Product demo

Re-imagining Email Management for Support Teams

Support teams deal with a huge number of emails every day, but most inboxes are built just to read messages, not to actually resolve issues.


This project was about rethinking email as work - helping agents quickly see what needs attention, understand context instantly, and respond faster without feeling overwhelmed.

Skills

UX Research, Interaction Design, UI Design

Timeline

~ 1 week

My role

Lead Product Designer

THE PROBLEM

Support teams in banks and enterprises rely heavily on emails to resolve customer issues, but traditional inboxes are optimized for reading, not resolving.

Agents struggle with

  • Long email threads that hide context

  • No clear visibility into issue status

  • Manual effort to understand what the customer wants

  • Repetitive replies for common problems

  • Switching between inboxes and internal tools

How might we design an email experience that helps agents move from reading emails to resolving issues faster?

How might we design an email experience that helps agents move from reading emails to resolving issues faster?

USERS
Primary users

Customer support agent / operations team member

Handles 50–100 emails daily

Works under time pressure and SLAs

Not highly tech-savvy

Secondary users

Team leads monitoring issue progress

KEY INSIGHTS

During analysis, it became clear that:

🧩

One email = one problem to resolve

🗂️

Agents mentally categorize emails as new, in progress, or waiting

🔍

The real work happens after opening the email, not inside the inbox list

This led to a shift from an email-centric to an issue-centric model

SOLUTION OVERVIEW

The solution introduces a Kanban-based email workflow with a threaded conversation view, supported by AI summaries and reply suggestions.

Kanban view

For active issue management

List view

For traditional inbox scanning

Thread view

For deep context and resolution

AI layer

For summarization and reply assistance

Kanban view

For active issue management

List view

For traditional inbox scanning

Thread view

For deep context and resolution

AI layer

For summarization and reply assistance

Kanban view

For active issue management

List view

For traditional inbox scanning

Thread view

For deep context and resolution

AI layer

For summarization and reply assistance

INTERFACE

Emails are displayed as cards across columns such as:

  • New

  • In progress

  • Waiting on customer

  • Resolved

  • Matches how agents already think about work

  • Makes status visible without opening emails

  • Reduces reliance on memory and manual tracking

Cards

Cards

For users who prefer a classic inbox:

  • Emails appear in a structured list

  • Includes priority indicators and summaries

  • Acts as a low-learning-curve entry point

This ensured adoption without forcing a new mental model immediately.

For users who prefer a classic inbox:

  • Emails appear in a structured list

  • Includes priority indicators and summaries

  • Acts as a low-learning-curve entry point

This ensured adoption without forcing a new mental model immediately.

Agents spent time rereading messages just to get context.

Agents spent time rereading messages just to get context.

Long email threads made it hard to quickly understand the issue.

Long email threads made it hard to quickly understand the issue.

AI summaries give instant context without scrolling.

AI summaries give instant context without scrolling.

Thread view makes conversations easier to follow and act on.

Thread view makes conversations easier to follow and act on.

Small shifts in structure and context can significantly reduce effort in everyday, high-volume workflows.

Small shifts in structure and context can significantly reduce effort in everyday, high-volume workflows.

Let's work together

I'm eager to know more about your work, let's talk.

© 2025 Parvathy Kuroor

Back to top

Let's work together

I'm eager to know more about your work, let's talk.

© 2025 Parvathy Kuroor

Back to top

Let's work together

I'm eager to know more about your work, let's talk.

© 2025 Parvathy Kuroor

Back to top