Basics:
Links Deep Dive
Part 4
Alrighty – we’ve covered a lot of info about links! In Part 1, we talked about how users use links, Part 2 was about how we can format our links, and in Part 3, we talked about our actual link text.
Today, in Part 4, I’m taking a bit of a step back and asking a broader question about why we feel the need to link everything. That’s right, I’m talking about an accessible linking strategy.
Many of my discussions with email marketers boil down to paradigm shifts. And it’s hard, it really is.
Most of what we’re talking about when creating accessible emails lacks metrics. There isn’t a great way to measure how many people with disabilities receive your emails. Even if there were, we know that those numbers are not going to be large enough numbers to sway decision-makers the same way our arguments about responsive emails did back in the day.
So, I’m writing this knowing that most of you will end up clutching your pearls by the end of this discussion. I’m asking you to give up the one thing you can still use as a solid benchmark.
I’m asking you to reduce your links.
I know! I KNOW!! It’s unthinkable!! No one will ever go for it – it’s revolutionary!
But it really isn’t. Based on my inbox and client work, there is a real movement toward using fewer links. I’ll get more into this later, but before you go all belligerent with me, know that this is a thing that’s happening and it’s a good thing!!
I’d like to take this conversation down to user personas. I tend not to use them often because they can be limiting and over-generalized, but I think that sometimes we, as marketers, get so focused on our metrics that we forget about the people behind the inbox. So here are a few examples of users that have trouble with too much linking:
User 1: This user uses a screen reader to navigate their emails. To get through long emails, they pull up the rotor on their iPhone and jump from link to link to get to their desired link. Wow – this email has… so many links. It will take forever to get to the link they want! The link text is clear enough that they know what links they don’t want, but geez, can this sale be good enough to make up for all this wasted time?
User 2: This user is really interested in the content in the email they are reading. They are learning about how their favorite non-profit is changing their community. They read very slowly and have the email zoomed in to 200%, but as they scroll down to read the rest of the sentence, they accidentally trigger the link wrapping the paragraph text. Now they’re taken to a donation page and can’t find the rest of the story they were reading.
User 3: This user is not used to having trouble navigating the digital world. They used to work in tech but have developed a condition that makes fine motor coordination difficult. They want to download an app from the email they received, but every time they go to activate the link, their hand shakes slightly, causing an adjacent link to activate instead. If there were extra space around the link they wanted to use, it would be easier to repeat attempts to get it right. But instead, the user gets frustrated because there is no margin for error.
User 4: This user gets overwhelmed by too many options and can get confused when multiple links go to the same place. A long-form email attempts to entice the user to read an article online, but the many links throughout the email make the user think there are different articles to read. The user keeps clicking back and forth between the article and the email because they can’t determine if that’s the right article. Eventually, they get overwhelmed and give up.
As you can see in the above examples – even if we meet all the other link criteria, many users have real problems interacting with emails with a more aggressive linking strategy.
Linking everything isn’t just annoying, it’s yet another way we can inadvertently keep users with disabilities from interacting with our emails.
What does the WCAG say?
Well, here’s the thing – the WCAG doesn’t actually have a specific criterion for the number of links on a page or even for redundant links on a page. Some technique documents inadvertently provide solutions that reduce the number of links on a page, but that is not their primary purpose.
So this ends up being more like a known best practice than a hard and fast rule, but it’s not that straightforward. Redundant links were actually listed as one of the failures of the Domino’s website in the landmark Robles v. Domino’s, LLC case. So there is legal precedence that lets us know that this is not a good thing to do. (Disclaimer: I’m obviously not a lawyer and this is obviously not legal advice)
What are we seeing in our inboxes?
As someone who pays a lot of attention to these things, I’ve been stoked to see more of these “Don’t-link-all-the-things!” emails in my inbox. A few examples from a recent ReallyGoodEmails.com dive give me these gems:
While these might not be perfect examples (I am not doing full reviews here, sheesh) – when you scrolled through those in the coded preview mode – did you feel something?
Was it relief? Does it actually feel good to have space between clicks??
Did you feel confident that if you clicked on any of these links, you’d go exactly where you wanted to go?
Like I said, I’ve been watching my inbox and I’m seeing a real change in what is and isn’t linked. I’ve seen a real reduction in redundant links to a considerable degree – and I absolutely love it! Different brands are focused on different things – some just link the CTA, some the image and CTA, and some the heading and CTA. Clearly, I think you should always link the CTA, it would be so weird if you didn’t.
Paradigm Shift: Intentional Clicks
Before, our linking strategy was more like a gigantic net – we’ll get you in somehow! It doesn’t matter if you want to click on that link or if it’s an accident – we’re getting that click so we can high-five each other on how great we are!! Right??
Are you seeing how that really isn’t getting us to where we want to be?
Folks opening and reading your emails want to engage with your content! Making that experience somewhat predictable and expected makes for a better experience. You can wow them in so many amazing ways – make sure it’s not, “Wow, this email is a total pain to navigate.”
Allow them to click on your links intentionally. Make it easy for them to do so. Reduce frustrations. Reduce overwhelm. Link only the things that must be linked to carry your users to their desired destination. (Also, follow the previous three parts so you’re also creating good links!)
Rely on your design and copy team to craft amazing messages that elicit action – and let that action be focused and intentional.
– Deep Breath –
We can be a part of this change and move forward and find ways to get our users to the links they want.