AudienceBench

beehiiv Surveys: Signup, Unsubscribe, and Downgrade Surveys Explained (2026)

How beehiiv surveys work: question types, custom fields, subscribe/unsubscribe/downgrade surveys, segments and automations, polls vs surveys, and plan limits.

By AudienceBench Editorial · Published · Pricing & docs checked

beehiiv has a built-in survey tool. You can use it to learn who your readers are, ask new subscribers what they want, or find out why people unsubscribe or downgrade. Every answer is saved to a custom field on the reader’s profile. That’s the useful part, because you can then segment readers and trigger automations from their answers.

This guide is based on beehiiv’s help articles on surveys (updated Oct 9, 2026), custom fields, signup flows, polls, automation triggers, segments, and survey redirects, plus beehiiv’s public pricing page. We re-checked all of them on October 24, 2026.

How we researched this: Everything below comes from beehiiv’s help center and pricing page. We haven’t built a survey in a beehiiv account ourselves, so we can’t show real screens or response rates. A few beehiiv articles disagree on menu names and builders. We point those out where they matter.

About our links: beehiiv links on this page are affiliate links (/go/beehiiv). That’s the only program we earn from here. Our recommendations would be the same either way.

The short version

QuestionAnswer (per today’s sources)
Which plans?Lite, Pro, and Enterprise. The pricing table shows Surveys as — on Free. beehiiv says surveys are also on the free trial
Where?Subscribers → Surveys → Create survey
Question typesShort response, Multiple choice, Dropdown, Long response (up to 1,000 characters)
Where do answers go?Each question saves to a custom field on the reader’s profile
Special placementsSubscribe survey (after signup), Unsubscribe survey, Downgrade survey (paid readers)
Can I put a survey in a post?No. Link to it with its URL, or use a poll to embed a question in the email
Edit after publishing?Yes, per beehiiv’s survey article. Only archiving locks a survey
Do readers need to log in?Generally yes, so answers attach to the right subscriber
AutomationsSurvey submitted trigger, on Lite and up

Start on beehiiv

What surveys are good for

beehiiv lists these uses in its survey article:

  • Welcome or signup surveys: ask new readers what they want right after they subscribe.
  • Unsubscribe surveys: find out why readers leave.
  • Downgrade surveys: ask paid readers why they’re dropping to free. This works on its own or as part of the retention flow.
  • Advertiser data: demographics, income, or occupation, which helps when you pitch sponsors.
  • Mailing addresses: for giveaways or shipping products.
  • General questions and feedback: “How did you hear about us?” and the like.

A survey form is not a subscribe form. beehiiv is clear on this. Subscribe forms collect emails. Surveys collect information from people who are already subscribers.

Before you start

  • A Lite, Pro, or Enterprise plan, or the free trial. The survey article header says “All Paid Plans,” and the pricing table shows Surveys on Lite and up. beehiiv’s Free plan doesn’t include them.
  • Members or Admin role in your workspace.
  • Custom fields to store answers. You can create them as you add questions, so you don’t have to set them up first. Custom fields themselves are on every plan, including Free.

Plan your custom fields first

Every question needs a custom field, and the field type decides what the question can do. beehiiv’s custom field types are Text, Number, True/False, Date, Date & Time, and List (Multi-Select).

The one to watch is List (Multi-Select). beehiiv says the Allow multiple responses option on a multiple-choice question only shows up when the question’s field is a List (Multi-Select) field. If you pick a Text field, readers can choose only one answer. So if a question should be “check all that apply,” create a List (Multi-Select) field for it.

Custom field names are also case-sensitive when you use them as merge tags, so pick names you’ll remember (beehiiv’s example: “First Name” won’t match “first name”).

How to create a survey

From beehiiv’s survey article:

  1. In the left panel, go to Subscribers → Surveys and click Create survey.
  2. Fill in your first question:
    • Title (required): the question itself.
    • Question type (required): Short response, Multiple choice, Dropdown, or Long response.
    • Custom field value (required): pick an existing field or click + Create new.
  3. Click Add question. The form builder opens with the question on the canvas.
  4. Click the plus sign to add more questions. Drag to reorder, or use the trash can to delete.
  5. To make a question mandatory, turn on Required on form at the bottom right of the question.
  6. Click the pencil icon next to the survey name to open Settings. Set the Title, an optional Description, the button (CTA) text, and a Thank you message. Click Update survey.
  7. Click Preview (top right) to see it in a new tab.
  8. Click Publish, then Publish again to confirm. beehiiv says the survey goes live immediately.

Everything is public. beehiiv notes that the survey title and description are visible to readers, so don’t put internal notes there.

Shortcut: beehiiv says its built-in assistant, beehiiv Agent (the Ask beehiiv button or ⌘J / Ctrl+J), can create and manage a survey for you from a plain-language request.

Question types in detail

  • Short response: a brief text answer, like a first or last name.
  • Multiple choice: a list of options. Single choice by default. Turn on Allow multiple responses (List field only) to show checkboxes.
  • Dropdown: options in a dropdown menu. Good for long lists like countries or job titles.
  • Long response: a text box. You can set minimum and maximum character limits up to 1,000.

beehiiv suggests adding a catch-all like “Other (fill in reason below)” to multiple-choice questions so readers aren’t forced into an answer that doesn’t fit.

Where readers see your survey

A published survey has a URL. Beyond that, you can attach it to three moments using the survey’s 3 dots menu on the Surveys page.

Subscribe survey (right after signup)

Enable as Subscribe Survey shows the survey “once readers submit their email via a subscribe form,” per beehiiv. The survey article says that on beehiiv’s website builder, readers are redirected to the survey immediately after signing up, and it points you to the signup flows guide to set this up.

In that guide, a signup flow starts with a Signed up trigger. You add a Redirect to Page step, choose Dynamic page, and pick your survey from the Survey form dropdown. Only surveys you’ve already created show up. You can set a flow as the default for every subscribe form on your site.

Two limits from the signup flows article:

  • Embedded forms on other sites don’t support signup flows. If you use a beehiiv embedded form on WordPress or another site, don’t count on the survey appearing after signup. beehiiv doesn’t say whether the “Enable as Subscribe Survey” setting covers embedded forms. Test it, or send new readers the survey link in your welcome email instead.
  • Flows don’t resume. If a reader closes the tab partway through, beehiiv says the flow won’t pick up where it left off.

Which builder? The signup flows article is filed under the Advanced Website Builder. Publications created since September 21, 2026 start on the simpler Website Builder, where beehiiv’s help article only says you can add a “Subscribe flow (optional)” under Globals → Subscribe form. It doesn’t say whether that flow can include a survey step. The simple builder does have a Survey feature page, which beehiiv says goes live once you publish a survey. See Website Builder vs Advanced Website Builder for the differences.

Unsubscribe survey

Enable as Unsubscribe Survey shows the survey “when readers click to unsubscribe from your newsletter.” beehiiv’s own example uses a multiple-choice question with reasons like Too many emails and Content wasn’t relevant to me, with multiple answers allowed.

Downgrade survey (paid newsletters)

Enable as Downgrade Survey shows the survey when readers try to downgrade from a paid subscription. beehiiv says it works with or without the retention flow. Our retention flow guide covers how it fits with pauses and downgrade discounts.

Linking from a post

beehiiv says surveys can’t be embedded in a post. Use Copy URL from the 3 dots menu and link to it. Readers generally need to be logged in so their answers attach to the right profile. beehiiv says their email may be filled in already if they arrive from a signup flow or a survey link with custom link parameters.

After you publish

From the 3 dots menu on the Surveys page:

ActionWhat it does
View SettingsEdit the title, description, CTA, and thank-you message
DuplicateCopies the questions into a new draft. beehiiv says multiple-choice options and responses aren’t copied
View ResultsOpens the Responses tab with totals
Copy URLCopies the survey link
Enable as Unsubscribe / Subscribe / Downgrade SurveyAttaches it to that moment
ArchiveUnpublishes it, stops new responses, and locks it. Existing data stays in your account

Editing a live survey. beehiiv’s survey article says publishing doesn’t lock a survey. You can add, edit, reorder, and delete questions, and changes show up for readers right away. If you delete a question that already has answers, beehiiv keeps the old data, but the question drops off the live survey and your results from then on. (beehiiv’s older retention article says the opposite, that you can’t edit after publishing. The survey article is newer, so we’d go with it.)

Using the answers: segments and automations

This is where surveys earn their keep.

  • Segments. beehiiv’s segments article says you can use custom fields as segments. Ask “What’s your role?” and you can send a post only to readers who answered Founder. Segment limits by plan, per the pricing table: Free 3, Lite 10, Pro and Enterprise unlimited, with segment depth of 3 / 10 / 20 / 20. Publishing to segments is a Lite-and-up feature.
  • Automations. beehiiv has a Survey submitted trigger that fires “when a subscriber submits any survey or a specific beehiiv survey.” You can add conditions based on custom fields. The pricing table lists the trigger on Lite and up. Lite allows 10 live automations across your workspace and Pro is unlimited. beehiiv also has a ready-made Complete survey reminder template that emails readers who subscribed but didn’t finish your welcome survey. Step-by-step setup: beehiiv automation workflows.
  • Merge tags. Because answers live in custom fields, you can drop them into posts and automation emails.
  • Data from elsewhere. If you collected answers before beehiiv, you can fill custom fields by hand or with a CSV import. beehiiv warns that the import’s Overwrite existing custom field data toggle is on by default, and a blank cell deletes a reader’s existing value. See importing subscribers into beehiiv.

Surveys vs polls

beehiiv has both, and they’re easy to mix up.

SurveysPolls
Lives inA survey page (link or signup flow)Inside a post, added with / → Poll
QuestionsAs many as you want, four typesOne question per Trivia poll; Voting polls tally answers
Saved toCustom fieldsPoll results (post’s Polls tab, Polls dashboard, subscriber profile)
Edit later?Yes, until archivedbeehiiv says polls can’t be edited once created
Automation triggerSurvey submittedPoll submitted
PlansLite and upLite and up

Our rule of thumb: use a poll for a quick one-click question in an issue, and a survey when you want several answers or data you’ll segment on later. beehiiv’s segments article says you can also build segments from poll results.

Optional: redirect readers after they submit

By default readers see your thank-you message. beehiiv has a help article on sending them to another page instead using Google Tag Manager. You connect GTM to beehiiv, then create a trigger for clicks on the Continue button on your survey URL, plus a Custom HTML tag that redirects. beehiiv marks that article as “currently being updated,” and it calls the menu Audience → Surveys where the main survey article says Subscribers → Surveys. Test it before you rely on it. If you’re using a subscribe survey, a signup flow can handle the redirect without GTM.

Plan prices (context)

Surveys need Lite or higher. From beehiiv’s pricing page, checked October 24, 2026:

SubscribersLite (billed yearly / monthly)Pro (billed yearly / monthly)
1,000$49 / $59 per month$95 / $109 per month
2,500$69 / $79 per month$129 / $149 per month
5,000$95 / $109 per month$169 / $199 per month
10,000$119 / $139 per month$199 / $239 per month

The pricing table shows Surveys, Native polls, and the Survey submitted automation trigger on Lite, Pro, and Enterprise, with — for Free. Custom fields are on every plan. beehiiv’s FAQ says Lite and Pro come with a free trial that needs no credit card, and yearly billing saves up to 20%. Full tables: beehiiv pricing explained.

Before you go live

  • On Lite or higher (or the free trial)
  • Custom fields planned, with List (Multi-Select) for any “check all that apply” question
  • Questions written, required ones marked, and a catch-all “Other” option where it helps
  • Title, description, button text, and thank-you message set (all reader-facing)
  • Previewed, then published
  • Attached where you want it: subscribe, unsubscribe, or downgrade
  • Embedded-form signups covered another way (welcome email link) if you use forms on other sites
  • A segment or Survey submitted automation set up to use the answers
  • Tested with your own subscriber account

What we couldn’t confirm

These aren’t covered in today’s official docs. Ask beehiiv support if they matter to you:

  • Exporting survey responses to CSV. beehiiv documents a poll data export and a Responses tab for surveys, but no survey export.
  • Branching or conditional questions. Nothing in the docs suggests surveys support skip logic.
  • Anonymous responses. beehiiv says respondents generally need to be logged in. It doesn’t describe an anonymous option.
  • Whether the subscribe survey works with the simpler Website Builder’s subscribe flow, or with embedded forms on external sites.
  • Whether the unsubscribe survey appears for one-click unsubscribes from an email client, or only when readers unsubscribe through beehiiv’s pages.
  • Response limits per survey or per plan.

Our take

If you’re on Lite or higher, set up at least one survey. A two- or three-question subscribe survey (“What do you do?”, “What do you want more of?”) gives you data you can segment on from day one. An unsubscribe survey costs nothing and tells you why people leave. Save the long demographic surveys for when you’re pitching sponsors. Plan your custom fields before you write questions, especially multi-select ones. And if most of your signups come through embedded forms on another site, link the survey from your welcome email rather than relying on the post-signup redirect.

Try beehiiv · Retention flow · Automation workflows · Embedded subscribe forms · beehiiv pricing explained

Sources

All sources below were re-checked October 24, 2026.