March 25, 2015
Providing a good user experience, not only for desktop but also for mobile is crucial to keep your subscribers happy and interested. There are a few different types of mobile design so here’s a little breakdown of the different approaches…
I see this in 3 levels:
Scalability, Simple – Design and build an email that works on desktop and mobile without having to do extra work.
Fluidity, Adaptable – Using percentage widths to adapt to screen size.
Responsive, Control – Combination of the above with ability to swap, change or hide content on mobile.
There are a few key things to keep in mind for your mobile design, whichever approach you apply.
Which approach do I go for?
Scalability
Just to clear the picture, what you see on your desktop email is what you see on mobile but ‘scaled down’ so I’d recommend any designs to comply with the above.
Why should I use this approach?
Fluid design
A fluid design is similar to a scalable design but the email adapts to any screen size without ‘shrinking’ the content to fit simply by using percentage widths.
Why should I use this approach?
Responsive design
Now with responsive design, you have more control over how your email displays on mobile. It could almost become 2 ‘separate’ designs.
Why should I use this approach?
Finding the right balance
In the ideal world, a responsive template would set your campaign apart from competition. But simpler approaches can be just as effective and save over-complicating your processes.
You can get drawn into the ‘mobile world’ quite easily but there are still a decent amount of people viewing emails on their desktop machines. So check your audience and determine what your needs are before deciding on your approach.
Posted by Andrew Chau
Email Design, Tip of the month