Email accessibility is the practice of designing and building emails that can be read and used by people with a range of abilities, devices, and client settings. It includes readability, screen reader support, meaningful links, and interaction patterns that work on touch and keyboard. Accessibility is especially important in email because rendering and UI can change dramatically across clients.
Accessible Email as a System, Not a One-Off Fix
Accessibility becomes manageable when you treat it as a system. If your templates are built from reusable blocks, you can encode accessibility into those blocks and apply it everywhere. This is why accessible email and readable typography are closely related: a “good” template depends on consistent component behavior and typography rules, not one-time audits.
Practical Accessibility Requirements
A few requirements cover most issues. Ensure links have descriptive text, avoid vague “click here,” and keep CTAs clear. Include a visible unsubscribe link and ensure it is usable without images. Use adequate spacing and font sizing, and avoid relying on color alone to convey meaning. Remember that different email client handle focus styles, link underlines, and dark mode differently, so test across a small set of representative clients.
How to Keep Accessibility From Regressing
Include accessibility checks in the same workflow as rendering checks. If you already test Outlook or Gmail differences, add a quick pass for link clarity, alt text presence, and CTA tap targets. Bundling these checks keeps accessibility from becoming a separate task that gets skipped.
Accessibility regressions happen when teams add new blocks quickly and skip checks. Prevent this by standardizing components, documenting rules, and using checklists at publish time. If you can, add automated linting or validation steps for obvious issues like missing alt text or poor link labeling. Over time, systematic accessibility improves engagement and reduces support requests.
Email Accessibility and Topol
Topol supports accessibility-friendly email workflows through structured blocks and predictable output, making it easier for teams to build accessible templates at scale. Learn more at Topol or sign up at Topol signup.