Email has been around for a long time, and there are many email clients. I remember using Sparrow in 2011, Mailbox in early 2013, Inbox by Gmail some time later, and Spark by Readdle. All have been acquired before shutting down afterwards, except for Spark. I’ve since defaulted switching between the native Mail app and Gmail for work.
I loved Sparrow because it was fast. Mailbox and Inbox by Gmail were different. They thought of individual email as a to-do task. Here’s my 2013 explanation of the difference between Mailbox and the default Gmail app:
But, in my opinion, no app has completely reimagined email as HEY does.
HEY is like having a personal assistant screening emails for you, helping you customize your email experience and improve your life through a series of small features. Instead of everyone landing and demanding attention in your inbox, you really have control over your email.
Before anyone lands in your “Imbox” (important, immediate box), you have to screen them in or out. You can generate a “Speakeasy” code that your new contact can add to the subject line to bypass this screening. Instead of the emails collecting in your “Imbox”, you can choose to reply later or set aside. You can also separate emails into what HEY calls “The Feed” for browsing like newsletters and “The Paper Trail” for receipts and transactional emails.
I tried it out when HEY first launched and then had forgotten about it.
Today, HEY launched HEY World.
With HEY World, you can blog by simply emailing “[email protected].” Here’s Jason Fried’s live HEY blog .
I found this new feature fascinating for two reasons:
1) Rethinking One-to-Many Communication
HEY has broken down the email experience into the individual components and reassembled them.
It’s assuming that email is a form of one-to-many communication, just like a blog or a newsletter. And it built everything into one, instead of having a separate service for email, blog, and a newsletter.
If you think about it, this makes total sense. Email can be one-to-many, blogs are one-to-many, newsletters are one-to-many. You are the one writing your email, your (personal) blog, and your (personal) newsletters. It’s about time that a service brings these components together in a single platform.
2) Timely Feature Release
The newsletter (and generally the publishing) market is so hot right now. COVID has pushed more people than ever to the internet. Everyone has time to publish, participate and engage on the web. Substack continues to grow, and Twitter recently bought Revue, more and more people are realizing how important it is to share your value and build your audience.
Tools that support individuals to build their audience will continue to grow, and HEY timed this feature as a perfect add-on.
I’m excited to find out what else HEY has in store for the future.
- -
If you found this post interesting, please consider signing up for my newsletter. Or say hi on Twitter. 👋
Images from www.hey.com and Twitter.