Insights

Sep 17, 2021

Accessibility is Good For Business

Accessibility is Good For Business

Accessibility in business is merely designing your services to include everyone, irrespective of race, class, gender, age, and disability. Statistics reveal that roughly 30-40% of people worldwide need accessible websites today, and the need is especially dire for people with disabilities and seniors. 

Essentially, as the population ages, the share of people needing accessible websites increases. This change in demographics increases the share of disabled people in the population, and being able to meet the needs of the ageing population will become a crucial factor for businesses competing in the market.

While accessibility may seem like a hassle to implement, it presents numerous business benefits to your eCommerce store. This article will emphasize the most substantial advantages.

1. Gain a larger audience

Structuring your website to accommodate more individuals broadens your audience, resulting in more patronage of your offering. The necessity of this modification was emphasized in a survey1, that revealed 70% of disabled people exit an inaccessible site rather than trying to navigate through it. 

Further analysis reveals that these missed sales are valuable at a sound £17 billion, meaning you are losing out on an audience that is ready to dedicate their hard-earned money to your business if it is accessible.

2. Polish your brand by highlighting inclusivity

Having a bad reputation slowly degrades your business, while a good one builds and solidifies your presence as a profitable brand. Therefore, dedicating effort to be inclusive of other individuals presents your eCommerce store with more traffic since it stands out as a company that cares. 

Additionally, the current decade rewards brands that lean towards inclusivity with more coverage and word-of-mouth and abandon others that refuse to innovate. These factors make accessibility the best option for corporate prosperity.

3. Better customer experiences for all

Improving customer experience should be a priority for all businesses, regardless of industry. Fortunately, accessibility helps you accomplish this goal. Designing your website and digital service to include all people raises overall satisfaction with your website.


This factor is essential to any businesses’ success as a study reveals that boosting customer retention rate by a mere 5% can increase profit between 25% and 95%. Therefore, it is best to design your website in a way to improve the experience for all users, as all of us deserve equal and fair treatment from others.

4. Untapped growth potential for your business

The ability for disabled or older people to access your website or eCommerce store creates an avenue for business growth. Often these people are part of a support group or organization. Accessible services drive satisfaction with your business, prompting recommendations, translating into free marketing!

Combine this benefit with the previously stated advantages, and you have an advantage in your industry. 

5. Free search engine visibility

Accessibility affects positively the SEO of your business since adding the currently rare accessibility features to your website allows you to rank higher on search results.

Web accessibility links to search engine optimization (SEO) by providing relevant content to users. Accessibility tools and search engines are both based on machines reading the source code of your website, relying on website functionality, content structure, and semantics.

Making your website more accessible will translate to savings in marketing costs and boost more visitors.

Conclusion

Accessibility is worthwhile for any business wanting to grow its audience. Reconfiguring your website to contain features that allow different people to operate presents several benefits to your business. Accessible digital services attract more visitors, improve customer experience, save money on marketing, and position companies as inclusive and caring brands.

Want to know more? Contact Mikko to discuss how we could help you.

Mikko Mantila Photo

Mikko Mantila

Chief Executive Officer