The Business Case for Accessibility in Large Corporations
Welcome to day 7 of our special advent series. Today, we're taking a look at why large businesses often miss a crucial opportunity: digital accessibility. The hard truth is that many big corporations neglect making their websites and services fully accessible. This oversight is baffling, especially considering that improving accessibility would only require a small fraction of their marketing budget. Yet, by failing to do so, they're not only limiting their customer base but also damaging their
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Welcome to day 7 of our special advent series. Today, we're taking a look at why large businesses often miss a crucial opportunity: digital accessibility.
The hard truth is that many big corporations neglect making their websites and services fully accessible. This oversight is baffling, especially considering that improving accessibility would only require a small fraction of their marketing budget. Yet, by failing to do so, they're not only limiting their customer base but also damaging their brand.
The 'purple pound' (i.e. the spending power of disabled people and their families) is substantial. Recent studies show that 75% of disabled people have walked away from a UK business due to poor accessibility. This means that large businesses are not just being exclusive, they're also being economically short-sighted.
But when it comes to major corporations, neglecting digital accessibility is more than just an oversight. Here they are, with immense resources and influence, and they choose to overlook a fundamental aspect of modern business: inclusivity. Why? It's almost ironic – the bigger you are, the less excuse you have for excluding people.
In the business world, there’s a tendency to focus solely on profitability instead of doing the right thing. This is sometimes manifested in the notion of buying carbon credits to offset emissions instead of actually reducing your emissions by overhauling how your business works.
But there are no carbon credits you can buy when it comes to inclusion. Large corporations habitually pay to cancel out their externalities - carbon credits being the main example. But there’s no analogy for this when it comes to digital accessibility, no charities to clean up your mess - the only option is to make the investment to provide products/services that don’t exclude people.
Accessibility is a smart investment. It’s about including a wider audience, enhancing brand reputation, and ultimately, driving more business. And of course, it’s the right thing to do.