The Cost of an Inaccessible Website: Legal Risks, Lost Users, and Missed Revenue

Money, money, money. As a business owner, you recognize the unassailable truth that money in minus money out is the only equation that matters. It is the driver of every detail about your business, including what your website looks like and how it functions. And, in the fast-paced e-commerce environment, how your website functions is all about hits, clicks, and conversions. 

Money In - Money Out = Your Profit

This simple equation is deceptive, of course, because it doesn’t account for the broad assortment of factors that go into generating these figures. And we’re willing to bet that most of you miss one critical factor over and over again - digital accessibility! But you may be surprised to learn that digital accessibility and website functionality are inextricably linked, and ignoring digital accessibility means less money in, more money out…every single time. 

Let’s take a look at the ways that an inaccessible website causes the money to flow in the wrong direction: through legal risks, lost users, and missed revenue.

Accessibility Obligations As Part of Modern Digital Operations

Whether you know it or not, accessibility obligations are part of the modern digital landscape and they’re here to stay. The primary drivers of current digital accessibility standards are the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). While the ADA only applies domestically in the United States, the WCAG is a global standard. 

These standards set minimum achievable accessibility benchmarks for websites, which take into account the variety of factors that impact a users ability to access the full functionality of a website, despite visual, auditory, motor, and processing differences. 

Overview of Legal Exposure in the U.S.

The regulatory framework for enforcement of these standards in the United States is primarily limited to the assessment of fines against businesses that fail to meet them. You may be thinking, given the vast number of websites operating out of the U.S., your odds of having an accessibility fine levied against your business are slim. 

However, any gaps left by the administrative burdens of enforcing fines have been filled by private enforcement efforts driven through lawsuits. Yep- ADA lawsuits against websites that fail to meet current standards is a real and present threat for businesses with any kind of presence online. 

The number of ADA digital accessibility lawsuits has been increasing year over year, as more law firms recognize the lucrative potential in this area of the law. In fact, law firms dedicated to defending business interests are asking clients to consider if and when it’s time to mitigate the vulnerabilities of ignoring this issue, stating: “Even the smallest companies with an online presence are at risk of suit -- those with a physical presence are at an even higher risk.” 

Legal exposure means hefty lawsuit payouts and payments to law firms for legal defense, which significantly (and unnecessarily) adds to the dreaded money out figure in our equation. 

Legal Exposure = Money Out

User Abandonment and Conversion Losses Due to Inaccessible Flows

Your user (aka website visitors or customers) are the entire story, but your website is the main character. If it isn’t providing the right useability and flow for the maximum number of users, then your story is going to have exactly the type of ending you don’t want- abandonment!

When users with digital accessibility needs attempt to navigate your website to fill out a contact form, pursue products, sign-up for something, or make a purchase, but encounter barriers instead, they bounce. This abandonment should make intuitive sense to everyone. After all, if you can’t accomplish the task you set out to accomplish because there are foundational challenges built right into the website, you realize pretty quickly that your time, effort, and money are better spent elsewhere. 

For context, a few of the most common unaddressed website accessibility problems are things like:

• missing alt text
• poor keyboard navigation
• inaccessible forms
• lack of screen reader support

Ignoring these challenges creates the exact opposite response that you would hope for: frustration, abandonment, and bounce rates increase, while accrued customers, satisfaction, and sales decrease.

Less conversions (whether it’s gathering name and contact info or direct product/service sales) means less money. Period.

Less Conversions = Money Lost

Reputational Damage From Public Criticism

In the digital world, brand reputation is managed via direct to consumer advertising, social media, and your website. While you have control over the brand output for these factors, you do not have control over the way your brand is received or responded to. What does this mean?

It means that frustrated users who left your shores for more amendable places elsewhere, end up leaving unkind reviews, comments, and threads that damage your brand. And, along with this digital word-of-mouth, is the brand hit you can take from being downgraded in the search algorithms as well.

Search platforms like Google favor digital accessibility measures and factor them into search rankings. Why? Because websites that proactively address digital accessibility are more accessible (usable) to a significantly greater number of people. Providing the greatest benefit to the most people is worthy of a rankings boost.

Missing out on a direct rankings boost and taking on unnecessary dings against your brand reputation are fully avoidable, but very real, ways to lower the stream of money flowing in.

Reputational and Rankings Hits = Money Lost

Long-term Risk Reduction Through Proper Accessibility Measures

Here’s the good news. Actually, here’s the great news- website accessibility is simple, affordable, and achievable, and embracing it completely flips the money flow.

By leaning into digital accessibility, whether during web design and development or after the fact through digital accessibility auditing services, you can expect the benefits to not only stop the unnecessary flow of money going out, but also to increase the desired flow of money coming in.

• Meeting ADA/WCAG Standards: this serves as a shield to regulatory fines and lucrative lawsuits, meaning less money going out, more money staying in.
• Increasing User Duration and Conversions: this boosts the bottom line. More names, more sales, more money.
• Improving and Securing Brand Reputation: this gives you greater control over the online narrative building up around your brand, and a better rep means more visitors, more conversions, more money.

But it costs money to become and stay accessible, correct? 

Yes, absolutely. Building accessible design into your site prior to roll-out, or building it into your design later, both have an associated cost. 

However, the broad societal goal of increased ADA compliance brings monetary business incentives. So money invested into digital accessibility improvements are deductible under a generous tax incentive program. We covered this topic in depth in a prior article on available tax credits. 

Not only are the costs of becoming ADA compliant deductible, but they’re also monumentally less than the costs of paying out a judgment from a lawsuit, plus attorneys fees and costs.

ADA Compliance = Keeping Money  

Increased Conversions = Making Money

Improved Brand Rep = Attracting Money

Investments in Compliance = Deducting Money from Tax Burden

All of this adds up to an increase in net profit! 

To learn more about how an accessibility audit can improve the flow of money for your online business or organization, talk to one of the CPACC-certified accessibility specialists at AllyADA today!