Marketer's Space: Why mobile optimization deserves a place in your email strategy

Marketer's Space: Why mobile optimization deserves a place in your email strategy

Importance of mobile optimization

Hello Marketers,

Welcome back to Marketer's Space! Today, we'll talk about the importance of creating mobile-friendly email designs.

While mobile phones were once used only to make phone calls, today they're used for almost everything, including texting, reading, browsing, shopping, and much more. As marketers, this shift means one thing: We must ensure that our email campaigns are mobile-friendly. This isn't an exaggeration; it's a real challenge that many marketers and business owners face, especially during peak seasons. Let's look at one such example.

David's challenge: Great email but low engagement

David runs a handmade gift store. He and his team create customized gifts and greeting cards. For the holiday season, he has crafted a thoughtful email from scratch to send to his new contacts and recurring customers to introduce his new festive collection. His email content is on point; he personalizes it with merge tags, segments his audience, automates his workflows, and even schedules the campaign to go out at his recipients' optimal open times. In short, David has done everything right—or, at least, that's what he thought.

Despite all his efforts, the results aren't as expected. When he analyzes his campaign reports, he sees that the emails have been successfully delivered and that most of his contacts have opened them. But that's it; he hasn't received any clicks, orders, or engagement from his contacts. Confused, David digs deeper into his email reports and notices that most of his recipients opened the email on their mobile devices. He gets curious and checks how his email looks on his phone—and is a bit taken aback! His email is readable but not mobile-friendly.

David's checklist to create mobile-friendly emails

David immediately decides to fix this and make his next campaign mobile-friendly. Here's what he does differently:

Use simple layouts

The first and most effective change David makes is removing the column layout in his email. While the layout looks stylish on his laptop, it doesn't render well on mobile screens. Having multiple columns of images increases the scroll time and makes the email harder to navigate on smaller devices. Fewer columns enable the content to flow more smoothly from top to bottom and makes it easier for recipients to read and scroll through on their phones.
Simple layouts

Keep the content concise

Recipients who read emails on mobiles decide within seconds whether to keep reading or move on to a different screen. That's why brevity and structure matter. David breaks his content into short paragraphs, uses bullet points for clarity, and adds subheadings to guide the reader's eye.
Keep the content concise

Optimize visuals and CTAs

Images can enhance an email's appeal when they're optimized to suit different screen sizes. David uses lightweight images that load quickly and avoids large files that can slow down loading times. He also makes his call-to-action (CTA) buttons prominent, surrounds them with ample white space to prevent accidental taps, and uses action-oriented text like "Shop now" and "Get the offer."

Focus on readability

Tiny fonts that look elegant on desktops can be hard to read on mobile screens. David ensures that he uses at least 14px for body text and 22px or more for headings. He also makes sure there's proper spacing between lines, images, and buttons to make the design visually comfortable.

Test across devices before sending

Even the best-designed emails can appear differently across multiple devices and email clients. Using the Preview and Test feature in Zoho Campaigns, David previews his campaign to gauge how his email will look both on desktop and mobile screens. He also sends test emails to his team to identify any inconsistencies before finally sending the campaign to his contacts.
Test across devices

Avoid large, fixed-width elements

Fixed-width components like wide banners or tables can force users to scroll horizontally on small screens. David switches to flexible, percentage-based widths to ensure his content automatically adjusts to fit any device without users needing to pinch or zoom.

How Zoho Campaigns helps David get it right

Let's look at which features in Zoho Campaigns have helped David create mobile-friendly email campaigns in no time:
  1. Mobile-friendly templates: All pre-designed email templates available in Zoho Campaigns are mobile-friendly by default.
  2. Drag-and-drop editor: Zoho Campaigns' template editor enables users to customize text, image, and button elements. You can easily adjust font, color, size, and padding to create mobile-optimized designs.
  3. Preview and test options: View how your email looks on desktop and mobile screens and send test emails to your team before sending campaigns to your audience.
    Preview and test email

  4. Customize using HTML: If you're comfortable with coding, you can use the built-in HTML editor to code your content manually or import your own HTML and CSS files through the Import/Upload HTML option. Learn more

In a nutshell

By making these small yet impactful changes, David ensures that his emails not only reach his contacts but also engage with them effectively—regardless of the devices they use.

Regards,
Aiswarya Jayaprakash
User Education
Zoho Campaigns

    • Recent Topics

    • Bing ads integration and tracking

      Hi, Is there any way to track Bing ads in the same way that we are able to track google adwords?  It is important for us to be able to determine the conversion rate of our Bing ads.  If this is not possible now, will this feature be added in the future?

    • #20 Your Business Shouldn't Stop Just Because You Do

      Imagine you are on a well-deserved vacation. Your clients are expecting invoices at the beginning of the month, recurring customers are due for billing, and payments are still coming in. Do you carry your laptop everywhere, hoping you don't miss a billing

    • Marketing Tip #26: Optimize product images for SEO

      Product images can do more than make your store look good. They can also help customers discover your products through search. Since search engines can’t "see" images, they rely on text signals to understand what an image is about. Two small actions make

    • Automation Series: Mandatory Time Logging Before Task Closure

      In a project, when users work on multiple tasks simultaneously, they track time in different ways, either by starting a timer or by adding a time log. Sometimes users may forget to add time, which can lead to discrepancies in the timesheet. When timesheets

    • Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

      I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

    • Zoho CRM gets a new email compose and lot more

      Dear Customers,  [UPDATE October 21, 2021: We have started opening these features to some of the customers already. And, it will be available to all the customers before November 2nd Week, 2021. Sorry for the delay caused]  [UPDATE February 21, 2022:

    • Custom AI solutions with QuickML for Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, Earlier, we introduced Custom AI Solutions in CRM that let you access QuickML for your custom AI needs. Building on that foundation, we’ve now enabled a deeper integration: QuickML models can be seamlessly integrated into CRM, and surface

    • CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

      Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

    • Introducing document visibility in Zoho Sign

      Hello! Complex document workflows often involve multiple stakeholders with different roles. Sending a separate envelope to every person is time consuming and can lead to administrative bottlenecks. With Zoho Sign's document visibility feature, you can

    • Sent email stuck on processing

      My sent emails are stuck on processing, whats going on?

    • [Webinar] What's new in Zoho Analytics: Q2 2026

      Hey data lovers! Our What's New webinar series is bringing you another lineup of exciting features and product enhancements from the past quarter, all designed to help you get more out of your analytics. Get an inside look at new data connectors, Zoho

    • Alterar número de telefone para receber o código OTP

      Boa tarde! Como posso alterar o número de telefone da minha conta para aceder ao meu email corporativo? Estou tentando logar, mas não consigo, pois está sendo enviado o código OTP para o número antigo, preciso aceder urgente meu email, porque e de trabalho.

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • Request to Increase URL Field Character Limit

      Hi Arthi, Hope you are doing well. I'm trying to save a URL in the Work Order (WO) module using the URL field, but I receive the following error message: "Please enter a valid Repair File. Maximum 450 characters are allowed." The issue is that the URL

    • How to change column headings in pivot table?

      Hi, Is there a way to rename the column headers of a pivot table? Now some the columns are named with value labels: 'SUM of .....'. We would like to rename those headers. As of now we couldn't find any direct solution to adjust the headers, besides copying and reformat. We want to avoid these extra steps. Best, Tiemen

    • Undelivered Mail

      I suspect that there are recipient's servers that blocks my emails. I receive the following email from mailer-daemon@mail.zoho.eu : A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. pantelis.sarantos@unipakhellas.gr,

    • Email not loading on PC

      Hello, my email opens on but it doesn’t load on PC. I don’t have other issues with the email, all the configurations are ok and I face with following issue in the photo. It says “ mail.zoho.com refused to connect” I will be very thankful if anyone can

    • Why are bounce/error emails being sent to info@ instead of contact@?

      I have my Zoho Mail and WordPress site configured so that normal website emails should go to contact@hybridbatteryservice.com. However, I keep receiving technical bounce/error emails and delivery failure notifications at info@hybridbatteryservice.com

    • Do Not Disturb status not respected when Cliq bar is enabled across Zoho apps

      Hi Zoho Cliq team, I want to report what appears to be a bug with how the Do Not Disturb status interacts with the embedded Cliq bar in other Zoho apps. **Issue:** When my Cliq status is set to Do Not Disturb, I continue to receive notification tones

    • Zoho Webinar Summer Broadcast 2026

      What if your webinar platform could connect directly with your business tools, automate routine tasks, trigger actions across your workflows, and support every stage of your webinar lifecycle? That’s the question we’ve been answering so far this year.

    • Zoho CRM Layout Rules: Nine New Actions, Profile-Based Execution, and Interactive Preview

      Hello everyone, Availability: This feature is now available for customers in the JP and SA DCs. It is planned to be released for other customers in soon. We’re excited to announce powerful new enhancements to Layout Rules in Zoho CRM - a feature built

    • Invalid request when trying to access Mail

      When I click on the red button to access Zoho Mail at https://mail.zoho.com/zm/, I get a big yellow warning triangle with "invlid request, The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try ag

    • Whats the average response time for ticket submitted?

      I submitted a request to unblock my mail accounts. They seem to be blocked for outgoing mail, and I have been waiting for days to have this fixed with no reply. I have submitted 2 tickets and an email. My work has to completely stop. I pay for the service

    • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

      Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24

    • Is there any way to have Dataprep ingest RSS?

      As stated by the title. Does the Zoho environment offer tools that I can use to, directly or using workarounds, have Dataprep ingest an RSS feed? Thanks

    • Introducing Color Coding of Picklist Values

      Dear Everyone, Greetings!! Zoho CRM is uplifting the user experience. Recently, we had some notable aesthetic improvements in CRM like Kanban View UI enhancement, New List view UI enhancement, color coding of tags, and color coding of picklists in meetings.

    • Important updates to your Widget JS APIs

      Hello everyone, Greetings from Zoho Creator! This is an urgent notice for developers and Partners who use widgets in their Zoho Creator applications. We previously announced an update to the CDN URLs used for loading the Widget JS API, with a deadline

    • Deluge sendmail in Zoho Desk schedule can't send email from a verified email address

      I am trying to add a scheduled action with ZDesk using a Deluge function that sends a weekly email to specific ticket client contacts I've already verified the email address for use in ZDesk, but sendmail won't allow it in its "from:" clause. I've attached

    • Mailbox delegation “Send As” error

      I believe there may be an issue with mailbox delegation. When I create a delegation from the Admin Console, it works correctly if I select Read permissions. However, if I select Send As permission for the delegated user, I immediately receive the following

    • Restrict Zoho Cliq Webinars and Announcements to Admins Only

      Hi Zoho Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to raise a feature request regarding in-app announcements in Zoho Cliq, such as the recent webinar popup about the Cliq Developer Platform: While these announcements are useful, they are not always

    • how do i get mail.mydomain.com to point to zoho mail web-mail?

      I have started using zohomail, and am loving it. With my previous provider, I used to go to mail.mydomain.com, and it would take me to my webmail. I am not able to find the mapping for zoho's webmail to map to it. It is difficult to go to webmail with

    • Number of decimal places

      Hi Latha, I have added the following three fields to the Company module. Currently, these fields only allow a maximum of 2 decimal places. However, for some of our requirements, we need to enter values with up to 10 decimal places. Could you please help

    • zoho imap connection stopped working 05/28 12pm EST

      Hi, beginning Thursday, 5/28, ~12 pm est imap to siteground stopped working. When I tried to reconnect the account, connection was failing with the following message: Unable to connect SMTP server:gvam1107.siteground.biz, Port: 587. I did notice that

    • User Name in Zoho Cliq Not Updating Across Apps?

      We updated the name of a user in Zoho. (From Sue to Taylor) Her name has not been updated in Cliq on all apps. When in Zoho One, if I go to Cliq directly, it is correct, but if I am in another app, and the Cliq bar pops up on the bottom, it will be the

    • Service currently unavailable

      The Zoho Mail Webmail is working, the Mail Admin Console is not: "Our service is temporarily unavailable, please try after sometime." How long must I wait to retry? edit: To add to this, the Webmail is not working 100% - I can open mail in the inbox,

    • Service currently unavailable

      Service currently unavailable It is not possible to access email; the entire Zohoworkplace platform is down

    • User Permission Log

      Our external auditors are asking for a way to view changes made to user permissions (basically, a user permission change log). Is this feature built into Creator? 

    • E-mail down

      We cannot get into our email inboxes, are you affected by a Microsoft update issue? How long do you think as to restoration?

    • ZOHO MAIL SERVICE NOT WORKING

      Hello i've a problem my zoho mail account says a display with this text "our service is temporally unavaible"

    • ايميل مجانى

      Can I create a free email account on Zahoo?

    • Next Page