What Are Email Platforms Doing to Make Emails More Accessible?

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Email, texting and social media have been a part of our toolkit for so long it’s hard to remember life without them. That can’t be said for all of us, though: a considerable part of the world’s population, the estimated 1.3 billion people who experience significant disability, still aren’t on equal terms with the majority when it comes to online accessibility – be it due to socioeconomic disparities or how apps, websites and emails are designed. According to the World Health Organization, this represents 16% of the world’s population, or one in six of us.

People with disabilities face challenges anywhere in the world in their everyday lives, and the internet is no exception. Making content accessible to all still isn’t the norm, and even the most basic of functions may be challenging.

The most common challenges for accessibility include images with no alt text or complex layouts that are difficult to navigate. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may have a hard time with audio and video content shared via email. Poor color contrast and font choices can make content difficult to read, especially for individuals with low vision or color blindness. The use of improper HTML tags can confuse screen readers and disrupt the logical flow of content. People with motor challenges require keyboard-friendly navigation options, and cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia and conditions like epilepsy require clear and intuitive content presentation.

Accessibility truly matters in people’s lives. Not only does email provide communication on a professional and social level, but it is also a sort of digital currency — a valid email address is a key that unlocks important online services, such as banking and shopping, and access to news or information delivered via daily newsletters. 

As we pointed out in the Inbox Collective guide for accessible emails, the need for accessibility accommodations is growing, driven by lifelong conditions and age-related challenges, such as declining vision and hearing in older adults. In other words, those who aren’t in the population with disabilities today may very well be in the near future.

But what are the email platforms themselves doing to make newsletters more accessible? And how are newsletter operators taking advantage of these features? Let’s take a closer look.

The tools to build better email practices

There are a number of accessibility tools and solutions that are essential resources for content creators and email marketers looking to ensure that their campaigns and newsletters reach the widest possible audience. By incorporating these tools into their workflow, they can create digital communications that are not only compliant with accessibility standards but also more inclusive and user-friendly for everyone. 

There’s a growing demand for accessibility — but one that’s not translating into actual accessible content in email. Litmus revealed in their Ultimate Guide to Email Accessibility that 77% of brands say accessibility is a priority, but only 8% rigidly follow accessibility best practices. “Whether it’s permanent blindness or a broken arm, we are all only temporarily able-bodied,” they wrote. “Different levels of access to technology and reliable data connections means not all email experiences are created equal.”

But accessibility should be a must for anyone trying to communicate or sell online, according to Rimantas Sipkus, a global consulting director at Actito, a platform for brands that want to improve customer engagement. “In an increasingly diverse and interconnected world, businesses must strive to reach a wider audience,” Sipkus pointed out in a recent article. “By prioritizing email accessibility, you ensure that your message is accessible to individuals with disabilities, temporary impairments, or different browsing environments. This commitment to inclusivity expands your reach, opens new markets, and fosters a positive brand image among diverse customer segments.”

To help content creators and marketers get there, several tools and solutions have emerged to streamline the process of making the online space inclusive. Popular screen reader software like JAWS, NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access), and VoiceOver (for Apple devices) are widely used. These tools convert text and images on the screen into speech, allowing users to access email content. Several testing tools are available to check the accessibility of emails and newsletters, such as Litmus and Email on Acid.

Numerous email marketing platforms and content management systems offer accessibility features, including automatic alt text for images, proper heading structure, and improved keyboard navigation. Additionally, ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) can enhance interactive email elements by making buttons, links, and form fields more user-friendly, benefiting visual and mobility-impaired users.

It may seem like a lot — but the truth is that most accessibility features are already easy to use, cost no money and take close to no time to set up. Raul Aguayo-Krauthausen, a German disability rights activist and the newsletter writer of Disability News Digest, knows that these little changes can make a big difference.

“When it comes to accessibility, I always try to use a good color contrast — if you can’t see properly, it might help to have a good contrast. But also I write alt text on my images and I try to use emojis that are self-explanatory when they get read out by the voice engine of a smartphone,” Aguayo-Krauthausen said. “I try to build the newsletter this way, so that if it was not accessible on Substack, it would be to most voice assistants, be it Google or Siri.”

Newsletter platforms are catching up

Substack and Mailchimp are among the most popular newsletter platforms for writers — disabled or not. Both companies have been slowly rolling out features that make it easier for anyone to add a descriptive text attribute to images or even record an audio version of their post.

Substack supports text-to-speech, currently available in English in its native app. In August 2023, the platform also introduced new audio transcription tools. With these speech-to-text tools, writers and podcasters can use a special AI tool to create a clean transcript of their podcast episode or narration without having to do anything more than click a button. “We’re regularly making improvements, and plan to add advanced features in the coming months that will make the Substack experience even better,” Substack told Inbox Collective in a statement.

Mailchimp also provides tools for making emails accessible and offers a guide so content creators can be educated on best practices. Many of Mailchimp’s customers are small business owners, so the company understands that if emails aren’t accessible to everyone, purchases and results go down. Among Mailchimp’s current features are plain-text emails for screen readers, keyboard navigation, alt text for images suggested via AI, and an AI assistant for creating concise content. Users can easily structure emails with semantic HTML and adjust font sizes.

“Good accessibility is really just good usability, and for most companies, having a website and regular communications — especially email — that meet accessibility standards is generally regarded as a must-have,” Intuit Mailchimp said in a statement to Inbox Collective, adding their standard is based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA. 

Despite newsletter services offering accessibility tools, they supplement the more advanced features already in place in most smartphones. Aguayo-Krauthausen reminds us that content is key — when writing and structure are fully accessible, any app or resource is also accessible. 

“It shouldn’t be a functionality of Substack to be accessible, it should be a functionality of the smartphone, to read it the way you want it to be read,” he said. “I don’t want to have the specific Substack voice, I want to get any text read out the way I need it. It doesn’t depend on the app, it depends on the content. Substack should be compatible with voice assistants of a smartphone and that’s it.”

Aguayo-Krauthausen — whose newsletter launched earlier in 2023 and has around 600 subscribers — mentioned one additional benefit to newsletters that publish both an email and web version: you can always click through to read the newsletter in your browser, so if the email app doesn’t show you the content correctly because it’s too long or contains errors in the inbox, you should always have the possibility of reading it in your web browser, where things may render correctly.

Aguayo-Krauthausen is one of many writers with a disability who use newsletters to build a community while educating the non-disabled about the importance of innovation and accessibility. Although he has many readers who are also living with disabilities, his target audience is those who are looking to better understand the challenges faced by people with disabilities. 

The new audio transcription tool that Substack recently made available can benefit users like Mila D’Oliveira. At four years old, D’Oliveira developed type 3 spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease that causes muscle weakness in her upper limbs, neck, and respiratory muscles. The Brazilian newsletter author used to resort to Google Docs for voice typing and then would transfer the finished text to Substack. D’Oliveira is also a lawyer and launched her newsletter in 2022 as a means of expression heavily informed by her experience as a woman in a wheelchair.

She said she’d like to see more tech companies hiring people with disabilities to make sure their voices and needs are heard and reflected in the tools these companies build.

“Accessibility should encompass a Universal Design approach,” she said. “To ensure these tools cater to the widest audience, it’s crucial to have people with disabilities involved in technology companies, shaping the needs of individuals as a whole, which would also benefit the general population.”

One other suggestion from D’Oliveira: She believes more tech platforms should nudge readers towards using the accessibility tools. “I would appreciate platforms reminding users to make their content accessible whenever they publish and offering tutorials on accessibility,” she said.

Upcoming trends and innovations

The field of email and newsletter accessibility is continually evolving, driven by technology and a growing awareness of digital inclusivity. AI-powered solutions are an exciting trend in this topic because these tools are now available to a record number of users. Artificial intelligence is being used to automate the accessibility audit process. AI tools can scan emails and newsletters, identify accessibility issues, and suggest improvements, making it more efficient for content creators to ensure accessibility.

With the increasing prevalence of voice-activated devices and assistants, optimizing emails and newsletters for voice search and interaction is important. Voice-friendly content and structure are key trends. As mobile devices continue to dominate email consumption, ensuring that emails and newsletters are mobile-responsive and accessible on a variety of screen sizes is crucial. That is why inclusive design principles, such as designing for all users from the outset, are gaining traction. This approach ensures accessibility is integrated into the creative process rather than being an afterthought.

Making interactive elements, like forms and buttons, accessible is also a growing focus. Bringing users with disabilities into the testing and feedback process is helping to ensure real-world usability. 

Several countries and regions have implemented or are considering stronger legal measures to enforce digital accessibility, from the Americans with Disabilities Act in the U.S. to the EU’s European Accessibility Act. More recently, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) became an important landmark in online inclusivity. These guidelines were first published in 2008 and expanded in 2018 to incorporate new guidelines and criteria to assist disabled users. As a result, more governments and organizations are adopting WCAG as a preferred standard for web accessibility.

Implementing these standards can be a challenge on its own — one that shouldn’t require legal consequences to become a reality. “By building accessibility into our emails, we open our campaigns up to a large population of subscribers who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access them,” Litmus states in its accessibility guide. “Beyond being a good, ethical thing to do, building accessible emails can help drive business success.”

It is clear so many advancements have been made. How, then, do we keep moving forward?

Email best practices for accessibility

Accessibility can be overwhelming to broach for those who are just now starting to realize its importance. But it can mean a lot to an increasing number of readers. By following a few simple guidelines, content writers can make sure their writing finds all of its audience.

• Keep it short — Not only is it a way to keep everyone engaged, but it also makes it easier for people who suffer from cognitive disabilities (such as dyslexia and dementia) to connect to the writing. Keep your content clear and concise, avoiding jargon or complex language that might confuse readers.
• Be mindful of your images — Make sure they contain descriptive attributes and reflect your readers’ diversity when possible. 
• Use real text — Email is a text-driven beast. Don’t design the whole thing in Photoshop. It might get blocked by some email providers for security reasons, and it won’t be readable by most text-to-speech tools. 
• Use Semantic HTML — Structure your email using semantic HTML elements like headings, lists, and links for clarity and proper screen reader interpretation.
• Keep your links accessible — Ensure links have meaningful text (not “click here”) and are visually distinguishable. Use underlines or color changes for link text.
• Think about how readers will navigate your emails — Make sure your email can be navigated using a keyboard alone, without relying on a mouse or other pointing devices.
• Offer text-only versions of your newsletter — Provide a text-only version for readers who may not load images or have limited bandwidth.
• Use a template that adapts automatically to the screen — Create emails with responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and devices, including mobile phones.
• Consider color contrast — Maintain sufficient color contrast between text and background to aid readability.

In the end, accessibility best practices are email best practices, period. Accessibility isn’t about one out of six people. It concerns all of us.

Thanks to our sponsor

The stories you’re reading on inboxcollective.com are made possible thanks to the generous support of our fall sponsor, Who Sponsors Stuff, which gives you and your team the tools to quickly find and reach out to relevant sponsors for your newsletter. They track 350+ newsletters, have direct contact information for 6,000+ sponsors, and keep you on the cutting edge of who’s spending money in the email advertising space. Find out how their Sales Pro product can supercharge your ad sales operation today.