Emails for everyone: tips and tricks for accessible email marketing

June, 10th 2024

Accessibility has long been an important issue in the design of websites and apps to ensure that content is also accessible to people with disabilities. According to the European Accessibility Act, companies must ensure digital accessibility by 2025. Many advertising companies are currently checking whether their other digital channels are also well positioned in terms of accessibility in addition to their website and apps.

What does accessibility mean in email marketing? Information in emails should be accessible to all readers – regardless of physical or technical limitations. This means that emails should be prepared in such a way that they can be easily read and displayed by screen readers used by visually impaired people. In addition, technical accessibility must be taken into account, i.e. it must be ensured that mailings can be read regardless of the system and are displayed correctly on all common end devices. In terms of content accessibility, it must be checked whether the content is understandable for the respective target group and, for example, accessible regardless of educational background.

What can you do to make your email marketing accessible?

Programming accessible email templates

Responsive email templates that have been created in accordance with the current HTML/CSS web standards are generally low-barrier. However, they can also be optimized for screen readers. Start by specifying the language in the template code. This helps screen readers to use the correct language mode: <html lang=”de”>.
Make sure that tables are correctly labelled to make their structure understandable: <table role=”presentation”>…</table>. Tables that are used for the design should be labelled in the code so that screen reader users are read the content in the correct order. This is because a table is not read out as it appears on the screen, but line by line. However, it is possible to assign a role to a table in the code so that the screen reader knows that it is only a formatting table.
Use the UTF-8 character set to ensure that all characters are displayed correctly: <meta charset=”UTF-8″>.
To structure the content, headings should be declared as HTML elements (e.g. <h1>, <h2>) so that recipients can jump from title to title with the screen reader using a button. Please note that elements are not recognized by screen readers.

Visual design of accessible emails

In addition to optimising the code, the content of each individual email should also be clearly structured so that the content of the newsletter can be easily understood.
Use high colour contrasts and a legible font without embellishments to improve readability.
When selecting font and background colours, however, you should make sure that not only accessibility is taken into account, but also the inverted display of colours in dark mode.
With multi-column elements, pay attention to the length of the text – the shorter and more precise it is, the easier it is to read.
Long texts should not be centred, as this can impair readability and accessibility.
White areas are important so that the text does not appear too dense.
Use responsive design so that your emails are easy to read on all devices and screen sizes.
Offer a text-only version of your email for readers whose email app cannot display HTML emails.

How to create newsletters with accessible content

Linked words in continuous text disrupt the reading flow of screen readers and should be avoided.
Place activating and meaningful call-to-action texts at the end of text sections.
Use meaningful link texts and alt texts for images and buttons: With all images in your mailings, you should bear in mind that images are not displayed by default in some email programmes or cannot be properly recognized by people with visual impairments. Texts should therefore never be integrated exclusively on images, but also as legible text.
It also makes sense to add an alternative text to images: If the recipient has the mailing read to them, the text defined here will be displayed. Describe what can be seen or where the link leads to – avoid unnecessary duplication and generic placeholder texts in the alt texts (“Click here”, “Link icon”, “Company ABC”).
Use direct and clear language and avoid long and complicated sentences.
Reduce the use of emojis in the body text, otherwise they will be read. Otherwise “Vouchers 🎁 Rewards 🎉 Discounts” will become: “[…] Vouchers Gift Rewards Confetti Cannon Discounts”.
Avoid purely visual references or add text to icons to make them easier to understand.

Conclusion: With manageable effort, you can ensure that your email campaigns are accessible and understandable for all recipients and that you fulfil the legal requirements by 2025. We will be happy to support you in optimizing your email templates and advise you on structuring and optimizing your mailings.