This Thursday, May 16th, marks the 13th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) – a day dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of digital accessibility and inclusion. But for marketing managers and practitioners, GAAD shouldn’t be just a single day on the calendar. Accessibility should be a core tenet woven into your digital strategy, not just a pizza box to tick for compliance.
In this article, we’ll debunk the myth that accessibility is a barrier to growth. We’ll explore the vast and often untapped market of people with disabilities (over 1 billion globally!), and how prioritizing accessibility can actually expand your audience reach and fuel business success. Let’s break down the key benefits and practical strategies to make your digital experiences inclusive for everyone.
Why Accessibility Matters for Marketers
A Moral Imperative: At its core, accessibility is about ensuring everyone has equal access to information and opportunities in the digital world – it’s simply the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint. But beyond moral considerations, there are significant business advantages to embracing accessibility as a marketing priority.
A Growing Market: People with disabilities represent a significant and often overlooked market segment. By making your digital content accessible, you’re opening doors to a vast pool of potential customers estimated at over 1 billion people worldwide. Numerous studies show that people with disabilities are fiercely loyal and brand-conscious consumers, more likely to choose companies that cater to their needs through inclusive products and experiences.
Enhanced Brand Reputation: In today’s socially conscious climate, prioritizing accessibility demonstrates your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. This resonates powerfully with modern consumers, strengthens brand affinity, and boosts your reputation as a company that cares about underrepresented communities.
Improved SEO: Many accessibility best practices directly align with search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. For instance, using descriptive alt text for images not only benefits visually impaired users but also helps search engines better understand and index your content.
Making it Happen: Practical Strategies for Accessibility
Start with Empathy: Great accessibility starts with empathy – putting yourself in the shoes of someone with a disability. Use tools like screen readers or try browsing your website with just a keyboard to identify potential friction points and barriers in the user experience.
Focus on WCAG Guidelines: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 provide a globally recognized, robust framework for creating accessible digital content. Familiarize yourself with these guidelines and use them as a roadmap for your accessibility journey across web, mobile, and other digital channels.
Prioritize Clear Content: Beyond just technical specifications, a core tenet of accessibility is intuitive information architecture and clear, well-structured content with obvious calls to action. This “plain language” approach benefits everyone, including users with cognitive disabilities or differing levels of technological proficiency.
Embrace Alt Text: Don’t leave visually impaired users in the dark! Providing descriptive, contextual alt text for all images, graphics and multimedia content on your website and social media is an accessibility basic that also enhances SEO.
Enable Keyboard Navigation: Ensuring your website and digital experiences are fully operable using just a keyboard (no mouse required) is crucial for users who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers or voice controls.
Prioritize Mobile Responsiveness: In today’s mobile-first world, ensuring your website, apps and marketing materials are accessible on all devices – with appropriate font sizing, tap targets and overall usability – is paramount for an inclusive experience.
Include an Accessibility Statement: Be transparent! Prominently include a clear accessibility statement on your digital properties, describing your organization’s commitment to inclusive design, specific efforts already taken, and avenues for users to report issues or provide suggestions.
Real-World Examples: How Brands are Winning with Accessibility
Microsoft: Microsoft has long been an industry leader and pioneer in accessibility, developing groundbreaking technologies like screen readers, speech recognition and other assistive tools to empower users with disabilities. Their commitment extends far beyond product development, with extensive educational resources, grant funding and training programs to guide developers, designers and organizations in creating accessible digital experiences.
Banco Santander: This Spanish multinational banking giant recognized a crucial fact – a significant portion of their customer base has visual impairments or other disabilities that could hinder their ability to access banking services. Instead of viewing accessibility as a burden, Banco Santander saw it as an opportunity to improve customer experience and expand their reach.
The impact of these accessibility improvements was multifaceted. Banco Santander reported a significant increase in online banking activity from customers with disabilities. Furthermore, the bank’s commitment to accessibility resonated positively with their overall customer base, strengthening their brand image as a socially responsible and inclusive organization. This case study demonstrates how prioritizing accessibility can lead to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and brand reputation.
BBC: As a leading global media company, the BBC understands the paramount importance of reaching all audiences equitably. Their website is a prime example of accessibility best practices in action, offering a wide array of accommodations like audio descriptions, closed captioning, adjustable font sizes and navigation assistance to ensure their world-class content can be consumed by everyone.
The Path Forward
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a powerful annual reminder, but it must also serve as a springboard for sustained action year-round. By embracing accessibility as an ongoing practice infused into your digital strategy and workflows, you’re not merely checking boxes for compliance – you’re proactively opening doors to engage wider audiences, strengthening brand reputation and affinity, and ultimately driving business growth.
The path forward is clear: let’s collectively commit to building a more inclusive digital world that empowers people of all abilities. Prioritize accessibility not as an obligation but as a golden opportunity to expand your reach and forge deeper connections with an immense, underserved market hungering for positive, tailored experiences. Because at the end of the day, that’s what accessibility is all about – ensuring every individual can not just participate, but truly thrive in our increasingly digital era.
The views expressed herein are personal and do not reflect the views of any of my clients, partners or employers. Some links may be affiliate links and are an endorsement of the product or service.
Photo Credit: Photo by Ricardo Resende on Unsplash
Original article: https://www.activelinkmedia.co.za/beyond-compliance-how-accessibility-opens-doors-to-a-broader-audience/