How Intercom Reached 2M Impressions With beehiiv’s Ad Network

Situation:

Intercom, the world’s leading AI-first customer service platform, launched a newsletter on beehiiv to better engage startups through targeted outreach. Led by John Roche, the team aimed to reach companies with 1–5 employees and under $1M in funding—Intercom’s core Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Challenge:

Traditional channels like Meta and Google Ads made it difficult to reach niche startup audiences at scale. Influencer marketing also proved cumbersome to manage. Intercom needed a channel with high trust, measurable performance, and minimal operational lift.

Solution:

Intercom leveraged the beehiiv Ad Network to run multiple campaigns across highly relevant newsletters like Confluence VC and Failory. The network allowed them to select publications with strong open and click-through rates, align creatives with audience pain points, and receive analytics to optimize performance.

Results:

• 2+ million ad impressions
• 7,000+ landing page visits
• 1–2.4% ad click-through rates (CTR)
• Targeting newsletters with 10K–50K subscribers and 35–50% open rates
  

Roche noted, “The beehiiv Ad Network has given us an easy and scalable way to reach startup founders and key decision-makers.” The team now considers newsletters a growing pillar in their marketing mix thanks to strong ROI and streamlined execution.