Email Best Practices

Designing emails is notoriously tricky due to inconsistent client rendering. Follow these essential guidelines to ensure your campaigns look great everywhere.

Designing for Mobile First

Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Ensure your typography is legible (minimum 14px body text, 22px headers) and your buttons are easily tappable (minimum 44x44px padding). Using a single-column layout typically yields the best results on small screens.

Accessibility Matters

Always use semantic HTML tags (`<h1>`, `<p>`) and provide descriptive `alt` text for images so screen readers can interpret your content. Maintain a high contrast ratio between your background and text, aiming for the WCAG AAA standard where possible.

Keep the File Size Small

Email clients like Gmail will clip emails that exceed 102KB, hiding the remainder of your content behind a 'View entire message' link. Minify your HTML code, optimize your images, and keep your overall message concise to ensure perfect deliverability.

Testing Across Clients

Email rendering engines vary wildly (from modern WebKit to older versions of Microsoft Word used by Outlook). Always use inline CSS for maximum compatibility and test your templates across multiple clients before deploying to your audience.

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