Alt-Text Best Practices for Accessibility

Email accessibility standards ensure that everyone can receive and understand emails, regardless of any disabilities or assistive devices they may use. One key component is the use of alt text (short for alternative text), which provides a description of any images included in your content.

Much of what we cover in this blog revolves around how you can gain access to a larger subscriber audience, but it's equally (if not more) important to ensure that your content is accessible to everyone who wants to engage with it.

So let's cover all your frequently asked questions about alt text and email accessibility — what it is, why it matters, and how to do it well.

What Is the Alt Text for Images in Email?

Alt text for images in email is a short description that is displayed when subscribers are unable to access the image. It is also known as alternative text or alt tags.

What Is the Purpose of Alt Text in Emails?

Alt text provides a text-based description of the images in your emails. Descriptive alt text helps screen readers and other assistive technologies "read" your picture, ensuring that visually impaired readers can understand your message. It also comes to the rescue when pictures are unable to load for some reason.

Should You Use Alt Text for Images?

Yes, you should use alt text for images in emails just as you use them for website content. In addition to finding the right picture and editing it to the ideal image size for email, you need to provide the perfect alt text.

What Are Alt Text Accessibility Standards?

Alt-text accessibility standards refer to the guidelines and best practices for writing alternative text for images, buttons, and other non-text elements. They cover the use and best practices for alt text. For example, if a picture is purely decorative, no alt text should be used.

How Do You Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions?

beehiiv provides easy-to-use tools that allow you to add information to an image. Just click on the picture and then select the pencil icon from the menu that appears. A field will appear where you can enter the alt text.

If you need to include alt text using mainstream email services such as Gmail, you can usually find the field you need by right-clicking on the image.

How Do I Make an Accessible Alt Text for an Image?

So how do you write good alt text? Keep these alt-text best practices in mind:

• Add alt text to all non-decorative images, but leave alt tags empty if the image doesn't convey any information or meaning.

• Don’t include phrases such as “image of” or “photo of."

• Don't use phrases such as “click here” that assume readers can see a precise detail.

• Describe the image in context based on what details the image adds to the text.

• Keep descriptions concise.

• Use natural, easy-to-understand language.

You can even test out your emails using freely available screen readers. Is it still easy to understand? If not, you may need to rethink how you're using images and alt text.

Learn More About Email Accessibility Guidelines

Alt text is important but not particularly complicated. Just add a few descriptive words to your images, and you'll be fine.

However, don't let your mission for ultimate accessibility end there. Inform yourself about other essential design elements such as a high contrast between text and background and accessible web-safe fonts. Even general best practices such as descriptive subject lines and headers gain added importance when speaking to some segments of the population.

After all, one of the beautiful things about email accessibility is the intersection of values of ambition. Inclusive content is both the right and the practical objective, allowing you to continue to grow your audience.

Why Trust Us?

beehiiv is the newsletter platform developed by the creators of The Morning Brew. The platform now houses many leading newsletters.

As for me, after leaving academia, I turned my attention to digital marketing with a specialty in content creation. I’ve spent the last four years researching and writing articles on relevant topics in the field.