4 Fallbacks For Interactive Emails So User Experience Never Suffers

While our lizard brains chase after the newest shiny marketing tactics, it's easy to see why we're all captivated by email interactivity. 

And deservedly so. 

Interactive email templates help create designs that make users want to spend more time with the email. Countdown timers, live polls, hover effects, carousels, and many more interactive elements are exciting ways to stand out amidst the inbox monotony. 

They're bold. They're exciting. They're the email design trend that all the cool email marketers are talking about in 2025. Plus, 45% marketers saw significant improvements in performance thanks to interactive emails. 

But when we focus on trends that appear attractive at the moment, we often do that at the expense of more important or long-term goals. 

That is to say, that support for interactive elements varies across email clients. So, using interactive email elements requires you to implement appropriate fallback strategies. 

In this post, we're diving into four practical fallback strategies that ensure your emails deliver value to every subscriber—regardless of their email client's interactive capabilities. 

4 Fallback Techniques For Interactive Emails To Handle Non-supportive Email Clients 

Interactive email templates work great until…they stop working for certain email clients. If a reliable, customizable interactive email template service is not by your side, this feels like a personal failure. 

Interactive features embedded in emails, especially the advanced ones, may not function properly or at all in some clients. Varying levels of support for HTML, CSS, and AMP across different email platforms are to blame here. 

But the end result is not flattering. Subscribers using non-supportive email clients have less-than-ideal email experience for them. Outlook is infamous for being nasty with interactive email templates. It strips out some cool interactivity from your emails. Even Gmail, though more supportive, has its own limitations for complex interactivity. 

Here’s a comprehensive view of which email clients support and which don’t support interactivity. 

Enough cribbing about problems. What is the solution? Interactivity email fallbacks. 

Fallback strategies for interactive email templates are a plan B when a feature does not render as intended. Fallback ensures that even if an interactive feature falls, it falls gracefully. So, if an interactive feature does not function in subscribers' inboxes, it still works, perhaps through a static image instead of that fancy carousel.

If you do not plan fallbacks, you do not account for cases where interactivity is not supported. You leave out many subscribers with broken emails, who may then unsubscribe from your emails. 

That’s why, if you want (trust me, you do!) to have a user experience that remains pleasant even when interactivity is not supported, you must have fallbacks in place. 

Create Two Versions of Email Content

You need an interactive version and a fallback version of the same email. 

In general, you will have the intended interactive element in the interactive version of the email template. It is supported by modern email clients such as Apple Mail or Gmail. In contrast, the fallback version presents a simpler, static layout for email clients like Outlook, which does not support these interactive elements.

This fallback technique works by default, displaying the fallback content. Meaning users accessing the email through less compatible clients will see the static version right away. 

For users with compatible email clients to access the interactive features, developers use CSS selectors and media queries in the style block of the email code. This hides the fallback content and reveals the interactive one only in those clients that support them.

The only minus point here is the potential duplication of content. Links, images, and text may need to be repeated in both email versions. And the codebase tends to be longer and more complex. 

Change The Layout 

Unlike the previous fallback technique, this method changes the layout of the same content instead of creating two versions. Based on whether the email client supports interactivity, the email layout changes. But the core message remains the same. 

The clients that support interactivity, display the content in their fully-interactive format. Think, accordion or carousel. The same content appears in a simpler, static layout in those that don't support interactivity.

While a little complicated, the good part about such fallbacks is that you minimize redundancy by avoiding duplicate content blocks. It is an advantage for content-heavy emails, reducing the email size and loading times. 

Hide The Interactive Element Entirely

The hide-and-show framework is straightforward. 

In this fallback approach, you set up two sections in the email's HTML code.  One for interactive content and another for a static fallback. 

Conditional coding and CSS controls which version shows up based on the email client’s interactive capabilities. 

Small But Mighty Fallbacks 

Aside from the major layout and design adjustments, you also have a few small but important fallback strategies. Use them sparingly to make sure your interactive email template still works well when certain features aren’t supported:

• Replace unsupported forms with buttons or links. Email clients like Outlook don't support embedded forms. Replace them with buttons or links. This will redirect users to a landing page where they can complete the action. For example, Instead of embedding a survey form, use a “Take the Survey” button that links to an external webpage. 
• Use fallback fonts. Email clients may not support your preferred fonts. Specify alternative fonts in your CSS that the email will default to.
• Design animations with static first frames. For animations such as GIFs, keep the first frame as a standalone static image. If your GIF doesn't animate, at least the first frame will communicate your message.
• Use descriptive alt text and HTML text to convey your message in case the email client blocks images. 
• Knowing some subscribers won't see the hover state, place the most relevant image first. 

Wrapping Up 

Interactive email templates open the door to a more engaging and immersive email experience for recipients. Do it well, and you can captivate your audience and maximize conversions. 

But as frustrating as it can be, email clients have limited support for advanced interactive features. This makes it essential to set up fallbacks. Not having them in place could cost you conversions and sales. Therefore, the smart email marketer plans for both scenarios: the ideal interactive experience and the graceful fallback.