Spike: The con­ver­sa­tion­al email app

The app Spike, is rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing how your inbox works and lets you turn your existing email into a chat. As work­places become ever friend­lier, the style in which col­leagues com­mu­ni­cate is also becoming more relaxed and less formal. Therefore, in many work­places, employees will chat by email or find an app which works as an email messenger. There’s nothing wrong with mail chatting, but anyone who works with a large group of people will know how con­ver­sa­tions can sometimes be hard to follow when chatting by email. If someone wants to send a GIF, does that really warrant a “reply all”? Another unread email in the inbox? In response to this issue, many companies have started to use a separate messaging app to cut down on the amount of emails needed. The issue here is that important work in­for­ma­tion sometimes gets lost in the stream of con­ver­sa­tion, and among the plentiful emojis and GIFs that get sent too. It is also ir­ri­tat­ing to have lots of different apps and software, just to keep up with daily work. What we really need is a unified workspace that boosts stress-free pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and en­cour­ages col­lab­o­ra­tion.

Spike is an app which markets itself as having found the middle ground. Chatting with email is a natural part of a friendly workplace, but the chaos that can ensue is not helpful. Con­ver­sa­tion­al email might just be the solution. Spike allows the user to chat without “clutter”: sig­na­tures, headers and endless threads. It is more people-centric, allowing you to organize your inbox according to people you work with. Something which makes instant messaging so appealing is the feeling that you are having one, flowing con­ver­sa­tion with someone. You can scroll up to see what your last in­ter­ac­tion was, even if that was a while ago. Similarly, Spike allows you to organize your con­ver­sa­tions by contact person, which is much more organized than having threads displayed depending on when they arrived in your inbox. This means you’ll feel more like you’re in touch with an in­di­vid­ual, rather than their inbox. This is Spike’s “people mode”, but you can also opt for the more tra­di­tion­al “inbox mode” if you wish. Spike cat­e­go­rizes emails as three types of so-called con­ver­sa­tions. You can organize the messages by subject or people or stick to the tra­di­tion­al inbox format with an overview of “sent” messages.

Spike’s de­vel­op­ers had pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, cre­ativ­i­ty and col­lab­o­ra­tion in mind when creating the workspace. This is reflected in Spike’s layout, as its focus is on col­leagues, co-workers, clients and in fact, with any contact which can be seen in its “people mode”. This is where it begins to resemble instant messaging, but with a pro­fes­sion­al edge: the perfect balance between tra­di­tion­al emails and instant messaging. Fur­ther­more, Spike aims to provide an app for chatting with email, and to cut down on the many apps workers often have to keep up with, whether in an office, or as a free­lancer. Checking calendars, emails and messaging apps costs time, and can be confusing. Fur­ther­more, switching between apps decreases our ability to focus on one task, meaning that we get used to being dis­tract­ed, which can lead to being more stressed. Con­stant­ly re­fo­cus­ing our attention between apps and tasks is tiring, and decreases pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. Spike combines com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion tools into one unified email messenger app, which stream­lines the whole ex­pe­ri­ence and increases pro­duc­tiv­i­ty.

Another important aim was to improve the way teams col­lab­o­rate, and clients com­mu­ni­cate by sim­pli­fy­ing team com­mu­ni­ca­tion. This has been possible for a long time and is com­mon­place in almost every work en­vi­ron­ment. However, the degree to which this is enjoyable and efficient varies con­sid­er­ably. Spike’s de­vel­op­ers cut out links and logins to make chatting by email an efficient way of working together. Spike dis­tin­guish­es itself by promoting con­ver­sa­tions between people over op­er­a­tional formality, finding a com­pro­mise between instant messaging and emailing, specif­i­cal­ly calling for a rise in con­ver­sa­tion­al email. Spike’s com­mu­ni­ca­tion style is also part of a so-called open ecosystem. This means that even if one client chooses not to opt for Spike, you can still com­mu­ni­cate with them over the app. Better still, you can still include them in Spike’s “Group” feature, and it cuts out the hassle of needing each client to use the same app; with several clients and several col­lab­o­ra­tive projects, we all know how frus­trat­ing this gets. Spike’s open ecosystem enables you to chat with email with everyone. But what is con­ver­sa­tion­al email, exactly?

There is of course a reason why email remains popular at the workplace. Pro­fes­sion­al and a good way to com­mu­ni­cate with col­leagues, the service is used in every serious company. If, however, you need to get a response quickly, you’ll know that despite your best efforts (high priority flagging; “URGENT!” in the subject line…), it might take a while for people to respond.

Generally speaking, it is also not possible to see when people are online, or when they’ve read your email. Fur­ther­more, chatting with email is tra­di­tion­al­ly a bit cum­ber­some. If you need an immediate answer, you’re better off with an instant messaging service, and this is one of the main dif­fer­ences between email and instant messaging. It can be tricky to get someone’s attention on this channel because the many no­ti­fi­ca­tions for every chat can be confusing and over­whelm­ing. But Spike’s clutter-free app overcomes these hurdles by meeting you in the middle  between getting instant responses and pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the workplace.

Unlike other col­lab­o­ra­tion tools, Spike is designed as an all-in-one solution. As pre­vi­ous­ly mentioned, its con­ver­sa­tion­al email style is an ideal mix of instant messaging ef­fi­cien­cy and email pro­fes­sion­al­ism. The email messenger threads them­selves look a bit like well-known instant messaging services, with the emails being shown as bubbles in a chat-like format. The subject of the thread is displayed, as well as the names and thumbnail photos of the con­ver­sa­tion par­tic­i­pants - other than that, the focus is on the message being com­mu­ni­cat­ed. You can alter the mail chatting feature by selecting the message, and it shows you more in­for­ma­tion like a tra­di­tion­al email would.

You can use Spike with your existing email address – no need for yet another account for col­lab­o­ra­tions and group work. Fur­ther­more, Spike's so-called open eco system means that even if your recipient does not use Spike to chat with email, the message will still go through. It is not dependent on a par­tic­u­lar account or software.

One of Spike’s most keenly marketed functions is its ability to discern between “Priority” emails and “Other”. Indeed, this is a helpful function, because it allows you to get instant no­ti­fi­ca­tions regarding a deadline, for example, but to relate to less important tasks later when you have a moment. Or­ga­niz­ing your inbox is often syn­ony­mous with deleting lots of emails and trawling through the endless con­ver­sa­tions that have landed in your inbox the last few months. Priority Inbox aims to tackle this issue at the root of the problem, and pri­or­i­tizes your emails au­to­mat­i­cal­ly, without extra effort on your part. No­ti­fi­ca­tions from social media, for example, are relegated to the “Other” inbox, so you can focus on your flow. If you don’t like the way it is done, you have the option to switch to an inbox which isn’t organized into “Priority” and “Other” emails.

Spike is not just an email service with an instant messaging aesthetic, however. The fact that you get instant no­ti­fi­ca­tions is an element taken from instant messaging and is part of what makes the app so helpful in in­creas­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. Just like texting and messaging services, Spike allows you to see when your email has been suc­cess­ful­ly sent, delivered, and read. The checkmark indicates the message has been sent, and a small green eye lets you know the recipient has read it. This ups the ante on your com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the workplace, as people will want to respond knowing that you know they have read your email, and you can relax because you don’t need to fret about whether the person you’re con­tact­ing ever got your email.

Chatting with email using Spike’s en­cour­aged con­ver­sa­tion­al style has the afore­men­tioned benefit of balancing between emails and instant messaging. However, this may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Here are some of the benefits and drawbacks of chatting by email.

When working in a team, it is a bonus to be able to com­mu­ni­cate in a friendly, open manner. Cutting out for­mal­i­ties such as sig­na­tures and email headers gives co-workers the feeling of being engaged with the task at hand. This could also increase pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, because exchanges happen faster when chatting by email than they would on tra­di­tion­al email threads. Fur­ther­more, if you are looking to com­mu­ni­cate in a warm and inviting way, chatting with email lends itself more to this than the tra­di­tion­al “Dear…”.

However, don’t confuse increased pro­duc­tiv­i­ty with increased stress levels. This as­so­ci­a­tion comes from the attempt to live up to the un­re­al­is­tic ex­pec­ta­tion of total syn­chro­niza­tion with all those you are in contact with. It is im­pos­si­ble to respond instantly to each message that arrives in your inbox from afar, and yet this is often how we try and be the most pro­duc­tive. Instant messaging gets a bad rap for demanding instant attention. Spike turns this around and helps you find your flow by switching off that “always on” mentality. Spike doesn’t lose the asyn­chro­nous quality of com­mu­ni­ca­tion via email, meaning that both people don’t need to be online in order for the com­mu­ni­ca­tion to work. It does, however, combine the benefits of snappier, instant-messaging style com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the spa­cious­ness of emailing.

Spike’s biggest marketing point may also be some people’s biggest turn off. If you are set to sticking with tra­di­tion­al email, and want company logos and headers to be displayed all the time then email messenger may not be for you. Spike does offer an Inbox mode, but perhaps the concept of people-centric com­mu­ni­ca­tion isn’t for you. Spike en­cour­ages relaxed and open com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and while this does not mean it cannot be formal, the focus is on personal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, rather than op­er­a­tional aspects. Those who do not want to make this their focus may see this as a drawback of chatting with email.

Spike is packed with lots of features, making it an ideal candidate for an all in one solution, which requires it to go beyond the other apps people may already have. Let’s look at the email messenger app’s most important features.

• Priority Inbox: You’ll be familiar with this concept already, and it has become an essential feature of any email client. If you’re prone to being dis­tract­ed by those frequent social media or marketing emails, Spike’s Priority Inbox will help you focus on the task at hand.
• Groups: File sharing in a group email has never been smooth. All it takes is one “reply all” and the at­tach­ment is harder to find in the email thread. You can manage several group emails in one app and share files as part of the con­ver­sa­tion. The best bit? Your clients who don’t use Spike can still be part of the group con­ver­sa­tion – no more switching between apps for different clients.
• Improved Search Function: Ever find yourself searching for ages to find one small detail sent in an email weeks ago? Perhaps it is important for your client care to find this forgotten detail – yet the task can be laborious. Spike lets you search by contact or keyword to find what you need.
• Powerful En­cryp­tion: Data security is a hot topic for a good reason. Spike has AES256 en­cryp­tion to protect your com­mu­ni­ca­tion.
• File Manager: See a preview of attached files within the emails, including photos, PDFs, GIFs, spread­sheets and videos.
• Calendar: Collect all the digital calendars you have into one display, so you have a clear overview of your schedule. It works with loads of options, including Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Facebook. Spike’s calendar offers a unified view of all of your different accounts. This not only decreases the chances of you missing an ap­point­ment because it isn’t in your main calendar, but also means that you don’t need to go to the trouble of checking a different app each time you need to check your schedule. It’s all there in one app.
• Dark Mode: A feature focused on wellbeing and the en­vi­ron­ment. By enabling dark mode, you will ease eye strain and save on power, in­creas­ing battery life on mobile devices (see next point).
• Mobile Office: If you like working in a co-working space, from home, or in an office, you can access Spike on all devices. Fur­ther­more, you can also use Spike on your personal laptop or phone, so if you BYOD, you can access every­thing you need from either work devices, or your own.
• Audio and Video Calls: Spike users can call one another one-to-one to clarify something quickly and simply.
• Snooze: This feature is very popular, and for good reason. In a busy day-to-day, you may not be able to respond to all the messages you get at once. Instead of making a mental note, or indeed going to the effort of making a physical one, you can opt to “snooze” important messages so you can relate to them later. This can be done for in­di­vid­ual messages, or entire threads, depending on what is needed.

Spike is available for free, and as a paid option. For free, you get unlimited personal user accounts, up to 100k messages, and be part of up to 10 group chats. The email en­cryp­tion and audio and video calls are also all included, as well as basic email support. However, this may not be enough for someone using Spike on a pro­fes­sion­al level, which is, after all, what it is designed for. A Pro account costs around $6 a month on an annual scheme and has all the features of the free account, except that the re­stric­tions on the search­able message history and group chats are lifted and are unlimited. You also get priority support and one custom domain account, which is much more organized than having threads displayed depending on when they arrived in your inbox.

Having looked at the main features Spike has to offer, it may be useful to compare the pros and cons of messenger email. Here’s a helpful overview table: