How Flourish are making email more accessible
We have been named as an official partner of the Email Markup Consortium (EMC), a global community group working to improve the user experience and accessibility in email.
Every year, we send over 1 billion emails on behalf of our clients. So we know a thing or two about what’s possible when it comes to email design and build. And whilst enhancing email accessibility may not be easy, it’s an often-overlooked area of marketing that we’re determined to bring to the foreground.
With 23% of working-age adults living with a disability, it goes without saying that email accessibility should be more of a priority for brands. That, or risk missing out on £274 billion of spending power a year. Many clients come to us with outdated email builds that were outlawed on websites long ago. One example is businesses who prioritise image-based email sends to adhere to brand guidelines. In this case, a small win for brand comes at an enormous expense to accessibility – because image-based emails are not compatible with screen readers, meaning anyone suffering from visual impairment will miss out on this content.
We must remember it’s a privilege to be invited into someone’s inbox. At Flourish, we’re proud to champion the ‘right person, right message, right time’ approach to CRM. When coupled with a best practice approach to design and technical campaign delivery this can make all the difference to how your message lands. At the same time, we’re elevating standards for email comms that help consumers navigate an ever-changing and growing digital landscape.
Accessibility in email doesn’t mean using oversized typefaces. Our designers and developers take with care and attention to ensure every element of every email we send can be accessed by anyone. We only use images that are suitable for retina devices, and make sure as much text as possible can be read by screen readers. By testing our emails and sharing the results with a wider community, we aim to improve accessibility across the board. For more on this from our team, download our free email best practice guide.
Like us, EMC are on a mission to make sure every recipient can easily access any email that lands in their inbox. Collaborating with developers, email clients, and now Flourish, they are driving their vision forward at every part of the email journey.
Flourish MD, Ian Reeves said: “We’re looking forward to working together more to narrow the accessibility gap in email. Because whilst Flourish and the EMC have been talking about issues like accessibility and deliverability for years, these are becoming deeper conversations in the email marketing world as we begin 2024.”
Need some help optimising your CRM strategy and email development in 2024? The Flourish team can help you get it right. Contact us for a chat about achieving your marketing goals and building deeper relationships with your customers.
