A few years ago I had an opportunity to work with a large corporation. They were very interested in improving their customer service and the overall customer experience, so they hired me to work with them. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. The most important thing that I learned was that when you have a good plan, and you have a solid implementation strategy, then you can really make a difference.
I worked with the IT department of the company and we reviewed their current website. The site was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This was not a surprise as it had been built over 10 years ago and the technology at the time was different than it is today.
When I met with the CEO and other senior executives of the company, I explained that their website was not compliant with the ADA and that it would be expensive and difficult to update the site. I also told them that if they didn’t update the site, they would lose customers who may not have any disabilities but who wanted to buy from them because they were satisfied with their products and services.
The CEO and his team were very receptive and wanted to do something about it. So I recommended that they hire a web designer to create a new website that was compliant with the ADA. The web designer created a prototype that looked very nice and was very easy to navigate. He also added some features that made it easier for customers to find what they needed and to complete transactions.
The new site went live and the CEO and his team were very pleased with the results. Their sales increased dramatically.
So now the question is – is your website ADA compliant?
There are many different ways to answer this question. You could review your website using the W3C’s guidelines. You could talk to your web developer or designer to see if he/she is familiar with these guidelines. Or you could use a website accessibility checker tool.
The best way to know if your website is compliant is to use a website accessibility checker. These tools will scan your website and report back if it is compliant. You can also purchase a tool that will perform an audit of your website and make recommendations based on the results.
