We live in an age where mobile phones are an integral part of our life. Statista 3.9 billion mobile internet users as of 2021 (based on data they get from their operators) makes it imperative that organizations prioritize digital communications for mobile platforms. Email marketing is one of the mobile optimized communication channels. More than half of all emails are opened on mobile, so designing mobile emails is no longer a luxury, but a requirement. In this paper, we outline five key points that will guide you to write responsive, well-designed emails that attract recipients and achieve results.
1. Keep Your Layout Simple and Straightforward.
Designing mobile emails requires that the design is very simple. An overloaded email — one with too many photos, colors, or words — is overwhelming and hard to read on a mobile device. Rather, choose a single-column format with enough white space to allow for the content to be easily read. Make sure to introduce concise headings, bullet points, and shorter paragraphs to split the words up and make the writing more readable.
2. Use Responsive Design Techniques
Responsive design is a method that lets your email respond to the size of the screen that you are viewing it on. This makes your email appear professional on both desktop and mobile devices. Use fluid grids, floaty images and media queries to create a responsive layout. A responsive grid makes your content stretch to fit the screen width, and spherical images automatically adjust themselves to the space you have. Media queries let you define custom styles depending on screen size, allowing you to customize mobile layout.
3. Keep Your Subject Line and Preview Copy As Clean As Possible.
Subject lines and preview text are what gets mobile users to open an email. Since mobile is a small screen, and emails are usually packed into a tiny space, it’s important to ensure these factors are optimized to improve open rates and click-through rates.
Keep subject lines brief and punchy: Mobile screens only allow 30 to 40 characters in the subject line, so don’t miss out on any. Create short and engaging subject lines to explain the reason behind the email and what it is offering.
Personalize the subject line: Customize the subject line by dynamically adding the subscriber’s name, location, or any other information for personalized and targeted content.
Use action words: Use action verbs and strong language to entice the reader to read the email and make them feel urgent or interested.
Preview text is a continuation of the subject line: Preview text, or the Johnson box, offers a preview of the contents of the email. Use it to support the subject line and provide some additional context to entice users to open the email.
Subject lines & preview texts: Use A/B testing and analytics to see what subject line & preview text versions work the best with your mobile audience.
4. Send Different Emails to Different Devices.
To make sure your emails are optimized for all devices, it’s important to test them extensively. Check your emails on iPhones, Androids, and tablets with an email preview tool such as Litmus or Email on Acid. Keep an eye on the way your email looks on various screen sizes, and if necessary make some design and layout changes. Additionally, ensure that your emails are tested in portrait and landscape orientation to keep your subscribers comfortable.
5. Prioritize Call-to-Action (CTA) Placement and Design.
The most important part of any email marketing campaign is a strong, well-crafted call-to-action. It drives subscribers to the desired conversion – purchasing, registering for a webinar, or downloading an eBook. If you are designing mobile emails, then the location and design of the CTA becomes even more important because of these reasons:
Small screens: On a small screen, it’s vital to position the CTA at a high enough place that people will be able to find it without having to scroll long distances.
Attention time: Mobile users have a shorter attention span and tend to skim the page. The high CTA draws them in and motivates them to take action right away.
Touch navigation: Mobile customers click using their fingers, so CTAs must be large enough and sufficiently spaced so that you can’t accidentally click them.
To maximize CTA placement and mobile friendly design, check out the following best practices:
Be single, distinct, and obvious about your CTA: Stick to a single main CTA in each email to keep it simple and to keep people focused on the most crucial step.
Affix the CTA above the fold: Make sure that the CTA isn’t scrolled. If you have to, rework the content hierarchy for this.
Contrast colors and bold fonts: Set the CTA apart from the rest of the email content using contrast colors and bold, legible fonts.
Make the CTA buttons larger: Make the CTA buttons big enough to easily touch with your finger (minimum touch target size 44×44 pixels).
Provide enough padding for CTAs: Make sure that there is enough whitespace or padding around the CTA button to easily tap it and to avoid clicks on other elements.
Check CTA performance: Perform A/B tests and data analytics to find out what CTA design and placement variations are most effective on mobile.
Conclusion:
The ability to write mobile-friendly emails is a requirement for any company aiming to reach its users and gain ROI from email marketing. In implementing these five steps, you will be able to write emails that will appear appealing on all platforms, be user-friendly, and compel your readers to act. Be sure to keep your designs simple and clean, be responsive, optimize your subject line and headline, test your emails on different devices, and put emphasis on the CTAs and design. Using these best practices, you’ll be on your way to designing mobile-friendly emails that resonate with your readership and lead to business success.
