Creating a New Letter Draft
Opportunity
While a seemingly small feature, creating a new email draft is a workflow utilized by almost every Carta user and a primary entry point to using the Carta email tool. What should have been a simple two-step process, naming the email and choosing a content template, had become a source of massive confusion and frustration for our users.
The existing "Create New Letter Draft" flow was creating significant bottlenecks across the organization. Our support teams were fielding multiple requests per week that required developer intervention, simply when users tried to create a basic email draft. This was clearly unsustainable and pointed to deeper usability issues that needed addressing.
Through my initial research, I discovered several critical points of friction that were making this core workflow so problematic:
Users couldn't preview what their email would look like before creating it
Template combinations sometimes caused code errors with no warning
No way to accurately search for templates, users had to know exact names
Confusing naming requirements and inability to change templates after selection
This wasn't just a minor usability hiccup, it was a fundamental barrier that was undermining user confidence in the entire Carta platform.
Approach
My challenge was to completely reimagine this foundational experience to be intuitive, flexible, and visual. The stakes were high because this entry point sets the tone for users' entire email creation journey in Carta.
I needed to design a solution that would eliminate user confusion and reduce error rates while maintaining the flexibility that different user types required. The redesign had to work seamlessly for both infrequent users who needed guidance and power users who wanted efficiency. Most importantly, I wanted to transform this pain point into a confidence-building experience that would set users up for success in their email creation process.
Beyond solving the immediate usability issues, I also saw an opportunity to establish better design patterns and research methodologies that could inform future Carta improvements.
I started with comprehensive user research, conducting interviews and surveys with both Newsroom and Marketing teams to understand their complete workflows. A template card sorting workshop helped me understand how users actually thought about different template types, and I shadowed power users to see their daily processes.
The research revealed that users desperately needed visual confirmation and better organization. Without being able to preview their choices, users were often surprised by errors or incorrect content when ready to send emails.
Based on these insights, I redesigned the flow with key improvements:
Automatic unique naming to eliminate naming confusion
Visual preview capability so users could see their content before proceeding
Transparent template information that remained visible and editable when needed
Proactive error alerts when template combinations wouldn't work together
Clear starting options between blank slates and preset templates
Throughout the process, I ran regular user testing sessions with both teams to ensure the new experience felt intuitive rather than jarring. This also eased the transition to the new flow once it was officially released.
Result
This redesign achieved the highest user satisfaction scores of any Carta project. Newsroom satisfaction jumped over 30%, with similar positive feedback from Marketing teams.
The visual preview feature was particularly impactful—users felt confident they'd chosen the right templates before proceeding. This translated into significantly fewer support requests, reduced development time spent on user issues, and faster email creation workflows across both teams.
Beyond solving immediate problems, this project demonstrated the value of investing in foundational user experiences. Sometimes the most impactful design work happens in the workflows users encounter most frequently, even when they seem simple on the surface.
Key takeaway: Taking time for proper user research transformed what seemed like a straightforward UI update into a confidence-building experience that empowered users and dramatically reduced organizational friction.
