When I talk to fellow marketing leaders, I hear a common priority for 2024: growth. Marketers are challenged to generate pipeline and maximize ROI while, at the same time, being asked to do more with less (or flat) budgets.
This year, we’ve seen marketing rapidly evolve into a dynamic and multifaceted ecosystem driven by new players in the tech stack and constantly shifting consumer behaviors. From advancements in AI that can power hyper-personalized campaigns to new platforms that deliver immersive experiences, marketers face new trends and evolving customer expectations that impact the effectiveness of our marketing activities. I believe one of the greatest opportunities most marketing teams have for growth lies not in the latest trends but in digital accessibility.
In the United States alone, one in four Americans live with a disability that can affect how they consume and engage with digital content. Many people with a disability use an assistive technology, like a screen reader, to access digital content. To put this into a marketing perspective, consider all the time and money invested in paid search, SEO, email nurture sequences, home page updates, and social media campaigns. Now imagine that 25% of your audience can’t fully understand or interact with that content due to inaccessibility. This isn’t just a missed opportunity; it’s a significant gap for businesses.
While the option exists to embark on large, costly marketing campaigns to acquire new customers and drive growth, the issue is often just that: they are costly and do not address the needs of people who access the web with assistive technologies.
Rather than investing more money on expensive campaigns, marketers should re-evaluate their strategies to capture and optimize existing website traffic and ensure each website visitor can fully engage and interact with what is being served.
Here are three ways digital accessibility can significantly impact overall marketing effectiveness, leading to better conversion rates and increased ROI.
1. Digitally Accessible Sites Improve Conversion Rates
Marketers compete in a saturated market that can be understandably overwhelming to consumers. In today’s competitive landscape, personalized experiences set businesses apart—and in reality, it’s what many customers have come to expect.
If your business is already investing in personalization efforts to drive an increase in conversions, you may be surprised to find that there is a significant part of the population that doesn’t even get to experience the base level of your website, let alone any personalization. We need to do better by providing both an accessible and personalized experience to all users, including those with disabilities who rely on assistive technology. Ensuring that personalized experiences are accessible to all users is crucial – especially considering that the disability community controls nearly $8 trillion in spending power.
At AudioEye, we emphasized increasing conversion rates without spending additional dollars on new site visitors. Looking at our Q4 numbers for last year, even though our traffic dipped slightly due to the holidays, our conversion increased, also causing an increase in leads and down-funnel results. This was largely due to the fact that we optimized our visitors’ website experience with better accessibility, more personalization, and streamlined user flows, which led to better engagement and higher-quality interactions.
The good news is that implementing accessibility doesn’t have to be complicated, and you don’t have to be an expert. As you explore new ways to drive business results, a few good starting points include conducting regular accessibility audits on websites, training teams on accessibility best practices so that it becomes a natural part of the development process, investing in accessibility tools and technologies, and collaborating with accessibility experts to ensure compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards.
2. Designing with Accessibility in Mind Leads to Increased Loyalty
Digital accessibility often goes hand in hand with improved UX design. Websites or mobile apps designed with accessibility tend to be more user-friendly for everyone. Clear navigation, readable fonts, and intuitive design benefit all users, not just those with disabilities, and can lead to higher engagement, longer time spent on your site, better SEO, and an increased likelihood of conversions.
When websites and marketing content are accessible, they attract and retain customers who might have otherwise been excluded. It builds trust and loyalty and signals to consumers that the brand cares about all its users. In discussions with AudioEye’s A11iance Community comprised of people of disabilities, one member stated, “If I find a website that works and works very well for me, I will always recommend [to friends and family] because I want people to have the same experience that I have.”
This concept also applies to the content you’re developing on your websites. With so many new and emerging content streams and formats, brands have more ways than ever to connect with their audience in an engaging and entertaining way—or, as I like to call it, ‘edutainment.’ In 2024, successful content development means being agile and responsive, able to adapt and react quickly to changing or emerging trends, while also implementing a mindset of accessible formats so that the content you’re creating can be received and actionable with your whole customer audience.
Building a culture where accessibility is baked into the entire design and content development process means prioritizing it from the start – rather than just a checkbox after the fact. It means training content and design teams on accessibility foundations early on so that they know best practices when it comes to building websites and creating other marketing content. It also means prioritizing a default setting of including alt text for images, remediating PDFs and whitepapers, labeling section headings clearly, implementing captioning for videos, and creating adaptable layouts for users with diverse needs.
3. Accessibility Keeps Your Site Compliant
Today’s digital marketers must navigate a complex web of privacy laws and accessibility standards. Regulations such as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, as well as updated iOS privacy implications, have heightened the need for strict data compliance while increasing digital accessibility litigation has highlighted the urgency of adhering to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Regulatory entities such as the Department of Justice and the European Union have worked to strengthen regulations surrounding web accessibility, including the Department of Justice’s newly announced requirements for web and mobile app accessibility in government entities, including public schools and private company-provided government services.
To protect your brand from legal risks and ensure that everything created remains up to par with the latest regulatory standards, marketers should prioritize regular audits and testing for accessibility and security vulnerabilities, obtaining explicit consent for data collection and processing, implementing robust encryption measures, and maintaining a continual education around regulations such as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA. Doing so will have important outcomes and further build trust with your broader audience.
Don’t find yourself treating digital accessibility as a legal risk. Instead, prioritize it within your company, bake accessibility testing into multiple points of the development process, and provide an experience that works for all users.
Prioritizing Accessibility in 2024 and Beyond
In the fast-evolving world of digital marketing, embracing digital accessibility is more than a moral or legal necessity—it’s a strategic business opportunity that enhances every aspect of marketing. By ensuring that digital platforms, tools, and content are accessible, marketers can significantly improve their reach, engagement, and conversion rates. This inclusive approach not only builds a positive brand image but also drives substantial business growth. By embracing inclusivity, marketers can forge stronger, more meaningful connections with their audience, paving the way for a more inclusive digital future that creates value for all consumers, regardless of their abilities.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chad Sollis, SVP of Marketing at AudioEye
Chad Sollis is a seasoned marketing and product leader with over two decades of experience in driving business growth and innovation across various industries. As the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Operations at AudioEye, the leading digital accessibility platform helping businesses of all sizes build inclusive and compliant websites, Chad spearheads strategic initiatives in brand development, product marketing, growth, revenue operations, and customer engagement.
As a data-driven executive, Chad has demonstrated a remarkable ability to scale businesses, having contributed to the growth of companies from $30 million to $3 billion in annual revenue and helping 4 companies execute successful IPOs. With a diverse background that includes leadership roles at market-leading companies such as Adobe, Pluralsight, Vivint, and Traeger, he has generated a wealth of expertise in marketing, digital products, and technology spanning both B2B and B2C sectors.
A father of four girls, Chad enjoys spending summers on the lake, springtime at pro rugby games, fall months in the red rock of southern Utah, and traveling anywhere warm during the winter.