Title: Elevating Accessibility in Your 2025 Digital Marketing Strategy
In the digital marketing landscape of 2025, businesses face numerous challenges in making their strategies inclusive for individuals with disabilities. For multinational corporations, these obstacles can range from navigating differing digital accessibility compliance laws across regions to harnessing advanced technologies such as AI to create accessible content like audio descriptions.
Other hurdles could include maintaining consistency in accessibility across multiple channels as third-party platforms react differently to accessibility features, grappling with data deserts related to disabled customer insights, and addressing the lack of disability representation within agencies and in-house teams.
With brands placing a growing emphasis on disability-inclusive language and high accessibility levels in their Request for Proposals (RFPs) and data from leading accessibility testing platforms suggesting that individuals with disabilities shop online twice as frequently as the general population, the stakes have never been higher.
These topics were dealt with in detail at a recent panel discussion during Sight Tech Global, a yearly gathering exploring advancements in accessible technology and practices, organized by the Palo Alto-based Vista Center for the blind and visually impaired.
Listed below are key insights drawn from the panel titled "From Insight to Action: Establishing Accessibility as a Digital Marketing Standard":
Accessibility Begins at the Top and Forms the Company Culture
Ben Ogilvie, Head of Accessibility at ArcTouch, a WPP company specializing in custom software design for native apps and web IoT products, highlighted the pivotal role of leadership and a company's culture in upholding consistent accessibility and disability inclusion.
"Leadership buy-in is the linchpin of delivering on consistent accessibility and disability inclusion," said Ogilvie. "When stakeholders comprehend the significance and aren't solely focused on compliance, but on human and addressable market benefits, and the alignment of disability inclusion and accessibility with both human and business imperatives, it makes all the difference."
He added, "Accessibility is a team sport. It should be part of the product requirements, creative brief, and copy team. Accessibility isn't a project; it's a process that must be embedded in the company's culture from the beginning and throughout the workstream, ensuring the right mindset and expertise are in place to upskill others."
Constructing Meaningful Partnerships
Hannah Arner, Senior Manager Digital Consumer Experiences, North America at The Coca-Cola Company, shared her experience revamping the company's native app for North America. She emphasized the importance of collaborating with reliable external partners in improving accessibility.
"Finding partners who share your passion for this is crucial. It isn't just about complying with regulations, but creating meaningful, sustainable solutions that prioritize user experience," Arner said.
"We conduct continuous user testing with a diverse range of users, including those with disabilities. This real-time feedback has been instrumental in addressing specific concerns and inspiring overall improvements for all consumers. It's vital to capture this feedback, to never assume we've reached a stopping point, and to have partners that share your commitment in realizing these goals."
Data Strengthens Confidence in Disability
Josh Loebner, Global Head of Inclusive Design at VML, another WPP company, emphasized the need for more comprehensive metrics to supplement personalized insights stemming from user testing.
"We need co-creation, user testing, and continuous optimization to address accessibility requirements. However, when it comes to conversions and ROI, we also need to be able to quantify consumers, brand awareness, brand impact, promotional spending, and product sales to ensure that accessibility efforts yield true business benefits," Loebner stated.
"Accessibility is crucial for expanding our consumer base, not just for people with disabilities but for all individuals who can benefit from such enhancements. In fact, AI might be the key to unlocking its full potential in 2025, provided there's a strong focus on understanding the human element and embracing the right partners and experts throughout the journey."
Enrichment Data:Multinational corporations can successfully integrate digital accessibility into their marketing strategies in 2025 by considering regional compliance variations and capitalizing on rapidly developing technologies like AI. Follow these steps to achieve this goal:
- Understand Regional Compliance:
- Equalities Act 2010 (UK): Ensure that your website complies with the "reasonable adjustments" provision, which includes screen-reader-friendly navigation, optimal color contrast, captions and transcripts for videos, and keyboard navigation. ADA Compliance (U.S.): Adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines, which incorporate providing text alternatives for images, adaptable layouts, and correct color contrast.
- Adopt AI for Accessibility:
- AI Page Summarizers: Utilize AI to summarize content, improving its navigability for users with cognitive deficits. Alt Text Generation: Automate the creation of alt text for images, advancing accessibility for visually impaired users. Video Captions and Transcripts: Employ AI to produce accurate captions and transcripts for videos, ensuring inclusivity for hearing-impaired users.*
- Implement Inclusive Design Practices:
- Clear Content Structure: Structure content logically using appropriate heading tags (H1, H2, H3) to assist screen readers in navigating. Keyboard Navigation: Ensure that all navigational components are compatible with keyboard input, supplying equal access for users with visual or motor impairments. Form Accessibility: Implement labels for form fields and provide clear instructions, enabling users to fill out forms effectively.*
- Regularly Conduct Accessibility Audits:
- Automated Scans: Use tools like WAVE or Google Lighthouse to detect potential accessibility barriers and implement the necessary rectifications. Manual Testing: Engage real users with disabilities in testing to reveal barriers that automated tools might overlook.
- Train Your Team:
- Accessibility Training: Educate developers and designers on writing accessible code, testing new features for accessibility, and forming forms and tables that cater to everyone.*
- Monitor and Update Regularly:
- Ongoing Monitoring: Use platforms like a11y.Radar for consistent monitoring and make continuous improvements in accessibility as technology evolves.*
- Integrate Accessibility into Marketing Strategies:
- Inclusive Marketing: Ensure that all marketing materials, including content, emails, and social media, are accessible to all types of impairments. Brand Reputation: Leveraging accessibility can demonstrate corporate responsibility, bolster your brand's reputation, and expand your potential customer base.
By following these strategies, multinational corporations can effectively integrate digital accessibility into their marketing initiatives, adhering to regional regulations and maximizing the potential of AI to improve user experience.
- At the WPP company ArcTouch, Ben Ogilvie emphasizes the importance of leadership buy-in for consistent accessibility and disability inclusion, stating that when stakeholders understand the significance of accessibility and disability inclusion beyond compliance, it leads to human and market benefits.
- During her presentation at Sight Tech Global, Hannah Arner from The Coca-Cola Company highlighted the importance of collaborating with reliable external partners to improve accessibility, mentioning that user testing with a diverse range of users, including those with disabilities, has been instrumental in addressing specific concerns and inspiring overall improvements.
- Josh Loebner, Global Head of Inclusive Design at VML, another WPP company, emphasized the need for more comprehensive metrics to supplement personalized insights stemming from user testing, suggesting that to ensure that accessibility efforts yield true business benefits, companies should quantify consumers, brand awareness, brand impact, promotional spending, and product sales.
