Transforming emails with accessibility fixes (Before & After)

What makes a great email experience stick with subscribers?

It's not just smart design or clever copy. It's thoughtful communication that builds trust, delivers value, and feels genuinely personal.

Enter Feedback Friday: Accessibility Edition, where email experts Matt Helbig and Kelsey Yen dive into real user-submitted emails to uncover how accessibility can transform the email experience for everyone. From missed alt text to unreadable contrast, they identify common pitfalls—and then fix them—showing how small design choices can have a big impact.

In this special episode, they explore emails from DTC brands, nonprofits, and publishers, focusing on everything from all-image layouts and illegible CTAs to the role of live text, font sizing, and dark mode. Their before-and-after commentary highlights how accessibility isn’t just about compliance—it’s about creating inclusive, engaging messages that work for more people, on more devices.

TL;DR:

• Accessibility as a design foundation: from structure to spacing, accessible emails improve clarity for all readers
• Alt text matters: don’t skip it—thoughtful, descriptive alt text supports screen readers and slow connections
• Live text > locked images: embedding key messages as HTML text ensures legibility and usability across devices
• Contrast that works: high-contrast color choices are essential for visibility, especially in dark mode
• Mobile-friendly and readable: larger fonts, scannable layouts, and left-aligned copy make a huge difference
• Small fixes, big wins: from email footers to promo codes, small updates can make your messages more usable and effective

Watch the full breakdown or read the transcript for practical takeaways and inspiration to improve accessibility in your next email campaign.

Matt Helbig: Welcome to Feedback Friday — now with 87% more accessibility. For anyone unfamiliar, Feedback Friday is a show we’ve done over the years on YouTube. We review emails and break down what makes them good or not so good. We go over what we love about a campaign and what could be improved. It’s a fun exercise, especially on a Friday when things are more relaxed.

This episode focuses on accessibility. It’s become a bigger topic recently, with new laws making it more urgent. We wanted to spotlight that as we walk through some examples and today I’m joined by one of the smartest email marketers I know, Kelsey.

Kelsey Yen: Hello! I don’t know about the “smartest” part, but thank you. I’ll take it.

Matt Helbig: Awesome. We’re both from Really Good Emails and Beefree, and we do a lot of fun work in the email space. Kelsey, want to tell us a bit about your background to set the stage?

Kelsey Yen: Sure. I’ve been working in email for almost eight years now. I’ve done B2B, B2C: a bit of everything. I’m excited to be focused fully on email now, which has been great.

Matt Helbig: Nice. I’ve been doing email for about ten years and have reviewed thousands — maybe millions — of emails submitted to Really Good Emails. So hopefully we can bring some helpful and fun perspective to this.

Alright. I feel like every time I do one of these, I start a little more pessimistic. But the truth is, most emails are either bad or just forgettable. And being forgettable might be worse than being bad. That said, we’re here to help you improve them — including your email.Yes, yours too. And recognizing that it might not be great is the first step to making it better.

One thing that sticks with me is this quote: “It’s easier to say something is bad than to explain why it’s good”.

That really applies to email. A lot of teardowns online just say, “This sucks,” and move on. But it’s much more valuable and harder to say, “I really like this,” and explain why. That’s what taste is about for me. People often ask, “What makes a really good email?” or “How can I get one featured on the site?” We’ve thought a lot about this and broken it down into key categories. These are helpful for planning your next campaign and align with our internal grading scale.

Let’s walk through them.

So the first one here is copy. That’s about what the email says and how well it says it. There are some points we highlight when we look at this. I think the newest addition is AI-generated previews and summaries. It's one of those things where marketers might have to start spending a little more time, as inboxes begin summarizing and previewing more often.

We have this copy pillar to separate emails that look nice from those that actually communicate something meaningful or persuasive. An email can look beautiful, but if the copy doesn’t support the message, it falls flat.

The next pillar is design and visual communication. This is about how the email feels and flows overall. There are a few key points here. One is consistency. Branding is a big one for me. If I open an email and click through to a landing page that feels completely different, that disconnect can hurt the user experience. Some emails are hard to scan and feel overloaded. Pixels are free, so people pack them in, but there still needs to be some structure to guide attention effectively. There are two more pillars that really stand out.

The next one is strategy and intent. Why does this email exist? What problem is it solving for the user? This is to avoid emails that might be visually appealing but lack substance. They’re just sent because someone felt they needed to send something, not because they had something valuable to say.

Lastly, we have the accessibility pillar. This is about how the email performs across different users and devices. We’ll probably focus on it the most today. It’s about avoiding emails that alienate users, load slowly, or don’t work well on mobile.

So those are some things to keep in mind for your next campaign.

Then we have what we call the bonus zone. In addition to our usual four pillars, every time an email is submitted to Really Good Emails, we also add bonus points for two more areas: interactivity and innovation. That’s about how the email surprises and delights in the inbox. If there’s some cool new tech or a fun GIF, we award bonus points. We want to avoid emails that feel templated or predictable. Lastly, there’s a column for trust signals. This one is a little more abstract, but it’s about how the email respects and reassures the user. We’re talking about avoiding emails that feel sketchy or overly salesy — like using “Re:” in the subject line when it’s not a reply, or other scummy tactics just to get a click.

In reality, we believe email is a relationship that’s built over time, not just a one-time send.

So this is our weighting scale at Really Good Emails. Every time we evaluate an email, we break it down using this framework. You’ll see that accessibility has traditionally been weighted lower in the scale, but it's becoming increasingly important in email creation.

So, what do you think, Kelsey? Why is accessibility such a big focus right now?

Kelsey Yen: I think accessibility has always mattered, but now we’re seeing some things come up — including new laws — that mean we have to stay compliant.

Matt Helbig: I definitely don’t want to end up in email jail.

Right. So, we’ve got some new laws coming into play. That’s why this session is so timely. There’s the European Accessibility Act rolling out across the EU. I believe the rollout began last month in June, and there's a larger compliance deadline set for sometime in 2026.

Many of these new laws require emails to be accessible. That means having proper alt text, not relying entirely on images, and making sure contrast and the visual experience are set up properly. We’ve seen many guidelines in higher education regarding accessibility. Specifically, with the ADA, emails now need to be at least WCAG-compliant. These are definitely things to keep in mind as you move forward and consider how accessible your emails are.

Here’s a quote from a talk Sarah gave earlier this year at UNSPAM. She pointed out that 28% of adults in the U.S. have some form of disability. If you knew that 28% of your send list was going to spam, that would be a big problem. Thinking about it that way really woke me up. If people can’t use the email we send them, we’re leaving money on the table. For me, accessibility is about designing for connection, not just for compliance. Guidelines and web standards matter, but it’s also about thinking intentionally about how you’re connecting with your audience. It’s a mindset shift.

When you design for the edge case, you improve the experience for everyone. You avoid things like sending a five-megabyte image that takes forever to load. Adding alt text when someone has limited connectivity makes a big difference. It helps all users. It’s the idea that a rising tide lifts all ships. And you're not alone in thinking about accessibility. It’s a shared effort between people, teams, and tools. Fortunately, with more tools available now, it’s much easier to check for these things than it used to be.

A quick plug for Beefree, since this session is sponsored by them. Right now, there's a tool called Beefree Smart Check that looks for missing alt text, broken links, and more. There’s also internal discussion around building additional accessibility features in the future, so we’re excited about what’s coming. Alright, now we’re going to look at some of your emails. Kelsey, you sent out an email asking everyone in the webinar to submit their emails, right?

Kelsey Yen: Wait, was that my task? I thought that was you.

Matt Helbig: Nope, that was yours. Well, luckily, instead of asking everyone for their emails—which probably would’ve just brought in the best of the best—we took a peek at the emails of those who subscribed to the webinar. And we might chat about them today. So, let’s get into it.

The first one is from Native Pet. It was submitted through Really Good Emails, and we thought it would be a great example to review from an accessibility standpoint. What stood out to you, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: The hero image is the obvious standout. It’s super eye-catching—you can’t miss it. But it’s also pretty busy. And since that text is embedded in the background image, if images don’t load, the 40% off offer is completely lost. That’s a big deal, because it’s not mentioned anywhere else in the email.

Matt Helbig: The graphics are great, but if you're looking through an accessibility lens, some issues pop up quickly. Like that 40% off text—it’s hard to read against the background. Right. And I noticed something else: the Amazon logo is bigger than their own brand logo. That surprised me. Yeah, though it makes sense. They’re probably trying to tie it to Prime Day, which is smart. It lets people know they can shop there.

The promo code kind of blends in, too. Codes usually stand out more visually, so if someone is skimming, that detail might be missed. From a design standpoint, it works okay on desktop and mobile. But from an accessibility perspective, this is clearly an all-image email. There’s definitely a "slice and dice" approach going on, which creates some issues. Some of that text should be live text. Someone in the chat just pointed out that you can’t copy and paste the code if it's not live text. Now, let’s run through a few items from our accessibility checklist. First is contrast. The brand colors are fun, and based on WCAG guidelines, most of the text passes AA standards, which is the minimum we aim for. But as we said earlier, that “limited time” text may not be as visible.

Here’s a preview from Parcel, the browser-based code editor. It has a visual accessibility preview to simulate how someone with color blindness might experience the email. The preview is blurrier to help you step back and see whether the message still comes across. It’s a useful check when designing. Now, the bad news—this email falls into the alt text fail zone. The hero image repeatedly says “Amazon Prime Day One.” That doesn’t communicate the offer. From a screen reader’s perspective, you don’t get the message at all, which is a baseline accessibility issue. With images turned off, the email becomes very difficult to navigate.

So here we are with the pros and opportunities. We don’t call them cons—it’s a safe space. These are just things to improve in the next campaign. Some positives: it’s skimmable, there’s a clear product focus, and the branding is solid. Someone in the chat mentioned checking alt message views. There are tools that let you toggle off images and preview the email's appearance. It’s definitely worth doing. Opportunities: again, this is an all-image email that needs better alt text.

Kelsey Yen: The brand identity is strong, and they did a good job promoting their sale, especially around Prime Day. But there’s room for improvement with live text and other small accessibility changes.

Matt Helbig: Solid baseline, but always room to level up. Alright, the next one is from Janky Journal, a cool little matcha brand. Let’s look at this one. What stood out to you?

Kelsey Yen: I love the custom illustrations. They feel unique to the brand, not like generic stock images, which really reinforces their identity. I also liked the segmented titles—they make it easy to skim through and find what interests you.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, good color palette too. But the center-aligned text is where it loses me from an accessibility standpoint. Long blocks of centered text are harder to read, especially when there’s a lot of it. And again, this email is built entirely from images. That means it’s not live text, which creates problems for anyone using assistive technology. Some of the sections are also harder to read due to low contrast, but overall, the tone and messaging are strong. The visual side just needs work. We liked it so much that our design team reimagined it using Beefree with live text. You can see that switching to live text and left-aligned layout improves readability. We kept the fun color palette but simplified things. It’s cleaner, easier to scan, and better on mobile too. We also tweaked some of the imagery and made the calls to action more prominent. It’s a fun experiment and shows how a few changes can really improve accessibility.

Kelsey Yen: Another point from the original email: there was a lot of all-caps text in long sentences. That’s harder to read. Also, there weren’t any CTA buttons near the top, which we added.

Matt Helbig: Now, for contrast: some sections pass, but a lot of the body text doesn’t. The colors are cool and on-brand, but readability is a challenge in places. And the alt text? Pretty rough. None of the images has proper alt descriptions, which makes it unusable for screen readers. Still, the visuals and storytelling are strong, and the branding is solid. But again, all-image layouts, centered text, and a lack of live text are big misses from an accessibility perspective. We’ll keep it moving. 

The next email is from Enamuk—or at least, I think that’s how it’s pronounced. This was one of the first submissions from the webinar attendees. Like many others, it’s a welcome email since we just signed up. What caught your eye?

Kelsey Yen: The hero image really stands out. It has a cool shape and grabs attention, but the background makes the overlaid text hard to read. There’s a lot of text, but the first thing that actually draws my eye is the button further down.

Matt Helbig: Some of the visuals in this section feel a little cluttered and hard to read. I do like the idea of this being a GIF — that could be a fun element to try out. We’ve seen more brands adding navigation in the footer as shoppable links. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. There is some center-aligned text here, but it stays within a manageable number of lines, so it’s still relatively readable. I also like how the promo code stands out visually from the rest of the email. And as someone mentioned earlier, it's easy to copy and paste. I think this section is really interesting. It’s a good example of using a “what to expect” block in the first welcome email. It helps set expectations about the cadence of future emails, which is a great addition.

Then it transitions more into what looks like evergreen blog content, featuring different inspirational posts. But for me, the one thing that stands out is that it doesn’t really connect to the actual product. If I had just received this email, I wouldn’t be entirely sure what they’re trying to sell. Based on the imagery, I assume it’s kids’ outdoor clothing, but it’s not clearly stated. Including popular categories or best sellers in this initial email could help reinforce the product benefits and remind me why I subscribed.

Cool. Alright, let's look at accessibility. On the other hand, some of the text, especially the welcome message, is hard to read and fails in some larger sections. That said, the overall color palette is fun and on-brand, and for the most part, the text is fairly easy to read. When it comes to alt text, we’re seeing a pass overall. There are links to blog content, which is helpful. The tool we’re using for contrast checks is a free one — just search for WCAG Contrast Checker. You can enter foreground and background colors to get a score and see if they meet accessibility ratios. So alt text is generally okay for the main content, which is good to see. Now for the pros: it’s on brand, the discount stands out, it sets expectations clearly, and I like the content blocking.

Opportunities: the H1 is a bit hard to read, and they could benefit from including product content as well. Anything else to add, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, I think more opportunities lie in color blocking. I was drawn to the bottom section with the small color headlines on a white background. It was more engaging than the peach-colored section at the top. It made me want to focus on the white background content. I would’ve used more color blocking, especially around the promo offer, to help it stand out. But overall, not bad. Not bad at all.

Matt Helbig: Cool. Alright, the next email is from the San Francisco Standard. It’s a short and simple membership upsell. Thought it’d be fun to review.

What do you think?

Kelsey Yen: I love the hero image. It's fun and a creative way to use their merch to tell a story. But for me, all-caps sentences are tough. My brain struggles to process all the letters when they’re in uppercase like that. I might have adjusted the kerning or spacing between letters to make it more readable — they start to blend together. That said, the blue button really pops against the yellow background, which is a nice visual touch. The biggest issue for me is that the top and bottom of the email don’t match. It feels like two separate emails.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, I felt that, too. Both the desktop and mobile versions switch things up, and they lack consistency. It would be nice to bring more of that yellow throughout the email so it feels more cohesive. Every section shift introduces a new visual. This hero section might work better as a footer. It takes up a lot of space right at the top and pushes the CTA pretty far down the scroll.

I do like the graphic. It could even be a fun GIF with some movement. Also, it looks like that bag might be something you receive when you subscribe, but it's not clear. The message doesn’t explicitly say that. Some perks are mentioned, but maybe adding images of the benefits or including customer testimonials would help. Upsell emails like this can be tricky.

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, I’m still not sure — do I actually get the bag? It’s not listed as a perk, but I hope it comes with the membership. Can I just get the bag?

Matt Helbig: Yeah. Like, can I just get the bag? Cool. For this one, there are some pros and opportunities: the CTA stands out, it's fairly scannable, the message is focused, and the custom illustrations are a nice touch. But again, do we get the bag? Aligning the sections more visually would help a lot.

Alright, short and sweet. Let’s move on. Next up, we’ve got a nonprofit email from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It’s a really fun design that I actually liked a lot. It’s a bit content-heavy, but let’s take a look.

First impression?

Kelsey Yen: It’s definitely copy-heavy. I’m not someone who reads every word — I scan. But I like the left-aligned layout because it helps guide me down the email visually. I tend to focus on the hyperlinked text, which is really helpful in a long email like this. I like that the links are embedded in the bullet points. It makes it easier to scan and find what’s important.

When I went back and reread the whole message, it was actually really warm and thoughtful. It thanked donors and explained what their contributions helped achieve. That kind of message deserves a tone that’s more upbeat or celebratory. If I’m just scanning, though, that doesn’t immediately come through. Then, the CTA of “Explore our annual report” — like, that may not actually get me to want to do that. But if I knew the full story, then I'm more likely to read it, if that makes sense.

Matt Helbig: Yeah. I definitely think someone over there is thinking about accessibility because this alt text is going to be really good when we look at it.

One little piece I've seen is that when you link in text, it's good to have both a color and an underline to visually indicate that it's a link. Some people only include the color without the underline. From an accessibility standpoint, you're kind of supposed to have both to reinforce that something is actually tappable or clickable. So that's good. But as you said, a lot of content — a little front-heavy. Maybe this could be split into a couple of different emails in the welcome flow. There's definitely a lot of information that is probably helpful to someone, but maybe this annual report isn't exactly compelling enough to get my click, just from this kind of visual view. So we did like this one as well. The design team took another try at it. In this version, I think we tried to bring in more of the visual yellow in that initial email and break up that section with some different bulleted-style icons to make it more scannable or visually readable.

I think also connecting more with that visual element — like, people’s faces — people identify with. So the more you can bring in some of that personality into an email, the more it can stand out. And then that mobile view is a little bit cleaner on the scroll. So definitely a solid email, but maybe with some opportunities to make it visually stand out a little more. Alright. Accessibility on the alt text side — definitely a pass. It's a little hard to read, but they do a really good job here. I think it says something like “a medium-skinned woman with long dark hair wears a dress.” So definitely some descriptive text here. Really good. I do think there's an opportunity to look into styled alt text. There are ways to make your alt text visually look a little better in this view. It’s a more advanced thing you might need to code for, but still an opportunity.

Alright, so the pros and opportunities for this one: I love those hyperlinks, really good alt text, and real imagery — doesn’t feel like it’s some stock email. What are some opportunities you liked, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen:Yeah. Maybe increasing the font size a bit too, because it is a lot of text and it can get small and hard to read. Also, just adding some warmth in there and helping with the flow and the message.

Matt Helbig: Nice. We’ll keep it moving. You Need a Budget — definitely a favorite on Really Good Emails. We have a few other emails featured. Definitely a standout one to me. You can take a peek at that email. Really fun background image here — repeating. This one was really fun. Maybe a little text-heavy; you could cut a paragraph or so. But I like the conversational tone and some of these illustrations here welcoming people to You Need a Budget — which I honestly do need, so this is great timing. So what stood out to you, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, it's very text-heavy. Again, sadly, I don’t read emails. So I kind of scan through it and then see the middle section, and I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do or click just by scanning. Which was kind of sad for me. But I love the tone. The messaging was really nice. I think it could be tightened up a little bit.

I think it was a nice color block in the middle. I wish they did a little more with that to help sell their message. But overall, I think the background is kind of fun.

Matt Helbig: Actually, I don’t think it’s blinking.

Kelsey Yen: Oh, okay. I was like, is it a gif? No, but it is fun and kind of adds that brand identity. If I were to see this background again, I’d definitely know who they are. But it is bordering on neon for me — a little bright.

Matt Helbig: Definitely

Kelsey Yen: So, I don’t know — maybe tone that down a bit.

Matt Helbig: It’s an interesting experiment. As someone said in the chat, maybe background images don’t always work. You can set just a solid fallback color that doesn’t include the illustrations. I don’t think it takes anything away from the message if it’s not there, but it is a fun visual addition to make it stand out. As you said, I like that section that says “Next Steps.” It’s clear they’re trying to outline what you want to do, and they’re showing you, “In the next email, we’re going to talk about additional things.” So it’s nice to set the stage, but maybe there’s a way to add a better CTA here.

I think this conversational, almost plain-text type of email probably works well for them. I’m sure they’ve tested both styles. It’s a fun welcome email. It’s nice to connect like this, with a little sign-off at the bottom. A fun one, but maybe some opportunities to test out other things and see what performs even better.

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, like you said, it’s about building relationships, and I think they do that really well.

Matt Helbig: And I think for opportunities, we added maybe some clearer CTAs — what’s next for the user — a little more defined. Cool. And that neon background — yeah, definitely stands out. 

Kelsey Yen: It’s just bordering on neon, just a little less would be good.

Matt Helbig: Kelsey only likes emails in black and white. No visuals.

Alright. We have an all-image email from Riddle that I think we could look at. The content was pretty good, but the all-image lockup stood out as a reason it wouldn’t be featured on Really Good Emails. So we're at the beach now with Riddle. There’s some really long alt text. Centered text that’s getting a little hard to read for me. What else for you, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: Yeah. The center alignment is a bit difficult for me. But I think it’s a solid email, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be all image. Based on the layout, it could easily be done with live text.

So it’s just a matter of making those changes. And again — I don’t want to be that person — but the long sentences in all caps? I have a hard time with that. When they go down here with “nude beach,” “Milky Spray Lotion,” and things like that — if it were just normal sentence case or even title case, it would help me read and see it better. But all in all, it’s a nice email. It just needs a few tweaks to make it more accessible.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, I agree. It's not just you. A lot of people are impacted when all text is hard to read. For this one, I like lifestyle imagery — I think it's really cool for brand-building — but I need to see an actual product shot. An email that balances both lifestyle imagery (seeing the product on people) with a shopping section that shows a product card or standalone shot makes it feel more real and accessible to me.

So having this broken out from the lifestyle image into a product card would add a lot. Maybe also adding more benefits around each of the different products could be fun to try. Cool. So, as we said — contrast is pretty good, accessibility is decent. I was unsure at first, but it looks like the text is relatively readable throughout.

Alt text is a little long and repetitive. I’ve learned that what I used to do was just take the image text and translate it one-to-one, and I’ve learned that better alt text is actually a little shorter, uses more natural phrasing, and becomes its own unique set of text—not just a one-to-one translation from the text in the image. Alright, keeping it moving. Some pros: good seasonal hook, nice photography, a bit of a luxury feel. There are also opportunities for improvement, like incorporating more live text. We’re moving a little quickly now, but we’ve got some more emails to go through. I want to leave a bit of time for Q&A at the end.

So, we’ve got Smoosh, which is a fun brand. What does your millennial brain say about this one, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: My millennial brain likes it.

Matt Helbig: I mean, I never knew I needed a bag for my soap, but now I do.

Kelsey Yen: I don’t know why, but I want it—especially with the ooze. I think ooze was a big part of my childhood for some reason.

Matt Helbig: Okay, you’re pretty into goo, good to know.

Kelsey Yen: But yeah, this is a fun brand and a fun email. I like it. I think they do a nice job with the later sections—the text over the image. Again, it's a little hard to see with the busy background, but instead of doing this slice-and-dice thing, it could easily be live text instead.

There are some opportunities there, but overall I like the nice blocking of messages. They put the title, then the image, then the copy, which helps keep everything together in a neat sandwich, instead of the image being too far from the text and copy—which I enjoy.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, I agree. From an accessibility perspective, this section was a little hard to read visually because of the background tiles behind the text. Maybe they could do that differently. I did like scrolling through the email. Like you said, it sort of guides your eye down through the different sections. Why it has to be an all-image email, I don’t know—this could clearly be live text, especially the CTA. That might help on mobile. The CTAs are pretty large for tapping, but the text itself could be small and hard to read on a smaller screen. Yeah, it’s weird to me. When you do a link like this in an image, it doesn’t really make sense. It’s like a fake link—you can’t actually tap it.

And then the footer is solid. I think they could make it a little more accessible, especially with the different sections. But I like that they’re connecting to more brands by having this bottom navigation, which we’re seeing a lot more with DTC brands. Okay, contrast: we’ve got a maybe. Like I said, in that top section, some of that text has contrast failures on the hero image. The rest of it is pretty good, but I’d love to see a solid background color instead of that textured one—it would be easier to read.

Alt text: also a maybe. We’re looking for around 125 characters max. Simplify the message; don’t keep it one-to-one. Adjust it to be easier for screen readers. Live text: we’re trying to find a balance. Sections that can be live text should be. Maybe the hero section is harder, but a section like this should definitely just be live text. That helps with translations, screen readers—there are a lot of reasons to use it.

Some pros for me: it’s a fun, timely product launch email. But like we said, on the opportunity side, there could be more product shots. That would make the email feel more shoppable, rather than relying solely on lifestyle photos. Cool. We’ve still got a little time, so let’s move on. 

Next is Education First. I wanted to highlight this one because it’s our first dark mode email.

Dark mode is definitely something to consider. You can use code to set a specific style for people who prefer dark mode. I always have dark mode on—I'm a night kind of guy. It’s just a different view, but something worth thinking about when setting up your emails. Consider how it may look on different screens and how it visually changes for the reader. First impressions on this gap year email, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: First, I’ll say the experience in both dark mode and light mode is identical, which is amazing and very hard to do—it rarely happens. So, great job to them. I think they do a nice job. I believe Janessa mentioned a 60/40 rule for images vs. live text, and I think they’re following that. There are image sections, but if I’m not mistaken, some of this is live text.

They’ve done a good job mixing the two. They’re incorporating images, but also keeping a thoughtful message. There are a lot of images, but I like the little blue square in the corner—it helps create consistency. Even though the images are bright and very different, that blue square kind of anchors the visuals and makes it cohesive.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, I like the layout. A lot of travel brands use aspirational, visually interesting photography. But to me, this feels a little too stock. Like, the people in a meeting, having fun—it visually matches the content, but it just feels too templated or overly generic. I know not everyone has the budget for custom photography, but it feels like they’re relying too heavily on stock images. The mobile view could also use some improvement in how the content is sized. But I do like that they included dark mode and a hover effect on the “Connect” button. Those little touches help the email stand out.

Content-wise, it’s just a bit too dependent on visuals. It could be more cohesive and original.

Alt text: maybe. Some of these images could be more descriptive. The experience is okay, but again, relying so much on images limits what content is accessible. Dark mode: pass. There’s a media query that detects the preferred color scheme and allows you to define alternative styles. You can clearly see the difference between the light and dark versions. Definitely something to keep in mind—add dark mode styling and test it.

So, overall: good to see both modes working well and a pretty consistent experience. Opportunity-wise, maybe a better mix of content could help the email stand out more. Alright, on the home stretch. 

We’ve got another one from Genesis Health Clubs. Pretty long email. Initial thoughts, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, it’s a lot of text. This is my first time seeing this one, so this is a live reaction. Yeah, the font feels too condensed. I’d like more spacing between the lines, especially for scanability. The font size is also small. I do like that it’s left-aligned, though—it helps with readability.

But I think we need to understand what the goal of the email is. Is it just to get someone to schedule a tour? Because if it is, then I think we can pare down this message a bit, or we can add more visuals to make the bullet points—why I’d want to do that—a little more evident. Right now, I’m kind of missing it. And I don’t think everything at the bottom is necessary if the main goal is just to schedule a tour. So those are my thoughts.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, definitely a little heavy in the beginning. I think it starts off relatively strong. Scheduling your tour should be the main CTA, but breaking this out—maybe like some of the other emails—visually, you could link this to different iconography or something. For body text, 14 to 16 pixels is usually what we recommend. There’s a lot going on here. I think they could simplify it to feel more welcoming—like, “I’m new to this brand.” Maybe add a phone number: “If you have any questions, reach out.” They could add a bit more personality to this section. It’s a little hard to read for me. And then these sections kind of feel like I’m getting an ad from some sketchy weight loss website. It just feels off. It doesn’t connect with the goal of joining a gym.

Kelsey Yen: Yeah, the blue button on the purple background—it’s tough.

Matt Helbig: We also had our design team take a stab at this one. Visually, it’s a little different—just switching things up and pulling in more of their actual brand colors from the website. It’s still a little long, but maybe there’s a bit more connection here around scheduling the tour. We also broke out the “What makes this different” section using more live text and stylistic elements. I like this section—it feels a little more luxury, more polished, with some of their brand colors.

Personally, I think they need a new logo, but that’s just me. Overall, it’s a better experience—more scannable, more readable. I think going for a more luxurious feel is the way to go. So, alt text—I had to give this one a fail. I’ve been pretty nice so far, but I saw one that just said “Untitled Design 58.” That’s really helpful alt text—it gives me great context about what the image is.

Kelsey Yen: It tells me about your desktop folders.

Matt Helbig: Exactly. We’ve also got “Header1_V2,” which I also enjoyed as alt text. So yeah, definitely an opportunity to improve accessibility here. Maybe just… don’t expose yourself that much. Alright, that wraps it up. We’ve got a lightning round coming up. I don’t want anyone to miss out on us reviewing their email, so we’ll do a quick one—maybe a minute each—for the remaining ones. Cool with you, Kelsey?

Kelsey Yen: Cool.

Matt Helbig: Alright. We’ve got this email from Plaid. Very fun. Nice use of live text. I like this one. How about you?

Kelsey Yen: I like it too. As soon as you showed it, I was like, “Ooh!” I love the use of their brand colors. I assume that glow effect is very on-brand for them—it’s carried throughout the whole email, which is great. Some of the text color—I’m not sure it would pass accessibility. That lighter blue on the dark blue background could be an issue. But overall, I like the message. It’s very easy to scan. They have CTAs for each section and a nice flow down the page that helps me navigate the email.

Matt Helbig: Cool. I forgot to plug this earlier, but if you have any questions, leave them in the chat. We’ll try to answer some at the end. Yeah, I like this one. The brand colors are great. It’s not technically dark mode optimized—it’s just their brand palette—but I do think the high contrast stands out. They did a good job with the mobile view too—switching up content, mixing plain-text CTAs with buttons. That works really well.

Now we’ve got this one from Clean Cause—a welcome email with a big coupon code at the top. Thoughts?

Kelsey Yen: I mean, I like the big coupon. If that’s what you want people to focus on, it does the job. But someone mentioned in the chat—is it highlightable?

Matt Helbig: It’s an image. Right. So it would be nice if the code was copy/pasteable. I think they include it lower in the email as actual text, which helps. But when you put a border around text like that, people assume it’s live text. It’s harder to make that style live, so I get it. But visually, this feels like a holdover from print design—a design trend that hasn’t evolved much. No hate to coupon cutters, but we’re probably not cutting out coupons digitally anymore.

This could be stronger visually—focus more on the product or welcome messaging. Maybe use brand colors to make it pop a bit more. And then this section at the bottom—there’s a lot going on. If you mention someone’s name, include a photo or a solid break in the layout. I think this email could honestly end earlier. It’s great to know they’re donating profits and doing addiction recovery work, but maybe there’s a cleaner way to present that. Visually, it’s starting to feel too long and disjointed.

Alright, next is Spot Insurance. I got this one after submitting a form to get a pet insurance quote. What do you think?

Kelsey Yen: It’s cute. I mean, anytime I see a puppy in a picture, I’m like, “Aww.” So I like it.

But from an email perspective, they’ve got a clear CTA right at the top, which is great. It’s a solid email. Simple, but they do a good job highlighting all the plans and links where you can get personalized info. I like that yellow section in the middle—it’s nice.

Matt Helbig: Yeah. I just feel like there’s a better way to communicate all this. Maybe one sentence or one tighter paragraph instead of this full scroll. The price comparisons are helpful—like, “Here’s what we’d cover”—but maybe that could be visually stronger. Highlight the net savings right up top. It’s smart to lean on pet photography, but the layout could be more organized. As we get further down, the sections feel a bit too ad-like. There’s a lot going on with emojis and different formats.

Visually, it’s a good breakup, but overall it feels like a Frankenstein email—different parts stitched together. It needs a clearer through-line to get users back to that quote or price.

Alright. Next up—this one's in German. I know you don’t speak much German, but what do you think?

Kelsey Yen: I like it. Visually, it’s really nice. Strong brand identity. The colors come through in both the products and the email. The icons are nice too. It does feel a little busy toward the bottom, but I like that social proof statement at the top—even though I can’t read it, I assume it’s something like a customer testimonial or user-generated content. And we’ve got a coupon again—I see the dotted lines, which help me find it. And it’s copy/pasteable, yay.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, nice that it’s live text. I just wish more of the email used live text, especially in the smaller sections that get tough to read on mobile. Overall, a solid one. Like you said, a little busy as you scroll. I’d probably suggest trimming it down. Maybe start with one large content block and two supporting sections, and leave it at that. Just a bit shorter overall.

Alright, last one—this highlights email. A nice welcome email. What are your thoughts?

Kelsey Yen: I like it. I think it’s really nice—really fun. They do a great job with the branding. It looks like there’s that nice little GIF for "Shop It." I like that they keep the circle motif throughout the whole message—it’s at the top, in the hero image. The 20% off really stands out. Again, it looks like it’s all image-based, which is unfortunate. I think they definitely could’ve done a split. But design-wise, it’s really well done. It’s consistent throughout, and the color choices help guide my eye to the specific information they want me to see first. I think they did a really nice job on the design side.

Matt Helbig: Yeah, for me, having that code locked in an image is kind of a bummer. Like you said, visually it’s strong—using white space to separate the sections. I do think that transition could be improved. You catch me with that GIF as I scroll down, but it feels a little abrupt. I usually don’t like the Z-pattern style of emails, but in this case, it actually works for me.

I’d just suggest using live text to build these sections. You could easily do a two-column split, with live text on one side and an image on the other. And then on mobile, stack them or adjust the layout for a better experience. It’s a pretty solid welcome email. From an accessibility standpoint, though, there are definitely some opportunities for improvement.

Alright, thanks everyone for joining today. It was fun walking through some of your emails. Cool. Kelsey, thanks for jumping on. Thanks, everyone, for stopping by. Have a fantastic Friday, and we’ll see you on the next one.

Matt Helbig & Kelsey Yen: Bye!