5 Reasons Why You Should Choose ADA Compliant Website Design and Development
Owning or running a business is a very challenging and responsible mission. You have a responsibility to your family, partners and suppliers, to your employees, investors and, of course, to your customers. You have to always be vigilant and keep abreast of everything that happens around: from the latest industry trends to laws that affect your business. If the company you are managing is fully or partially represented on the Internet, then you must have heard about the concept of web accessibility, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. (WCAG 2.0).
Reason 1. You do not want to lose your customers
People are different, and to stay afloat in the competition you should take into account the needs of all your potential customers. If you are unable to provide a service or information about your products or services to any of your customers, your competitors will readily make it instead of you.
ADA compliance website makes the range of your potential customers wider. According to the American Community Survey, the percentage of people who have a disability in the US is about 12% (12,6% as at 2015) and over the half of them are employed. That means that without ADA compliant website, you are missing millions of potential customers who could be interested in your products or services. As people with disabilities visit your website, they will simply not be able to gain access to the information, not to mention to buy or order anything.
Reason 2. Ignoring ADA compliance, WCAG 2.0 and section 508 leads to losing money
Following the previous point, if your website is not ADA accessible, then a significant part of people visiting it will simply not order from you. Firstly, because they might not be able to do so, as you did not provide them with such an opportunity. And secondly, because people with disabilities will not desire to make a purchase or order a service from a company that does not care about them. Thus, they will go to your competitors while you will be losing money and business reputation.
Reason 3. ADA compliant website is the building block of your reputation
Building a supportive business that cares about customers is the right way to go, which will bring you closer to success. Once you take a step toward making your website ADA compliant, you will obtain impressive results. New customers will come and will share information about your ADA compliant website, services or products with their peers, relatives and friends. That will form an attractive image of your company and build a good reputation. Thus, brand awareness and customer loyalty will increase, as well as sales and your revenue. Apart from this, ADA compliant website can be a competitive advantage, which makes your business stand out against competitors.
Reason 4. The ADA law requires your website and mobile apps to be ADA accessible
If the previous points are not convincing enough for you, then it is time for a solid argument.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that businesses provide all of their customers with access to the same services, including websites and electronic media. Companies that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act face allegations. Obviously, you do not want any problems with the law or any attendant consequences including high penalties, loss of customer trust, bad business reputation and decreased revenues. Note that ADA compliance is not confined to websites, it also extends to mobile applications.
If you work with the federal government, your products are covered under Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires electronic and information technology of all government agencies to be accessible to people with disabilities. At the same time, the Section 508 obliges that not only members of the public must be provided with access to websites, computer software and hardware, phone systems and copiers, but also all federal employees as well. The standards of the Section 508 compliance contain specific criteria covering, inter alia, web-based and software applications, video and multimedia, as well as information on the Web.
Finally, Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act claims nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. If you do not provide all your potential customers, including people with disabilities, with equal access to your services or products and to your website, it could be interpreted as discrimination.
Reason 5. There is no problem to make your website ADA compliant
If you think that accessible web development requires a lot of effort and considerable financial investment, you are wrong. There are many companies providing ADA compliance services that will do everything for you. LOVATA, a New York-based Software Development Company, is one of them.
We provide a full range of accessible web development services: from consulting and ADA compliant design to ADA compliant development and product launch. LOVATA’s ADA compliance consultants will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your website and develop a strategy for facilitating ADA compliance transformation of your business.
Sometimes all it takes is the awareness. If you have come to recognize that you need an ADA compliant website or software application for your business, we are ready to help. LOVATA’s ADA compliance professionals will make a turnkey project and provide you with an ADA compliant website and mobile app tailored to meet your business needs. Do not hesitate to contact us!
In our next article in the series dedicated to ADA compliance, we will provide some insight into the features of ADA compliant websites and will tell you how to perform accessibility testing to check whether your website is ADA compliant or not.
