Situation
Goldplaybook, launched by Thunderclap in 2019, was set to be sold in early 2024. To enhance the sale’s appeal, Thunderclap offered a final service: migrating the newsletter from Mailchimp to beehiiv. This move aimed to reduce monthly costs for the buyer and ensure a smooth transition with no revenue disruptions.
Goldplaybook was already a streamlined operation, equipped with RSS news aggregation strategies, allowing new owners to focus on monetization through advertisers and sponsors rather than content setup.
Challenge
Mailchimp had grown slower, costlier, and less user-friendly following its acquisition by Intuit. The buyer required assistance transferring all operations to a new email service provider without any downtime – a critical need for a daily newsletter sent at 3 p.m. with ongoing ad and sponsorship commitments. Any interruption could jeopardize MRR and subscriber trust.
Solution
Thunderclap executed a swift migration to beehiiv over a single weekend, ensuring continuity and enhancing performance:
List Optimization: Cleaned the subscriber list by removing inactive users and used beehiiv’s segmentation tools to categorize subscribers based on open rates and clicks, pinpointing highly engaged readers.
Template Continuity: Recreated the daily newsletter template using beehiiv’s template builder to match the original design, ensuring subscribers noticed no difference.
Deliverability Assurance: Applied a warm-up routine with beehiiv’s deliverability features to avoid junk/spam inbox woes post-migration.
Rapid Execution: Completed the entire process – list cleaning, segmentation, template design, and platform switch – in under 48 hours.
Buyer Support: Provided weekly training sessions to help the new owner master beehiiv’s interface and features.
Results
Lowered monthly software expenses with beehiiv’s pricing structure
Increased open rates ~11% on average thanks to some list hygiene practices, which later helped convert future advertisers
Avoided deliverability issues and ensured zero downtown
Empowered the buyer with quick onboarding through tailored training sessions