HEY Email

What it does

HEY Email is a premium email service designed to give users control over who can reach them. It sorts messages not into folders, but into an 'Imbox' for important mail, 'The Feed' for newsletters, and a 'Paper Trail' for receipts. Its core feature is the Screener, which requires users to approve or block new senders before their emails can land in the inbox.

Where it shines

HEY excels at providing granular, contact-level control. At 01:25, tapping a sender's name reveals a dedicated page to manage notifications, delivery locations, and even add private notes, turning your email into a lightweight CRM. The email composition tools are also powerful, offering features like scheduling a send for later (04:51) or setting an automatic reminder if you don't receive a reply (05:31).

UX highlights

The app organizes email by sender priority ('Imbox', 'The Feed', 'Paper Trail'), a mental model that feels more natural than traditional folders. This is visible from the main menu at 12:27.
The 'Screener' puts users in control, preventing spam before it starts. While not fully shown, the concept is explained in the welcome email at 01:17.
Contact Pages (01:25) centralize all interactions and settings for a specific person or service, making management simple.
'Bubble Up' (08:19) is a clever take on snoozing, allowing emails to float back to the top of the inbox at a later time.
Workflows (09:54) and Collections (09:37) offer advanced ways to group related threads beyond simple labels.
The UI is filled with thoughtful micro-interactions, like the button morphing when changing an email's destination (01:45).

Monetization & growth

No paywall or monetization strategy is visible in this user journey, which focuses on the free disposable account trial. The app is a premium service, but the purchase flow is not shown in this recording.

Who it’s for

HEY is for people who feel overwhelmed by their current inbox and want a more opinionated, structured approach to managing email. It appeals to productivity enthusiasts and those who want to be more intentional about who can command their attention, effectively creating a gatekeeper for their digital correspondence.

Notes & opportunities

The sheer number of features and custom terms ('Imbox', 'The Feed', 'Bubble Up') can be initially overwhelming. The onboarding emails (01:12) do a good job of explaining them, but the learning curve is steeper than a traditional email client. The process for exporting data (18:41) is clear but involves waiting for an email, which could be a point of friction for users wanting to leave the service.