When it comes to marketing online to people with disabilities, most companies haven’t a clue. I know this because I spent some time over the holidays looking at a variety of websites to assess how “disability friendly” they are.
Actually, when I say “some time” what I really mean is a cursory glance… because that’s all it took to discover pages upon pages of online information that is practically invisible to a huge group of potential online consumers — people with disabilities. Or in marketing terms, 750 million people worldwide who have a combined income of $188 billion dollars to spend on goods and services. You’d think with all that money at stake, online businesses would make building a Web site that is accessible to everyone a priority. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Part of the problem has to do with the way most Web sites are designed — they’re coded in a way that allows for limited or zero access, or in most cases no access at all, to visually impaired users who rely on screen-readers special screen-reading software to read the text and describe the Web site to them.
To give you an example, I ran Circuit City’s homepage* through a screen-reader simulator. The simulator revealed that hardly any of the site’s content can be accessed by visually impaired users. That’s because images account for almost all of the page content. Well, I’ve got news for Circuit City: A visually impaired person using a screen reader can’t access your site, let alone make a purchase. The way around this is to give all images descriptive text. In other words, provide a description of the image so people with visual impairments can enjoy the site in almost all its glory. Doing this is not expensive. It just requires some code fixes and a little time. But Circuit City (along with numerous other sites) hasn’t bothered. Still, if they don’t want the business, I’m sure there are plenty of other, smaller retailers that do.
Another problem is color contrast. People who are color-blind (7% of all men) have difficulty reading text on many Web sites. That’s because a lot of sites use colors that are indistinguishable to someone who has color blindness — colors tend to blend together. A simple way around this is to provide sufficient contrast between the foreground and background colors so the text can be viewed easily. But again, hundreds of sites, including many of the big retailers, don’t bother. I guess $188 million isn’t incentive enough.
Then there’s the problem with Flash: Web sites that use Flash are of no use to people using screen readers. At best, all a visually impaired person will see is the page title and a brief description. At worst, they’ll see nothing at all. How’s that for a marketing message!
The accessibility problems listed above highlight just a sampling of the issues people with disabilities face online, particularly those with some form of visual impairment. Believe me, there are many more. Check out www.w3.org for more information.
In the meantime, for all you Web site owners out there who would just love to get your hands on even a tiny portion of the $188 billion dollars that’s practically begging to be spent online, let’s run through some of the advantages of building a Web site that’s accessible to everyone.
Advantage #1
Increase your market share. Around 20 % of the population – 54 million people in the United States – have some form of disability. Throughout the world, that number increases to 750 million. It’s estimated that people with disabilities have a combined income of more than $188 million to spend on goods and services.
Advantage #2
Establish a relationship with affluent baby-boomers. As the baby-boom generation ages, the likelihood increases that they’ll face some form of disability. Companies who invest the time and effort to capture the loyalty of this group will reap the rewards for years to come.
Advantage #3
Improve search-engine-friendliness. A Web site built to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities is also easier for the search engine spiders to access and index. That means your site will stand a better chance of ranking highly in the search engine results.
Advantage #4
Reach people who use old browsers and handheld devices. Not everyone has the latest and greatest browser at their disposal. Non-standard operating systems, small screens, slow connections, text-only screens (PDAs), cell phones, etc. do not read Web sites in the same way as a normal computer. Accommodating these different systems will increase your reach and also tap into the growing number of people who use handheld devices to access the Web.
Advantage #5
Attract positive publicity. If you can claim your site is accessible to everyone, you can benefit from publicity that will enhance your company image in the eyes of the consumer.
Advantage #6
Protect yourself against litigation. In June 2001, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act went into effect. The act requires all US federal Web sites to be fully accessible to people with disabilities. It also requires that those providing information to federal Web sites must be accessible as well. Although there’s currently no legal requirement for non-federal websites to comply with this legislation, an accessible Web site will protect you against potential litigation in the future.
Want to check how well your site serves people with disabilities? Give it a test-run at www.cast.org/bobby
*Please note: It’s not my intention to pick on Circuit City. There are numerous other sites that don’t comply with accessibility standards, my own included. Of course, that will change when my new, improved site is launched. It’s coming soon…hopefully.