Rethinking Consumer Email: The Research Process for Yahoo Mail 6

This case study follows the research process of rethinking the design and functionality of a personal email client, Yahoo Mail. Over three years, we changed the focus of the product from composing emails towards automatically organizing specific categories of business to consumer email (such as deals, receipts, and travel) and creating experiences unique to each category. To achieve this, we employed iterative user research with over 1,500 in-person interviews in six countries and surveys to many thousands of people around the world. This research process culminated in the launch of Yahoo Mail 6.0 for iOS and Android devices in the fall of 2019.