Creating accessible emails

Create campaigns that are accessible for your recipients with visual impairment or who use assistive technology or screen readers

Creating emails that can be read by those with visual impairments is an important part of ensuring everyone can understand the content within your emails. Not only does this promote inclusivity, but it also helps boost engagement! Emails created with our email editor allow screen readers—devices that assist people who are blind or visually impaired with reading text on a computer screen—to recognize and understand its blocks of text. In addition, you can improve your email's visual accessibility by incorporating the following best practices: 

• Nested headers - Contacts who use screen readers rely on page elements like headers to determine the structure of your email. Organize the content in your email by using larger headers, such as the HTML heading attributes <h1> or <h2>, for each section. Within each section, use smaller headers, such as <h3>, to break out content further, if necessary.
• Alt-text - An image description, also known as "alt text," is a message that displays to viewers who cannot see the images in your email. For each image in your email, add descriptive alt text to help contacts using screen readers.
• Use image captions - In addition to alt-text, image captions are useful for pointing out who's in a photo or elaborating on what's happening in the image to assist contacts who may be using a screen reader to view your email.
• Use of color - Use of color contrast in your emails is important for people with color blindness and other visual impairments. It's recommended to choose a single color for your text and a contrasting background color. 
• Don't use color as the only way to convey information - If you use color as the only way to convey something in your email, contacts with visual impairments or who are colorblind might miss out on the meaning of it. 
• Pay attention to font size - For people who have dyslexia or have low vision, format text to make reading easier. For example, use familiar sans serif fonts and avoid using all capital letters and excessive italics or underlines. Additionally, include space between sentences and paragraphs.
• Make sure your email is mobile-friendly - Using a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet, is an increasingly popular way to view emails. There are several text, image, and design tips that will make your emails easier to read for all users when viewed on a mobile device.

By taking these small steps when creating your campaigns, you can greatly improve the accessibility and engagement of your emails!

Questions?