Setting up your Top 4 Recommendations

The beehiiv Recommendations network is a simple and effective way to grow your subscriber base. Your Top 4 Recommendations is a curated group of up to 4 other beehiiv publications that you recommend to your subscribers, directly integrated into your publication’s signup flow.

Offering trusted recommendations creates a better experience for new subscribers, and the numbers back it up: publications that complete their Top 4 grow more than twice as fast as those that don’t.

By recommending other newsletters, and being recommended in return, you tap into a powerful growth loop. It’s a smart and remarkably easy way to cross-promote with other newsletters and collaborate with fellow creators to grow your audiences together.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the key benefits and setup steps. You’ll find quick tips, a video tutorial, and detailed instructions for selecting your Top 4 and embedding recommendations directly into your posts, followed by some faqs.

• Recommendations are free. Unlike Boosts, which are paid referral placements, Recommendations are completely free. Boosts are designed to help you acquire subscribers or monetize, while Recommendations help you grow through mutual promotion.
• Recommendations and referrals are different. The Referral Program allows you to reward your own subscribers for sharing your newsletter. Recommendations, on the other hand, are a cross-promotion tool between publishers; you recommend other newsletters, and they can recommend you.
• Recommendations can appear in your signup flow. You can include a Recommendations step in your publication’s signup flow, so new subscribers are introduced to your Top 4 right after subscribing.
• Boosts will appear alongside Recommendations. If you’re running any Boosts, they’ll appear at the top of your Recommendations widget or page, but they are not part of your Top 4.
• Subscriber approval won’t prevent Recommendations. If your publication requires subscriber approval, other publications can still recommend you, and you can recommend them. A note will appear indicating that subscriber approval is required.
• You can segment based on acquisition source. When a subscriber comes in via a Recommendation, that data is saved to their profile, and you can build audience segments using it.

To appear in the Recommendations network and be eligible to be recommended by other publications, your publication must meet a few baseline requirements.

Make sure your publication:

• Includes a publication name and logo.
• Is not set to private.
• Has sent/published a post in the last 60 days.

1. From the left panel in your account, go to Grow > Recommendations.
   
   
   
   
    
2. If it’s your first time, you’ll be prompted to create your Top 4. Click on any + icon or the Create your top 4 button to begin.
   
   
   
   
    
3. You’ll see a list of recommended publications based on content similarity and audience overlap.
   
   
   
   
   
   Each publication preview includes:

• Date of their last post.
• Total number of posts.
• Audience location.
• Associated category tags.

If a publication is already recommending you, you’ll see a Recommend Back button in the Recommending You tab. 

4. To add a publication to your Top 4 you can:

• Click Recommend All to automatically fill all 4 slots with the suggested matches.
  
  
  
• Click Recommend to add them one at a time.
  
  
  
• Or, if you’re not interested in a suggestion, click Not interested and a new publication will appear for you to review.
  
  
  

5. To explore beyond the suggestions, scroll to the bottom of your list and click Discover publications.
   
   
   
   
    
6. In the modal that opens, use the Search bar to look up publications by name. Or filter by Categories and Languages to narrow your results. To select a publication, click Recommend. If you’d like to return to your dashboard, click Back.
   
   
   
   
    
7. The publication’s stats will popup for you to review. To add it to your Top 4, click Recommend.
   
   
   
   
    
8. You’ll see a message indicating how many more slots remain. Click Complete your top 4 to continue, or I’ll do it later to finish at another time. Repeat steps 5-7 until all 4 slots are filled.
   
   
   

1. Open a new post draft or select to edit one of your saved posts or templates.
    
2. The Post Builder will open on the Compose page. Access the post editor by typing /. Under Premium, select Recommendation.
   
   
   
   
    
3. If you’ve already set up Recommendations, they’ll appear in a list under the search bar. To insert one, click on the recommendation you want to include. To add a new one, click Add a recommendation and follow the prompts.
   
   
   
   
    
4. Once selected, the recommendation will automatically populate in your post.
   
   
   

Once your Top 4 is set up and you’ve had some activity, head to the Recommendations dashboard to monitor your growth and see how your network is performing.

• Discover new publications: Click Discover publications to browse or search for other publications to recommend.
• Subscribers referred: View the total number of subscribers you've referred to others.
• Check your community badge: Your badge highlights your contribution to the network. A progress bar shows how close you are to the next tier.
• Explore recommendation activity: Use the graph to track trends in your recommendations over time. Click to adjust the timeframe.

Next to your subscribers referred count you’ll find an icon for your community badge. You’ll earn badges as you refer more subscribers to other publications. 

• Starter: You’ve referred 10+ subscribers.
• Connector: You’ve referred 100+ subscribers.
• Influencer: You’ve referred 1,000+ subscribers.
• Powerhouse: You’ve referred 10,000+ subscribers.
• Supernova: You’ve referred 100,000+ subscribers.

To share your badge, click the arrow icon and choose a platform or select Download Image to save it to your device. 

Use the Recommending you tab to monitor the Top 4s that you are in and to see the tally of subscribers you’ve received.

 

From the Recommending you tab you can view:  

• Top 4s you're featured in: The total number of publications that have added you to their Top 4.
• Subscribers received: The number breakdown of the chart showing the total number of subscribers received along with this month’s tally.
• List of publications: See details at a glance, with options to View website, View publication details, and Block publication.
• Heart status level: This recognition system tracks how many subscribers you’ve referred to others. The more you give, the more visibility (and hearts) you earn.
  • First heart: Featured in at least one Top 4.
  • Second heart: Featured in 5 or more Top 4s.
  • Third heart: Featured in 25 or more Top 4s.
  • Fourth heart: Featured in 100 or more Top 4s.
  • Fifth heart: Featured in 500 or more Top 4s. 

In the Top 4 tab, you’ll see the current recommendations you've set up.
 

Click the 3 dots icon on any of your recs to choose from:

• Remove from my Top 4: Clicking this will free up one of your Top 4 spots.
• View publication details: Learn more about the publication before deciding to keep or remove them.
• Edit reason: Add a short explanation that displays to your subscribers.
• Add to new post: Open the post editor with the recommendation already inserted.

To reorder your Top 4 publications, simply click on the thumbnail of the publication and using the move tool, drop it into the location you’d like it to appear on your recommendations popup.

To add recommendations to your signup flow, click Manage signup flows to update this in your website settings.

Click on the Previously featured tab to see publications that were once part of your Top 4. You can easily view their website and publication details, or bring them back if you want to re-feature them. 

Click the 3 dots menu and select from Add to my top 4, View publication details, or View website. Use the Search bar to look up publications by name, or sort by Newest, Oldest and Subscribers referred to narrow your results.

Where do Recommendations appear?
Your Top 4 Recommendations will appear in two key places:
• On your website, immediately after someone subscribes (if enabled in your signup flow).
• Inside your posts, by typing /recommendation and selecting a publication. You can also insert one from the Add to new post option found in the 3 dots menu of your Recommendations dashboard.
I’m not seeing Recommendations in my signup flow. What should I do?
From your Recommendations dashboard, click on Manage signup flows to access the website builder for your publication. Your setup may vary depending on which version you're using:

For the v1 Website Builder, you’ll be taken to Website > Builder v1 > Settings > Signup Flow. While you can’t reorder the steps, you can turn the Recommendations Page on or off.

For the v2 Website Builder, you’ll be taken to the Website > Builder v2 > Signup Flows page where you can reorder and customize what subscribers see after signup, including the Recommendations popup.

 
Note: You will need to link the signup flow to the subscribe form on your site pages.

You can also update your Recommendations page.
 

Or the Recommendations modal from the modals area.
 

How do I know if a subscriber was recommended?
Go to your Subscribers dashboard. In the subscriber list, look at the Acquisition Source column. If a subscriber was referred via Recommendations, it will be labeled as recommendation.

I used to have more than 4 Recommendations. Can I get that back?

beehiiv now supports up to 4 Recommendations in the Top 4 format. This change helps streamline the experience for subscribers. While it’s no longer possible to add more than 4, any Boosts you’re running will still appear above your Top 4 in the signup flow.

Can I opt out of being recommended by others?

Not at this time. There’s currently no way to opt out of being shown in the Recommendations network.

A publication is recommending me, but I don’t want them to; what can I do?
If you see a publication listed in your Recommending you tab and don’t want to be associated, click the 3 dots menu and select Block publication.
Note: You can only block active recommendations. If a publication is marked as Archived, it cannot be blocked.

Once blocked, you’ll also see the option to Unblock publication in the same 3 dots menu.

Do I have to use a Top 4?

While setting up a Top 4 can accelerate your subscriber growth, it’s completely optional. Keep in mind that even if you don’t display a Top 4, other publications can still choose to recommend you.