Why Your Website Needs to be Accessible Before Black Friday Weekend (and How)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are fast approaching. Businesses are gearing up to launch their best deals ever. Consumers are saving their money to splurge on a great offer. But, in all the months of prep, one thing is often overlooked: digital accessibility. There are about 16 million people with disabilities in the UK. So, if websites aren't accessible, it's a big deal.

It's vital to understand the needs of users with disabilities. Doing so helps create an accessible and inclusive digital world. If businesses lead in making these changes, it positively impacts their brand image and helps expand their customer base. And what business doesn’t want that?

What actually is digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility means making websites easy to use for all. This includes people with disabilities and users of assistive technologies. Mobile accessibility also plays a huge role as, according to OFCOM, 45% of disabled people use smartphones for browsing, communication, and accessing services.

Accessible websites improve the user experience for people with disabilities. They can access the same products, services, and information as neurotypical and able-bodied users. Not only is this great from a user’s perspective, but it’s also beneficial for businesses…

The power of the Purple Pound

The Purple Pound is the term for the spending power of households with at least one disabled person. It’s worth a whopping £274 billion a year to the UK economy.

Despite the potential of this untapped market, many businesses fail to consider accessibility. This results in smaller customer bases and lower revenues.

In fact, research shows that:

• Most sectors lose money monthly due to inaccessibility. Banks or building societies (£935 million), supermarkets (£501 million), and high street shops (£267 million) are among the worst affected.
• As of 2023, fewer than 20 countries outside the US have adopted WCAG 2.0 as their web accessibility standard. These include the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, India, and Japan.
• Over 96% of the world’s top one million web pages are not accessible. This means less than 4% of the most popular websites are capitalising on the disability market.

Picture this: A person using assistive technology wants to shop online on Black Friday. They visit your site and encounter barriers such as inaccessible payment forms or complex navigation. They get frustrated when trying to check out and abandon their basket. They leave your site, visit the site of a competitor who’s more accessible, and make a purchase from them instead of you.

Having an accessible website offers a better user experience for people with disabilities. It also reduces the risk of losing out on a lot of potential sales.

But extra sales aren’t the only benefit of being accessible…

Yet another reason to be digitally accessible

Another benefit of being more digitally accessible is that accessible sites rank better in Google SERPs. Although accessibility isn’t a direct ranking factor, accessible sites offer a better user experience and are easier for search engines to crawl.

Google's Search Essentials ranking criteria overlap with W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This includes clearly structured content, simple navigation options, colour contrast, and alt text.

This improved visibility in SERPs is likely to lead to more traffic and, by default, more sales from users of ALL abilities.

7 tips to make your website more accessible

Making your website accessible doesn't have to be daunting. Here are some practical steps to ensure your site is ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday:

1. Keyboard-only accessibility

For some individuals, using a mouse can be especially challenging– specifically for those with physical or visual disabilities. For these people, being able to navigate a site solely from a keyboard is a must.

To check if your site meets this criteria, turn off your mouse. Then, try using your website with just your keyboard. If you find it tough to navigate or difficult to complete actions you’d like others to complete, you’ll need to make some improvements.

2. Clearly structured and tagged content

Well-structured and tagged content is a must for accessibility. Although these elements are hidden, they help users navigate websites with assistive software.

As a starting point, use headlines (like h1 and h2) for page structure. Use lists to make content digestible. Use HTML elements like <nav>, <main>, and <article> to separate sections of the site.

3. High-contrast colour combinations

Colour improves a site's aesthetic. But, when used right, it also boosts usability and accessibility. Some users, like the partially sighted, may struggle to see colour. This includes those using text-only or monochrome displays and browsers. For people in this category, colour contrast–rather than the colour itself– plays a major role.

Always opt for clear colour contrasts, such as black text on a white background, to make the copy easier to read. Tools like this colour contrast checker can also be used to ensure you’re meeting accessibility requirements.

4. Blinking and flashing content

Flashing and blinking elements may play a big role in drawing attention to an offer, but it’s important to consider the potential impact on people with disabilities that can be triggered by rapid movement or flashing, such as epilepsy.

Try to refrain from using too many of these elements. If required, include a user-selectable option for users to disable these features. It’s also good practice to ensure the speed of these animated features isn’t too quick, and that they stop for a short period before starting again. Doing so makes the content less jarring and easier to digest.

5. Form controls

Tying in with keyboard navigation, mentioned above, is form controls. Users with disabilities often rely on keyboards to select from dropdowns and checkboxes. So, menus must be simple to understand.

Each menu should have clear labels that correlate with the correct form fields.

6. Alt text

One core accessibility principle is adding alt text to every image on a website. Alt text is essentially a small description of what an image shows.

Alt text appears when images fail to load. It helps search engines crawl websites and, most importantly, lets screen readers describe images to users with visual impairments.

7. Transcriptions and captions

For content such as videos and podcasts that you’re featuring on your website, make sure you provide transcripts and captions. Doing so ensures that users with hearing impairments can easily access and enjoy them.

Captions are also beneficial in noisy environments where users (without disabilities) might not be able to hear the audio clearly.

Final thoughts

Digital accessibility is not just about compliance. It's about creating an inclusive environment where everyone can participate. By making your website accessible before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you open your business to a wider audience, tap into the substantial purple pound market, and improve your SEO.

About the author

Amanda Jenkins is a Senior Designer at Soap Media, an award-winning full-service digital agency that works with clients across numerous sectors with marketing, web, and design needs. Since joining the business, she’s championed online accessibility, ensuring that every site designed meets the W3C accessibility guidelines.