Perhaps you built an easily navigable, functional website to give a hassle-free experience to people landing on your site. You also published quality content to entice customers and boost your online reputation. But what about people with disabilities?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that 61 million Americans have a disability that hampers their regular life activities.
In a country where over 266.7 million people shop online, you must take steps to make your site accessible to all, and here’s where web accessibility kicks in.
Accessibility solutions ensure to make your site available to all, including the disabled. Your user-friendly site can eventually spread positive word of mouth, boosting your sales.
What Is Website Accessibility and Why Is It Important?
The web is essentially built to work for everyone, regardless of their geographical location, ability, or language. When it meets its very aim, it’s accessible to all individuals.
However, disability changes how the web works for some people. For instance, the web must remove interaction barriers people may experience in the real world. Nonetheless, poorly designed sites are an obstacle for the disabled.
Currently, many websites and tools have accessibility barriers, preventing the disabled from using them.
Tim Berners-Lee, the investor of the world wide web, says, “The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Unfortunately, when a site fails to meet this definition, it loses its purpose. Web accessibility solutions, however, allow people with cognitive, speech, physical, auditory, neurological, and visual disabilities to access the web on the go.
Not only this, but it also has perks for people without disabilities. People using their smartphones, those with changing abilities due to aging, individuals with temporary disabilities, or those using a slow internet connection – you name it!
6 Epic Ways Web Accessibility Solutions Can Boost Your Sales
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide several recommendations for making the web more accessible, from adding alternative text to visual elements. All this and more to make text interpretation easier for screen readers and boost the site experience.
Plus, an accessible site also removes barriers for the disabled, creating a world without discrimination. Unfortunately, roughly 98% of the world’s top million sites have limitations and do not offer a fully accessible site to their visitors.
Therefore, investing in website accessibility can significantly impact your sales and revenue. Here are some encouraging reasons to make your site accessible to all.
1. Make Your Website More Appealing
Nothing attracts an audience more than a barrier-free website. Not only does it makes your site navigable, but it boosts their shopping experience. A visually appealing site is attractive, and people naturally love to explore anything that appeals to them.
Besides, while attractiveness is one thing, a clear website is also more accessible. This means that people with disabilities can search, find, and consume information with little effort.
As a result, more people will turn to your site because it’s offering what it should in a hyper-digitalized world.
Further, it is worth noting that over 50% of online shoppers are mobile users. Even more, the number is predicted to grow in the future. Web inaccessibility increases page abandonment rates because your site isn’t appealing to mobile users.
Visitors quickly leave sites they cannot comfortably use on their mobile devices. However, incorporating web accessibility solutions boosts sales by making your site attractive to mobile users.
2. Attract People With Disabilities
Did you know 23% of disabled US residents never go online? This implies that you’re missing out on a major audience that can significantly contribute to your business growth.
The web is a mode of gaining information and providing it. Therefore, it is essential that it gives an equal chance and provides access to people with disabilities.
By making your site accessible, you give the disabled a chance to shop online. This will keep them from visiting brick-and-mortar stores or depending on others to buy the items.
Everyone appreciates freedom and independency; the case isn’t any different for people with disabilities.
By offering an experience that makes them feel confident about their abilities, you’ll gain recognition among everyone. Consequently, more people would be willing to purchase from your brand.
3. Boost Your Brand’s Reputation
Reputation can make or break your business. It plays a critical role in shaping your business in a highly competitive digital world. Forbes conducted a study on 1,000 Americans and concluded the following trends:
- 88% of people are more loyal to brands that advocate social and environmental problems. Plus, 92% of individuals are more likely to trust that brand.
- 87% of customers buy items from businesses that support issues crucial to them.
Note that social responsibility is a critical part of website accessibility strategy. It allows one to form a positive brand culture, increase consumer loyalty, and boost business.
So, by utilizing accessibility solutions, you’ll hit two targets with one arrow – people with disabilities and those who do not have any.
Because the disabled are provided limited web access, they’ll naturally be drawn to a site boosting their experience. Moving forward, you’ll also attract people by supporting the community.
A survey reveals that the audience expects brands to be more accountable and socially responsible. So, you can impact their buying decisions by incorporating web accessibility and enhancing your reputation.
The more credible your brand, the more the audience will have something positive to say about it – a win-win for you.
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4. Retain Customers
Research unfolds that customer acquisition is 5-25 times more expensive than customer retention. While we do not discourage you from investing in new customers, you must not lose your existing customers.
They are the backbone of your business and the reason your brand experienced growth. Implementing accessibility features will help retain customers regardless of the circumstances.
For instance, the odds of developing a disability grow with age. As such, you may lose your regular, happy customers, which otherwise add to your business growth. By making your site accessible to all, you’ll gain long-term customers and keep them from turning to your competitors.
As such, you’ll also have to invest less in acquiring new customers. So, instead of spending more on gaining customers, improve your site’s experience. It will help you retain existing customers, and new ones will naturally be drawn to your site.
5. Sell Disability-Specific Items
Data reveals that 65% of disabled consumers feel they have limited purchasing choices, and 43% reported abandoning a site due to web barriers.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say businesses are losing billions by not targeting disabled consumers. However, investing in web accessibility allows you to make your site available to everyone. You can expand your line by selling disability-specific products.
Consider including services and items appealing to people with disabilities. Anything that upgrades their well-being can help you boost sales. For instance, you can include health equipment like communication aids, walking aids, hearing and vision aids, and artificial limbs.
Further pressure relieving mattresses, stair lifts, bed levers, wound dressings, and elastic stockings are other popular items. However, the key is getting the products tested and certified to ensure quality and gain customer trust.
You’ll experience your conversion rates surging after catering to the needs of the disabled. So, not only are you helping the disabled improve their lifestyle, but you are also creating a new source for boosting your revenue.
6. Keep Your Business from Lawsuit
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards, your products, services, and the site must be accessible to all, including the disabled. So, the law requires you to improve your website experience so that it doesn’t discriminate against anyone.
For instance, a person with impaired hearing must be able to navigate through your site and consume all the data. You can do so by providing a video that explains all the site features. This requires you to include transcripts or captions for the impaired people to read.
Otherwise, you’ll violate ADA compliance and might be vulnerable to litigation. Data unveils that over 2250 web accessibility lawsuits have been filed in the past. A lawsuit not only takes a chunk off your revenue but also negatively impacts your business reputation.
So, you’ll keep new customers from visiting your site, and selling products will become an uphill battle for you. To ensure your business keeps up with the trends and is socially responsible, you must consider web accessibility solutions.
In fact, it has become the need of the hour if you want your business to adhere to the law.
Final Words
As a whip-smart e-commerce owner, perhaps you know addressing accessibility is right. However, prioritizing the issue against other projects might seem challenging.
Fortunately, Accessibility Spark takes the burden off your shoulders by offering web accessibility solutions. The solutions adhere to WCAG and ADA standards and take as few as 5 minutes for execution with an automated setup.
Gone are the days when your top-notch services and products alone were enough to gain recognition and thrive as a business owner. You must go the extra mile to gain a competitive edge and take your business to new heights.
Web accessibility ensures your business caters to everyone’s needs by making customized profiles and offering a better experience.
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