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Email Design

Responsive Email

An email designed to automatically adapt its layout for optimal viewing on different screen sizes and devices.

Definition

A responsive email uses flexible layouts and CSS media queries to automatically adjust its design based on the screen size and device displaying it. Content reflows, images resize, and elements stack appropriately whether viewed on a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. With over half of emails opened on mobile, responsive design is essential.

Why It Matters

Subscribers view emails on various devices. A non-responsive email designed for desktop looks cramped or broken on mobile. Responsive design ensures a good experience everywhere, improving engagement and conversions. Mobile-unfriendly emails frustrate subscribers and hurt results.

How It Works

Responsive emails use fluid widths (percentages instead of fixed pixels), flexible images that scale, and CSS media queries to apply different styles at different screen widths. Common techniques include stacking multi-column layouts into single columns on mobile.

Best Practices

  • 1Design mobile-first, then enhance for larger screens
  • 2Use fluid widths and scalable images
  • 3Make buttons large enough for touch (minimum 44x44 pixels)
  • 4Test on multiple devices and email clients

Frequently Asked Questions

Most modern email clients support responsive design, but support varies. Outlook desktop has limited support for media queries. Use a mobile-first approach with fallbacks for clients that do not support all responsive features.

Design mobile-first. With over 50% of opens on mobile, ensure the mobile experience is excellent first, then enhance for larger screens. This approach also tends to result in cleaner, more focused designs.