Why Accessibility Matters

Email marketing is about communicating your message to everyone—and that means including people with disabilities.

In 2025, creating accessible email templates is no longer optional. It’s a critical responsibility to ensure people who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, or assistive technologies can fully experience your emails.

Accessible emails improve brand perception, expand reach, and comply with regulations like the ADA and GDPR.

Key Accessibility Principles for Email Coding

Use Semantic HTML

• Use structural elements like <header>, <nav>, <main>, <footer>, and <section> to logically organize your content.
• Proper heading hierarchy h1 to h6 helps screen readers understand the flow.
• Creative Inspiration: AI provides fresh ideas and phrasing that marketers might not have considered.

ARIA Roles & Labels

• Add ARIA roles to clarify content purpose (e.g., role="button" on clickable elements).
• Provide aria-labels for icons or elements with no visible text for screen reader users.

AKeyboard Navigation

• Ensure all interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields) are reachable and operable via keyboard tabbing.
• Avoid keyboard traps where users can’t escape a focus area.

Color Contrast

• Maintain compliant contrast ratios (minimum 4.5:1 for normal text) to ensure readability for visually impaired users.

Alt Text for Images

• Provide meaningful alternative text for images so screen readers can describe visuals.

Avoid Using Tables for Layouts

• Tables should only be used for tabular data.
• For layout, use semantic, flexible HTML and inline styles.

Testing and Validation Tools

• Use accessibility checkers like Axe, Lighthouse, or WAVE on your email HTML.
• Test with screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver to experience user navigation.
• Keyboard test to confirm logical tabbing order and focus visibility.

Why Templyft Excels at Accessible Email Coding

Templyft crafts fully accessible email templates that blend beautiful design with compliant coding, opening your brand to all customers:

• We follow the latest WCAG standards.
• Templates have been tested with screen readers and keyboard.
• Confidentiality and compliance assured.