total Subscribers — The total number of subscribers that other publications have sent you via Boosts.

• Verified Subscribers — Subscribers who have been accepted by our verification process. You only ever pay for verified subscribers, which prevents you from paying for low quality and/or fake subscribers.

• Pending Verification — Subscribers who you haven't yet paid for, currently going through our verification process. This process takes between 10-21 days for our normal verification process (recommended), or as little as 3 days for our relaxed verification process.

• Pending Spend — The amount in escrow tied to those subscribers currently going through the verification process. Funds associated with subscribers who fail verification will be returned to your beehiiv wallet and made available to spend again.

• Total Spend — This is the amount you have already paid for verified subscribers.

Understanding Offer Statuses

You may also notice in the screenshot above that one of my offers is Live while the other is a Draft. To explain the different statuses associated with offers…

• Live — the offer is visible to others in the Boosts Marketplace, where beehiiv users can view and apply to boost your newsletter.

  • You can only have a single Live offer at any given time.

• Active — there are other publishers currently boosting your newsletter based on the terms of this offer, but it is no longer visible in the Boosts Marketplace.

  • Example: you created an offer with a $2.00 CPA, and accepted 10 publishers to Boost you. You later decide to create a new offer with a $2.50 CPA. The new offer will be Live and visible in the Boosts Marketplace and no one else will be able to apply to the old $2.00 offer. But as long as those 10 publishers are still boosting your publication (or at least 1 of them), that old offer will remain Active.

  • This ensures continuity that subscribers are still being driven to your newsletter. However if you want to terminate those old Boosts, you can Pause and/or Archive them. Doing so will require those publishers to re-apply to your new offer however.

• Inactive — the offer is only visible to you and previously had active Boosts but none are currently active.

• Draft — is only visible to you, and has not yet been published. You can choose to publish the Draft, which would move the current Live offer (if one exists) to Active. Or you can choose to Archive it.

• Archived — can think of an archived offer as deleted. It will pause and archive all active Boosts associated with the offer.

  • Warning: archiving a Live or Active offer will disrupt all Active Boosts associated with, requiring each publisher to have to re-apply in the future.

What’s happening step-by-step?

Now let’s walk through exactly what’s going on under the hood when someone is Boosting your newsletter. For the sake of example, let’s say that Newsletter A is boosting your newsletter that has an offer of $2.50 CPA.

1. Once you accept their application, Newsletter A will be actively boosting you.

2. Each time a new subscriber signs up to Newsletter A, they will be redirected to a page that shows Newsletter A’s recommended newsletters. Your newsletter may be one of the few loaded on that page, allowing them to opt-in with a single click.

3. If and when that new subscriber opts-in to also receive your newsletter, they will be added to your list in a Pending state (a Pending subscription means they need to confirm their email to begin receiving your posts).

   1. This is also known as double-opt, and they will be sent a reminder email 48 hours later to confirm their email if they didn’t already confirm it.

   2. $2.50 (the CPA associated with your offer) will be moved from your available funds into escrow (Pending Spend) while we verify the quality of this subscriber.

4. Depending on whether you chose the Standard or Relaxed verification process when creating the offer, this subscriber will be assessed and verified for a period of time ranging 3 to 21 days.

   1. During this period beehiiv is carefully analyzing engagement and behaviors associated with this subscriber to determine if they are a legitimate and engaged subscriber.

   2. You can assume confirming their email (transitioning their subscription from a pending → active state) is just one of many qualifications.

5. At the conclusion of the verification window, the beehiiv system will determine whether or not to verify that subscriber. It is also possible a subscriber is verified before the end of the verification window if we have enough data points.

   1. If verified: the funds will move from escrow (Pending Spend) to Newsletter A for completing the service of delivering you a quality subscriber.

      1. beehiiv will receive a 20% transaction fee.

   2. If not verified: the funds will be returned to your wallet from escrow and made available to use for future growth.

      1. The subscriber will remain on your list but you will not be charged due to them not meeting the verification requirements.

      2. Newsletter A does not receive anything.

      3. beehiiv does not receive anything.

What’s happening step-by-step?

For clarity sake, let’s walk through exactly what’s going on under the hood of a Email Boost. Let’s assume that Newsletter A is already boosting you via that offer of $2.50 per subscriber, with a max spend of $1,000.

1. Newsletter A will request to include your Boost in an upcoming post of theirs, which results in a notification for you.

2. You view the notification and accept the request, which gives them 72 hours to publish the Boost.

   1. During those 72 hours, $1,000 (your max spend) is moved from your available funds into escrow to ensure there is liquidity for Newsletter A assuming they fully deliver.

3. Newsletter A drops your Boost in an upcoming post and you begin receiving tons of new subscribers from the promotion

   1. If they deliver 100 subscribers: then at most you are on the hook for $250 (100 subscribers * $2.50 /subscriber).

      1. The remaining $750 is returned from pending spend to available funds immediately after 72 hours.

      2. That kicks off the normal verification process for those 100 subscribers that lasts between 3 and 21 days.

         1. If 100% of those subscribers get verified: then the remaining $250 are removed from pending and paid out to Newsletter A.

         2. If 50% of those subscribers get verified: then $125 is moved from pending and paid to Newsletter A, and you’ll be refunded the remaining $125.

            1. In total in this example—you paid $125 for 100 subscribers, half of which met our criteria for being engaged and verified.

   2. If they deliver 1,000 subscribers: then at most you are on the hook for $1,000 because that is your max spend…despite them technically over-delivering.

      1. All $1,000 will remain in pending funds for the duration of the verification window.

      2. The normal verification process for those 1,000 subscribers kicks off, lasting between 3 and 21 days.

         1. If only 100 subscribers get verified: then $250 is moved from pending and paid out to Newsletter A and the remaining $750 is returned to your available funds.

         2. If 1,000 subscribers get verified: then all $1,000 will be moved from pending and paid out to Newsletter A.

            1. In total in this example—you paid $1,000 for 1,000 subscribers and actually extracted more subscribers for less money.

Understanding the Boosts Dashboard (Monetize)

There are some important definitions to call out here to better understand all of the data being presented on this dashboard:

• Total Subscribers — The total number of subscribers that you sent to other publications via Boosts.

• Verified Subscribers — Subscribers who have been accepted by our verification process. You only ever get paid for verified subscribers, and aren’t rewarded for low quality and/or fake subscribers.

• Pending Verification — Subscribers you haven't yet been paid for, who are currently going through our verification process. This process can take upwards of 21 days depending on the verification settings of the publication you are boosting.

• Pending Earnings — The amount in escrow tied to those subscribers currently going through the verification process. Funds associated with subscribers who pass verification will be moved to your wallet as a part of Total Earnings and accessible to withdrawal.

• Total Earnings — This is the amount you have already earned for driving verified subscribers to other publications via Boosts.

Boost Statuses Explained

• Active — are currently being displayed on your recommendations page and driving subscribers to those newsletters.

• Inactive — are currently disabled and not being shown to your readers for the time being, but can be reactivated on your own accord.

• Paused — these have been disabled by the other publication associated with the Boost, due to a variety of possible reasons. You can’t resume these Boosts until they take action on their end.

• Rejected — were Boost applications you submitted but were rejected by the other publication.

• Archived — these were permanently disabled by either publication associated with the Boost and cannot be reactivated. You’ll need to re-apply if you want to Boost that publication again in the future.

What’s happening step-by-step?

When a new reader signs up to your newsletter, they’ll be redirected to a page on your site that shows other publications and newsletters you’re recommending. At the top, it’ll show up to 3 Boosts, which are identifiable via the Sponsored disclaimer above the name of the publication.

1. Each time a new subscriber toggles to also sign up to Just Go Grind (for example), they will be added to that newsletter’s list.

   1. $1.60 (the CPA associated with the offer) will be moved from their available funds into escrow while we verify the quality of this subscriber. This will appear to you as Pending Earnings.

2. Depending on which verification process the publisher chose while creating the offer, this subscriber will be assessed and verified for a period of time ranging 3 to 21 days.

   1. During this period beehiiv is carefully analyzing engagement and behaviors associated with this subscriber to determine if they are a legitimate and engaged subscriber.

3. At the conclusion of the verification window, the beehiiv system will determine whether or not to verify that subscriber. It is also possible a subscriber is verified before the end of the verification window if we have enough data points.

   1. If verified: the funds will move from escrow (Pending Earnings) to your wallet for completing the service of delivering a quality subscriber.

   2. If not verified: the funds will be returned to their wallet from escrow (i.e. you won’t get paid for this subscriber).

      1. The $1.60 in your Pending Earnings will no longer be pending, nor will it be made available to you.

What’s happening step-by-step?

Let’s assume you are already boosting Newsletter A for $2.50 per subscriber, they have sending enabled, and a Max Spend of $1,000.

1. You request to Boost Newsletter A in an upcoming send

2. Once they approve you have 72 hours to include the Boost in an upcoming post

3. You drop the Boost into your post and send it, and begin driving subscribers to Newsletter A

   1. If you deliver 100 subscribers: then you’ll be eligible to receive up to $250 (100 subscribers * $2.50 /subscriber), which will be displayed in your pending earnings.

      1. This kicks off the 3 to 21 day verification window, of which beehiiv will validate the quality and eligibility of these subscribers.

      2. At the end of the verification period you will receive the number of subscribers who were verified times the CPA for your total earnings.

         1. If all 100 subscribers are verified: you will receive $250 in total.

         2. If only 50 of the 100 subscribers are verified: you will receive $125 in total, and the rest will be returned to Newsletter A.

   2. If you deliver 1,000 subscribers: then you’ll be eligible to receive up to $1,000 (their max spend), which will be displayed in your pending earnings.

      1. This kicks off the 3 to 21 day verification window, of which beehiiv will validate the quality and eligibility of these subscribers.

      2. At the end of the verification period you will receive the number of subscribers who were verified times the CPA for your total earnings.

         1. If all 1,000 subscribers are verified: you will receive $1,000 in total.

         2. If only 100 of the 1,000 subscribers are verified: you will receive $250 in total, and the rest will be returned to Newsletter A.