When reading emails I have images disabled by default as a security measure. Disabling images prevents my emails being tracked when opening and allows me to see what efforts companies go to when promoting products or services.
One example that has stood out recently is the following email from Pizza Express luring me to eat more of their glorious pizzas:
I love the creativity used to make the lo-fi version of the email more interesting while getting the same message across as the hi-fi version. The use of image alt text is very effective with important text larger to grab your attention. The pixel/block waiter holding the chalkboard may not be obvious until you see the hi-fi version, but it is quite clever and shows a high attention to detail:
Comparing this to a promotional email from Prezzo, a competitor, the lo-fi version is not as effective with image alt text quite small:
Looking at the same email with images enabled we can see that the lo-fi version could have given a better representation of the hi-fi version.
Image alt text is very important and can be styled to give emphasis to headings or a ‘call to action’. Pizza Express have achieved this, but took it a bit further in a creative way – as they do with their pizzas!