SMS Ecard Sending
Added text message sending functionality for Ecards on American Greetings.
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TIMELINE
2025
MY ROLE
UX Designer
UX Researcher
About
Opportunity
Recipients occasionally fail to open ecards delivered via email because the messages appear suspicious or automated to our older and more cautious demographic. This leads to lower card pickup rates and frustrating experiences for both senders and recipients.
How Might We?
How might we introduce SMS sending in a way that increases card pickup, expands sender flexibility, and preserves the familiar send flow for existing users?
Research
To understand common SMS-sending patterns, we analyzed platforms such as:
Paperless Post
The Knot
Punchbowl
A clear trend emerged: SMS and email sending typically coexist within a single recipient entry field. Users simply type an email or phone number, and the system handles the rest. This pattern aided discoverability and reduced mental overhead.
These insights helped us decide to test two possible directions for American Greetings.
Ideation
We designed two distinct prototypes of the send flow:
Separated Methods
Email sending lived in one flow
SMS sending lived in a separate flow
Unified Method
A single sending experience
Users could enter either email addresses or phone numbers for each recipient
SMS integrated seamlessly into the existing email UI
Testing
We tested both prototype experiences with 10 total participants, 5 had never sent an Ecard before and 5 were experienced Ecard senders. The participants were tasked with sending an Ecard to 2 recipients — 1 via Email and 1 via Text.
Usability testing revealed a clear winner:
9 out of 10 participants preferred the unified sending experience.
They found it simpler, more intuitive, and appreciated not having to choose between send methods before adding recipients.
Findings
After selecting the unified direction, we refined the design to ensure the new SMS option felt natural, as if it had always been part of the product.
Key refinements included:
Ensuring the input field recognized both emails and phone numbers
Providing subtle validation and formatting for phone numbers
Maintaining the established hierarchy of the current Email Send flow
Introducing SMS with minimal visual disruption to preserve existing mental models
We also made a strategic UX improvement:
We reduced three separate CTAs (Email, Text, Copy Link) down to just two.
Send (Email and/or Text)
Copy Link
This simplified the decision-making process and allowed mixed send methods in a single batch.
Results & Impact
The introduction of SMS sending produced significant improvements:
Card pickup increased by 80% after launch
SMS became the second most-used delivery method, quickly rising above our 'Copy Link' method.
Senders now have a modern, reliable delivery channel
Recipients receive cards in a format that feels personal and legitimate
This feature has become one of the most impactful enhancements to the AG sending experience in recent years.
Smooth Scroll
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SMS Ecard Sending
OVERVIEW
Added text message sending functionality for Ecards on American Greetings.
TIMELINE
2025
MY ROLE
UX Designer
UX Researcher
About
Opportunity
Recipients occasionally fail to open ecards delivered via email because the messages appear suspicious or automated to our older and more cautious demographic. This leads to lower card pickup rates and frustrating experiences for both senders and recipients.
How Might We?
How might we introduce SMS sending in a way that increases card pickup, expands sender flexibility, and preserves the familiar send flow for existing users?
Research
To understand common SMS-sending patterns, we analyzed platforms such as:
Paperless Post
The Knot
Punchbowl
A clear trend emerged: SMS and email sending typically coexist within a single recipient entry field. Users simply type an email or phone number, and the system handles the rest. This pattern aided discoverability and reduced mental overhead.
These insights helped us decide to test two possible directions for American Greetings.
Ideation
We designed two distinct prototypes of the send flow:
Separated Methods
Email sending lived in one flow
SMS sending lived in a separate flow
Unified Method
A single sending experience
Users could enter either email addresses or phone numbers for each recipient
SMS integrated seamlessly into the existing email UI
Testing
We tested both prototype experiences with 10 total participants, 5 had never sent an Ecard before and 5 were experienced Ecard senders. The participants were tasked with sending an Ecard to 2 recipients — 1 via Email and 1 via Text.
Usability testing revealed a clear winner:
9 out of 10 participants preferred the unified sending experience.
They found it simpler, more intuitive, and appreciated not having to choose between send methods before adding recipients.
Findings
After selecting the unified direction, we refined the design to ensure the new SMS option felt natural, as if it had always been part of the product.
Key refinements included:
Ensuring the input field recognized both emails and phone numbers
Providing subtle validation and formatting for phone numbers
Maintaining the established hierarchy of the current Email Send flow
Introducing SMS with minimal visual disruption to preserve existing mental models
We also made a strategic UX improvement:
We reduced three separate CTAs (Email, Text, Copy Link) down to just two.
Send (Email and/or Text)
Copy Link
This simplified the decision-making process and allowed mixed send methods in a single batch.
Results & Impact
The introduction of SMS sending produced significant improvements:
Card pickup increased by 80% after launch
SMS became the second most-used delivery method, quickly rising above our 'Copy Link' method.
Senders now have a modern, reliable delivery channel
Recipients receive cards in a format that feels personal and legitimate
This feature has become one of the most impactful enhancements to the AG sending experience in recent years.
Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!
This will hide itself!
Back
SMS Ecard Sending
OVERVIEW
Added text message sending functionality for Ecards on American Greetings.
TIMELINE
2025
MY ROLE
UX Designer
UX Researcher
About
Opportunity
Recipients occasionally fail to open ecards delivered via email because the messages appear suspicious or automated to our older and more cautious demographic. This leads to lower card pickup rates and frustrating experiences for both senders and recipients.
How Might We?
How might we introduce SMS sending in a way that increases card pickup, expands sender flexibility, and preserves the familiar send flow for existing users?
Research
To understand common SMS-sending patterns, we analyzed platforms such as:
Paperless Post
The Knot
Punchbowl
A clear trend emerged: SMS and email sending typically coexist within a single recipient entry field. Users simply type an email or phone number, and the system handles the rest. This pattern aided discoverability and reduced mental overhead.
These insights helped us decide to test two possible directions for American Greetings.
Ideation
We designed two distinct prototypes of the send flow:
Separated Methods
Email sending lived in one flow
SMS sending lived in a separate flow
Unified Method
A single sending experience
Users could enter either email addresses or phone numbers for each recipient
SMS integrated seamlessly into the existing email UI
Testing
We tested both prototype experiences with 10 total participants, 5 had never sent an Ecard before and 5 were experienced Ecard senders. The participants were tasked with sending an Ecard to 2 recipients — 1 via Email and 1 via Text.
Usability testing revealed a clear winner:
9 out of 10 participants preferred the unified sending experience.
They found it simpler, more intuitive, and appreciated not having to choose between send methods before adding recipients.
Findings
After selecting the unified direction, we refined the design to ensure the new SMS option felt natural, as if it had always been part of the product.
Key refinements included:
Ensuring the input field recognized both emails and phone numbers
Providing subtle validation and formatting for phone numbers
Maintaining the established hierarchy of the current Email Send flow
Introducing SMS with minimal visual disruption to preserve existing mental models
We also made a strategic UX improvement:
We reduced three separate CTAs (Email, Text, Copy Link) down to just two.
Send (Email and/or Text)
Copy Link
This simplified the decision-making process and allowed mixed send methods in a single batch.
Results & Impact
The introduction of SMS sending produced significant improvements:
Card pickup increased by 80% after launch
SMS became the second most-used delivery method, quickly rising above our 'Copy Link' method.
Senders now have a modern, reliable delivery channel
Recipients receive cards in a format that feels personal and legitimate
This feature has become one of the most impactful enhancements to the AG sending experience in recent years.
Smooth Scroll
This will hide itself!
This will hide itself!