Carta Email Letter Builder Redesign
Turning Bottlenecks Into Opportunities for Growth
By 2024, Carta’s internal newsletter editor wasn’t just outdated—it was slowing teams down. Marketing and Newsroom staff relied on the tool daily, but its clunky interface, dependence on developer support, and error-prone features made content creation a constant struggle. When the opportunity came to rebuild the editor in ProseMirror, it wasn’t just about recoding—it was about reimagining what the newsletter experience could be to unlock speed, consistency, and independence.
Building a Platform for Future Innovation
This wasn’t just a redesign—it was a foundation for long-term growth. The new builder is designed to support upcoming integrations and new content elements, ensuring Carta’s communications can scale with business needs.
By solving core inefficiencies and empowering teams, the project elevated the email program from a legacy pain point to a modern, strategic asset for the organization.
Removing Barriers to Efficiency and Independence
The redesign focused on scalability, flexibility, and reducing reliance on developers. Using years of user feedback and new rounds of shadowing and testing, I rebuilt every element of the tool with a focus on clarity and efficiency.
Two new features addressed long-standing business challenges:
Target Audience Element: Turned error-prone code into an intuitive interface, making segmentation faster and reducing risk.
Import Content Element: Replaced the old Import Feed with a direct, user-friendly way to bring newsroom articles into newsletters—giving teams more control over their content pipeline.
Beyond individual features, I streamlined UI, reorganized menus, and improved preview flows to speed up production while making the system easier to maintain and extend in the future.
As one tester said, “It feels like this tool was finally built for us, not for developers.”
New Features
Target Audience Element
Of our new key features, the Target Audience Element was one of I championed most heavily. Previously, newsletter editors had to insert complex blocks of code to target specific audiences like subscribers or international readers, which was difficult to read, edit, and prone to breaking. I developed a user-friendly interface for this feature, initially targeting audience segmentation by subscriber status or geolocation, with plans for more granular targeting in future versions.
The Import Content Element replaced the old Import Feed functionality. While the previous version was powerful, it was difficult to use and required developer help. The new element allows users to import article collections from our newsroom tools or standalone articles directly into the newsletter, giving newsroom teams more independence and control over their content.
Driving Measurable Improvements in Workflow and Satisfaction
Since rollout, adoption has steadily increased. Even during early testing—before all features were finalized—newsroom users rated the tool a solid 4 out of 5.
Key business outcomes included:
Faster production cycles thanks to a cleaner, more intuitive interface
Reduced developer dependency, freeing technical resources for higher-value work
Lower error risk with simplified targeting and content import features
Instead of fighting against the tool, teams could focus on content and strategy. One marketer noted, “I can build a letter in half the time now, and I don’t need to bug anyone for help.”
