Embracing the Dark Side: The Importance of Dark Mode in Email Marketing
Embracing the Dark Side: The Importance of Dark Mode in Email Marketing
Have you ever switched your phone or computer to dark mode? If so, you’re not alone. A recent study found that a whopping 81.9% of people use dark mode on their phones, and 82.7% use it on their operating systems. Despite its popularity, it’s surprising to see how many emails still don’t render well in dark mode. Why is this the case?
Understanding Dark Mode
Before we delve into the reasons, let’s first understand what dark mode is. In the context of emails, dark mode is a feature that alters the color theme of an email from light (usually white or light gray) to dark (usually black or dark gray). This feature is designed to reduce eye strain, especially in low-light conditions, and can also save battery life on certain devices.
When an email is viewed in dark mode, the email client (like Gmail, Outlook, etc.) automatically adjusts the colors of the email. However, not all elements of an email may look good in dark mode, which is why it’s crucial for email designers to consider dark mode when creating their emails.
The Challenges of Dark Mode
Why might some marketers find it difficult to adapt to dark mode? Here are a few technical reasons along with our recommendations on how to tackle these issues:
Optimizing Logos and Branding: Adapting to dark mode isn’t just about changing background colors. It also involves working with the design team to update brand guidelines, ensuring logos and other branding elements are visible and aesthetically pleasing in both light and dark modes.
Our Recommendation:
Email marketers should use PNG or SVG images with transparent backgrounds for logos and icons. This allows the background color to show through and ensures that your branding elements look good in both modes, avoiding a box around the logo.
If part of the logo is black, black text or images will disappear in the dark mode background. To fix this, designers can explore alternative solutions, like incorporating a subtle glow or drop shadow.
Email designers and developers can also use media queries to ensure your subscribers get an email that is optimized for the mode they are using. You can code separate emails based on the subscriber's mode, enabling you to incorporate an optimized logo for dark mode in one email and your standard logo file in another. However, not all email clients support media queries, and this will not work in popular email clients such as Gmail.
It is wise to establish brand guidelines for dark mode, as well as create a library of components that work in dark mode. It may seem time-consuming at first, but it will save you tons of time in the long run and cut down drastically on production time for an email.
2. Coding for Dark Mode: Creating emails that look good in both light and dark modes requires an understanding of HTML and CSS. Email developers need to write and test code that can automatically adjust to the user’s preferred mode, which can be a complex and time-consuming process.
Our Recommendation:
You can use CSS media queries that target dark mode settings on various email clients. This allows you to specify different styles for light and dark modes. As mentioned above, this does not work in all email clients, so it shouldn’t be relied on as an overall solution.
3. Inconsistent rendering and support among different email clients: Dark mode is implemented differently across various email clients and devices. This can make it challenging to ensure your emails look good in all possible scenarios. It is crucial to understand how each client handles dark mode in order to code your emails accordingly.
Our Recommendation:
Test, test and test! Testing your emails in tools such as Litmus, Email on Acid, or Parcel.io will show how your email is rendering in dark and light modes and across many different email clients. This helps to identify and fix any issues before sending out your emails.
Below is an example of how the same email can be rendered differently across multiple email clients:
The Importance of Dark Mode
As dark mode becomes more popular, it’s becoming increasingly important for marketers to consider it in their email design and testing processes. Emails that are not optimized for dark mode can lead to poor user experience, which could impact engagement rates and overall campaign effectiveness. Therefore, despite the challenges, testing emails in dark mode is a good practice.
As an email designer and developer for 14 years, I can attest to the importance of testing and adapting emails to look good in dark mode. It is time-consuming, but it is essential to ensure your subscribers are always able to read your message.
Need extra help with dark mode?
If you are ready to embrace the dark side of email marketing but need assistance, schedule a free discovery call with The Email Co. We’ll help you navigate the complexities of dark mode and ensure no email gets lost in the darkness. Don’t let dark mode issues dim your email marketing efforts. Let us light the way!