1.9: Accessibility Benefits
An accessible website is an investment, not a burden. It improves the interactive experience for all users.
Benefit Outcomes
Drive Innovation
Accessibility features in products and services often solve unanticipated problems encountered by many customers.
- Video captions let people watch videos without sound in a quiet environment
- Descriptive colours help shoppers pick the best t-shirt to add to their ecommerce cart
- Captioned TikTok videos are viewed more than videos without captions.
Enhance Your Brand
Diversity and inclusion efforts, critical to business success, accelerate with a clear, well-integrated accessibility commitment.
- Diversity and inclusions builds trust and makes your brand relatable
- The impact of an accessible website goes beyond the person with a disability. 1 in 4 Canadians have a disability but that number is multiplied by that person’s family, friends and colleagues.
Extend Market Reach
The global market of people with disabilities is over 1 billion people with a spending power of more than $6 trillion. Accessibility often improves the online experience for all users.
- Content can be translated more effectively into other languages
- Plain language makes it easier for visitors learning your language
- An accessible website is a search-engine friendly website making it easier to be found.
Minimize Legal Risk
Many countries have laws requiring digital accessibility.
- A lawsuit or human rights case has a negative impact on your organization’s reputation.
- Potential fines and legal settlements can be significant.
- Settling legal claims can be a distraction from your primary operations.