Growing your audience with beehiiv Boosts

Boosts operates as a robust two-sided marketplace, connecting newsletters looking to grow their audience with publishers looking to promote other newsletters while generating revenue; making it a fantastic opportunity to both grow your audience and monetize your newsletter. You can choose to participate in one or both sides of the Boosts Marketplace (grow and monetize), but for optimal success it’s best to take advantage of them in tandem.

In this article, we’ll focus on those looking to grow their audience. If you’re looking for info on how to start earning revenue through Boosts on beehiiv, read our guide on monetizing your newsletter with Boosts.

Definitions and resources about Grow Boosts 

• Recommendations vs Boosts: Recommendations are free between beehiiv newsletters. Boosts, on the other hand, are paid placements that allow you to either grow your audience or monetize your newsletter. This article focuses on Grow Boosts — using paid placements to acquire new subscribers.
  
  
• Email Boosts: An Email Boost is a sponsored recommendation block that the boosting publication can insert into their post. To enable this, you must toggle on Email Boosts when setting up your Boost offer. Each time a publication wants to include your Boost in an upcoming email, they must apply — and you must approve each application.
  
  
• Web Boosts: Web Boosts are sponsored placements shown on a boosting publication’s Recommendations page in their Signup Flow, or Boosts Recommendations widget after someone subscribes. Once a Boost is accepted, it displays automatically and allows new subscribers to opt in during signup.
  
  
• Direct Links: Boosts Direct Links are personalized sponsored signup links that can be shared across various platforms, channels, and communities. These links direct users to the landing page of your publication, ensuring the boosting publication receives credit for each signup.
  
  
• beehiiv Wallet: Funds to cover Boosts are managed in your beehiiv wallet. If you’re also using Monetize Boosts, you can transfer earnings from Monetize to Grow to reinvest in your subscriber acquisition/growth.
  
  
  Tech Note: Once funds are transferred from Monetize to Grow in your wallet, they cannot be reverted back to ‘Available Earnings’ or withdrawn.
• Frequently asked questions about Boosts: Have more questions? We’ve compiled a list of FAQs for both Monetize and Grow Boosts. 

Watch and learn: How to Grow Your Newsletter with beehiiv Boosts

How to get started with Boosts to grow your audience

Add funds to your wallet 

1. From the left panel dashboard, click Grow > Boosts.
   
   
2. You’ll be brought to your Grow with Boosts dashboard. Click Add funds in the top-right corner to add funds to your beehiiv Wallet.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. You’ll be redirected to Stripe where you will be prompted to enter how much you wish to deposit.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Once you’ve added funds to your wallet, you’ll see your funds listed under My available balance at the top of your Grow with Boosts dashboard. You can now use these funds to pay other publications to boost your publication.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Create your Boosts offer 

5. From your Grow with Boosts dashboard, click on the pink New Offer button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. A form will appear where you can start creating your offer. Under Step 1: Configure offer details, set your Cost per acquisition (CPA). This is the amount you’ll pay for each verified subscriber referred to your publication.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Next, define your Target Audience. This description will appear alongside your offer in the Boosts Marketplace, helping other publishers understand your niche and find the right fit.
   
   
   
   
    
8. You can also view a live Preview of your offer in the marketplace on the right side of the screen.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: A 20% fee is applied to all Boosts to cover operational costs and Stripe transaction fees. This fee is already factored into the marketplace pricing — no hidden charges.
   
   For example, if you create a Boosts offer with a $2.00 CPA, the offer will appear in the marketplace as $1.60 per subscriber ($2.00 - 20% = $1.60).
   
   Click Continue to move to the next step of creating your offer.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. In Step 2: Setup quality controls, you’ll first need to select your Verification mode.
   
   

• Standard (Recommended): A more rigorous verification process that takes 14–21 days.
• Relaxed: A quicker, less rigorous process that can take as little as 2 days.
  
  
  

10. Next, you can toggle on Auto-clean Boost verification denied subscribers to automatically remove unverified subscribers from your list. This helps maintain list hygiene and protect your sending reputation.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. You can also set Geo-location criteria to only pay for subscribers from specific countries. This step is optional but can help you target your ideal audience more effectively. For full instructions, see our guide on how to set the geolocation of your Boosts offer.
    
    
    
    
    
    Click Continue to move to the final step.
    
    
12. In Step 3: Allow Email Boosts (optional), you can toggle on Enable Email Boost channel. Enabling this allows publications to promote your newsletter in their email posts.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Reminder: Email Boosts require a separate application each time the publication wants to boost yours in an email post.
13. Under Max Spend, you can set the maximum amount the publication can earn from an Email Boost.
    
    For example, if your Boost is set to a $2 CPA, and your max spend is $200, the publication boosting yours will only be paid for up to 100 verified subscribers. You won’t be charged for any signups beyond that limit.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Note: Web Boosts do not have a max spend cap and can continue earning indefinitely unless you or the boosting publication ends the partnership.
14. When you approve an Email Boost, the Max Spend amount is held in escrow. This can be seen in the Escrow balance section of your Grow with Boosts dashboard, directly under your available balance.
    
    
    
    
    
    Once approved, the boosting publication will have 72 hours from your approval to send the email containing the Email Boost.
    
    
    Tech Note: If no email is sent within 72 hours, your escrowed funds will be fully refunded. Once a publication sends the Email Boost, any extra funds that were not spent will be returned to you after 72 hours.
15.  When everything looks good, click Create to publish your Boost offer.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Reminder: Each publication is limited to having one live Boosts offer in the marketplace at any given time.

Managing your Boosts Offers

Once your offer is live, it will appear at the top of the Overview tab in your Grow with Boosts dashboard.

Beneath your offer, you’ll see a direct link that you can copy and share — this allows other publications to apply directly to your offer.



To make changes to your offer at any time, click the pink Edit Offer button.

If you need to pause a Boost agreement with a specific publication or report suspicious activity, click the 3 dots menu next to their name and select Pause or Report.

You can also proactively invite publications to boost your newsletter. Click Invite Publications to Boost to get started. For more on this feature, read our guide on inviting publications for Grow Boosts.

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When a publication applies to your offer, you’ll see their application in the Applications tab. Applications are grouped by Web and Email, depending on which channels you have enabled.

For a full walkthrough of the dashboard and application options, see our overview of the Grow boosts dashboard. 

You can streamline your workflow with two automation options:

• Auto-accept: Automatically approves Boost applications.
• Auto-pause: Automatically pauses underperforming Boosts.

If you wish to allow Direct Links for your Boosts, you’ll need to enable them individually for each publication. To do this, go to Grow > Boosts, and then click the name of a publication currently boosting you. This will open their publication-specific page. At the top, toggle on Direct Link to show as enabled.