Reviewed by Francesco D'Alessio
HEY Email Review
Best Features, Pricing, Alternatives & Opinion
HEY Email wants to change the way you think about email management and emailing. Re-thinking years of indoctrination using Gmail but will you be persuaded?
What is Hey Email?
HEY email is an email and calendar membership for communicating and planning.
A clean, distraction-free inbox, in under 5 minutes
SaneBox clears the clutter, so you can focus on your highest priorities and get more done.
What does Hey.com do?
HEY email is probably the most unconventional email app on the market.
It wants to be a better, smarter way to manage your inbox using systems and processes like important email management, newsletter organization and more.
The email software is designed to re-think the way you think of email by introducing new concepts like Imbox (for better prioritization of emails), Screener that halts emails landing from new email addresses and smarter organization that filters emails into the correct places (like newsletters, files, receipts etc).
When we explain what HEY email is to random people, we typically say "one of the more productive email apps" because the concepts within it rewire your thinking on email management that has been for years tampered by stale email systems like Gmail.
Let's explore whether it meets the requirements for you, or maybe too intense, in this in-depth deep dive of Hey.com. Let's explore the features first.
HEY Email Pros
From our review, here are the features that were the best part of using HEY!:
1. Imbox
The focus on email being a priority is something you don't get in many other apps. Yes, in Gmail, you typically get the column organization for the types of emails that land, but there's not as much control for what is truly important and what is taking up your time.
Imbox is the attempt to solve this within Hey by introducing a system. Emails come in and "The Screener" blocks them instantly into a safe haven for new emails that need approval before coming in. Now, this doesn't happen for every new email, but every new email sender - meaning you'll be able to approve one person to land in the right place each time.
This Imbox system basically filters and helps you decide if that email is truly important.
A clean, distraction-free inbox, in under 5 minutes
SaneBox clears the clutter, so you can focus on your highest priorities and get more done.
2. Inbox Organization
Screener works to help pause incoming emails from new senders, but the email management system helps to better filter email into the right places.
This consists of 6 key areas - from files (attachments) to newsletters, but all designed to help you organize your inbox and get the emails into the right context points. The theory behind this is that you will be in the correct frame of mind when replying and corresponding to said emails.
Areas like Focus & Reply help you to get into the zone of email writing with a list view to help process the most important correspondence in a GTD-esque way. The way that Hey.com sets this up can take some time to understand and truly implement but the system is designed to give structure to how you handle email, versus an overwhelming list of email that you keep as tasks ongoing.
Areas like "Set Aside" allow you to pin email too, for easy access.
3. Spy Tracking Removal
Each email will have spy tracking abilities.
This makes it easier to stop email tracking tools by seeing whether you have opened an email and new item in your inbox, or even clicking on certain areas within the email. A lot of people find this sort of thing attractive for keeping their privacy or moving away from the Gmail thinking that uses your data profile to advertise with.
HEY Email Cons
Let's explore the not so nice things about Hey.com:
1. Learning Curve
There's a lot to learn.
You probably have been emailing for maybe 10-15 years if you're looking at this, hell, even 5 years of using regular email processes and Hey.com will be such a big change. In a way this is almost re-designing your thinking of how to handle email and in the correct way, but for the conditioning we've had over the years using email in a set way, this could be a lot.
Make yourself aware of this that Hey.com is a system and not a standard email app.
2. Email Address Hassles
You get your own hey.com email address meaning you can bypass Google.
For those thinking, "how can I bring my emails with me" - you will have to set-up forwarding which kindly Hey.com will offer for lifetime, even if you leave the service, so you never have to worry about they "hey.com" domain not coming with you.
This for some people might be too much for a shift especially for work email accounts, but for personal users, this is something that can come with more pros than cons. There is a way to solve this with Hey.com domains allowing you a custom domain allowing you to bring everything with you as you move to Hey, but at a higher cost.
A clean, distraction-free inbox, in under 5 minutes
SaneBox clears the clutter, so you can focus on your highest priorities and get more done.
How much does HEY Email cost?
Hey.com has two prices. $99.99 per annum for solo users.
Hey Pricing: Explained
For those who want to connect custom domains, $12.99 per month, per user.
Verdict: Is HEY Email any good?
HEY! Email is one of the most interesting applications in the productivity space because it flips and retrains you on how to use email again.
If you're probably like myself, where you've spent 10 to 20 years emailing people and using the same system that you were taught when you started work, sometimes that has just become ingrained in our society on how to actually use email.
During this review, I actually spent about three months using HEY! Email, and for a period, it was my solo email experience. While it did take a little bit of time to get used to, relearning email became quite effective because my sessions were actually much more focused on the productive side of email in terms of focus replies versus just scrolling through my inbox as a to-do list. This definitely takes time to learn, but it's really easy once you get started and into the flow.
Since I last reviewed it, they actually have added the ability to add HEY! Calendar, which is a subsidiary calendar experience but actually part of your paid plan, which is really good.
Starting a new domain is a little bit scary because you're starting again, but HEY! Email has added some security in the sense that they will be forwarding that email on if you ever decide to move, and this is something that I've done. They allow me to make sure I never miss emails even though I'm no longer using HEY. Largely, the service is a mid-priced email experience that guarantees improved focus, and something that we loved. As an email experience overall, it's definitely worth $99 per year, and now with the calendar experience, it just doubles that enhancement.
Best HEY Email Alternatives
HEY email alternatives include Newton Mail, Missive & Superhuman.
