Does the multi-part message make us complacent when it comes to email marketing and accessibility?
A recent Webaim review confirmed my suspicion, Google Wave is presently 'totally inaccessible'. I have come forgive Google however as this clearly is an early preview release. Plus I did nearly fall off my chair laughing when using the tool as constant innuendo's were overtyped and ‘cunningly inserted’ into my wave posts.
It got me thinking however, how much do we rely on the multi-part format for creating an accessible version of our marketing message and how well do email clients actually support HTML email?
The first thing that initially struck me when researching this topic is the lack of quality posts on the web, I barely could find any mention of "Email+Marketing+Accessibility", had Google taken offence to Webaim's review?
Dave Chaffey's post Email Accessibility Guidelines sets out the rationale why designing for email accessibility is not just important for disabled users but also the increasing number of ways we now access and sort email via mobile devices. Importantly, Dave writes, the wording of the guidelines on UK disability and discrimination law, doesn’t refer directly to email, but refers to making "E-commerce services" accessible which under a broad interpretation should be taken to include email marketing.
Best practice email design needs to consider;
- Text-only version emails to be available (through multi-part email format or selection of text-only version).
- Text-only versions to be repurposed to contain less content, e.g. main offers only.
- Mixed design style for HTML emails combining images and text.
- Images to include alternative text describing image and offer contained in image.
- Use of default font-sizes which can be read by those with moderate visual impairment.
- Capability to manually resize text (using View, Text Size option in Outlook or View, Text size options in browser for web mail readers) in email designs without the design failing.
- Use of high contrast between text and background colours.
Don’t be fooled however that all visually impaired users are happy to receive a text based message they’re not. Firstly a text-only message has no natural means for a screen reader to scan though the copy. There are no H1 tags or link lists plus all hyperlinks are usually automated nonsense with no descriptive text. It also gets confusing when publishers include different symbols to represent headings or the beginning of paragraphs within the email.
Consider the joy of having this hyperlink read aloud to you.
http://skymail.sky.com/a/tBK-Ev6B7gO5dB73fMgDQsH3WIZ/hosted?t=BK-Ev6B7gO
5dB73fMgDQsH3WIZ&t_params=I_BACKGROUND%3D1%26I_BACKGROUND2%3D1%26I_BACKG
ROUND3%3D1%26I_FONTCFOOT%3D1%26I_FONTCHEAD%3D1%26I_POD_B1%3D1%26I_POD_
B2%3D4%26I_POD_C1%3D1%26I_POD_C2%3D1%26I_POD_C3%3D1%26I_POD_C4%3D1%26
I_POD_I2%3D1%26I_POD_M1%3D3%26I_POD_M2%3D2%26I_POD_M3%3D2%26I_POD_M4%
3D0%26EMAIL%3Dmatt.clarke%26FORENAME%3DMatthew
HTML or multi-part?
In Webaim’s article Email Access: From the Perspective of an Individual with Visual Impairment you may be surprised to read a blind user using the JAWS software would prefer a HTML message so to take advantage of the features of the Screen reader software and be able to quickly scan through the message content.
This email from Sky received recently is a typical multi-part email which on the face of it ticks all of the best practice above.
Looking a little deeper however and testing for accessibility you soon see problems. This is in contrast with Sky’s UK website which renders well for accessibility. Why the complacence?
Simple improvements would be to consider the reading-order of the page and to design accordingly. Nested tables and a complex layout causes screen readers difficulty.
Also adding HTML lists for menu items will make subtle improvements as will ensuring meaningful Alt Tag’s are in place.
Web Standards and Email
But what of the email clients themselves are they supporting Web Standards and in-turn Accessibility? Well thanks to the Fix Outlook Campaign we may be in for a change. Since 2007 the Email Standards Project has been striving for web standards to be supported by email clients, regularly testing popular platforms for basic conformance.
The result this summer has seen one of the most notorious offenders, Microsoft, announce that they are to support web standards for Microsoft Outlook 2010, which is a U-turn on previous communications. Not just a boost for web standards but also for email accessibility.
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