goals
decreased time to deploy, increase business goal adoption
background
one email team runs content strategy, design, and deployment of emails
Handling both marketing and informational emails, the team came together to discuss upcoming changes and needs, crafting each message with unique characteristics.
problem
the team struggled to produce consistency at scale, while meeting business needs
There was a lack of information hierarchy, and no sense of urgency behind each message - marketing emails and deadline alerts looked and felt indistinguishable from each other. This all meant that email was a source of confusion, leading to costlier contact methods, or lost business altogether.
design exploration
as-is state
I examined over 40 email page layouts, taking a holistic view of each message from top to bottom, in context with all other emails that customers were receiving. This made the lack of message structure apparent.
Password resets, time-sensitive information and marketing emails all read the same. Typography, color and images were inconsistent - could customers be under the impression they are getting phished?
a better way to produce email
By viewing all emails in one place, I identified four major communication themes and gave each a specific template.I also leveraged the existing design system and style guide as a source of truth for typography and imagery.
rollout
a design system approach: templates, zones, components
Templates capture the purpose of an email message - dividing content into zones. Each zone handles one succinct idea at a time.
Urgent messages use templates that provide focus by taking away everything non-essential to the message. Less urgent templates allow more content, visual components and tertiary links
The design system provides consistent typography styles, meaning content zones now had visual hierarchy which resembled the company's website and mobile application.
results
decreased time to deploy
Using purpose-driven content layouts decreased time and effort for content strategists to compose.
increased business goal adoption
Phishing report rates decreased by 5% over a two-month period. Paperless communication opt-in increased by 13.5%.