A campaign can look lovely at your desk and still be difficult to read with enlarged text, images switched off or a screen reader. An email accessibility checklist helps you catch those problems before the send, while there is still time to repair the template. Start with the essentials: the reader should understand the offer without loading images, hear the content in a sensible order and reach the main action without guessing what a link does. Then check the delivered email across the clients your audience uses. Visual previews and hands-on accessibility checks answer different parts of that review. ## Run these checks before approving the campaign - **Main message.** Turn images off and read the text. Fix the message if the offer, date or instructions disappear with a banner. - **Reading order.** Listen with a screen reader from the beginning. Fix the message if columns are read in an order that changes the meaning. - **Links.** Navigate between links without surrounding prose. Fix the message if several different actions are all called "Click here". - **Contrast.** Check text against its actual background. Fix the message if small grey text becomes hard to distinguish, especially in dark mode. - **Enlarged text.** Increase the device's text size. Fix the message if words are clipped, overlap or push a button off-screen. - **Touch targets.** Open the email on a phone and use the links. Fix the message if neighboring actions are so close that the wrong one is easy to tap. - **Footer.** Reach preferences and unsubscribe using keyboard or assistive navigation. Fix the message if the link exists visually but is hard to locate or operate. Use this as an approval check for a specific message, not a score to average. An unreadable primary button still needs fixing even when the other checks pass. ## Keep important information as real text A sale headline inside a picture disappears when that picture cannot load. The same applies to dates, discount conditions and instructions. Put the information a reader needs into the email's text, and let imagery support it. Give meaningful images a useful text alternative. A linked image needs an alternative that explains its purpose or destination; purely decorative artwork can have an empty alternative. W3C's [functional-image guidance](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/functional/) explains the distinction. Ask the person who maintains your template to check the underlying markup when the editor does not expose that setting. Then try the [images-blocked review](/guides/test-emails-with-images-blocked/). Does the email still tell the reader what is happening and how to act? Repeating a long headline word-for-word in nearby text and image alternatives can be tedious when read aloud, so listen to the finished result as well as inspecting fields in the editor. ## Check contrast in the version people receive A colour pair approved in a design file may change when a mail app transforms the email for dark mode. Review the actual light and dark results, including the small footer and any button with text over a background image. As a useful design benchmark, WCAG's [minimum text contrast guidance](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/contrast-minimum) specifies 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for qualifying large text. That checks one property of the design; it does not establish that a complete email is accessible. If a logo vanishes or a button loses contrast, our [dark-mode repair guide](/blog/dark-mode-email-preview/) helps identify the affected element. Keep a readable fallback colour behind background artwork, too. An image-loading failure should not leave white text on white space. ### Make your next email easier to read Use MailSlurp previews to spot cramped mobile layouts and poor dark-mode contrast. Follow the visual review with reading-order and keyboard checks on the received email. [Follow the rendering checklist](/guides/email-rendering-qa-checklist/) ## Listen to the reading order A two-column desktop layout may look obvious to a sighted reader but sound confusing when the content is read in a different order. Start at the top of a received message using a screen reader you can test with, such as VoiceOver on an Apple device, and listen through the main action. Pay attention to headings, repeated navigation, image descriptions and links. Can someone understand which description belongs to which action? If the answer depends on seeing the left and right columns, ask for a template change that puts each heading, description and link together in the source order. For example, a two-option event email should read the first event's name, date and booking link together before moving to the second. Hearing both event names followed by two indistinguishable booking links makes choosing unnecessarily difficult. This is an illustrative check, not a reported MailSlurp test result. ## Preview the ESP's delivered version Send from the email service provider (ESP) you normally use. Editors can add tracking links, footers and other content after the design is saved, so the delivered email is the useful review target. With [MailSlurp device previews](/product/device-previews/), send the campaign to the preview address and choose relevant supported clients: iPhone, Android and desktop, including Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. Inspect available light and dark modes. The [Mailchimp rendering guide](/guides/mailchimp-device-rendering/) and [HubSpot rendering guide](/guides/hubspot-device-rendering/) show the provider steps. Look for cropped content, unreadable text, broken stacking and lost actions. Follow that visual pass with the screen-reader, enlarged-text and keyboard checks above in received test mailboxes. A screenshot captures appearance; it cannot show the spoken experience or prove a link is operable. ## Fix the template, then repeat the failed check Send a new copy after the repair. Reopen the same client, mode and accessibility setting that exposed the issue so you can tell whether the change helped. If the repair altered columns or button markup, repeat the neighboring checks: a better reading order can also change spacing or touch behavior. Save approved content blocks in your ESP once they pass. Future campaigns still need review, especially after changing text length, images or the footer, but a repaired reusable template gives the team a stronger starting point. ### Can an email accessibility checker do the whole review? Automated checks can identify particular markup or contrast problems. Human checks are still useful for meaning: whether link labels make sense, reading order is understandable and the message remains usable in the client's actual display settings. ### Should the plain-text version be checked too? Yes. Read it as a separate message. Confirm that the main information and destination URLs are present and in a useful order, rather than assuming an automatic conversion kept everything.