How to Create Responsive Emails to View on All Devices

Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. So, an email that doesn’t adapt to screen size quickly gets deleted or ignored. Marketers can’t afford to send campaigns that look great on desktop but fall apart on mobile.

Yet, designing responsive emails that hold up across devices, screen sizes, and even light/dark modes can be challending. If you’ve ever struggled with broken layouts, unreadable text, or distorted images, you’re not alone.

In this guide, we’ll take you through the steps you can follow to make your emails responsive.

What is a responsive email design?

A responsive email design is an approach that ensures your email automatically adjusts to different screen sizes and devices. This means the layout, images, text, and buttons adapt to provide a consistent, readable, and easy-to-navigate experience whether your subscriber is on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Challenges of responsive email creation

Responsive email design isn’t the same as web design. You’re dealing with dozens of email clients, each with its own nuances and limitations. Some of the key challenges that you may come across include:

• Limited CSS support in certain email clients
• Media queries that aren’t consistently supported
• Rendering issues between Apple Mail, Gmail, Outlook, etc.
• Dark mode inverts colors, which can break image and text visibility
• File size restrictions, especially for images and animations

That’s why even experienced marketers often struggle to get emails looking perfect on every screen — unless they use a tool built for it. This is where Mailmodo outshines the rest.

How to create responsive emails

Here are some strategies you can use to make sure your emails look great on any device:

1. Use a mobile-first layout

Since most users open emails on their phones, your content should feel natural and easy to read on smaller screens before being adjusted for larger ones.

Some key mobile-first best practices include:

• Using a single-column layout

• Keeping the maximum width at 600px, which is standard for emails

• Stacking content vertically for better scrolling

2. Use tables

Unlike web browsers, email clients use older rendering engines. Many of them either partially support or completely ignore modern layout techniques such as Flexbox and Grid.

So, to structure email layouts that are virtually supported across all major email clients. Email marketers use the table element. They provide predictable alignment, spacing, and stacking behavior, especially on mobile devices where layouts are more likely to break.

3. Set a fluid width

Fixed-width emails often struggle on smaller screens because they force users to scroll horizontally or zoom in to read content. A fluid-width approach avoids this by allowing the email layout to adjust based on the available screen space.

To do fluid layouts, you can:

• Use percentage widths like 100% for outer tables

• Apply a max-width to inner containers for desktop viewing

• Center your content to keep it visually balanced

4. Use inline CSS

Email clients handle styling differently from web browsers. Many of them ignore or remove styles that are placed in the of an email or in a separate style sheet. This can cause your text, spacing, colors, or alignment to appear wrong, especially in Gmail, Outlook, and some mobile email apps.

Inline CSS solves this problem by directly attaching the style to each element. For example, if you set the font size and color directly on a paragraph, it will appear correctly in all major email clients instead of reverting to a default style.

To make emails display consistently:

• Apply critical styles like fonts, colors, and spacing directly to the element

• Avoid relying on global or embedded styles for anything that affects readability or layout

• Use embedded styles only for specific adjustments that apply to mobile devices

5. Make images responsive

Images can easily break an email layout if they are too large or don’t scale properly on smaller screens. Responsive images adjust their size automatically to fit the available space, preventing horizontal scrolling or overlapping content.

To ensure images display correctly on all devices:

• Aim to keep individual images under about 200 KB when possible and the whole email reasonably small.

• Use the most appropriate format for the image: photographs in JPEG or WebP, illustrations with flat color in PNG or SVG, where supported.

• Always include clear alt text that explains the image for users who block images or use assistive tech.

• Make sure aspect ratios are consistent so images scale without stretching

• Avoid putting crucial text inside images since it can become unreadable on small screens.

6. Use readable font sizes

Small text is one of the biggest obstacles for mobile readers. If your body text is too tiny or headings are unclear, subscribers may struggle to read your email or lose interest quickly.

To ensure readability across all devices:

• Keep body text between 14 and 16 points for comfortable reading

• Use headings between 22 and 28 points to clearly separate sections

• Make buttons and calls-to-action at least 16 points so they are easily noticed

Using font sizes that are large enough improves accessibility, keeps readers engaged, and ensures your message is communicated effectively on both mobile and desktop screens.

7. Create tap-friendly buttons

Buttons need to be large enough and spaced properly so users can tap them easily on mobile screens. Small or crowded buttons lead to missed clicks and a frustrating experience.

To make buttons more user-friendly:

• Ensure buttons are at least 44 pixels tall so thumbs can tap comfortably

• Use sufficient padding around text to make the button feel clickable
  Leave enough space between buttons and other elements to avoid accidental taps

8. Test on different devices and clients

Fonts, images, buttons, and layouts may appear correct on one platform but broken or misaligned on another. Testing your emails on multiple clients and devices helps ensure that your message looks professional and is easy to read everywhere.

Start by checking major email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail across both desktop and mobile. Preview your emails on smartphones, tablets, and larger screens, and use testing tools to identify rendering issues before sending.

Takeaways

Creating responsive emails doesn’t have to be a technical headache. With the right tool you can ensure every subscriber sees your message the way you intended — clear, compelling, and optimized for their device. Whether you're focused on design, deliverability, or user experience, responsive design is the foundation of modern email marketing.

By using a platform like Mailmodo that prioritizes responsiveness at every step, you're not just keeping up — you're setting a new standard for what great email should look like. Try it out today.