Growing your audience with paid incoming recommendations

The beehiiv Recommendations Network brings free and paid recommendations together in one place. Paid recommendations (previously called Boosts) let you pay other publishers for each verified subscriber they send your way, so you only spend on real audience growth.

For information on earning revenue by recommending other publications, read Monetizing your newsletter with paid outgoing recommendations.

• Free vs. paid recommendations: Free recommendations are mutual promotions at no cost. Paid recommendations let you pay other publishers per verified subscriber they send you. Both can run at the same time.
• Outgoing vs. incoming: Outgoing is where you recommend other publications. Incoming is where you set up and manage your free and paid offers to grow your own audience.
• Cost per subscriber (CPA): The amount you pay for each verified subscriber a recommending publisher delivers. A 20% fee covers operational and Stripe transaction costs and is already factored into the marketplace price.
• beehiiv Wallet: Available funds for paid recommendations are held in your beehiiv Wallet. You are only charged for subscribers who pass verification.

Paid recommendations require two setup steps before you can create an offer:

1. Complete Stripe Identity Verification.
2. Set up a Stripe Express account to fund your Wallet.

For more, read using the beehiiv Wallet and the different types of Stripe accounts on beehiiv.

1. From the left panel dashboard, go to Recommendations > Incoming recommendations > Overview. Click on Create paid offer.
   
   
   
    

2. On step 1, Offer details, enter your Cost per subscriber (CPA) (required). The CPA is the amount you'll pay for each verified subscriber a recommending publisher delivers. Once you’ve added your CPA, you’ll see the adjusted price reflected in the Offer preview on the right. 
   

   
   Tech Note: The final price is 20% lower for publications who browse your offer. This fee covers operational and Stripe fees and is factored into the price. In the above example, you will pay $2.50 per subscriber acquisition, and the publication recommending you will be paid $2. $2 is the amount that the recommending publication will see when browsing your offer and what shows in the preview.
3. Next, select your Eligible subscriber countries (optional). Eligible countries limit which subscribers you pay for in the geographical locations of your choice. This is optional but helps you target your ideal audience. Leave this option blank to accept all eligible countries. Click on Next to move to the next step. 
    
4. Next, in step 2, you’ll be given the option to auto accept publications that want to recommend you. Toggle on the Automatically approve publishers that match your conditions option to customize how you prioritize subscriber quality vs faster growth for your newsletter. 
   
   
   
   Once toggled on, use the slider to move between Highest quality subscribers, slower growth and Lower quality subscribers, faster growth to fully customize your growth strategy. Under the slider, you’ll be presented with an estimate of how many publishers would qualify under these settings, as well as your estimated growth. 
   
   
5. If you wish, use Advanced conditions to fine-tune your acquisition strategy. Click on + Add condition to get started.
   
   
   
   
   Use the dropdowns to adjust your conditions. Choose between options for Category, Audience country, and Language. 
   
   
   
   Use the trashcan icon next to any condition to delete only that condition, or use the Delete all conditions option to start over entirely. 
   
   

6. In step 3, you’ll be asked to add funds to pay for your acquisitions. Click on Add funds and deposit at least $20 via Stripe.
   
   

   
   Tech Note: $20 is the minimum that you are able to deposit. Funds are consumed when an approved partner refers a subscriber who successfully completes verification.
7. Optionally, you can toggle on Auto-deposit to automatically top off your balance when it drops below a set amount. You can turn this off at any time, but we recommend this option to avoid any disruption 
   
   Enter your Balance threshold, Deposit amount, and use the Frequency dropdown to adjust how often funds are auto-deposited into your wallet.
   
   
8. Review your offer and click on Create offer. Your offer is now live. Other publishers can discover it and apply to recommend you.

When a publisher applies to your offer, their application appears under Incoming recommendations > Applications.

1. Review each application card. Cards show the publication name, categories, subscriber count, last posted date, and audience details.
2. Click on Accept or Reject. Accepted publishers become active paid recommenders.