In this guide, you can discover:
- What is an accessibility audit
- How to get an accessibility audit
- The benefits of accessibility audits
There are also some additional questions answered at the end if you would like further information on this topic, which is growing fast in relevancy throughout every industry.
Table of Contents
What Is an Accessibility Audit?
An accessibility audit is when a website is analyzed and evaluated to understand how well it meets accessibility requirements. Usually, the audit can be done within a day, although it can take multiple days, depending on the size of the website.
If you want to get an accessibility audit for your business website, you can find the best accessibility audit tools to choose from. Whichever auditing tool you choose, you’ll be able to have your website professionally evaluated so that it can conform with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and industry regulations.
The Benefits of Accessibility Audits
Accessibility audits come with lots of exciting benefits. Let’s look at some of them.
Address Accessibility Issues and Gaps
After your website accessibility audit has been successfully completed, you’ll receive a list of information regarding the issues and gaps that were uncovered during the audit. These issues and gaps will vary, but some common examples are:
- Improper headings
- No alt text for images
- No keyboard navigation options
The best part about this is that any issues presented to you by the audit tool can be addressed quickly. For example, if the audit tells you that you need to add alt text to all of your website images (e.g., product images), then you can do this. Of course, the key is to act quickly. The quicker you act, the quicker the issues can be resolved.
Prevent Legal Issues and Cost Damages
Over recent years, countless companies have been hit with accessibility lawsuits. Even the biggest industry names, such as Electronic Arts (EA), aren’t safe from this. In the case of EA, a man named Rafael Cordero decided to sue them because he believed EA had failed to design its website in an accessible and fully usable way for the visually impaired. It’s not just EA, though, as even the likes of Netflix and Target have experienced huge lawsuits. Even if you’re only a small company yourself, there’s nothing to say that this can’ happen to you, too — which is why accessibility audits are incredibly beneficial.
Start Increasing Your Sales
Once an accessibility audit has uncovered key areas where you need to improve (and you then make positive changes), you’ll begin to reap the benefits. One of the biggest benefits is increasing your sales due to more website traffic from disabled customers. When disabled customers see that you’re a brand that cares about accessibility and inclusivity, they will be more inclined to engage with you and purchase products which is exactly what you want.
Summary
This year, it’s highly recommended that you use a website auditing tool for your business site. From there, you can start making changes and begin to experience the benefits associated with accessible websites, such as the above-mentioned increased sales.
