Exclaimer helps customers meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility requirements for email signatures

LONDON & BOSTON, September 23, 2026 – Exclaimer, the leading provider of email signature management solutions, today announced the launch of Accessibility Controls, a collection of new and existing functionalities within Exclaimer that teams can use to ensure templates satisfy 28 WCAG 2.1 Level AA success criteria that apply to email signature content. 

Most organizational accessibility work targets websites and apps. Email signatures are usually left out, even though they go out thousands of times a day and reach more external stakeholders directly than almost any other communication channel. In an email signature, something as simple as missing screen reader labels where links provide no context, missing alt text, or contact details embedded as an image rather than text can make important information inaccessible to someone using a screen reader.  

For public sector and federally funded organizations in the US, accessibility requirements are becoming more prescriptive. The Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule requires state and local government web content and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with entities serving populations of 50,000 or more required to comply by April 26, 2027, and smaller entities and special district governments by April 26, 2028. Separately, organizations receiving HHS funding with 15 or more employees have until May 11, 2027, to bring web content and mobile apps into conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA under Section 504, while smaller recipients have until May 10, 2028. These rules do not set specific deadlines for email signatures, but they reflect growing regulatory focus on how organizations make digital information accessible.  

“Accessibility programs almost always start with the website,” said Paul Hammond, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Exclaimer. “Email signatures get missed because nobody thinks of them as digital content, but they are, and they appear in thousands of everyday business communications. With Accessibility Controls, IT can set the standard once, at the template level, instead of asking every employee to fix their own signature.” 

How Accessibility Controls work 

Exclaimer’s Accessibility Controls covers four capabilities inside the signature designer, some automatic and some configured by the template owner: 

1. Semantic structure. Signatures are built and output as structured, readable content rather than a table, so screen readers announce information in the order it's laid out. 

2. Screen reader (ARIA) labels. Interactive elements like hyperlinks can carry a descriptive label, so a screen reader says “Book a demo with our team” instead of “link.” 

3. Language declaration. Signatures can declare their language so screen readers use correct pronunciation, useful for organizations sending signatures in more than one language. 

4. Clickable QR codes. QR codes in a signature are made more clickable, giving recipients who can't or don't want to scan a code a working path to the same destination. 

These sit alongside existing controls: alt text set centrally at the template level, Brand Kits that keep approved color combinations and accessible fonts at or above WCAG's minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio for standard text, and text that renders as real HTML rather than an image, so it can be resized and read aloud. 

A first for email signature management 

Of the 50 Level A and AA success criteria in WCAG 2.1, 28 apply to content like an email signature. Exclaimer is the first and only email signature management provider to offer native functionality addressing all 28, without requiring customers to write HTML. 

Set at the template level, Accessibility Controls apply across an organization's email signatures in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace as soon as a template is published, with no need to touch individual employee signatures. 

Availability 

Accessibility Controls is available now within the Exclaimer signature designer, as part of Exclaimer's existing plans, for customers on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Notes:  

Key digital accessibility rules and compliance dates in the US and EU:

About Exclaimer

Exclaimer is the leading provider of email signature management solutions for Microsoft and Google email services. Its scalable cloud-based platform enables organizations to centrally manage and automate email signatures, supporting regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and brand consistency. Built for IT teams, Exclaimer simplifies administration by eliminating manual updates and maintaining full control over corporate email communications. 

Exclaimer delivers 20 billion email signatures from 10 million email accounts across 80,000+ organizations annually. Its customer base includes Sony, Mattel, Bank of America, NBC, the Government of Canada, the BBC, and the Academy Awards. 

Learn more at www.exclaimer.com or follow Exclaimer on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). 

Media relations contact:

Exclaimer: [email protected]

UK agency: [email protected]

US agency: [email protected]