Email Deliverability Tips

4 in 10 people will view an email with images off. Yesterday, my team and I were discussing an email creative we’d built for HelloFresh. Aesthetically, it was beautiful - full of colour, engaging photography, and a bold hero banner. But with images off? You couldn’t see the offer. You wouldn’t even know you needed a voucher code. One of my team said, “Does it really matter? Images always show.” Well… not exactly. In a B2C environment, yes - images are more likely to show, thanks to mobile clients like Gmail and Apple Mail preloading them. But it’s still estimated that 43% of Gmail users have images defaulted off. And in B2B, it’s a different world. Outlook, still the workhorse of many corporate inboxes, blocks images by default. That means your beautiful offer might look like a grey box and some broken icons. So what can you do? - Never send image-only emails. Use live HTML text for your key message and CTA. - Use bulletproof buttons so your “Buy now” or “Sign up” still works without an image. - Write meaningful ALT text, it should make sense if read in place of the image. - Keep a healthy text-to-image ratio (around 60:40) to help both deliverability and comprehension. - Put your value proposition above the fold in live text, this is what prompts people to hit “download images.” - Always QA your email in major clients with images off before hitting send. Want to test, check the ctrs or unsubscribes rates of emails, which were not optimised for images being off. If you wouldn’t post a social ad without checking the image displays correctly, why waste the opportunity in email? Your creative needs to work with and without images , because those 4 in 10 people might be the very ones you’re trying to convert. P.S FARM Rio when images sell your product...

I might lose some followers over this... I do not like full-image emails. There. I said it. And with AI-generated inbox summaries becoming the norm? These are about to get even LESS effective. When your entire email is one big image, the AI has nothing to read. No text = no summary = your carefully crafted message gets skipped before your donor ever opens it. Not to mention: → Screen readers can't parse them (accessibility fail) → Images blocked by default? Your email is now a blank box → Zero live text means zero context for the algorithms deciding what your donors even see The nonprofits winning in the inbox aren't the ones with the prettiest graphics. They're the ones telling a story with actual words.  So tell me I'm wrong. Do you still swear by full-image emails? Or are you Team Live Text? Beth O'Malley Brian Minick Jess Campbell Jay Schwedelson Andrew Kordek Lauren Meyer Travis Hazlewood Eman Ismail Israa Alrawi Emily Ryan 👩🏻💻 Josh Nelson Sara Cederberg Beth Rader

iOS 18.3 is using AI to summarize your emails before people even open them. And it does NOT read image only emails... Apple’s new system now rewrites notification previews using its own summaries. This can be helpful for people who want a clean inbox. But it’s not great if your email relies on images to get attention: • The AI reads HTML text only. ALT text is invisible. • Bad summaries = instant swipe away. Apple even disabled it for news apps after backlash. Fix list: 1. Lead with 120 chars of raw copy before any banner. 2. Put your hook in an `<h1>` not an image. 3. Front load benefit → brand (AI truncates after ~80 words). 4. Test summaries: send yourself a build, long‑press the lock screen card. You worked hard on your subject line. Don’t let a clumsy AI mess it up.

Emails aren’t landing pages. Agencies and freelancers are designing all image-based emails then creating “slices” of way-too-large files that aren’t sized correctly and plopping them in your ESP bc it’s easier to deliver. While some in B2C might get away with this, it’s still problematic. Accessibility and user experience is a big piece of this puzzle. When all of your text is embedded in an image, it isn’t searchable in your inbox. What do people with vision issues see? What if they need a screen reader? It’s better to have live text where possible. Do your colors create a “visual fuzzing effect for people with astigmatism called 'halation'" - so even though the contrast ratio is fine, that's why some have difficulty reading it? 🤔 There’s a lot when it comes to #emaildesign and it’s got nothing to do with how pretty it is. How does it perform? Does it include your audience or exclude them? Can your viewers see it? What happens if images are turned off by default? Work with #emailmarketers who get it and your brand will see better results. We took over from another agency sending all image emails because it was simply easier for them to deliver. However, the customers’ audience was an older demographic who preferred text over image (we found after a series of tests). After making changes, by end of year they had a 300% increase in contribution margin and repeat business/CLTV was at an all time high. Work with someone who values performance over prettiness and watch those metrics grow 🚀 #themoreyouknow #emailmarketing #accessibility #email

Perhaps the greatest reminder of the current state of digital accessibility is email marketing. Marketers, always keen to maximize conversions, seem either clueless or careless in the text alternatives they provide in their emails, as evidenced by this email I just received by the Baltimore Orioles. While they obviously took the time to create this attractive graphic, which includes text and a call to action, they didn't take the time to also include the approximately 35 words as alt text for the image. Let's talk about why that's bad for business: First, let's get out of the way that there *are* blind and low-vision baseball fans. In fact, baseball tends to be quite popular for people who are blind and low-vision because baseball announcers are so good at describing the game. And they go to live baseball games for the same reasons that everyone else does: the atmosphere. I've been to a number of games with blind and low-vision friends. I don't have solid statistics around how many blind & low-vision people attend baseball games but it is undoubtedly high enough to impact conversions from this sort of email marketing. The reason this insufficient alt text is bad for business is because it is likely to not only impact this mailer's conversion but also future conversions as a user who needs alt text and notices that it isn't provided is very likely to unsubscribe causing a loss of that customer from your mailing list. And to make matters worse: studies still show that about 45% of all users still have images turned off in their email software, often for privacy reasons. Not providing meaningful alt text means that your message subject and other in-message text better be super compelling. In an email like this it is very obviously going to hurt conversions because the only content is in the image!

If you're sending an email campaign that is composed of one large image/graphic/jpg/png/pdf...please, please hear me out... Please do not do this. 1. Your image may not load for someone on mobile or someone with images turned off. This will be a huge waste of an email when your big image doesn't load. If I'm out and cell service isn't great, images don't load. Therefore, you will have no email to display. 2. Your text will not be searchable if someone tries to look for something within your email. 3. It's not accessible to people who may be using screen readers. 4. Gmail will be more likely to consider your email "spam" by seeing that it's just a big image. You need to build in "live text" somewhere in the email using a text block. Please do not send all-image emails. I promise you it's just wasting your time and not effective for your overall email strategy. Questions? Message me anytime and we can chat through your emails.

Ready for a truth bomb? That beautiful image-only email design your team created is probably costing you sales… 💸 I know it's tempting to use one big image in your emails. It gives you perfect design control and it looks identical everywhere... But here's what we're seeing happen with brands who take this approach: • 43% of Gmail users have images turned OFF (they see nothing!) • Spam filters are more likely to flag your emails • Slower loading times on mobile = abandoned emails • Screen readers can't interpret them (excluding visually impaired customers) The real-world impact? Our data analysis shows: • Up to 23% higher bounce rates • Significantly reduced open rates  • Lower click-through rates when images fail to load • Decreased deliverability over time When we helped Pooky move away from image-heavy emails to a balanced HTML approach, their email revenue increased 5.5x in just four months. Want better results? Try this instead: ✅ Use HTML structure with strategic imagery ✅ Embrace responsive design that adapts to different screens ✅ Include meaningful alt text for all images ✅ Keep critical messages (especially CTAs) in text form ✅ Test across multiple devices before sending What email design approaches have worked best for your brand? #emailmarketing #ecommerce #deliverability #dtcbrands #customerloyalty

Your Emails Are Breaking, And You Don’t Even Realise It. Lately, I’ve noticed something. When I open emails in Apple Mail, I keep seeing: ↳ “Load Content” ↳ Broken layouts ↳ Blank spaces where text should be Why? Because so many brands are designing emails that are 100% image-based, with no live text. And even worse, many don’t even have alt text. Which means if your customer doesn’t click “Load Content” right away, all they see is: X A broken email X No messaging X A lost conversion opportunity Here’s why this could be a problem: ↳ 55% of global email opens happen on Apple Mail ↳ Apple blocks auto-loading images for privacy reasons, so if your email is just one big asset? It’s unreadable until a user takes extra steps. ↳ Many brands don’t optimise for dark mode, mobile, or accessibility, so even when images do load, they’re not always working correctly. What’s the fix? ✓ Use live text for key messaging ✓ Optimise for dark mode & mobile ✓ Always use alt tex ✓ Blend assets + live text smartly This isn’t just an e-commerce problem, I’ve seen it across industries. If your emails only work when images load, you’re losing customers before they even read your message. #RetentionMarketing #EmailMarketing #Klaviyo

You're designing a gorgeous email. Stunning visuals. Perfect layout. And... 🦗 Your subscriber opened it to see... nothing. Image-only emails are easy to set up, but MS Outlook for desktop blocks images by default. No live text means a blank email from a sender they don't recognize. See the picture – this is how the email from Gap looks in MS Outlook. What happens next? → They skip it → They delete it → Sometimes, they report it as spam. Each of those actions is a negative engagement signal. Those signals accumulate. Live text isn't just a rendering fix. It's an AI readability issue. Mailbox providers and end users now connect AI search capabilities with personal data from email, calendar, and docs - meaning your marketing emails may surface directly in search results. Newsletters and service updates must be clearly written, structured, and understandable by AI. If your email is built from images, AI agents might not be able to read it. Spam filters might decide it’s a heavy task and direct the email to spam. AI agents will also struggle to summarize it, surface it in search, trigger a smart action, or recommend your offer. You're invisible - not just to MS-Outlook users, but to every AI layer sitting on top of the inbox. Google's new auto-purchase agent can track prices, fill out forms, and complete orders independently. CTAs in emails must suit not just people but algorithms. Structured data, such as price tags, availability, and details, is essential for discovery and integration. Live text isn't just accessible - it's a deliverability asset, a searchability asset, and increasingly, an AI-readiness asset. 📩 I simplify email deliverability on my newsletter and blog – “emailmarketing.buzz” #EmailMarketing #Deliverability #accessibility

I found myself in this exact situation last week, frantically trying to access my train ticket while juggling luggage. 😥 The email? A beautiful, image-based masterpiece that rendered as... absolutely nothing useful on my tiny screen. This moment crystallized something I've observed throughout my 30+ years in email marketing: accessibility isn't just a nice-to-have, it's essential for communication that actually reaches people. The unfortunate reality is that many major brands still design emails as if everyone views them on a 27-inch monitor with perfect internet connection. Their beautiful image-only emails might win design awards but fail at their primary purpose: connecting with customers where they are. Consider this: ▶︎ Smartwatch users increased by 46% in the last three years. ▶︎ Screen readers can't interpret text embedded in images. ▶︎ Spotty connections often block image downloads entirely. ▶︎ Some users deliberately disable images to save data. I recently audited a luxury brand's campaign that was 98% images. When I showed them how it appeared on various devices, their marketing director looked physically pained. "We're essentially sending blank emails to a third of our list," she realized. The solution isn't abandoning visual design. It's embracing accessible, responsive approaches that work across devices. ✅ HTML formatted text content with strategic visual elements. ✅ Alt text that actually describes images. ✅ Responsive layouts that adapt rather than break. What email marketing practices do you find most frustrating as a consumer? Has your perspective changed as devices evolve? #EmailMarketing #DigitalAccessibility #MarketingStrategy