Why You Should Focus on Web Accessibility to Ensure Your Business Isn’t Losing Customers
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility is designing and creating websites or web applications so that people of all abilities can access and use the digital services you provide. When designing and creating a website, you must consider various accessibility issues, such as using appropriate language, creating good color contrast, avoiding Flash, etc. If your website is inaccessible, it leaves a bad impression on your customers. People with visual or hearing impairments or certain physical disabilities may also have trouble accessing your content.
Why is Web Accessibility Important?
Designing inclusive and accessible websites and experiences empowers people with disabilities: By making your site accessible, you’re helping people with visual and hearing impairments, cognitive disabilities, and more get the information they need. This is crucial: in 2017, an estimated 2 billion people worldwide had a disability of some kind. It’s good for business: More than 55% of customers say they will not return to a business whose digital offerings they cannot access. And 46% of consumers say that a brand’s accessibility reflects its commitment to excellence. It can drive more traffic: When your site is fully accessible, Google may also show it in featured snippets and in other places. Google accessibility guidelines are extremely detailed, so having your site fully accessible can help you appear higher in search results.
Additionally, Google takes web accessibility into account when ranking websites for search engine results, so having an accessible website can help you get more traffic from organic searches.
How To Ensure Your Website is Accessible
Two main ways to make your site accessible are adapting your content and using accessible design. Adapting your content means adding alt text for images, video captions, and podcasts or audio transcriptions. The other side of accessibility is designing an accessible website. This might mean using a different coding language or avoiding certain design choices like Flash. It also means testing your site, so you can find any bugs or issues and fix them before they cause trouble.
Business Benefits of Having an Accessible Website
Better SEO: Having an accessible website will increase your chances of showing up higher in organic search results. According to Forbes, Google is increasing its focus on accessibility and is likely to award higher search rankings to sites with good practices.
More traffic: More than one-third of people won’t buy from a brand if they can’t find information on the website. Being accessible will help you reach more people and therefore increase sales.
Lower costs: When people can’t find your information or can’t use your website, they will often call customer support. Having a more accessible website can reduce that cost.
Customer loyalty: If you make an effort to be accessible, customers are more likely to appreciate that. A study from the University of St. Gallen found that 76% of customers are likely to recommend a brand after they have interacted with an accessible brand.
Key Takeaway
If your site is not accessible, you’re losing out on customers. More than one-third of people won’t buy from a brand if they can’t find information on the website. To avoid losing customers, make your site accessible by adapting your content and using accessible design. With an accessible site, not only will you be meeting legally-required standards, but you’ll also be able to better engage with customers, build loyalty, and increase your sales.
