Marius Masalar
HEYliens Among Us
Putting my money where my mouth is
I can’t think of a better signal of success than a 37% conversion rate on your new service during launch week.
In the first cohort of HEY signups, 37% have converted to a paid account! HEY is made by Basecamp. Basecamp used to be called 37signals, for the 37 unidentified signals of potentially intelligent life in space. This can only mean one thing: The 👽 are pleased with HEY 😂❤️
— HEY (@heyhey) June 30, 2020
Or wait, maybe I can:
https://twitter.com/jorgemanru/status/1277948688942485505?s=20
Generating strong feelings on either side of the spectrum is a good sign that you’re onto something important.
With my trial period almost over, I finally relented and put my money where my mouth is: I’ve become a HEYlien. Hey’s workflow was designed for people in a very different email situation than mine, but there’s more to this decision than the workflow impact.
Big changes are difficult, and I don’t want to let a good thing pass me by because I’m dwelling on knee-jerk reactions, or to base a system on the way things are at this particular point in time as though they will never change.
I’ve expressed both positive and negative feelings about Hey, but what ultimately sold it for me was less about the product itself (particularly in its current state) and more about the people behind it.
They’re receptive to feedback, conscientious about their impact on the planet, transparent about their processes, and not afraid to stand up for what’s right. They’re opinionated, polarizing, bold, but—ultimately—trying to be a force for good in the world.
We could use more companies like Basecamp making more products like Hey.
I should say that I’m not only buying the address; I enjoy enough things about the service to adopt it and replace all previous email workflows. The privacy, control, design, and potential are all things I’m happy to have in my email system.
By involving myself as a founding member, I know my feedback can offer them a different perspective to consider. They launched with a very focused target audience, but what they’re selling is appealing to people outside that audience as well, and those perspectives are worth examining too as they continue to develop Hey.