To give every guest a great experience, your event emails need to be inclusive and accessible. Guests with visual impairments may use a screen reader or a magnification tool to read your message, and guests with color vision deficiency, dyslexia or other reading differences, as well as anyone reading on a small screen, all benefit from clear, well-structured emails.
With that in mind, here are 11 tips to improve the accessibility of your event emails and RSVP forms.
1. Write a Relevant Subject Line
A relevant subject line helps grab every guest's attention, but it is especially important for guests using a screen reader, as it is the first thing they hear. Make sure the subject line reflects the content of the email so guests know it is worth opening, and avoid emojis and abbreviations, which screen readers may read aloud in unexpected ways.
Pro tip: Use dynamic tags in your subject line to personalize your event message and give your guests a more tailored experience.
2. Use Accessible Fonts
Fonts are an essential part of your email's design: the easier they are to read, the more accessible your guest communications will be.
Choose sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Tahoma. They are generally easier to read for people with visual impairments than serif fonts such as Georgia or Times New Roman.
zkipster's text composer offers a variety of sans-serif fonts you can choose from:
3. Format Your Text in an Accessible Way
Besides choosing an accessible font, the way you format your text also affects accessibility:
Use a body text size of at least 12pt (16px).
Avoid long passages in italics, and use bold sparingly so it keeps its emphasis.
Keep paragraphs short and left-aligned, and use headings to break up longer content so guests can scan it easily.
Only underline text that is a hyperlink, so guests with color vision deficiency (color blindness) can tell links apart from regular text.
Use descriptive link text, such as “View the event agenda”, instead of “click here”. Screen reader users often jump from link to link, so each link should make sense on its own.
4. Add Alt Text to Your Images
In your Image section, use the Alternative Text box to add a short written description of the image. Screen readers read this description aloud, making your visual content accessible to guests who can't see it. Alt text is also shown when an email client blocks images.
A few tips for writing good alt text:
Describe the information or purpose of the image, for example “Venue map showing the main entrance on Park Street”.
Keep it to a sentence or two, and don't start with “Image of”; screen readers already announce that it is an image.
If an image is purely decorative, it doesn't need a detailed description.
5. Avoid Writing in All Capital Letters
Text in all caps may seem to stand out more, but capital letters have more similar shapes, which makes words harder to recognize, especially for guests with visual impairments or dyslexia. Some screen readers may also spell out all-caps words letter by letter. Use capitals sparingly, for example for a short label, and rely on headings or font size for emphasis instead.
6. Use Contrasting Colors for Background and Text
Make sure your text color has enough contrast against the background color of your email to keep it readable. Avoid light or bright font colors on white backgrounds.
As a guideline, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) recommend a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for large text. Free online contrast checkers can tell you whether your color combination passes.
7. Improve the Accessibility of Your RSVP Form's Response Fields
By default, the background of zkipster's response form is white, so choosing dark font colors and bold styling increases the contrast between text and background.
You can apply this to the labels and description text of your form's response fields as well. Click into the 'Response Fields' section of your form composer and open the 'Design' tab to customize the fonts of the field labels and description text:
8. Don't Rely on Color Alone to Convey Meaning
It is common to use color to highlight text that needs the reader's attention, such as red for a warning or blue for a hyperlink. However, guests with color vision deficiency may not perceive the difference, and screen readers don't announce text color at all.
Always pair color with another cue, such as a heading, a larger font size, bold text, or a label like “Important:”.
9. Don't Rely on Images to Share Information
If an image contains key details, such as the date, time, venue or dress code, guests who can't view it (for example, screen reader users or guests whose email client blocks images by default) may miss that information entirely.
Always include important information as text in the email body, and avoid sending an invitation that consists of a single image.
10. Avoid Abbreviations and Acronyms
Screen readers may read an abbreviation or acronym as a single word or letter by letter. For example, “EOD” (end of day) might be read as “eod”, and your message may not make sense to your guest.
If you need to use an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time it appears, for example: “Please reply by end of day (EOD) on Friday.”
11. Include a Plain Text Version of Your Email
Some guests configure their email settings to receive plain text emails when available, as these are easier for some assistive technologies to read.
Once you have created your event email, you can enable a Plain Text version in the Composer tab. Click the 'Plain Text' section of your email composer and turn the toggle ON:
Write your plain text email in the text box. To save time, click 'Sync from HTML' to copy all the text from your HTML email into the text box, then review it.
Please note: Plain text emails don't support hyperlinks, images or buttons, and zkipster dynamic tags are not available. After syncing, check that your plain text version includes all key event details and clear instructions on how guests can RSVP.