This is an important time for digital accessibility. “Javier in Frame” captured hearts at Super Bowl LVIII. Sony’s Access Controller opened more video game options following its December 2023 release. The forthcoming enforcement of the EU Accessibility Act in 2025 has many tech product chiefs thinking about the needs of users with disabilities in a more focused way.
It’s no surprise that brands are embracing these hopeful developments. There is a large community of users with disabilities (42.5 million Americans) and one-quarter of people in the workforce have a health condition or disability that limits a significant life activity. This means there is a high chance the buyer of your product either has or personally knows someone living with a disability. Smart tech brands and startups will think about the needs of this user group and do what they can to optimize digital accessibility, especially in view of the rising trend of lawsuits towards brands that overlook it.
While these developments prove there is an urgent need to uplevel your accessibility, don’t panic. There are lots of resources available to help your marketing team and your digital technology development team get started on your digital accessibility journey. We recommend following these five tips:
1. Remember the key role accessible digital products and marketing channels can play in user loyalty
Firebrand client Fable works with a Tester Community made up of users with disabilities who give feedback to tech brands, and it creates a clear path forward for companies that want to create a competitive edge. Three out of four members in that community choose the devices they’ve mentioned because they are the most accessible options. Nine in ten try to find a better option when they encounter an inaccessible brand and then stick with it once they find one that meets their needs.
Research shows the sheer magnitude of accessibility’s financial impact. Some estimates put just one market segment — video games — at a potential to grow $7.8bn annually within the US alone as a result of bringing to market more accessible options for users with disabilities.
2. Follow these accessibility best practices embraced by the design community:
- Avoid decorative fonts and use italics, bold text, and all caps sparingly.
- Optimize the contrast ratio for colors — obviously black text on white background and reverse are good, but what if you want to incorporate specific brand colors? Refer to a best-practices guide to optimize your color selection. A good rule of thumb is a minimum ratio of 4.5:1 contrast.
- Text color shouldn’t be the way of communicating information. Provide a secondary way of sharing the information, such as underlining a hyperlink.
- Content should not be lost by an assistive device such as a screen reader, so space your text carefully and don’t try to cram too much on the page.
- Content should be legible even by those with low vision so avoid fonts that are small.
- When it comes to images, you have two choices: don’t include any text on them, or ensure that the text has a secondary format on the page. For example, this blog post has the headline in the image but also as the header for the page. Assistive technology will read the alt text for the image but it can be limiting if the image contains a lot of information such as a text overlay. Consider separating and keeping images just as images and text just as text.
3. Take advantage of all the easy-to-follow online guides to find the easiest places to start improving your digital accessibility
Fast Company has an aptly-named “all you need guide to designing a truly accessible website.” The A11y Project has a deep library of resources, guides, and even a glossary of commonly-used terms among accessibility experts and disability advocates that will help you understand this user group better.
Fable has a webinar series with experts from Spotify, CVS Health, Booking.com, NBCUniversal, and more. These presentations tie digital accessibility practices to other tech development practices, such as shifting left in the product development cycle.
4. Educate your market and product development team about why this needs the human touch and can’t be automated
Good news — AI is not yet coming for your job as a marketer, and it’s also not going to replace digital accessibility manager roles. Tools that offer to automate the analysis of your website or digital product for accessibility have severe limitations. A commonly-accepted standard for the accessibility of a website is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Most automated tools can only analyze 30% of the criteria on the current version of WCAG, leaving many other areas that need to be analyzed and potentially corrected by a smart tech marketer or a digital accessibility expert on your team.
5. Listen to the needs of your users
People with disabilities partner with tech and consumer brands. Their endorsements carry weight within their communities of friends, some of which may be united online across multiple geographic locations.
When asked, people with disabilities are willing to share their preferences and accommodations needed to successfully navigate digital experiences. Disability advocates publish insights drawn from communities of people with disabilities. For example, one recent report shows 65% of Fable testers would be willing to change brands for a more accessible user experience. Your tech company most likely has users with disabilities using your product who would be willing to provide UX feedback. Consider how your marketing team and digital product team may tap into that user base to address their needs.
With so many ready-to-use resources for your marketing and digital product development team that make starting a digital accessibility practice straightforward, it doesn’t take much to begin. Simply ask your colleagues how your startup is addressing and measuring your product’s improvement in this area, and what feedback your team has received from users. You might be surprised to discover who is thinking about this group of users’ needs, and who might want to partner with you as you deepen your own learning in this area. And when you’re ready to bring a more accessible product to market, we can help you spread the word with our proven go-to-market strategies.
About the Author
Maura Lafferty is an influencer relations specialist, with a particular focus on media outreach over social channels. Maura has over 14 years' experience in public relations, and relationships with media working in national, California, and Silicon Valley newsrooms.
