Why web accessibility must be a staple offering among agencies’ services

Thousands of agencies have embraced web accessibility as part of their service offerings, making their clients’ websites accessible and inclusive for all. Your initial instinct may be to get in the accessibility game to mitigate legal risks correlated with inaccessible websites, but did you know that web accessibility is actually just a good, strategic business decision to make? Adding web accessibility to your service offerings comes with many, unbeatable benefits such as improved online reputation, increased revenue streams, and it enhances your clients’ website user experience. 

Making your clients’ websites accessible means expanding their reach to 15% of the world’s population that lives with a disability, while breaking down barriers that often limit online participation from the community. People with disabilities are loyal consumers to sites they find to be inclusive and accessible, and they wish to exercise their spending power and take advantage of the goods and services the digital world contains. 

Including web accessibility among your service offerings is a great business opportunity no agency should pass on, rather than a legal obligation you must adhere to. Here’s why web accessibility is now a standard service offering for agencies of all sizes:

Open up new revenue channels while doing the right thing

As an agency, you’re called on to hit financial targets for your clients. Web accessibility can help you achieve this goal, potentially lifting revenue as you open your clients’ products and services to the 15% of the population living with disabilities. Through your clients’ newly accessible websites, people with disabilities will be able to complete transactional processes and will have an easier time doing so. 

You’re looking for ways to generate new revenue for your agency, too, right? When incorporating web accessibility into your array of offerings, you’ll be providing a quote to your clients just as you would for development or design services. With every website you make accessible, you lift agency revenue while working as an inclusive brand.

Accessible websites perform better 

If your clients’ digital assets are accessible to everyone, it greatly improves the user experience, which leads to decreased bounce rates, prolonged dwell time, higher conversion rates, a lift in SEO ranking, and ultimately, soaring performance scores.  

This new and improved user experience also leads to a potential increase in traffic to your clients’ websites (due to the added 15% of the world’s population), and this new audience will become loyal customers that return for more. They’ll also spread the word to their friends and family, extending audience reach and, therefore, traffic even further. 

Improve online reputation for you and your clients

Inclusion efforts are in full force for 2022 and you should be an agency that implements the best practices of diversity, equity and inclusion, especially in the digital sphere. Consumers are loyal to brands who are aligned with inclusive efforts and initiatives, which means that web accessibility could put you and your clients ahead of the competition – with accessible websites. 

Mitigate legal risk associated with inaccessibility

Creating and producing accessible websites maintains legislative compliance, such as under the US’s ADA and the UK’s Equality Act, and mitigates the chance of legal implications. That’s valuable time and money saved in the long term, while your agency remains inclusive and aligned with the proper legislation. To put your clients on the path to compliance, you need to know where to start and what to adjust on their websites. With aCe, accessiBe’s free auditing tool, businesses serving the US market can also instantly discover how accessible clients’ websites are and which legislative requirements they must fulfill. 

Web accessibility is a win-win for everyone

Making your clients’ websites accessible and inclusive is a win-win for your agency, clients, and people with disabilities. Your clients are expanding their audience while seeing their sites perform better, and people with disabilities achieve ultimate, fair access to the web. Just try to find a better win-win that includes everyone.

Now that you understand the benefits that come along with incorporating web accessibility into your offerings, you would also be happy to discover just how simple implementing web accessibility truly is. Technologies such as artificial intelligence have made sure that achieving web accessibility isn’t a complicated process but, instead, a straightforward task that can be initiated by accessiBe’s accessWidget, which hosts a simple, two-minute installation using JavaScript code that enables you to make your clients’ websites accessible. 

The bottom line is that making your clients’ websites accessible and inclusive isn’t a harrowing task. Instead, it’s an agency-friendly solution that allows agencies of all sizes to include web accessibility as a staple in their service offerings to their clients.

The opportunity to embrace web accessibility is here and now. Book a demo and learn more about accessiBe’s Partnership Program, where you can claim your free agency licence today.