Presented by AudioEye
Globally, there are 1.3 billion people with a disability. We’re all familiar with the need for accessibility in the physical world — accessible bathrooms, electronic doors, Braille elevator controls and ramp access — but much less thought is given to digital accessibility. How does a blind person using a screen reader book travel, sign up for a bank account or consume news? Without a thoughtful approach to digital accessibility, in many instances, they can’t.
All websites need to be accessible and/or work with assistive technologies for people with visual, auditory, cognitive or physical disabilities. As technology leaders focus on building products with highly personalized experiences and publish new content and features rapidly, understanding how to maintain accessibility can pose a challenge for speed and growth. But with the right approach, it is possible.
Plus, it’s the right thing to do, it helps to create a more inclusive brand and keeps your company compliant with legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other guidelines like Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Approximately $6.9 billion a year is lost by brands with inaccessible websites — and that doesn’t factor in the costs of lawsuits. Over the last four years, the number of web accessibility lawsuits filed in federal court has increased between 12 and 14% annually — and not just for big companies. Any business is subject to being sued for web inaccessibility.
Whether a user is hearing impaired, preventing them from following videos without captions, or visually impaired, making it hard to read low-contrast text or has any other disability that makes it difficult to navigate your site — alienating them is bad for business.
How does your website compare?
Recently, AudioEye released an industry-first Digital Accessibility Index by scanning more than 2 million web pages and 3 billion elements across 40,000 of the world’s largest domains.
The most frequent accessibility barriers were related to image accessibility, form and keyboard usage and descriptive links or labels, all of which can significantly impact those who live with a disability. On average, 37 elements per page failed one of the WCAG criteria. That number may surprise many, but when you consider the number of links, images, buttons, text, colors, navigation, etc. on a page, there are many accessibility considerations for every page of a site.
Retail sites surprisingly had one of the highest page failure rates for image accessibility — 72% of retail pages had at least one image with missing or inadequate alt text. Many issues were found on log-in pages, product pages and checkout pages — exactly where you don’t want to lose a customer.
For travel sites, 73% of travel pages had at least one image with missing or inadequate alt text and 40% of travel pages with a form had at least one field that was not labeled. Try shopping around for the best deal on flights or hotels if you can’t even manage the date picker on the online calendar.
Similar issues exist on media sites, financial sites, even government sites.
Here are the steps you need to take:
Fix accessibility issues with technology
Accessibility doesn’t have to be your Achilles’ heel. Certain softwares can detect up to 70% of common accessibility issues and automatically fix about two-thirds of them. AI can help as well — recently we found that AI can reduce the time needed to assess and correct a complex accessibility issue by up to 10x.
Conduct manual audits with humans
Humans should be the final arbiter of accessibility issues that may be more subjective than others. In addition, not all content can be fixed with automation — video, audio and PDFs for example. Businesses should also employ manual testing by certified human experts and assistive technology users from the disability community.
Bake accessibility into ongoing website iterations
Put a scalable plan in place because every new post or site update is an opportunity to introduce new accessibility problems. One-time audits won’t cut it. Your CIO, CMO, webmaster or anyone who helps develop and maintain your website needs to make it a continuous priority.
Publish an accessibility statement
Publish an accessibility statement on your website that outlines your standards, includes any known accessibility limitations of your website, cites applicable national or local laws and provides contact details in case users run into unforeseen issues.
AudioEye provides a free website scan that will give you an idea of how your site compares, and what barriers might be keeping people with disabilities from successfully using your website.
Mase Graye is Chief Strategy Officer at AudioEye.
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.
Findings from the Digital Accessibility Index: Understanding accessibility barriers across the world’s biggest brands
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