A Digital Marketer's Guide to ADA Web Compliance
ADA web compliance does not need to pose a considerable challenge for digital marketers - read our informative guide to understand how it can be done.
Accessibility isn't just a nice-to-have in digital marketing anymore; it's essential. You can unlock your business's full potential by making your digital marketing strategy accessible to all.
By incorporating digital accessibility best practices, you can reach a wider audience and enhance your brand reputation while complying with legal requirements. This guide will show you how to optimize your digital marketing strategy by exploring the three critical considerations for accessible marketing and the six areas that can benefit from accessibility best practices.
So, let’s take your knowledge of accessibility in digital marketing to the next level!
Accessible Marketing: 3 Key Considerations
To make your digital marketing strategy inclusive and compliant with legal requirements, there are three key areas that businesses need to keep in mind:
Brand Enhancement
Incorporating accessibility best practices into your digital marketing assets can enhance your brand reputation. Customers appreciate when companies prioritize accessibility and make their products and services accessible to everyone.
Plus, accessible design can improve the user experience for all users, regardless of ability, leading to increased engagement and customer satisfaction.
Risk Management and Legal Compliance
Failing to implement accessibility best practices can expose your brand to legal risks. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to provide equal access to their goods and services, including digital content. Non-compliance can result in legal action, including lawsuits, fines, and reputational damage.
Market Size and Purchasing Power
Approximately one in four U.S. adults self-identifies as having a disability, and one in four families has a member identifying as having a disability. Therefore, by making your digital marketing assets accessible, you can tap into a significant portion of the consumer market and increase your potential customer base.
Moreover, people with disabilities have an estimated spending power of over $1 trillion, making them a valuable demographic for businesses.
When you incorporate these three accessibility best practices into your marketing stack, you benefit your business financially and demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and compliance with legal requirements.
Areas for Accessibility Best Practices
Incorporating accessibility best practices into your digital marketing assets can improve user experience and reach a wider audience. The following are six areas where brands can implement accessibility best practices:
Content Readability
Content readability is crucial for users with visual impairments or cognitive disabilities. To make your content more accessible, use clear and legible font types and sizes, ensure a sufficient contrast ratio between text and background and provide alternative image text descriptions.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) recommends a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
Video
Video content should be made accessible through closed captions and transcripts, audio descriptions, and keyboard accessibility. Closed captions and transcripts provide a text alternative to the audio content, making it accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing users.
Audio descriptions offer additional information about visual content, making it accessible to users with visual impairments.
Websites and Landing Pages
Websites and landing pages should be designed with keyboard accessibility in mind, ensuring that users can navigate the site using only a keyboard. Descriptive links and headings can also help users understand the content structure, and accessible forms and error messages can improve the user experience.
Emails
Digital marketers should design emails to be accessible, including text-only versions for users who cannot access HTML emails. Alternative text descriptions should be provided for images, and the content should be clear and concise.
In addition to text-only versions, brands should design HTML emails to be accessible by using clear and legible fonts, sufficient contrast ratios between text and background, and a simple layout.
Accessible Links
Links should be descriptive and underlined to help users understand where the link will take them. Additionally, link contrast can be increased to help low-vision users distinguish between links and regular text.
Social Media
Social media platforms can benefit from accessibility best practices by providing image descriptions, video captions and transcripts, and alt tags for links and graphics. These practices can make your content more accessible to all users, including those with visual or hearing impairments.
Providing alt tags for links and graphics ensures social media accessibility. Alt tags provide a text description of the link or graphic, making it easier for screen readers to identify and access the content.
Inclusive Representation in Marketing
Incorporating individuals with disabilities into your marketing campaigns isn't just about ticking off a box for inclusivity. Instead, it's an opportunity to create a more authentic and diverse representation of people and showcase your brand's values.
In addition, strategizing a campaign that resonates with a broader audience can help your brand make a lasting positive impact.
Most notably, including people with disabilities in your marketing campaigns can help break down stigmas and promote understanding and acceptance.
Inclusive representation in marketing can help build a solid emotional connection with your audience. When consumers can recognize themselves in your campaign, they're more likely to feel connected to your brand and remember your message. A connection can lead to increased engagement, brand loyalty, and word-of-mouth marketing.
So, when creating a new marketing campaign, take the time to consider if and how your brand includes people with disabilities in the narrative. This could mean featuring individuals with disabilities in your ads or commercials, showcasing products designed for accessibility, or simply using inclusive language that acknowledges the diversity of your audience.
Doing so can create a more inclusive and authentic campaign that resonates with your audience and drives business success.
Designing for Everyone in Mind
Accessibility should be a top priority for businesses looking to optimize their digital marketing strategies. Implementing accessibility best practices can help your brand reach a wider audience, enhance its brand reputation, and reduce legal risks.
And by making your digital marketing assets accessible, you demonstrate your commitment to inclusivity, diversity, and compliance with legal requirements. This can build customer trust and loyalty and set you apart from your competitors.
Simply put, prioritizing accessibility can help your business build bridges, break barriers, and reach new heights of success.