How-To Guides
Anywhere between half to two-thirds of all emails are opened on mobile devices. Mobile email engagement is forecasted to grow significantly over the next several years, too.
So if your sends aren’t primped and primed for mobile subscribers, say goodbye to any semblance of success in your metrics. These days, subscribers are fairly unforgiving. Up to 80% of them say they’ll delete poorly formatted messages on mobile devices within seconds.
However, creating mobile-friendly email designs is an easy win. And in fact, with tools like AI-powered segmentation and smart design templates, doing so is practically low-hanging fruit.
With that in mind, here’s our no-nonsense how-to guide on mobile optimized email design.
So don’t sweat the fact that the average mobile reader spends about 10 seconds looking through each email. This is your guide to optimize for the small screen and even smaller attention spans.
Designing for the Mobile Web & Who’s Using It
As discussed, mobile users skim quickly. Observe how mobile users have navigated throughout your previous sends. In most cases, you should place your most important message or call-to-action (CTA) at the top of your email as it will grab attention and encourage a click immediately.
Of course, track which KPIs matter per audience segment, then tailor content toward your findings. Recently, a Mailchimp study found that responsive emails increased mobile engagement rates 15%. Be sure to establish your pre-mobile email design benchmark first, then compare and track success metrics after your improvements are launched and live.
How To Create Mobile-Friendly Email Designs
Mobile Email Designs, Layouts & Typography Tips
Perhaps the easiest way to approach mobile-friendly email designs is to embrace a single-column layout. This prevents tedious horizontal scrolling and zooming in or out.
Use percentage-based widths for tables (for example, width="100%") to create fluid layouts that stretch or shrink depending on screen size instead of fixed pixel widths. This responsive approach adapts content naturally across devices and orientations without breaking layout or forcing horizontal scroll.
The ideal email width for desktop is typically 600 pixels, but for mobile, design for a flexible width between 320 and 450 pixels. This will account for common smartphone screen sizes in portrait mode. Apple devices auto-resize but many others don’t, so targeting a minimum of 320px ensures broad compatibility without horizontal scrolling.
Regarding text, choose web-safe fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Verdana or Georgia. Use a minimum font size of 14px for body text and 22-28px for headers to ensure legibility on small screens without zooming or strain. Line heights and spacing should be around 1.4 times your font size, for a more comfortable reading experience.
Optimized Subject Lines & Preheaders
Mobile screens truncate long titles. Therefore, keep email subject lines under 40 characters so they display fully in mobile inboxes. Pro tip: If you need help writing your most effective email subject lines, our email subject line generator can create custom copy that stands out in inboxes!
Summarize your content in a preheader that’s between 40-100 characters, putting its most important keywords first. This will help your email rise to the top of Google’s Most Relevant tab.
How to Use Images & Media for Email Marketing Designs
Use compressed images to reduce file size and speed up loading without noticeable quality loss, as large, slow-loading images cause users to abandon emails.
Images between 320 to 600 pixels wide fit well within mobile screen widths.
Provide descriptive alt text for pictures and products, while leaving alt text empty for decorative images.
Avoid flashing animations or super busy GIFs. If you include motion, keep it subtle, tasteful and purposeful.
Make the Most of Buttons, CTAs & Content
Consider going all-in on a primary CTA that’s immediately visible when an email is opened. Focusing on a single CTA button increases clicks by 371% compared to emails with multiple or passive CTAs.
With this above the fold CTA, ensure its copy is actionable. So instead of saying “Learn More” you should opt for something like “Claim Your Discount.”
Use tappable, thumb-friendly button sizes, which are a minimum 44×44 pixels. And be sure to surround buttons with plenty of white space, to prevent accidental taps.
Use countdown timers and limited‑quantity offers to create urgency, especially as BFCM and the holiday season approaches.
Use high-contrast colors that clearly stand out so the text is easy to read. Always double-check that your logo, icons, body copy and buttons all look good and are easy to see whether your email is in light mode or dark mode.
In regards to email body copy, stick with the short and sweet themes you need to prioritize for mobile email design. Front-load your most important information. Break text into digestible chunks for easy scanning on small screens.
Personalize email content whenever possible, as a whopping 71% of consumers expect personalized email experiences. Hint: AI makes this easy. Click the link at the beginning of this bullet point to see how. 😉
Don't Forget to Test Your Emails!
Testing ensures your mobile optimized email designs work everywhere. When testing your emails, take a peek at them across the following devices and platforms:
iOS
Android
In-browser webmail
And desktop apps like Apple Mail
Other testing must-do items include:
Checking renderings on dark mode vs. light mode
Ensuring alt text is associated with each image
Making sure your CTAs render correctly
After each campaign, review mobile‑specific metrics, including open rates by device, click‑to‑open rates and conversions. Then refine your strategy based on your findings.
Embrace Personalization & AI‑Driven Optimization
Now that you’ve made it through our list of quick hits for email design best practices, let’s expand a bit into this idea of AI-powered personalization for mobile subscribers.
These days, everyone expects offers and content that feel like they were written just for them. And this is where AI-driven customer segmentation comes into play. By tailoring your ecommerce emails to each subscriber segment’s interests, brands on average see:
26% higher open rates with personalized subject lines
6X higher transaction rates when sending dynamic and personalized content
Use personalized content as a way to send light touches that alert specific segments to special offers or highlight an item a subscriber didn’t buy. These messages can be optimal for mobile email designs as their content isn’t heavy or laborious to read/scroll through.
With most email opens occurring on smartphones and a large share of holiday revenue coming from mobile transactions, ecommerce and DTC marketers must prioritize layouts that balance a great presence on small screens with AI-powered personalization and effective email design.
Backstroke customers are seeing an average revenue lift of 31% per send by deploying these automated email strategies.
