Author: Ben Crudo / Source: The Next Web
In a time where a million different worthy causes are vying for our attention online, it’s impressive to note that World Wildlife Fund of Canada recently pulled off one of its most successful fundraisers of all time, bringing in over $21 million in revenue for the year.
How did they do it? Not through a big marketing push, or a campaign tugging at the heartstrings of existing donors.
They simply improved the accessibility of their website.Some updated tags on the backend, and a new mobile-friendly design, and suddenly, the “Donate Now” button was blowing up — along with the checkout for the WWF’s online store.
The internet is known as the great equalizer, democratizing access to information for the masses, but a major blind spot for web designers and online businesses — especially retailers — has been creating websites and online stores that are accessible to people with disabilities.
If you stop to think about it, ignoring accessibility on the web is a serious oversight, especially in a climate where designing for inclusivity and diversity in other realms is a hot topic.
No retailer in their right mind would build a brick-and-mortar store that wasn’t accessible to people with mobility concerns, and yet the online world can be hazardous for the 15 percent of the world’s population living with disabilities.
For example, hearing-impaired users may have trouble with uncaptioned videos, people with vision loss often struggle to read delicate typefaces or light-colored text, and those with dyslexia can have difficulty navigating websites without a site map.
New legislation in Canada and the U.S. will soon subject businesses that don’t comply with accessibility standards to fines and penalties, but there’s a another reason to make your website user-friendly — for everyone: It’s one of the simplest ways to boost business.
An untapped market
Beyond the fact that people with disabilities deserve the same access to information and opportunities as everyone else, this oft-ignored demographic comes with a lot of purchasing power. Ignoring it is tantamount to leaving money on the table.
Nearly 60 million Americans live with some sort of disability, a number that will only grow as Baby Boomers, a.k.a. “the wealthiest generation in history”, continue to age and encounter more hearing, vision, mobility and cognitive challenges.
Excluding that many potential customers…
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