Header image by Flickr user Cairo
Good news, email marketers. Gmail has made some long-requested changes this fall that will make email building easier than ever and email viewing and engagement more user-friendly across devices.
Needless to say, we're a little excited about this news.
Why This Is Big
While some support elements are still rolling out, as of the end of September Gmail now supports:
- Media queries
- External stylesheets
- Classes and IDs
- Background-position and size
"With Gmail's support for media queries, over 75% of email clients will support responsive design."
~ Litmus®
What This Means for Email Designers/Developers:
More control over email message styling:
- Gmail will support queries against screen width, orientation, and resolution
- Inline CSS is no longer required for styling, reducing email size, code bloat, and coding time
- Additional font styling is available
- Columns of text can be created without tables
Easier template building:
- Easier to optimize layouts for a variety of devices
- Responsive templates can be used
- Gmail CSS Support Reference available
What This Means for Email Recipients
Emails will be more accessible:
- Content will adapt to fit their screen
- Text will be easier to read, images easier to see
- Engagement with calls-to-action (pressing buttons, for example) will be easier
"In 2015, 52% of emails were opened on a smartphone."
~ Kristen Dunleavy, How to Take Advantage of Gmail's Support for Responsive Email Design
46% of Travel and Hospitality consumers opened email on their smartphones
~ Movable Ink
