Crafting a Comprehensive Web Accessibility Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

In a world where digital experiences are increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, it's imperative that these experiences are inclusive and accessible for everyone.

According to WHO, 1.3 billion people or 16% of world population live with disabilities. This affects the user experience for a trillion-dollar market failing to interact with the digital content.

In a recent study, it was found that 51% of consumers can willingly pay more to companies dedicated to digital accessibility. Thus, digital accessibility is indispensable for businesses not just to abide by legal regulations but also to make their digital content reach all the relevant users.

What is web accessibility?

Website accessibility is the practice of designing and developing websites and web applications to be usable by people with disabilities. This includes individuals with visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and other impairments. An accessible website allows users to perceive, navigate, understand, interact with, and contribute to digital content.

Top web accessibility standards and guidelines

To ensure that websites are accessible, there are a set of international digital accessibility standards and guidelines that organizations can follow. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the leading group that sets international accessibility standard for the web.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most widely recognized and adopted accessibility standard. WCAG provides a framework of success criteria that websites must meet to be considered accessible. The latest web content accessibility guideline is WCAG 2.2 which introduced nine new success criteria, addressing issues like focus visibility, dragging movements, target size, consistent help, redundant entry, and accessible authentication, promoting a more inclusive user experience.

Key principles of WCAG include POUR, which can be understood as:

• (P)erceivable: Information and user interface components must be presented to users in a way they can perceive.
• (O)perable: User interface components and navigation must be operable, allowing users to use them efficiently and reliably.
• (U)nderstandable: Information and user interface components must be understandable, preventing users from becoming confused or lost.
• (R)obust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by a variety of user agents, including assistive technology.

How to set up a digital accessibility strategy for your business success?

Remember that web accessibility requires clear content guidelines and a long-term strategy. A well-crafted digital accessibility strategy can significantly enhance user experience, expand market reach, and reinforce a company's commitment to inclusivity.

While implementing a comprehensive accessibility strategy may seem daunting, it is a worthwhile investment that yields long-term benefits. Whether driven by legal mandates, a desire to broaden audience reach, or a commitment to ethical business practices, a strategic approach to website accessibility is essential.

Here are two approaches that you can follow when strategizing digital accessibility for your business:

The short-term approach

A staggering 86.4% of homepages fails to meet WCAG 2 AA contrast requirements, primarily due to low-contrast text.

A 50% accessible website is better than a website that isn’t accessible at all. With the short-term approach to web accessibility, you can follow these three basic steps:

1. Scan the website to find issues: Start by finding out what issues are currently affecting your website, so you have an idea of where these roadblocks are.

2. Prioritize issues: If you can’t fix all the errors now, focus on high-priority accessibility issue. These are a some of the ways to prioritize web accessibility issues:

• Fix issues with key processes on your website, such as checkout or registration.
• Fix issues on important pages, such as your homepage or most popular content.
• Analyze what issues can be most easily fixed and return the greatest benefits. For example, you may decide to make transcripts for all of your audio content because it improves accessibility for users with hearing impairments as well as improves SEO.

3. Fixing issues: Make sure the team in charge of fixing any accessibility issue has the right training and resources to do the job. Nevertheless, you can also choose to on board a team of seasoned professionals like Altudo, with years of industry experience that can help you strategize and implement website accessibility for your business.

The long-term approach

According to a report, businesses that prioritize web accessibility have experienced 28% more revenue, 2 times more net income and a 30% improved performance in profit margins.

With the long-term approach, the goal is to build an accessible website from the start and will remain accessible in the future for best business outcomes.

This strategy can be broken down into three parts with multiple steps under each:

Step1: Initiate

Here are some steps to take to ensure your strategy gets off on the right foot:

• Learn the basics of accessibility: Hold a meeting to raise awareness about accessibility and gather support.
• Make your case about how this will benefit the company or organization: You want all the major stakeholders to be on board.
• Use a tool, such as Monsido, powered by Acquia, to scan your website: Note what the current issues are and where your strengths are.
• Further your knowledge: Once you know what accessibility issues your website currently has, you can seek out training and other forms of knowledge related specifically to those issues.

Step2: Plan

Before you set out to fix the errors you found on your website, you need to brainstorm a plan. Here is a list of steps you can take to build your accessibility plan:

• Determine resources and budget: Allocate funds for accessibility tools, training, and implementation.
• Set clear goals and milestones: Establish specific objectives for each team member and overall website accessibility levels.
• Develop guidelines: Create comprehensive guidelines for the website and individual roles, aligning with the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
• Train your team: Educate team members on website accessibility basics and consider reaching out to digital experience consultants for in-depth knowledge.
• Assign roles and responsibilities: Clearly define roles and responsibilities within your organization.
• Prioritize issues: Focus on easy-to-implement tasks with high accessibility impact.
• Set up a monitoring system: Use tools like Monsido for regular scans and reports to track progress.

Step3: Implement

Remember that web accessibility isn’t something that you do once. After implementing your digital accessibility plan, you will need to regularly review it for success. Here are some steps you can take during implementation:

• Put new guidelines into practice: Assign specific tasks to team members based on their roles.
• Use a hybrid approach: Combine automated tools like Monsido with manual testing for effective accessibility assessment and remediation.
• Evaluate progress and analyze results: Conduct regular accessibility evaluations and leverage tools like Monsido reports.
• Reprioritize: Adjust priorities as needed based on progress and emerging issues.
• Sustain progress: Continuously monitor your website for errors and stay updated on evolving accessibility standards and technologies.
• Update, adapt, and improve: Regularly review and refine your web accessibility strategy to accommodate new web accessibility guidelines and technologies.

What’s next?

According to research, less than 3% of the top one million websites globally are completely accessible.

Prioritizing web accessibility is not just a legal obligation but a strategic decision that can significantly impact a business's success. To ensure a comprehensive and effective approach to web accessibility, partnering with experienced organizations like Altudo can be invaluable.

Altudo's expertise, combined with cutting-edge tools like Monsido (powered by Acquia), can provide businesses with the necessary guidance, resources, and solutions to build accessible and inclusive websites. By taking proactive steps towards web accessibility, businesses can create a more equitable and inclusive digital experience for all. Connect with our in-house accessibility experts who can understand your website needs and help you deliver an inclusive digital experience for all users.