Simple ways inclusive design transforms your business
Inclusive design is a form of human-centred design that incorporates the needs and desires of diverse users when solving problems. It’s about removing barriers to entry and creating products, services, and experiences that address the needs of all people.
The benefits of inclusive design may be obvious when it comes to things like wheelchair ramps or Braille signage, but it also applies to more subtle details like colour schemes and button shapes in your app. On the surface, these may seem like trivial design choices; however, these details can create a huge barrier for users with disabilities and impairments. By making your product accessible to everyone, you’re also creating a better experience for your entire audience.
The inclusive design encourages empowerment by including features for people with disabilities such as assistive technologies or adaptive interface designs. By empowering users to do things they couldn’t do before like helping them do something better (like listening than reading), products become more useful overall. The key is to understand what specific needs users have and then determine how you can address those needs through your products and services.
It’s a change in the way we think about products and services.
Designing technology for the masses is, in theory, a simple proposition. Design for everyone.
1. Increase customer loyalty
When designing a product, it’s important to have your customers in mind. Users come to your product or service with a purpose, but also an idea of how they want to browse. They may be looking for a specific product, or they may be browsing based on what you have to offer. Either way, their path should be smooth and intuitive so that they can find what they are looking for quickly. Designing user-friendly pages are key to keeping shoppers engaged for longer periods of time. It’s easy to get caught up in all of the bells and whistles you can add to your site, but these features won’t matter if customers can’t easily navigate the site itself.
The Apple Effect is a term for the phenomenon of consumers purchasing more expensive products as a result of their experience with less expensive products. In the Apple Effect, customers who have been delighted by a product from a company are more likely to buy an upgraded version as soon as it comes out. In effect, Apple gets people hooked on its products and then sells them accessories or upgrades to keep them happy.
A more inclusive product or service is likely to leave customers feeling valued and respected, which will lead to increased loyalty and trust in your brand.
2. Attract new customers
It’s important for all businesses to expand their customer base, and people with disabilities and impairments seek the same level of access, quality and usability that everyone else wants.
There are numerous ways to make your product/website more accessible. The following are some ideas that can help you get started:
- Use headings to break up text into smaller chunks, which makes them easier to scan.
- Accessible alternatives:
Include, image maps instead of image-only navigation, skip navigation links, skip to content links or a simple text link at the bottom of each page. - Use colour contrast to enhance readability:
when choosing colours for your website, ensure they have enough contrast so that users can easily differentiate between them. For example, black text on a white background is ideal for easy reading. Colourblindness affects 8% of men and 0.5% of women worldwide. Be sure to check the contrast ratio of any colour combination you’re using by using an online tool such as Color Oracle. - Start with a solid foundation:
Build your sites with HTML5 and CSS3 (and not Flash). It’s more accessible, and Google loves it!
For example, someone who is visually impaired may want to print documents with larger font sizes. A person with a good vision may want the opposite. Someone with limited use of their hands may need a different kind of handle on a mug, while someone with arthritis might not be able to grip a handle at all. The number of potential customers who may need special attention has never been greater.
3. Save money on development costs
If you make an effort to be inclusive from the beginning of development, your product or service will probably cost less than one that needs to be retrofitted later on.
If you’re developing something that will be widely used by your company or organization, think about the people who aren’t on your payroll. How can you make them part of the process early on? For example, if you’re developing a new software application, try to get regular feedback from people outside of the department who will use it. This might be co-workers in different departments, clients or even some of your customers. People outside the development process are usually more willing to give feedback than employees because they don’t have to worry about hurting someone’s feelings or getting into trouble for making suggestions. You may find that some of their observations are off-base, but others are right on target. It’s important to get everyone involved in this kind of brainstorming so you know what’s coming down the road and how it can affect your plans. If you wait until after the project is underway to involve others, they’ll have less influence over the process and it will cost more money to change things.
For example, if you develop an app for the iPhone, you cannot market it as accessible to people who use screen readers unless you make it fully accessible. There is no way around this; you will have to make some type of accommodation for blind and low-vision users. You may be required to make changes to accommodate other disability groups as well. Your company then becomes a pioneer in the development of products that are usable by all people, including those with disabilities. As more companies realize that they have to be more inclusive, they will come looking to you for guidance on how they too can be more accessible. In order to keep up with demand, you will have to build a business around making your products accessible, potentially growing your company in the process.
4. Offer better customer support
If everyone using your product or service can easily understand how it works, they’re more likely to get results quickly without contacting customer support which will save you time and money.
5. Create a culture of empathy in your organization
Empathy is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s about understanding what people need to use your product or service — and then designing accordingly. Empathy doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. The more inclusive the design process is at every level, the more likely it is that empathy will be built into the final product.
Now that you are familiar with how inclusive design can benefit your customers with disabilities. However, there are other ways that it can improve your product. Here are seven ways that you can build inclusion into your product/service,
1. Make it easy for customers to browse
2. Provide clear product information
3. Don’t limit interactions to text
4. Use visual hierarchy to organize content
5. Use icons instead of text whenever possible
6. Include customer reviews on product pages
7. Offer multiple ways for customers to contact you
The Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA requires sites to be easy for everyone to access. It not only helps people who use assistive technologies like screen readers, but also provides access for people who have trouble using a mouse or other input device; who are deaf or hard of hearing; who are blind or have low vision, or who otherwise may need more time, additional visual information, or alternative formats. This includes people with cognitive disabilities like dyslexia.
It’s about creating empathy with your customers and seeing things from their perspective.
Whether you’re a new company looking to grow, or an established one hoping to jumpstart innovation, providing an inclusive experience can both help your bottom line and make your product stand out from the competition. An inclusive design strategy will get you there, whether it’s making your website more responsive or implementing features for your voice-controlled smart speaker.
The bottom line is simple, inclusivity is good business.
The 20% of users who benefit from assistive technology give you a chance to improve your products for all users and bring everyone along with you on your digital journey. Most importantly, designing with inclusivity in mind is just good design.
Read about the Apple effect
These are some of the references for you to read more on the topic,
Slideshare | ThoughtWorks | WDBG | 99designs
Book recommendations
Inclusive Design for Products: Including your missing 20% by embedding web and mobile accessibility
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please connect with me on LinkedIn if you ever thought that you’d like to chat.
