Dark mode is an increasingly popular option for consumers looking to customize their content consumption experience. People believe it improves legibility, reduces eye strain, lessens eye fatigue and mitigates exposure to melatonin-suppressing blue light. So, from a customer experience (CX)—yes!
That means marketers need to make a strategy adjustment since dark mode is an accessibility feature that is becoming increasingly popular. Accessibility—also referred to as inclusivity—is all about making the device work for as wide a range of people as possible.
Right now, email providers handle dark mode in one of three ways:
- User interface color change—the email service provider (ESP) will only provide dark mode for their owned interface. As demonstrated below, your brand’s HTML email will look the same whether or not the recipient has dark mode enabled on their device.
- Partial color change—the ESP will partially invert the colors of your email to suit the recipient’s device. In most instances, the email provider will automatically detect the areas of your email with a light background and flip them to a dark background, adjusting the text from dark to light along the way. This can obviously lead to a number of design flaws such as photos, logos, stock images, and other key visuals within your message that won’t match the rest of the aesthetic.
- Full color change—This method is by far the most disruptive to your brand because it, in effect, completely reverses the original design of your email. If your brand sends a dark-themed email to accommodate dark mode and the ESP uses a full color change protocol, it will automatically flip the color scheme to light. Similarly, if your brand sends a light-themed email not built to accommodate dark mode, the ESP will flip the color scheme to dark.
As you can see, all three protocals have a significant issues, ranging from a poor CX to a negative impact on your brand or both. The best way for marketers to deal with dark mode is through better email design and development. Adjusting for it through design will be easier, less time consuming and more predictable than any other strategy. In addition, by making a dark mode-friendly design, it’s less reliant on platform changes/updates.
Let Convergence Group enhance your email marketing. Our experts can audit your email templates and recommend strategic improvements to benefit your brand. We can also fix or design new dark mode-safe templates that you can effortlessly implement at the drop of a hat..
Call 302.234.4901 or email us today to explore how we can help you.
Source: Zeta Global