Email Marketing Accessibility

Buncombe County has been pushing the envelope on email marketing and in doing a little research on accessibility here are a few things I learned along the way.

This is a great website for learning about the history of Email Marketing.

The history of email marketing (infographic)

 

History

  • Email has not only changed the way we communicate, but as marketers it is key to reaching customers, generating loyalty, and furthering the company brand and message.
  • A recent report states that email generates $42 for every $1 spent, which is an incredible 4,200% ROI.
  • The global e-mail marketing market was valued at $7.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to increase to $17.9 billion by 2027. (Statista, 2021).
  • 77% of marketers say email accessibility is a priority for their brand—but only 8% rigidly follow accessibility best practices.
  • The numbers show that when it comes to email accessibility, there’s a disconnect between intention and action.

Email Copy for Accessibility

  • Keep it at 7th grade reading level
  • use headers
  • min font of 14px
  • no special characters in subject as it might report spam
  • use a san-serif font.
  • keep it clean. Average email scan time is less that 20 seconds.

Email Design for Accessibility

  • #1 problem = image only
  • Some email clients disable images for security reasons.
  • Be sure to use alt=
  • images with text cannot be translated
  • load time issues
  • no searchability
  • HTML emails need to be optimized
  • HTML tables work best for structure
  • add role=presentation to any tapes so screen readers can content instead of row and column headers
  • ARIA is future
  • Specify language code in HTML
  • Use relative font sizes to avoid conflicts with Dynamic Type settings on cell phones
  • Test in several email clients
  • Also offer plain text email with html email
  • Use effective color choices with good contrast ratios 4.7
  • Images should be compressed with descriptive alt text added.
  • Videos are acceptable but also provide links to video
  • Don’t forget about negative space AKA Whitespace
  • Double check your call to actions. Make sure they are easy to click
  • Dark Mode-lower vision users perform better
  • For dark mode practices, use transparent images.
  • Avoid high contracts
 

Testing and Sending Accessible Emails

  • Add alt text
  • Customize Plain Text; Sync from HTML
  • Conduct testing
  • Don’t forget the CAN-SPAM Act

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