The Cost of Inaccessibility

Marketing aims to reach our ideal customers and convince them to buy from us. But what if you’re excluding a huge portion of that audience? That’s what happens when your website isn’t accessible.

Around 29% of the US adult population has some kind of disability that might affect how they use the Internet. When our websites don’t cater to everyone and allow them alternatives to access our information, we risk not reaching those ideal customers.

It’s not just about reaching all your potential customers either; there are actual costs when our websites aren’t accessible.

An inaccessible website can impact your finances, reputation, and operations.

Don’t let inaccessibility drain your bottom line. Let’s break down the costs.

Have to convince your boss that website accessibility matters? Here’s a sobering fact – it can significantly impact your financial outlook.

When your website isn’t accessible, you’re putting your organization at risk for legal issues, lost revenue, and expensive repair costs down the line.

The one that gets most of my customers’ attention? Not having an accessible website can cost you big in legal settlements.

In just July 2024, UsableNet reported 233 ADA lawsuits filed for digital accessibility issues.

The big worry is that someone in a state different from your business can sue you. That means someone in New York can sue your Illinois-based company for web accessibility issues.

The regulations governing whether a website must be accessible are murky. We’re figuring out a lot of this in courts with lawsuits right now (and believe me, you don’t want to be an example).

However, public entities and institutions that receive government funding, like universities, have until April 2026 to make their websites and digital assets fully accessible.

You can read more about how Title II affects universities in my recent blog.

Another problem many businesses are facing? Accessibility overlays give a false impression that they fix issues.

In the same study, useable.net found that 62 of the 233 lawsuits filed in July 2024 used a 3rd party accessibility tool.

You can’t just download and pay a subscription to fix this problem. It has to be fixed correctly. Your website and digital assets must be built correctly to provide the best experience for everyone.

When I do accessibility remediation and audits, I’m often able to make some suggestions to fix a website without having to rebuild the entire thing. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

I’m working with a client to rebuild their huge website because the WordPress theme they’re using just isn’t accessible.

Especially if you use WordPress and popular themes, you must understand that they’re not always built with accessibility in mind. Many of them ignore it altogether for the benefit of aesthetics.

The worst-case scenario is that you have a lawsuit and settlement to pay and must then dish out a lot of money to redo your website.

Better to be proactive and work on it now before you find yourself in court, too.

Another big factor in an inaccessible website? You’re excluding nearly 30% of your target market.

I teach digital marketing at Wichita State, and one of the points I hit home a lot is that you don’t want to reach everyone or you’re reaching no one. But that doesn’t mean excluding that 30% of your audience is OK, either.

Everyone has different abilities, and whether or not you believe this affects your audience, it does.

Do you want to turn away that much of your audience simply because making your website accessible requires an upfront investment?

I’m gonna guess that answer is no.

If you think a lawsuit can hurt your organization in just the money department, what about the damage to your brand reputation?

And remember that 30% of your audience you’re excluding? They have friends, family, and social media followers that they can tell about their bad experiences with your business.

When your website isn’t accessible, you risk your reputation online and beyond.

A damaged brand image can have huge, lasting consequences. Negative publicity from accessibility lawsuits or complaints can tarnish any company’s reputation, leading to a loss of trust and customer loyalty. When a brand is perceived as discriminatory or inconsiderate, it can alienate potential customers and damage relationships with existing ones.

The impact on public perception can extend beyond your immediate customer base. We all know people talk, and negative news can spread rapidly through social media and traditional news outlets. That negative publicity can make a substantial negative dent in your brand image.

This can make it difficult for your organization to attract new customers, partners, and talent, ultimately affecting your long-term success.

It can be challenging to convince random strangers on the internet that you can do what you claim you can in your organization.

When a brand has been damaged, recouping that image can be even more complicated because you intentionally excluded large portions of your audience.

You’re not just dealing with a negative public perception of your brand when your website isn’t accessible. You’re losing trust with anyone who might come into contact with you later.

This loss of trust can be incredibly costly for a university when it alienates potential students, donors, and partners.

Businesses risk losing out on sales and other brand deals because who wants to be associated with a brand that doesn’t care about its customers?

An inaccessible website isn’t just a matter of strict dollars and cents spent in a lawsuit or rebuilding your website to be accessible.

Those costs show up in your team costs, too.

Think of recent champs Kansas City Chiefs. When they play a championship game, they often have great defensive moves that keep them in the game. But the genius of their game comes in how their offense plays. They know the risks to take to move the ball forward and get those ever-important touchdowns (or, in the case of 2024’s big game, a very strategic field goal).

Just like in a good football game, how you play offensively matters to your organization’s costs, especially regarding your operational costs.

Do you want your marketing staff to be focused on strategies to attract new customers and students or on addressing accessibility issues?

I’m going to guess you want their focus on what’s going to bring in revenue.

Unfortunately, when you aren’t playing offensively with your web accessibility, your team can spend a ton of time reading articles, watching videos, and trying to figure out how to deal with the issue when an outside party raises it.

That’s not fun for anyone, but it can also make your team very inefficient.

Another operational issue is the burden it places on your customer support team to address those accessibility problems in other ways.

The entire point of web accessibility is to help everyone understand the content you upload to the web. When you don’t provide that experience up front, your customer support team spends a lot of their time with customers needing alternative materials and information.

Do you want them to answer the same questions over and over again?

Yeah, I didn’t think so. But that’s what happens when your website isn’t accessible.

I hate to be all doom and gloom, but when your website isn’t accessible, you’ll lose money, reputation, and time.

To quote Chat GPT, “in today’s digital landscape,” ain’t no one got time for that.

We all want to provide a great experience for our customers, and it’s time to do that for all of them.

When we prioritize accessible content on the web, we protect our organizations from legal liabilities and revenue loss and safeguard our brand image and team.

It’s time to act now, not later. If you want to build an online presence that serves all your customers, invest now in creating accessible websites.

I promise it costs less to do it upfront than to return and do it right later.