How easy is it for a visually impaired person to access your products and services using a screenreader?
You have no idea? I’d love to change that!
Why is accessibility important?
If you can’t access something, you can’t use it.
Problems with accessibility can mean that potential customers can’t access your site, purchase goods and services, or benefit from the information you provide.
Accessibility is something that I care about, both because it’s important to be inclusive, and because as a blind adult, I have first-hand experience of not being able to access goods and services due to issues around accessibility. My approach is not just to point out a list of things that are wrong, but to work with business owners, exploring the customer journey from the perspective of someone using a screenreader, and identifying solutions to problems, or ways to improve the customer experience journey.
Did you know?
The purple pound is the “aggregate income (after housing cost) of households with at least one disabled person.” In 2019, the value of the purple pound was estimated at around £274 billion.
In recent research into digital accessibility carried out by Scope and Open inclusion, half of the disabled respondents said that they might not go on to buy a product if they encountered problems when using a website or app. That’s a lot of money being left on the table. In the same question, where multiple answers were possible, 48% said they may also find a different provider, and 32% said they would ask someone else to help with the purchase.
In a different question, a further 75% of respondents said they believed UK businesses are missing out because their services are not inclusive enough
Free information sheet – 5 easy steps to make your products and services more accessible to screenreader users
Even small improvements can make a massive difference in terms of the user experience.
I’ve produced a free information sheet with five easily actionable things that you can do to improve the user experience for current or future customers who are blind. No technical knowledge is required – these are all simple changes that you can make to the way that you do things. They won’t cost you anything either, apart from a couple of minutes to implement, but they could bring massive value in terms of a more inclusive experience, and ultimately, more happy customers and more sales.
Use the sign-up form at the bottom of this page to request your copy.
Customer experience consultation and accessibility action plan
Some people will need more specific support than can be provided in my group programme.
Hiring me as an accessibility consultant means that we can put together a package to suit your needs, focussing on the elements that are most relevant to your business.
Possible areas that we can look at are:
- How accessible is your website?
- How easy is it for screenreader users to find out about your products and services?
- How accessible is your newsletter?
- How accessible are your social media channels?
- How accessible are your training materials or courses?
- How accessible are your events?
We will work through your areas of interest, using your current resources as examples, either in a video conference meeting or on the telephone. I will answer your questions, point out any accessibility issues that I discover, and work with you on strategies to improve the overall customer experience for blind customers using a screenreader. I will also provide you with an accessibility action plan, so you don’t have to worry about keeping track of the issues as we go along.
Alternatively, I can test your training materials/website/customer journey and provide you with a written report.
We can break the task down into chunks, but it’s important to remember the whole customer journey and experience – from finding out about your products or services, to buying and using them. It doesn’t help if you have an accessible course that people can’t sign up to, or a great website, but you can’t build the know like and trust factor with blind customers because your social media content excludes them.
Pricing
After an initial consultation in which we discuss the scope of the project and what you would like to cover, I will provide a quote based on the amount of time it will take to complete the work. Time is purchased as either half-day or full-day sessions, but you don’t need to take the whole block at once.
For example, if a task only takes 90 minutes, the rest of your time will be kept on your account until you need it for something else.
- Half a day is priced at £195.
- A full day is priced at £349
- A single hour is priced at £59 per hour.
Payment can be made by bank transfer or Paypal.
Would you like to know more?
If you’d like to know more about my consultancy services, request a copy of my free accessibility factsheet, or sign up for the newsletter, please use my contact form: