hey.com, a project by the people behind basecamp.com, is launching this April. The concept – email is broken and someone needs to fix it. You can read through their launch manifesto and apply to the waiting list, if you are interested.
As a person working with email and advising e-commerce brands how to use it, it might be surprising with how many points I agree.
If used correctly, email is one of the best ways to create and maintain relationships with your customers. At the same time it is one of the most cost-efficient channels for online marketing.
So why so many people and brands get it wrong? In my opinion there are three main reasons:
- There is no common code of conduct.
- Sending an email costs almost a zero.
- There is almost no penalty for any bad actors.
The openness of the email protocol and its availability to anyone in the world makes solving these issue extremely difficult. Can hey.com do it? I doubt it, but will still cheer them on.