A majority share of polled consumers in the US believe it is important for brands to ensure the digital experiences they offer across websites and apps are inclusive to those with disabilities.
From October 29-30 the Ipsos Consumer Tracker polled 1,085 adults in the US on the issue of digital accessibility in CX, following the news that 96 percent of digital experiences fail to meet regulatory requirements for accessibility.
It isn’t the first study to confirm the situation. The 2024 WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey quizzed 1,500 screen reader users around the world about whether they thought website accessibility had improved since 2023. Almost half said they saw “no change”, less than 20 percent said websites are generally less accessible, and only 35 percent said they are more accessible.
Ipsos found the net majority (57 percent) of respondents are “not familiar” with the accessibility issues faced by people with disabilities when using websites and/or apps.
However, an overwhelming majority said they believe it is very important that brands create digital experiences – on both websites and apps – that are accessible for people with disabilities.
As many as 41 percent said it is very important and 34 percent said it is somewhat important. At the other end of the spectrum, a mere eight percent said it was not very important and seven percent selected not at all important.
Why are so many websites inaccessible?
Whether it’s an issue with color contrast, a lack of sign posting or a limitation on the channels certain information is available on, there are many things that can make a website inaccessible to those with additional access needs. The most common factors influencing website accessibility are text links with poor descriptions, no alt text to describe what images are and unstructured headlines. In addition, some data capture forms are created in a way that screen readers struggle to navigate.
More technical factors, such as a lack of HTML page structure can also hinder accessibility.
However, change is on the horizon.
For the first time in 2024, CX Network’s research into the Global Sate of CX found the accessibility and inclusivity of contact channels was as a top-10 investment priority for CX practitioners in all markets.
When analyzed further, the research showed the bigger the budget the more accessibility is prioritized. For example, among practitioners with US$2.5 million or more to invest in CX that year, accessibility of contact channels increased to the fifth most important spending priority.
How is website accessibility being addressed?
In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) originally stipulated “public accommodations” should be accessible to people with disabilities. This initially meant physical locations, but after a 2012 lawsuit those rules were updated to include websites.
Under the ADA, the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set the technical standard for state and local governments’ web content and mobile apps.
Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, WCAG sets out the requirements for a website to be accessible, such as the use of captions for videos.
In April 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued its Title II final rule, which gave most state and local governments until April 24, 2026, to comply with WCAG. The ruling applied to all current and new pages, but not all archive content.
Title III is next, and this applies to all private sector websites. However, the number of lawsuits against non-compliant private sector websites is already on the rise. In the US, 4,605 web accessibility lawsuits were brought against companies in 2023, an increase of 500 cases year-on-year.
In 2023, 82 percent of these lawsuits involved ecommerce sites and the remaining 18 percent covered multiple major sectors including food services, education and healthcare. Furthermore, 25 percent of all those who were sued in 2023 had been sued before for the same reason.
Click here to find out how to make your website – and digital CX strategy – more accessible. To find out more about All Access: Digital CX 2024, click here.
Quick links
- Five ways to make digital CX and omnichannel more accessible
- How accessibility drives CX personalization
- Inclusive design: The critical foundation of digital UX
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