Mobile Email Is Not Smaller Desktop Email

The biggest mistake mobile-first SaaS companies make with email is designing for desktop and hoping it looks fine on mobile. It does not. Mobile email needs to be designed mobile-first: single column, large tap targets, minimal images, and copy that gets to the point in the first two sentences.

Your users are reading email on a train, in line at a coffee shop, or between meetings. They will give you 3 seconds to earn their attention. If the first line is compelling and the call to action is obvious, you win. If they have to scroll through a hero image and three paragraphs of intro text, you lose.

The Push and Email Dance

Mobile-first SaaS has two channels competing for user attention: push notifications and email. The worst outcome is both channels sending the same message, which feels like spam. The best outcome is each channel playing to its strengths.

Push notifications are for right now: "Your upload is complete," "Someone commented on your post," "Your payment failed." Email is for context and depth: onboarding guides, weekly summaries, feature announcements, and lifecycle communication. Tools like Customer.io and OneSignal that manage both channels can coordinate delivery so users get the right message in the right channel at the right time.

Deep Links Are Non-Negotiable

When a mobile-first SaaS user taps a button in an email, they should land in the app, not on a web page. Deep links that open the app to the exact relevant screen create a seamless experience. Deep links that open the App Store if the app is not installed create a download opportunity.

Every call to action in your email should be a deep link. "View your report" opens the report in the app. "Update your payment" opens the payment screen. "Try the new feature" opens that feature directly. This single technical detail dramatically improves email conversion for mobile-first products.