A review of HEY
"It’s a redo, a rethink, a simplified, potent reintroduction of email. A fresh start, the way it should be. HEY is our love letter to email."
HEY
It is a "rethink" to email and I like it.
I wasn’t immediately smitten. It took me a few days to warm to it. The actions I wanted to take to organise my emails took a few more clicks than I wanted.
But these are early days (HEY was launched in mid June). I am either altering my behaviour to fit the HEY ethos (which I'm happy to do), or discover that they have learned from user behaviour and have added a welcome update.
And this is the point. If you are willing to question your assumptions about email (HEY are serious about this - they have a manifesto called The HEY Way), then try it. You may gain the control over your email that you haven't had for years.
Some innovative features I like about HEY.
Privacy: removing spy pixels
Every email newsletter you receive tracks when you open the email, how often you open it, what you click on and much more.
These ‘spy pixels’ are part of what makes email marketing a powerful tool. However, they are a huge invasion of our privacy. You are individually identifiable in a way that even Facebook and Google don’t have the gall to publicly share.
HEY stops this tracking.
If you rely on email tracking to target your marketing efforts, this will have an impact on you. Given Apple’s changes to prevent tracking on their web browser Safari in the autumn, I suspect Apple Mail will implement something similar soon.
For some slight reassurance, Campaign Monitor wrote this thoughtful post ‘Will Basecamp’s HEY change email marketing for ever?’
Reducing the number of emails: The Screener
Thanks to The Screener, I receive fewer emails. With HEY, the first time you receive an email from someone, you say yes or no to receiving any more.
As a result, emails that I have never got round to unsubscribing from are now removed with one simple click. I receive 30% fewer emails.
Organising your emails
Twitter is awash with happy HEY users boasting how they spend far less time with their emails.
Reply or set Aside
With each email that you want to refer to later, it's a good idea to immediately select one of:
Reply (keyboard shortcut R)
Reply Later (L)
Or set Aside (A).
If you don't do this straight way, the email could get lost in the long stream of read emails.
For email newsletters: The Feed
This is where you put your email newsletters for reading at a convenient time.
It is one of my favourite features and it’s perfectly timed as I have recently been subscribing to lots of interesting and inspirational email newsletters.
The Feed means that marketing emails that have been allowed through the Screener don’t sidetrack your when you are looking at your Imbox. Instead they can be looked at when you have the time and when you are in the mood to browse.
I now have the time to read my favoured email newsletters and consequently enjoy reading them more.
Speed: Keyboard shortcuts
Using keyboard shortcuts on desktop is a doddle. For each action, they put a little letter in the corner reminding you of the keyboard shortcut. Simple, but effective. It can be so much quicker than using the mouse.
Should you try HEY?
If you are willing to change your approach to email, pay $99 per year and wait a few months before you can use your business email address, then the above benefits will warm the cockles of your heart.
For me, HEY is a joy to use. I have been a long time follower of 37 Signals / Basecamp. I admire their ethos on work and their view of the digital world.
I know that they will work hard to make HEY even better. I trust them to add only what is necessary. They won’t follow the mistakes of many other software providers and add complexity to what started as a simple product.
Over the last 16 years, the evolution of Basecamp demonstrates their dedication to continuous improvement while maintaining simplicity.
Once I can start using my business address through HEY (please don’t make it too expensive), I will ditch Gmail, Apple Mail, Spark and exclusively use HEY.
If you are interested in trialling HEY, it’s a good idea to watch Jason Fried’s half hour video explaining how it works and their thinking behind HEY.
As an aside (and please be aware there are some naughty swear words on this link), we can all learn a lot from the launch of HEY.
