Enabling and using comments on beehiiv posts

Comments are a powerful way to boost engagement and build a sense of community around your newsletter. They encourage reader interaction, provide valuable feedback, and can even inspire future content.

Active comment sections not only make your posts feel more dynamic, but they can also improve reach through sharing and enhance SEO by adding relevant content.

To use comments, you'll first need to enable the feature in your Website Builder (steps below).

From there, the experience differs slightly depending on your role — whether you're an admin managing the conversation or a reader/user joining in. We’ll walk through both.

Looking to collaborate on posts with your team during the publishing process? Check out our guide on leaving internal comments for team members.

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User Experience: Leaving likes, comments, and replies on published posts

Comments are governed by the settings of each post. If the post is free for all users, then everyone can see the comments. If it's for paid subscribers only, then only those subscribers can see and leave comments. To participate by leaving a comment or liking a post, users must subscribe to the beehiiv publication.

1. Open a beehiiv publication that you'd like to comment on or reply to a comment. 
2. There are 2 places to access comments. On the left side of the post, you’ll find an icons menu. If they have comments enabled, then you will see an icon for comments. Or, at the bottom of the post, you'll find an option to Join the conversation.
3. If it's your first time commenting, you'll be prompted to log in to participate. You’ll need to enter your email address and then open and click a link in that email in order to gain access to the comment.   
4. Once logged into the publication, you can like the post or leave a comment. 
5. After submission, your comment will appear with a timestamp at the bottom of the post. You can delete or reply to your own comment. Other subscribers can reply to your comments and vice versa, creating up to 5 nested comment threads. 

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Admin Experience: How to enable comments for a publication

1. From the left panel dashboard in your account, go to Design > Website Builder.
   
   
2. The Website Builder will open on the Styles tab, but you’ll need to switch to the Settings tab. Then, click on Comments from the options in the left panel.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. At the top of the Comments options for the publication, you can enable comments by toggling the Post Comments Section on so that it is enabled. This will add a comments section to your posts.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Determine the order of the comments by selecting between Newest First, Oldest First, or Most Popular First.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You can also create comment bans based on subscriber email addresses by selecting + Add Comment Ban.
   
   You’ll then be prompted to add the email of the subscriber and provide a reason for the ban. When done, click on the Add Ban button.
   
   
   

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Admin Experience: How to enable comments on an individual post

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. Switch over to the Web page from the top navbar. Under the Web post settings, find the Comments section.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click on the down arrow next to All subscribers and choose one of the following:

• All subscribers: Allow all subscribers to comment.
• Paid subscribers only: Restrict commenting to paid users.
• Disabled: Hide the comments section entirely.
• Locked: Show the comments section, but disable new comments.
  
  

4. After publishing, you can preview and moderate the comments section on the live post.

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Admin Experience: How to add an engagement button for comments or likes on a post

You can add options for Likes & Comments to the email version of your post, allowing subscribers to interact with a single click.

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. Click the Email page in the top navbar to move to the Email part of the post flow. 
   
   
3. Under Email header buttons, toggle on Likes & Comments to enable the engagement button for the post.
   

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Admin Experience: Managing and moderating comments

As an admin (or moderator), you can view, reply to, and manage comments from each post’s dashboard.

1. Go to Posts and select a published post with comments enabled.

2. Click on the Comments tab (only visible if comments are active for that post).
   
   
3. Click Login and Comment to access the live comment thread.
   
   

You can now reply as the moderator by entering text into the comment field and clicking Submit.

Moderating Comments
Comments that are inappropriate can be removed, and you can choose to disable comments completely if necessary. You can also disable comments on a case-by-case basis.

Removed comments will display as 'Removed by Moderator' and will not be visible to other users.

 

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Frequently asked questions about comments

Is it possible to use comments with my team when I am creating a post?

Yes, however, using comments for collaboration while creating a post is a different process.   

Can I test the comment section from a test email?

Unfortunately no, because the URL is not yet live and accessible until you publish the post. Once you publish the post and it is live you will be able to preview the comment section.

Can I use the comment section if my content is not hosted on beehiiv?

Unfortunately, comments are built directly into the web architecture of all beehiiv websites. If your content is hosted on a different platform, you would need to use a custom plugin or create your own integration.

Can I make it so only some people can comment?

Yes, the comment permissions are set at the post level. You can do this from the Web page in the Post Builder of any of your posts (published or unpublished).

Under Comments, click on the down arrow next to All subscribers and choose between it and Paid subscribers only, Disabled: Hide comments section, or Locked: Show comments section but disable new comments.





How do I add an engagement button to my email header?

You can enable an engagement button for likes and comments when creating your post on the Email page in the Post Builder.

Can anyone leave a comment or like my post?

No, readers would need to subscribe to your publication in order to comment on or like your posts.

Do I need to login every time I want to leave a comment on a beehiiv post?

Yes, for security purposes, we require a quick email check each time you access the comments of a beehiiv post.