How can you make your online store or e-commerce business accessible?

Accessibility is an absolute requirement for your online store or e-commerce business! Today, it is extremely important for every website to be usable for everyone and barrier-free –aspects which are particularly critical in e-commerce platforms, where accessibility is a fundamental factor in the success of an online business.

Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go in terms of accessible online stores, revealing the fact that many designers and developers do not take this aspect into account when developing websites.

This has a direct impact on people with disabilities, who, along with the elderly, represent the user group most affected by various difficulties that arise when trying to access essential online services.

This community represents approximately 15% of the world population; we can capitalise on this large market directly if we manage to eliminate existing barriers when meeting the demand for the products or services available online.

This is extremely important, and still, many have not realised that web accessibility should always be seen as a business opportunity and not only as an act that promotes social inclusion in our society.

What’s more, once accessibility becomes part of your website development, this will directly translate into a competitive advantage that will set your company apart from other businesses that have not yet decided to fully exploit this option, an advantage that will have a direct, positive impact on all of society. This, if we consider the still very low number of e-commerce websites adhering to the existing web accessibility regulations.

Seen in this light, we can safely say that universal accessibility in e-commerce is one of the simplest ways to promote and expand digital business on the web.

Why you should get behind accessibility for your online store

Let’s take a closer look at some compelling reasons for bringing accessibility to your electronic commerce business:

• This would make your website convenient for everyone, not just people with disabilities. What’s more, a well-designed website that is also accessible is both beneficial and cost-effective since it will be cheaper to maintain .
• Your website will comply with existing regulations, namely Royal Decree 1112/2018 as well as the standards and recommendations of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) , which establishes clear rules for web accessibility compliance.
• You will keep users from abandoning your online store due to barriers that prevent them from using it properly.
• Your organic positioning (SEO) will also improve as Google search engines favour accessible websites.
• Although it may seem difficult, it is possible for an e-commerce site to be accessible, and it is actuallymuch easier to do this than it seems.
• Having an accessible website is one of the most efficient ways to optimize digital experience and website usability.

Here are 5 tips on how to improve accessibility for your e-commerce business:

Ensuring that your online store can be properly viewed on all mobile devices and that it features good colour contrast can improve the accessibility of your e-commerce site considerably.

But the actions we need to take do not end there; that’s why we’d like to offer you these 5 tips on how to make your online store a more accessible place:

• Eliminate or adjust time limits: we should always bear in mind that many people with disabilities need more than the estimated time to be able to browse through the website properly.
• The ‘skip content’ option must always be available: This is extremely important for all those who use screen readers, as this option will allow them to avoid content that is of no interest to them.
• Make text transcription available: this is highly recommended so that anyone with impaired hearing can take in the information conveyed through the video at their own pace. Apart from text transcription, each video must also have subtitles.
• Images must have captions: this is especially important wherever there is an image whose description does not match the alternative text or alt attribute.
• Avoid using images in tables: this makes it easier for everyone who navigates using a screen reader.

Make your online store accessible to increase your profits

We all know that 100% accessibility is very difficult to achieve — everyone has different needs, and every disability situation is unique.

Yet it’s still possible to reduce many of the barriers that exist in order to pave the way to facilitating access for people with disabilities and their understanding of the information shared with them.

The only way to do this is to follow accessibility guidelines, such as the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) already established by the WAI, which has been working tirelessly to make the Internet more accessible and inclusive for users.

Has this inspired you to make your online store or e-commerce business an accessible place for everyone? Contact us! We will gladly help you find the solution that best suits your needs.