According to research, approximately seven million people in the US live with uncorrectable visual impairment or blindness, and vision disability has been rising by 28% from 2010 to 2022.

Making your emails accessible for the visually impaired is not just a good thing to do from a moral standpoint, but also an important step towards creating an inclusive workplace and brand image.

As Sam Seavey, a visually impaired assistive technology expert and accessibility advocate, puts it in the Envision March 2025 Webinar:

“I tell people, why would you want to make a product and exclude a huge community because they can’t use the product? That just doesn’t make… that’s not good business, you know? You want to sell product, why would you cut out this entire community that could potentially buy your product? So it just makes sense to embrace accessibility… it’s just the right thing to do.”

…So, how do you do it?

Below, we’re taking a closer look at accessibility in email signatures. Keep reading if you want to find out more.

Why Does Accessibility Matter for Email Signatures? 

Reflecting Organizational Culture & Personal Identity

Accessibility in email signatures is not just about compliance. It’s about fostering inclusivity and sending a clear message about your values. An accessible email signature ensures that all recipients, regardless of any disabilities, can understand and engage with the information you are sharing.

Things like screen readers, contrast settings, and font readability matter significantly to users who rely on assistive technologies. Incorporating accessible design into your email signatures demonstrates that your organization values diversity and is committed to creating an equitable experience for everyone.

Beyond reflecting organizational values, an accessible email signature enables you to express personal identity in a way that is respectful to all recipients. Implementing accessibility measures ensures that your core message remains intact and easily understood by everyone.

Focus on Your UX 

Creating email signatures that are inclusive for visually impaired users benefits everyone, not just those with visual impairments. These accessible designs enhance the user experience for all recipients, ultimately boosting engagement with your emails.

User-friendly emails are vital for effective communication, whether it’s email marketing, business updates, newsletters, or other messages. By making your emails more accessible, you increase the likelihood of your audience reading and understanding your message, ensuring your communication is impactful.

Building Trust, Professionalism, and Personal Connection 

Creating accessible and user-friendly emails contributes to building trust with your audience. When recipients see that you’ve taken the time to craft emails that are easy to read and understand, it fosters a sense of professionalism and reliability.

Accessible emails demonstrate that you value inclusivity and respect their time and needs. This approach not only strengthens your company’s reputation but also encourages recipients to trust your brand, making them more likely to engage with your content and services.

Furthermore, personalized and accessible emails help establish a deeper connection with your audience. Incorporating elements like clear language, responsive designs, and meaningful content tailored to their preferences makes your emails feel relevant and thoughtful.

When you address your audience’s individual needs and interests, you can create a sense of personal engagement, making recipients more likely to open, read, and act on future communications. This personal touch goes a long way in cultivating lasting relationships with your audience, leading to greater loyalty and sustained success.

Encouraging Equity & Belonging

Accessible email signatures play a vital role in fostering equity and belonging within an organization by ensuring all employees, including those who are visually impaired, can access and understand essential information. Prioritizing accessibility shows that an organization is committed to inclusivity. It helps create a more supportive and welcoming environment for everyone, whether or not you currently have visually impaired employees.

Removing Barriers to Information

They say information is the “gold” of the 21st century. It is what drives businesses, governments and society forward. However, when information is not accessible to everyone, it creates barriers that prevent individuals from reaching their full potential.

This is especially true for employees and (potential) customers who are visually impaired. In the workplace, access to information is essential in order to perform job duties effectively and efficiently. Without proper accommodations, visually impaired employees can face numerous challenges in accessing critical information.

Core Components of an Accessible Email Signature

Accessible email signature best practices revolve around one main goal: making sure all users, regardless of their visual abilities, can access and use the information provided in an email signature. To that avail, you must do everything in your means to provide visually impaired audience members and co-workers with all the context they need to understand your message.

Here are several key components that should be included in an accessible email signature to ensure it meets this goal.

Use Semantic Structure

Using semantic structure in your email signature enhances accessibility by providing a logical flow of information that screen readers can interpret easily. This means organizing your signature with clear, concise formatting and tagging elements appropriately.

Here are some specific tips to achieve this:

  • Use plain text alongside HTML. Include plain text versions of your signature to ensure readability across various devices and email clients. 
  • Use proper HTML tags. Use <strong> for bold text or <em> for emphasis instead of styling text directly with visual effects. 
  • Always include alt text for images. For example, if your company logo is in the signature, provide alt text like “XYZ Company Logo.” 
  • Order information logically. Arrange your details (name, title, contact info) in a sequence that makes sense when read aloud by screen readers. 
  • Avoid unnecessary decorative elements. Limit the use of colors or fonts that might hinder readability for those with visual impairments.

Maintain a Logical Reading Order 

Maintaining a logical reading order in your content is essential for ensuring accessibility, especially for individuals using assistive technologies like screen readers. To achieve this, information should be structured in a way that follows a natural flow, making it intuitive and easy to understand. A clear reading order improves usability for everyone and avoids confusion. Below are specific tips to assist in maintaining logical organization:

  • Use proper headings. Break content into sections with appropriate headings (e.g., H1 for main titles, H2 for subsections), which guide both readers and assistive tools. 
  • Label links clearly. Instead of vague phrases like “Click here,” use descriptive text such as “Download the Accessibility Guide.” 
  • Avoid mixing layout elements. For example, avoid placing text alongside images if it disrupts the intended reading sequence. 
  • List steps in sequential order. When providing instructions, use numbered or bulleted lists to ensure the flow is easy to follow step by step. 
  • Check the tab order. When creating interactive elements such as forms, ensure the keyboard tabbing order follows the visual alignment of the content.

Optional: Include an Audio Name Badge

An audio name badge is a way to both help visually impaired people learn your name and help other people pronounce it correctly. It records and plays back your name with the correct pronunciation at the push of a button. This simple tool promotes inclusivity and ensures clear communication in any setting.

Offer a Name Pronunciation Guide

Alternatively, if an audio name badge is not viable, consider providing a written guide on how to pronounce your name. This can be especially helpful in virtual settings where it may be difficult for others to hear and remember your name. Including this information in your email signature or social media profiles can also help facilitate smoother introductions and interactions.

Use Descriptive Link Text for CTAs

Using descriptive link text for calls to action (CTAs) is essential for clarity, accessibility, and user engagement. Avoid generic terms like “click here” or “read more,” as these do not inform users about what to expect after clicking the link. Instead, use concise, meaningful phrases that clearly describe the target content, providing context and value to users while also improving SEO and accessibility for screen readers.

Here are some tips and examples to implement descriptive link text effectively:

  • Be specific about the action or content. Use text like “Download the 2023 Marketing Guide” instead of “Download here.” 
  • Focus on relevance. Link phrases such as “Learn about our sustainability initiatives” offer clarity on the topic. 
  • Keep it short and clear. Succinctly describe the result of clicking, e.g., “Access your account settings.” 
  • Avoid redundancy. Ensure the link makes sense without relying on surrounding text.

Ensure Sufficient Color Contrast

Sufficient color contrast is crucial for ensuring web accessibility and readability for all users, including those with visual impairments. Proper contrast helps users differentiate between text, background, and interactive elements, making content easier to perceive and engage with.

To achieve adequate contrast, follow these specific tips:

  • Use contrast-checking tools like the WebAIM Contrast Checker to verify color combinations meet accessibility standards. (e.g., a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text) 
  • Avoid light text on light backgrounds or vice versa, such as yellow text on white, which can be hard to read. 
  • Choose high-contrast button designs. Such as white text on a dark blue button, to make calls-to-action stand out clearly. 
  • Test designs in grayscale to ensure that important elements remain visible to users with color blindness. 
  • Provide ample spacing around text elements to enhance readability and prevent text from feeling cluttered, ensuring accessibility for users with visual or cognitive impairments.

Keep Fonts Clear and Readable

When selecting fonts for accessibility, it is important to prioritize clarity and legibility to ensure content is readable for all users, including those with visual impairments or reading difficulties. Fonts should be simple, without excessive decoration, and their size should be large enough to accommodate a wide range of users. Pairing clear fonts with appropriate spacing also helps to prevent text from appearing cramped or overwhelming.

  • Choose sans-serif fonts. Such as Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica, as they are generally easier to read than serif fonts, especially on screens. 
  • Use a font size of at least 16px. For body text to ensure readability, adjusting larger for headings or long-form content. 
  • Avoid using all capital letters. As this can be harder to read and may be interpreted as shouting. 
  • Ensure sufficient line spacing. (1.5x to 2x the font size) to make text easier to follow. 
  • Limit the number of fonts used. In a design to 2-3 to maintain consistency and avoid visual clutter.
  • Align text consistently, preferably left-aligned for body content, as it enhances readability compared to justified or centered text. 
  • Opt for shorter line lengths of 50-75 characters per line to reduce eye strain and improve comprehension. 
  • Test your typography choices on different devices and screen sizes to ensure they perform well across various contexts.

Test With Screen Readers or Accessibility Tools

Ensuring your typography choices are accessible is crucial for an inclusive design. Using screen readers or accessibility tools can help identify potential issues and improve the experience for users with disabilities. These tools highlight areas where text might be hard to read or navigational elements are unclear, helping designers make necessary adjustments.

  • NVDA reads text and interface elements aloud, helping test navigation and readability for visually impaired users. 
  • VoiceOver provides spoken descriptions of on-screen elements and supports gesture navigation for Apple devices. 
  • Lighthouse evaluates contrast ratios and identifies accessibility issues in your design. 

Share Internally and Encourage Feedback From Users With Access Needs

Gathering input from users with access needs is a crucial part of creating genuinely accessible designs. Users with disabilities bring firsthand experience and unique insights that can reveal challenges or barriers that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Conducting interviews, usability testing, or surveys with these users can provide valuable feedback on how well the design meets their needs. Be proactive in reaching out to diverse groups of users to ensure inclusivity in all aspects of the design process.

Once feedback is collected, it’s important to analyze and incorporate it into the design iterations. Prioritize addressing critical issues that directly impact usability for users with disabilities.

Additionally, keep an open line of communication with these users throughout the process, ensuring they feel heard and supported. By actively involving them, you not only improve accessibility but also foster trust and collaboration that can lead to more effective and inclusive solutions.

Changing Workplace Culture Through Inclusive Signatures

Workplace culture doesn’t change overnight. Sometimes, something as seemingly simple as implementing email signatures can become a pretty challenging endeavor without the right processes and tools.

At WiseStamp, we take the manual work out of this for you, and help you implement accessible email signatures, across the entire organization, easily.

Here are some of the main pillars of implementing inclusive signatures as part of a workplace culture project:

Listening to Employees & Respecting Preferences

Listening to your employees enables you to understand their preferences and needs when it comes to email signatures. It is important to communicate with them and gather feedback on what they would like to see included in their signature, such as pronouns or preferred name. Respecting these preferences shows that your organization values diversity and inclusion, and creates a more inclusive workplace culture.

For instance, WiseStamp’s Employee Hub enables you with advanced admin options that allow system administrators/ your IT department to set which fields are editable by employees, and how. This way, employees still have the flexibility to edit their own signatures, but you also make sure accessibility best practices and company guidelines are always followed.

Implement Inclusion & Accessibility Into Onboarding 

Including accessibility and inclusion in onboarding ensures that every new team member feels valued and supported from the start. By integrating these principles early, companies set a strong foundation for a more equitable and welcoming workplace.

How to Navigate Resistance & Discomfort 

Change tends to create discomfort and resistance. But this shouldn’t deter your company from prioritizing accessibility and inclusion. Instead, leaders should approach resistance with empathy and understanding, while also clearly communicating the benefits of inclusivity for everyone. Company-wide training and open communication channels can also help address any concerns or misunderstandings.

Your Email Signatures Reach Everyone, Make Sure Everyone Can Read Them

“Your brain tries to fill in what’s missing in your central vision. And it does this by gathering information about what’s around it, in the periphery.”

– Sam Seavey, Future of Personal Health

You want your communications to reach everyone. And that means you have to take the time to understand the diverse ways people access and perceive information. When you do that, and put effort into designing all of your marketing assets with accessibility in mind, you demonstrate a commitment to making everyone feel included.

Because they should. Your email signature, your blog, your social media posts – they should all tell a story about your brand, and that story should be for everyone to hear (and see).

WiseStamp cannot design your brand for you. And we might not be able to implement inclusivity best practices for you. But what we can do is make sure adopting accessible email signatures is easy no matter how big or small your business is.

Try it out for yourself!