Unlocking the power of accessible digital solutions

Accessible digital solutions is essential, as it benefits not only minority users but also ensures a seamless experience for all individuals.

Accessibility. That’s been the word coming out of many of our clients’ mouths this year. 

While most businesses understand the importance of having an accessible digital solution, they tend to overlook the immense benefits that a proper accessible digital solution strategy can bring to their customers and their bottom line. 

In this piece, we’ll explain why every business should strive for an accessible digital solution – not just to comply with the law – but also to enhance their customer experience, gain a reputation as an inclusive brand and expand their brand’s market reach.  

We’re noticing two big misconceptions around accessibility that a lot of businesses hold:   

First, that being accessible is just a compliance issue that has no broader business benefit – we’re here to tell you that couldn’t be more wrong. Being accessible is good for business.  

Consider this: in the EU, approximately 87 million people are living with disabilities and in Denmark alone, 21% of the population faces challenges in navigating the online world.  

If you neglect your accessible digital solutions you risk alienating users with disabilities and miss out on a huge market – and the numbers backs it up! A 2019 Nucleus Research study estimated that US e-commerce retailers were losing up to $6.9 billion of revenue opportunity to more accessible competitor digital solutions. Ouch.

Subtitles and good contrast are some of the features that enhance the user experience for everyone, regardless of disability.

Not only for the minority

The second misconception is that accessibility is just about making your digital solution usable to a small minority. In fact, aaccessibility and better usability go hand in hand, benefiting both people with permanent disabilities and those with situational or temporary limitations. 

Consider the example of accessibility features for visually impaired individuals. 

By implementing accessible design principles like screen reader compatibility, alternative text for images, and keyboard navigation, digital solutions become easily navigable and engaging for people with permanent visual disabilities. 

But these accessibility features also caters to situational or temporary challenges. Whether someone is experiencing eye strain after an operation or struggling to read in bright sunlight, features like adjustable font sizes, high contrast options, and responsive design enhance the user experience for everyone. 

And we all know that superior user experiences lead to happier customers, increased conversions, and repeat purchases! 

If you’ve ever watched a Netflix show with captions on, increased the font size on your phonor, asked Alexa a question with your voice, you’re using accessible technology. Many inclusive principles have now shifted into being mainstream examples of good user experience.   

For example, 70% of Gen Z use subtitles ‘most of the time’ when watching video content. They listed better understandability and avoiding disturbing people around them with noise as key reasons behind this. Accessibility innovations are finding broader applications every day.   

Being mindful of the continuum from permanent or temporary disabilities to situational impairments can help you rethink how your design can scale to more people in new ways. Let’s dive into the three categories of disability that businesses who follow inclusive design principles will better cater to: 

In the United States, 26,000 people a year suffer from loss of upper extremities. But when we include people with temporary and situational impairments, the number is greater than 20M. Find the full report here. 

If your digital solution isn’t accessible, you’re excluding millions of potential customers. And by 2025 you’ll also potentially be breaking the law. 

The key piece of legislation you need to know about is the European Accessibility Act. The wide-ranging accessibility legislation is already a legal requirement for the public sector, and by 2025, most private sector businesses will also need to comply with its terms.  

If you’re a business that sells products or services online within the EU, the Act will affect you. In fact, it specifically states that ‘e-commerce’ is covered. 

But web accessibility isn’t a one-off project. Or just a matter of compliance. It’s about continuous improvement. That means that your web pages, product descriptions and even PDFs should be accessible. If this sounds overwhelming, don’t worry. it doesn’t mean your digital solution needs to be accessible to every single person in the world, immediately. By getting the right accessibility roadmap in place this year, your digital solution can soon be accessible to the vast majority of people.  

There’s a further business case here: the EU Commission estimates that eliminating accessibility barriers can reduce business costs by up to 50%! 

In summer 2022, the new accessibility law was passed, and by 2025, the law will become binding. This leaves you with a two-year window to ensure your accessible digital solutions compliance before it becomes a legal requirement.

At IMPACT, we’re all about changing commerce for the better. So, guiding our clients on how to incorporate accessible design principles into their e-commerce platforms is a natural fit for us.   

That’s why we set up the IMPACT Accessibility Taskforce. We don’t think of accessibility as a ‘one-off’ project, or as an add-on service. Instead, we treat it holistically. We strive to make our clients’ platforms inclusive at every touchpoint, from design, to backend to QA.  

Most recently, we’ve performed an Accessibility Review for our client Indeks Retail A/S. 

Did you know that the average website has 50 accessibility issues? Solving that problem requires a four-step plan: 

Why choose an accessibility partner?

Seen a software company offering a ‘one-click-compliance solution that guarantees accessibility? We get the appeal, but we recommend you look away. These companies are increasingly coming under fire from accessibility organisations and courts for breaking accessibility laws and even making digital solutionsless accessible! 

But what are they, and how do they work? An accessibility overlay tool is an automated software plug-in, app or widget that (claims to) find and fix accessibility issues on your website via JavaScript. In truth, they’re only capable of detecting 20-30% of accessibility issues! 

And don’t count on them to protect you from legal trouble either. The online glasses company, Eyebobs, was sued for having an e-commerce site that was incompatible with screen readers by a blind plaintiff: despite using an accessibility overlay solution. Eyebobs was court-mandated to fix the issues.   

When it comes to accessibility, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!  

By making digital inclusivity part of your business strategy and thinking about it holistically, rather than as an afterthought, you can set your business up for long-term success, expand your customer base and build loyalty towards your inclusive brand.