Is Digital Accessibility Worth It? Yes! Let’s Bust a Few Myths That Cause Some Confusion

As a business owner well-versed in the variables and challenges that come with running a successful business, you have to think about things like sourcing a trustworthy workforce, balancing the books, building a brand, maintaining a loyal customer base, paying taxes, devising a marketing strategy, providing a safe and secure workplace, establishing leadership in the sector, creating a vibrant online presence, adhering to local, state, and federal regulations, and paving the way for an ever-growing market share and increased profits year over year. 

For some, the idea of adding website user accessibility into the mix of considerations seems a step too far. After all, if you’ve bumped up against any of the most prevalent accessibility myths, then you likely think (1) digital accessibility only benefits a small number of users and (2) achieving and maintaining it is too expensive, so why bother? 

When you unravel the misinformation and misperception behind these pernicious myths, the truth becomes crystal clear. Not only is digital accessibility an affordable option that actually benefits everyone, but it’s also one of the easiest and smartest business decisions you’ll ever have to make.

Myth #1 - Digital Accessibility Only Benefits a Small Number of Users. (Accuracy Rating: False) 

According to Forbes Advisor’s 2023 Website Stats, nearly three-quarters of all businesses (71%) have a website as of 2023. This astronomical figure drives home the fact that a strong e-commerce presence is no longer optional but rather essential for every business. Yet, despite the need to capture and engage the online marketplace in an optimized way, progress on the digital accessibility front has been met with some resistance from business owners. One of the biggest roadblocks to compliance with the digital accessibility requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the myth that ADA compliance isn’t worth it. 

Why? Because, as this miscalculated thinking goes, only a tiny fraction of online users even benefit from accessibility upgrades and improvements. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, pound for pound, becoming compliant with ADA digital accessibility requirements packs a benefits punch far exceeding its weight class. How is this possible? Because accessibility benefits everyone, including your business! 

We’ve Already Learned This Lesson - History Repeats Itself!

In the 1990s, when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was first enacted, business owners with brick-and-mortar stores were faced with making accommodations for people with disabilities in the physical world. One of the earliest accessibility improvements to be regulated was entryway access. Stores scrambled to reconstruct old entryways and redesign new ones to allow for equitable and independent access by people with disabilities, particularly those using assistive devices like wheelchairs. This reimagining of the physical landscape meant an initial investment of money to make the change. 

Stores that failed to embrace the new perspective on access unnecessarily faced lawsuits and regulatory fines (sometimes repeatedly!) only to ultimately accept that the world was evolving toward this new standard, and there was no going back. You can see proof of this in the physical consumer landscape everywhere you go now-  modern design structures incorporate fully accessible curb ramps, accessible entryways, wide doors, etc. Yes- this made accessibility possible for people who rely on assistive devices like wheelchairs. 

But guess who else these accessibility advances helped? Everyone! Parents with strollers or dripping in children and baby gear, business deliveries of heavy boxes or using handcarts, cyclists with bicycles that can’t be left unattended outside, people who are blind or low-vision, people with chronic conditions like joint pain or arthritis, elderly people or people with lessened mobility, tourists with luggage, urbanites navigating streets and doorways with briefcases and shopping bags, etc. 

And, not surprisingly, the ultimate beneficiaries were the businesses who saw that increased ease of access meant an increased flow of customers, greater loyalty, and a healthier brand image…which all equates to greater profits.

This historical myth led to a clear lesson learned - everyone benefited, and those businesses at the forefront reaped the earliest rewards! Because leaders lead, and everyone else just follows.

The New Frontier - How Digital Accessibility Benefits Everyone

In the world of e-commerce, data is constantly being gathered, numbers are crunched, and conclusions are drawn. This is especially important for myth-busting because the data tells the story- clearly, unequivocally, and repeatedly- that everyone benefits when a business’s website becomes (and stays) ADA-compliant. 

How Accessibility Benefits ALL of Your Customers  

Modern ADA compliance in the digital sphere primarily involves design improvements that make a website or mobile app fully available and functional to people with no or low vision and hearing. This involves things like improved color contrast site-wide, alt text descriptions for images, straightforward site navigation that ensures access to easy and reliable product knowledge and checkout, etc. Every single one of these features vastly improves the overall user experience for every single visitor. For instance, it isn’t only blind people who rely on alt text descriptions for images or videos on a webpage. On the contrary, most users benefit from this feature, particularly with videos. When it’s inconvenient to play the sound or watch a video from start to finish, many consumers read textual descriptions or summaries and scan for key information. 

Optimizing functionality and usability is a key indicator of overall site health. More easily identified and processed information, available in various formats to meet various situational and personal needs, positions your site for maximum impact, 100% of the time. It also demonstrates that your business is at the leading edge, boosting brand reputation and overall image and giving the impression of a thriving, invested business centered on a seamless user experience. 

And, beyond the broad implications of accessibility for the general population, you should know that approximately 8 - 12% of Americans have low to no vision, 6% of children under the age of 18 have vision challenges, and an estimated 93 million adults at any given time are at high risk for significant vision loss. So when you’re looking at how digital accessibility benefits everyone, don’t overlook the enormous impact right in front of you either. Blind and low-vision consumers are a powerful, sizeable, and loyal consumer block. Not harnessing their online attention, interest, and money is a preventable fumble.

How Accessibility Benefits Your Business  

The number one way that accessiblity benefits your business is by benefiting everyone who visits your site in search of products, services, and information. And the numerous additional ways that it benefits your business are discussed below, where we debunk Myth #2.   

Myth #2 - Digital Accessibility is Too Expensive and Time-Consuming. (Accuracy Rating: False) 

The second critical digital accessibility roadblock for many business owners is the mistaken belief that achieving and maintaining ADA compliance is unaffordable. This couldn’t be further from the truth. 

This misconception generally has two impacts on decision-making. First, many businesses forgo attempting to come into compliance, choosing instead to “take their chances” with lawsuits and regulatory fines. Second, many businesses dip their toes into accessibility compliance by using the cheapest option available, which is typically the use of a widget or an algorithm-only compliance assessment that provides inadequate and incomplete scanning for accessibility errors. Unfortunately, for businesses, both of these approaches still leave you vulnerable to legal liability and payouts and completely missing out on all of the outsized benefits that naturally flow from ADA compliance. 

How Much Does A Comprehensive, Manual Accessibility Audit Cost?

Obviously, there is not one answer to this question because websites are highly personalized and customized experiences. For instance, McDonald’s Corporation offers a robust website full of dense product, service, and nutritional information that makes online ordering, gift card, and delivery available, operates various mobile apps, provides location services, and is offered in multiple languages. A manual ADA compliance audit of the full spectrum of McDonald’s online services would clearly cost more than an audit of a single-page website providing basic service and contact information. So, your overall costs are dependent on the nature of your website.

However, when you break down the list of total variables that factor into the costs of achieving and maintaining accessibility compliance, it is crystal clear that the investment is minimal, the benefits that flow are exceptional, and remaining non-compliant will end up costing you more in the long run. 

Here’s How to Think About Costs

If you work with AllyADA to become ADA-compliant, these are the things that impact your calculation of value rewarded for dollars invested.

• Initial Investment: Digital accessibility is a business investment. In the same way that investing in any aspect of your business (marketing, website, overhead, employees, products, etc.) requires an initial outlay of money, so does identifying accessibility failures and correcting them. It is one of the simplest and most impactful ways to optimize your business for the digital age, which is here to stay.

The initial investment includes having your website undergo a comprehensive manual audit, receiving a detailed user experience report with fix recommendations, having an accessibility consultation with a CPACC-certified accessibility professional, having your in-house design team or our design team implement the needed fixes, and getting a discounted rate on periodic check-ups. Super Simple. Streamlined. Easy.

• Ongoing Upkeep: After the initial investment, check-up audits cost 50% less going forward. So you won’t spend the same amount of money on this cost in perpetuity. You can hit cruise control and never stress about accessibility compliance again, knowing that any changes to your website will be discussed and reviewed on a regularly scheduled basis that meets your business needs.

For instance, if your business runs an extremely dynamic website that is in constant flux, you may opt for checkups more frequently than a static site that only needs a checkup once a year to ensure conformance with evolving standards. This means the cost of maintaining an up-to-date, ADA-compliant website is significantly less over the years as regulations evolve.  

• Tax Credits: The federal government WANTS your business to be accessible. Because they know that not only does accessibility promote the values of equity, inclusion, and independence and preserve the civil rights of people with low or no vision or hearing, but it is also GOOD FOR BUSINESS. 

Building an inclusive web that meets current US standards and evolving global standards means a better, more efficient, more effective, and more vibrant marketplace for everyone. To encourage compliance, federal tax breaks are available for any small business that invests in initial and ongoing website accessibility improvements. Whatever you spend toward auditing and fixing accessibility barriers is eligible for generous tax deductions! 

The basic formula allows you to recoup a whopping 50% of any expenditures toward compliance, up to a maximum expenditure of $10,250.00 in a given tax year. And this is available year after year after year. That initial investment? Tax deductible. Need a checkup in the first year? Tax deductible! Need a checkup every year going forward? Tax deductible!

• Mitigated Risks: If your business wasn’t a free-standing brick-and-mortar retail storefront at some point in the 1990s, then you don’t remember what it’s like when ADA-compliance is compelled through lawsuits and fines. With the advent of this new realm of online compliance, trust us that you don’t want to find out. Forbes reported that recent litigation trends confirm that online business are being targeted with lawsuits at an exponentially increasing rate. 2023 Lawsuit Stats As law firms increasing target non-compliant websites for easy money and the government rolls out fines, staying one step ahead means you get to spend your money paying into your own business instead of paying someone else for your missteps.

• Stronger SEO Rankings: As the web expands and ever-increasing businesses come online, search engine optimization is a growing problem. With an incomprehensible number of websites, how does any single site get surfaced and ranked in a favorable way? As a business owner, you know that working with an SEO professional is essential for optimizing your performance. But what you likely don’t know is that search engines like Google have crafted algorithms to favor digital accessibility. This isn’t just a nice bonus- it’s HUGE. To an online platform, SEO is everything and search rankings matter.

• Increased Customer Base: The natural flow from better SEO and better usability is reaching and keeping more customers. With more customers comes more immediate sales, more service, and more word-of-mouth or online reviews, recommendations, and referrals. In other words, more money.

You Know the Truth - So Now What?

With truth, context, and helpful information, it’s clear the scales are tipped heavily in favor of auditing your website, fixing accessibility failures, and optimizing growth. While your competitors are busy believing goofy myths about how becoming ADA compliant is too expensive and doesn’t benefit enough people, leverage this gap between misinformation and reality to your advantage. You’ll be getting your SEO boost, tax breaks, upgrades, liability protection, and new customers, while they’re just busy getting lawyers.

We invite you to contact one of our team members today. We’d love to answer your questions and get you started on the path to ADA compatibility.