Question:
Do screen readers impact tracking pixels?
I’m starting a new occasional series called “Questions people have asked me,” and this is the first installment! If you want to ask me a question and have me answer it here, please go to this a11y.email questions google form. This is a no-judgment way to get your questions answered!
Today’s question comes from a friend who was concerned about the tracking pixel we use in emails and how that works with screen readers.
This primer on tracking pixels from Sinch Email on Acid is a good pit stop if you need it.
A tracking pixel is an important part of our email marketing campaigns. When a tracking pixel is loaded, it signifies that the email has been opened.
So, I think we’re trying to determine if screen reader users can be included in tracking pixel data. Essentially – are screen reader users part of my open rate, or do they not get counted because the tracking pixel isn’t loaded?
It’s an interesting question and I enjoy the curiosity. There are so many tiny details in the experience of using assistive technologies, especially when paired with the experience of email that you really just can’t know what you don’t know.
To answer this question, let’s demystify the concept of screen readers a bit. Screen readers are just another utility available to you on your devices. Some are baked into your operating system, like VoiceOver, Narrator, and Talkback. Others are external to your OS and can be purchased, like JAWs, or are free, like NVDA.
PS. I once pronounced NVDA like Nvidia and it still haunts my nightmares, a la teeth falling out or no pants at school. This isn’t relevant, but asking questions is vulnerable, so let’s be vulnerable.
I think of screen readers similar to how I think of plugins that enrich the experience of a program, except that screen readers enrich the experience of the entire device. Of course, screen readers are so much more than just enrichment, they open devices up, increasing accessibility for so many people.
When you use a screen reader, it doesn’t lock down the entire device, render the screen black, or stop displaying images. It just reads your computer content on the frontmost window in your operating system and unlocks some special keyboard shortcuts to get you to different kinds of information. If you’re on a mobile device or tablet, it gets a little bit more complicated, but instead of unlocking keyboard shortcuts, it opens a new universe of gestures to navigate the device with.
This makes sense when you consider that there’s actually a lot of diversity among screen reader users. Some screen reader users may be able to see just fine – as is the case for dyslexic, autistic, and ADHD communities that often use screen readers as assistive technology. There are also more people with low vision than no vision, so even folks with a vision disability will be more likely to see some of the screen than not. All this to say, you can’t make these kinds of assumptions about screen reader users, and screen reader creators would be pretty ignorant if they left out certain groups by forcing the screen black, for example. That would cut out most of their user base!
So screen readers themselves don’t impact tracking pixel loading.
However, it’s worth remembering that a screen reader user can turn their images off for the same reasons other people do, for security or speed. I’m sure emails load a bit faster without images, so it could be beneficial for a user who isn’t looking at them to turn them off. Though, it seems like a bit of extra work just for a few extra milliseconds in load time. (Because y’all are *not* using 1gig animated gifs anymore, right??)
Now, obviously, we really don’t have any data on how many screen reader users turn their images off. I would be curious if there’s even a notable difference from a statistical perspective. It could be, though I couldn’t find any notes concerning screen reader users turning the images off in their email clients anywhere, so I remain skeptical.
Nope. Stop. If you’re the email marketer I think you are, you’re already trying to figure out how to test for screen reader users to sus this out. First, you’re not the first person to ask this question; just go ahead and google “Screen reader detection,” and you can look at all the web developers who tried to solve this back in 2013. But before you go digging, I think you should really read this article, “Thoughts on screen reader detection” by Léonie.
Answer:
So the short answer is no, screen readers do not impact tracking pixel loading. However, screen reader users could turn image loading off on their email clients for security or speed-related reasons, but we have little way of knowing how many screen reader users do that.
Also, while you’re thinking about screen readers and tracking pixels, go ahead and add an alt="" to that tracking pixel so nobody has to read out that achingly long image URL. Thanks byyyyeeee.