May 20th, 2023 Sundar Pichai 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043 Dear Mr. Pichai, Gmail is a free email service provided by Google, which allows users to send and receive email messages, as well as manage their Google email accounts through a web interface/mobile app. Gmail has an estimated 425 million active users. 1 It offers many features such as search, filters, labels, and integration with other Google services. Expanding Gmail's auto-sorting options beyond the current Primary, Social, and Promotions categories to include customizable labels such as School, Work, Gaming, and others could significantly enhance users' email organization and retrieval experience, as it would enable them to further classify and prioritize emails based on specific content, reducing clutter and saving time. Expanding Gmail's auto-sorting options to include customizable labels would empower users to categorize and prioritize their emails based on their specific needs. The current Primary, Social, and Promotions categories have proven useful, but they may not cover the diverse range of emails that users receive. By allowing users to create custom labels such as School, Work, Gaming, and others, Gmail would provide a more personalized and efficient email management experience. “Characterizations of the inability of people to handle more than a handful of concepts in the short-term are perhaps the most critical results of Twentieth-century psychology”. 2 Which is why it is crucial to be able to prioritize emails. Research suggests that personalized cues and increased demand enhance users' engagement with emails. People are more likely to click on emails when they perceive enhanced task and personal utility cues, indicating that curiosity plays a significant role in the email context. 3 With customizable labels, users can sort their emails in a way that aligns with their interests, enabling them to quickly identify and prioritize messages that are most relevant to them. This level of customization would undoubtedly enhance the user experience and make email management more intuitive and effective. The sheer volume of emails that users receive on a daily basis can lead to a cluttered inbox, making it challenging to locate important messages promptly. Enabling users to further classify emails based on their content would be instrumental in reducing clutter and enhancing productivity. Studies have shown that the inbox constitutes, on average, 53% of people's mail 3 Wainer, Jaclyn, Laura Dabbish, and Robert Kraut. "Should I open this email? Inbox-level cues, curiosity and attention to email." Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 2 Horvitz, Eric J., Andy Jacobs, and David Hovel. "Attention-sensitive alerting." arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.6707 (2013). 1 Shen, Jianqiang, Oliver Brdiczka, and Yiye Ruan. "A comparison study of user behavior on Facebook and Gmail." Computers in Human Behavior 29.6 (2013): 2650-2655. files, indicating the significant role it plays in email management. 4 “The number of emails received during a day was correlated with increased self-reports of negative emotions. Both, subjective and objective email count, lead to higher feelings of being stressed.” 5 If a higher number of emails is contributing to stress, and a lot of emails are useless, people are keen to look for solutions. By expanding Gmail's auto-sorting options to include customizable labels, users can create categories that align with their workflow and priorities. This customization would enable users to quickly filter and find specific types of emails, reducing the time spent searching through a cluttered inbox. The ability to access relevant emails more efficiently would not only enhance productivity but also alleviate email-related stress and anxiety. Users would feel more in control of their email management, resulting in a smoother and more organized workflow. One of the key advantages of offering customizable labels in Gmail is the opportunity to create a tailored and personalized email workflow. Each user has unique preferences and habits when it comes to organizing and managing their emails. By allowing users to define their own labels for email categorization, Gmail can better align with individual needs, leading to more frequent and efficient usage of the service. Research has indicated that without email, individuals tend to focus longer on their tasks, multitask less, and experience lower levels of stress. 6 By providing users with the ability to personalize their email organization, Gmail can empower them to create a workflow that suits their specific requirements. “A sponsored vehicle with a greatly reduced number of advertising messages means that each message would have a greater impact, assuming they provide information that the audiences would like to receive”. 7 More isn’t always better and users tend to care more about their mail if it’s mail they care about. This customization encourages a sense of ownership over the email management process, making users more likely to engage with their emails proactively. A tailored and personalized email workflow would further solidify Gmail's position as a user-friendly and efficient platform. Expanding Gmail's auto-sorting options to include customizable labels has the potential to revolutionize the way users manage their emails. By allowing users to categorize and prioritize their emails, reduce clutter, and create a tailored email workflow, Gmail can significantly enhance the user experience. This change aims to allow users to better manage their emails according to their specific needs, saving time, increasing productivity, and reducing stress associated with navigating through a crowded inbox. By prioritizing user needs and preferences, Gmail can become even more user-friendly and efficient, encouraging more frequent and efficient use of the service. As a result, this change could significantly impact the user's 7 Subramanian, K. R. "Advertising clutter and consumer apathy." GE-International Journal of Management Research 3.6 (2015): 309-22. 6 Mark, Gloria, Stephen Voida, and Armand Cardello. "" A pace not dictated by electrons" an empirical study of work without email." Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 5 Pielot, Martin, Karen Church, and Rodrigo De Oliveira. "An in-situ study of mobile phone notifications." Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices & services. 2014. 4 Whittaker, Steve, and Candace Sidner. "Email overload: exploring personal information management of email." Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. experience on Gmail, solidifying its position as one of the leading email services available and further cementing its indispensability to its users. Sincerely, Joseph Saada 204 Aldrich Hall Irvine, CA 92697-1075