I’m on the permanent hunt for more _Portrait Mode_ in my life. That’s the iPhone camera feature that lightly blurs the background, while sharpening your subject’s face. And instantly, all the photos of my kids look like they were snapped by a pro. _Portrait mode_ is the ultimate high-leverage feature; __it turns noobs into pros.__ Thankfully, I’ve found a few instances. __Getting your clothes tailored__ instantly boosts your stylishness; __Clip art from__ ___Unsplash.com___ makes dazzling Powerpoints;. And there’s __the Wavestorm__ (a surf board that resembles a twin-sized mattress) that lets you shred like a mini-Kelly Slater. In every case, you’re catapulted across the Pareto Principle, better known as _the 80/20 rule_. Superhuman is an app with a rumored 100,000 person waiting list that costs $30 a month. Yes, you read that right – $360 a year, for the _privilege_ of checking your Gmail. And it’s the antithesis of portrait mode: you have to struggle through the 80% on your own, to reap the rewards of the last 20%. Is it worth it? ## The Audacity of $30 per month Asking users to pay a _pretty penny_ for something that they’re used to getting for free seems like a bad business strategy. [Superhuman]()‘s $30 promise is that it can make you super at emailing, by enabling you to get through your inbox “twice as fast.” Let’s examine Superhuman through the following lens: * What unique features does it offer? * Does it save you time? * Are there any (cheaper) alternatives? * Is Superhuman worth it? ## The FOMO marketing strategy Superhuman really wants to be like an annoying New York City nightclub. The New York Times’ Kevin Roose [called Superhuman “a Veblen good”]() (an economist’s term for _virtue signaling_) typically reserved for “luxury products that primarily function as status symbols for the rich.” First, it’s invite-only, with a reported waiting list of 100k users. Next, if you’re lucky enough to skip the waiting list, your next two obstacles are a [really long Typeform survey]() (“What do you usually do with emails that __do not__ require further action?”) followed by a 30-minute live consultation (via Zoom screenshare) where you walk a Superhuman specialist through your workflow. ![A question from the Typeform onboarding survey](/images/blog/superhuman-typeform-onboarding.png)One of a bazillion onboarding questions Oh yeah, and you need to enter your credit card info well before you ever step foot in the app. On [the Art of Product Podcast](), Superhuman’s co-founder and CEO Rahul Vora defended their on-boarding strategy against claims that it was used to inflate demand. Vora argued that it was to identify and incorporate feedback from the right users. (FWIW, this process has become a popular playbook for VC-backed startups looking to [nail product-market fit]().) ## What are Superhuman’s unique features? So you’ve made it past the velvet rope and sucked up your pride about the price. What lies behind the magical trap door? An email experience centered on __speed, focus, and clever integrations.__ True to form, Superhuman makes it hard to find their features. On their website, you’ll only find mumbo-jumbo marketing speak (_“And comes with advanced features that make you feel superhuman”_). But once you’re in, you get a barrage of emails (if my memory serves, daily for 20 consecutive days) explaining Superhuman’s features. Lucky for you, I screen-grabbed them (and aggregated them into our _Superhuman Guide_ – in [Notion, ofc]()), which you can download below: ![A list of superhuman's feature set with usefulness rankings](/images/blog/superhuman-feature-set.png)Are these features worth $30 a month? ## 1\. Superhuman is built to be fast This presumes that traditional Gmail is slow. And like fish who only know water, it wasn’t until I used Superhuman that I noticed what it was like _being outside of water_. Every new compose, send, and archive just felt faster. (My hunch is that Superhuman stores your emails locally on your device, versus in the cloud.) Technical improvements on speed are not enough to convince me to pay $30/month for email. Superhuman has paired this speed with two specific features – that when used in tandem – impact the speed at which you _process your inbox_. These two features: __Split Inbox__ and __Keyboard Shortcuts.__ ### Split Inbox Gmail’s _Priority Inbox_ splits your inbox into five categories: __Primary, Social, Updates, Purchases and Forums.__ Priority inbox is a step in the right direction Superhuman takes the Priority Inbox a step further by allowing you to customize the tabs (after all, whats the difference between _Promotions and Updates_?) which __significantly improves the speed of triaging__. The “splits” as they’re called can be simple (i.e. messages from certain people or domains) or complex (_files with attachments that aren’t calendar invites_). Personally, I use Superhuman’s out-of-the-box splits: VIP (_for my clients_), Stars (_for emails that require an action_), News (_for email Newsletters_) and Other (_to combine promotions, updates, social and forums_). The next time you hear “Splits” you’ll know they belong to the Superhuman cult ### Keyboard shortcuts Let’s get straight to the point.__If you don’t want to use keyboard shortcuts, Superhuman isn’t worth it for you.__ It would be akin to buying a performance sports car without knowing how to drive stick – a total waste. To maximize the productivity gains, you need to remember that you don’t move through your messages using the __UP__ or __DOWN__ keys; instead you use the __J__ and __K__ keys (_srlsy?_). You reply all by hitting __ENTER__ (_huh?_). And the one that always gets me: Discarding a draft. Nope, __DELETE__ ain’t good enough; instead it’s __CMD+Shift+.__ (_wtf?_) Here’s the full list of shortcuts (which ironically is not found on Superhuman’s website, but [on Dribble]()): ![A list of 50+ superhuman shortcuts](/images/blog/superhuman-keyboard-shortcuts.png)Get the shortcuts in our Superhuman Guide below Here’s where the sports car analogy holds. Once you realize that the __J__ and __K__ keys reflect the natural positioning of your hands on the keyboard you appreciate the subtle details that are centered around speed. And, since __Reply All__ is the default response behavior for a message, the __ENTER__ key makes perfect sense. My (unsustained) hunch is that every shortcut was first ranked by frequency of use, then matched to the highest leverage keyboard stroke. There are countless YouTube videos of productivity geeks (like me) blazing through their split inboxes without ever touching the mouse. If you invest in learning the shortcuts, you will feel absolutely feel __the productivity bump.__ [su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/qnrN0SEEOqQ” width=”380″ height=”340″] ## 2\. Superhuman helps you focus David Allen’s time tested [Getting Things Done]() (GTD) system believes that stress-free productivity comes from: identifying __your next action__ then immediately __doing it, delegating, or deferring it.__ This is incorporated into Superhuman’s DNA. Let’s look at a few features that enable this: * _Follow-up reminder:_ Set a reminder to follow-up * _Instant Intro:_ Thank the introducer, move them to BCC, and start responding with __CMD+SHIFT-I__ * _Send Later:_ Schedule an email’s send time to maximize the likelihood that they read it. * _Tab-to-dates:_ Instantly opens your calendar in the sidebar when a date (even _tomorrow_) is recognized. Instant intro in the wild Now, in isolation, there’s nothing unique about these features. _Send it later_ and _follow up reminders_ are now [part of Gmail]() (the former only on desktop, and the latter never seems to work), _tabbed calendars_ via [MixMax]() and _instant intros_ via CRM plug-ins like [Better BCC](). Determining how regularly you use these features will confirm (or decrease) the value of a $30 monthly subscription. ## 3\. Superhuman’s integration Superhuman integrates functionality that power emailers typically pay for in the form of helper apps or plug-ins. For me, there are two specific examples: __Text Expander and Contacts Plus (fka Full Contact).__ ### Text Expander I cannot live without Text Expanders – small utilities that take frequently typed bits and let you reuse it. I use them for: * Addresses and phone numbers * Links to all my blog posts (> 100) * Common email responses (_“I’m sorry I can’t meet right now, my daughter just started Kindergarten and I’m really focused on getting our family situated.”_) In fact, my [TextExpander app]() believes that I’ve saved 5.87 hours from not having to re-type these aforementioned notes. I pay $5 a month for this app. Superhuman incorporates text expansion Superhuman incorporates this functionality into both the desktop and mobile app. For me, the cost instantly decreases to $25/month. ### ContactsPlus (fka FullContact) I used to pay $10 a month for FullContact, which threw a sidebar into my Gmail to show me richer contact information (such as location, social profiles, and recent tweets). When they rebranded to ContactsPlus, my subscription fell away. And while this clearly isn’t worth $10/month, there’s value to having this information displayed seamlessly on the sidebar (and I find myself referring to it often). The Sidebar resembles Vohra’s last startup (Rapportive) ## What about read receipts and privacy? In a viral post (times right around Superhuman’s splashy NY Times launch) Mike Davidson wrote about how [Superhuman was using read receipts to spy]() on unsuspecting email recipients. Specifically, Superhuman was passing along specific location and device data that could be used nefariously Superhuman went on [to remove the location and device tracking](), but kept read receipts. There’s still an ensuing debate as to [whether that was enough](). This more elaborate debate about privacy and the responsibility of all the players in the ecosystem is beyond the scope of this post. But I do have two personal fixes: * I always disable read receipts from my personal email (I can’t do it for my newsletter which is sent via Convertkit) * I disable automatic image loading (to know who’s tracking me) ## Are there any cheaper alternatives? Absolutely. As described above, many of the features either need to be turned on in Gmail or can be purchased via helper apps and extensions. I created a flow chart to help you determine if Superhuman is worth it for you: Can you make it through the Superhuman maze? If you’re looking for the highest lever to pull (without signing up to Superhuman) I recommend the __Google Auto-Advance feature__. This feature was first introduced to me via RadReader Tiago Forte in his epic piece [One-touch to Inbox Zero](). Forte explains the subtle power of this feature: > _The greatest challenge in checking email methodically is distractions from new emails. It’s very hard to make a decision on each message, one at a time, in order, without postponing a decision or skipping ahead, when every time you archive a message it kicks you back to your inbox, where you see the more recent stuff with its tantalizing bolded subject lines._ Our Superhuman Guide (below) links to all the settings and apps to create a __quasi Superhuman experience__ for yourself. ## So, is Superhuman worth it? __If you’re going to commit to keyboard shortcuts, yes.__ But as Techcrunch reporter Lucas Matney concludes during his [six months with Superhuman](): “the app just trains you how to use email more effectively.” Matney adds: > _Since cancelling my subscription, I’ve dialed in my Gmail keyboard shortcuts and shifted how I flag and archive messages and I’d say I’m operating fairly close to the efficiency I pulled off on the premium service._ Conversely, if you’re a power user trying to go from 80% to 100% – it may be worth __more than $30 a month.__ Here’s a16z investor David Ulvetich (who led [the monster $33 mm funding round]() in Superhuman, so clearly has a horse in the race): > _Today, Superhuman costs $30 per month. But being twice as productive is worth much, much more to me than that. I can imagine almost every manager feeling the same about themselves and their teams, and every company too._ To me, Superhuman’s promise of cutting my email time by 50% is unfulfilled. But it’s definitely saved me 20%, while creating a more enjoyable experience. So for now, I’ll keep paying. And I’ll continue to scour the earth on your behalf for more instances of _Portrait Mode_.