Alt text: more thought needed

Latest posts | Feed | | By Mark Brownlow

We have many truisms in email marketing that seem simple at first, but get more complicated as you dig deeper.

Alt attributes (alt text / alt tags) are a good example. Everyone knows you should use them as part of your strategy for coping with image blocking.

I played around with alt attributes and various email clients and webmail services this week. With some surprising results.

Alt attributes can sometimes hurt your design more than they help. See the test results for details. Get ready to raise your eyebrows.

Tags: , , ,

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
Permalink | September 17, 2008 | 7 comment(s) - add yours!
Get posts like this: as an RSS feed | biweekly email | via Twitter
Sign-up for the Email Marketing Reports NEWSLETTER
Twice a month, free, packed with email marketing advice and all the posts from this blog.
Email:      First Name:     
    More info and sample

7 Comments:

Mark, As I mentioned in my comment for another of your post, putting the ALT tags does not hurt. If it is not displayed by some email clients, it is ok. But they should sprinkle the message with text, and include the image width and height. This will ensure that the format / lay is not messed up, and the text is readable fully even when images are blocked.

Of course, the tracking becomes difficult, if the images are not enabled. But the user will click on links, if the content is really relevant and useful for her. I would focus on delivering the message to the recipient, rather than focusing on tracking. Metrics will get reflected in other follow-up behavior / activities.
By Anonymous Paddu Govindaraj, on 20 September, 2008  
 

Thanks Paddu. I think the key is looking at it holistically. Seeing how the combination of layout, alt tags and height/width attributes plays out and optimizing that. Everytime someone focuses on one aspect without considering the others, then things can go wrong.
By Anonymous Mark Brownlow, on 21 September, 2008  
 

Agreed, Mark. A holistic view helps deliver results. Focusing on isolated factors will lead to missing out lot of important issues. BTW, though I have been working in the email marketing for several years now, I did not have a chance to spend time on your blog. I come across several small business users struggling to leverage or benefit from email marketing. You are doing a great service to your readers.
By Anonymous Paddu Govindaraj, on 27 September, 2008  
 

Thanks for the kind words Paddu!
By Anonymous Mark Brownlow, on 29 September, 2008  
 

Hi !
This is a very interesting article. I read somewhere that we are using the ALT text badly. It appears that if you want to use an alternative text you must use the TITLE attribute of the IMG tag. We are using the ALT attribute because Internet Explorer render the ALT text as an alternative text but this is wrong ! Firefox uses the TITLE attribute.
Maybe it is possible to test this attribute instead of ALT text...
By Anonymous Damien SANCHEZ, on 16 February, 2009  
 

Hi Damien,

When an image is blocked, the alt tag will display in both IE and Firefox. So using the alt tag to deal with broken images is fine.

When an image is displayed, hovering over it with your mouse will display the alt tag in IE, but not Firefox. The latter displays the title tag.

The difference is thus only in how the two browsers treat images that do display. And if the images display, alt/title text is a relative non-issue in email.

Nevertheless, it's no big deal to add title tags to your images, so there's no reason not to.
By Anonymous Mark Brownlow, on 16 February, 2009  
 

Thanks for these precisions.
By Anonymous Damien Sanchez, on 17 February, 2009  
 

Post a Comment