Important note: I do not work for Spark Mail, and the views expressed in my case study are strictly my own.

As a designer who is a “team of one”, this case study is meant to be an exploratory learning experience with a product I rely on and lacks critical business information that I could only have by working directly with Spark. Ideally, I would be collaborating with Spark’s internal product team with direct access to these resources to guide the outcome of the product. Until then, this case study is meant to be an exploratory learning experience with a product I rely on.

Full-time freelancers rely heavily on their mail clients. They are often robust products with many features that the user is typically unaware of. Users often neglect to organize their inbox because they get lost looking for basic functions like adding to or creating folders.

Spark is a robust, feature laden app that has the potential to enhance any workflow, but users often leave value on the table. The folder features built into the app make organizing mail effortless, but freelancers are not leveraging them.

Many businesses and their teams rely heavily on their mail clients. They are often robust products with many features that users are typically unaware of. I wanted to understand what users wanted out of their mail clients and if the solution was to simplify. Users often neglect to organize their inbox because they get lost looking for basic functions.

Spark is a robust, feature laden app that has the potential to enhance any workflow, but users often leave value on the table. The features built into the app make organizing mail effortless, but users are not leveraging them.

In this case study I research user experiences with their mail clients and uncover data-informed opportunities where improvements can be leveraged.

My goal is to discover user insights and synthesize a solution that users find intuitive and also wouldn't disrupt their workflow, as most users rely on their routines and habits for effective communication.

I've been using Spark Mail for almost a year, and the overall design and experience has been excellent. Delightfully, the desktop and mobile UX both offer a consistent standard of excellence. Despite any pain points I've encountered, it's the best mail client I've tried so far.

At the top of Spark’s value proposition is the product’s collaboration features. Not only can users share team inboxes but users can co-author emails in the same way they collaborate in a Google Doc.

But the about the users who don’t need these robust collaboration features? Are their other basic needs are ignored?

I interviewed 17 freelancers about their mobile mail clients and email habits to better understand how small teams communicate.

I discovered:

Freelancers aren't necessarily teams-of-one and 7 mentioned that they wanted "more" features. Thanks to this data I realized that I needed to shift my focus from a creating a simpler mail client to exploring opportunities of improvement with the existing app.

My only criteria for users who participated in the test was that they are freelancing at least 30 hours a week. I wanted to make sure that the users were familiar with the need or desire to have an organized Inbox to operate their business successfully.

Female
30-40yrs
Freelances at least 30hr a week.

Download Spark Mail. Sync an email account. Organize your email by sender or subject for 10 minutes.

Do you feel comfortable using this organization system?
Would you continue to use it?

Based on my research and testing, the process was difficult and left the user frustrated which lead the users to abandon their goals of organizing their Inbox. Potentially discouraging the user from folders altogether.

In my first prototype I prioritized a flow similar to my existing data because I wanted to be able to make direct comparisons to the User A’s test which navigated Spark's Inbox Menu. For this flow, I asked the user to create a new folder from the Menu View.

Test the prototypes here!

I received 3-times the amount of feedback shown below. The major through line between almost all of the users was the lack of clarity and understanding surrounding the differences between a regular folder and a smart folder, what smart folders do, and what the function of their filters are.
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For my second high fidelity solution, I experimented with an opportunity that allows Users to create a folder within the Email View. I experimented with the idea that Users would likely be doing this more often than creating a new folder without an email in mind first.

If given the opportunity to collaborate with the Spark team on a broader scale, I would:
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If this case study SPARKED your interest in my user research, product design, or branding skills and are interested in working with me, contact me via this page or at the links below.

Thank you so so much for reading. My name is Simon and I'm based in Portland, OR. Have a wonderful day!

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