TheBlindJournalist: You've Clicked Me Off

Slug/title:

You’ve Clicked Me Off

 

Top line:

How much revenue are businesses losing due to inaccessible websites for disabled customers?

 

PEG:

Freenay Williams say that 9 out of 10 people don't bother to complain about website accessibility problems and are therefore launching a new survey to have disabled shoppers voices heard.

 

Background:

With UK e-commerce valued at £133 billion in 2016 and a majority of businesses moving online, could they be missing a trick by not making their websites accessible and therefore losing out on the disabled shoppers market?

 

The Extra Costs Commission, which is an independent enquiry hosted by Scope, published a report in 2015 that stated 75% of disabled customers had walked away from a shop because it wasn’t user friendly for them. The report suggested that as a result of this these businesses are missing out on a market which is estimated  at £1.8 billion a month.

 

Freenay Williams, a specialist disability consultancy business that helps, and teaches, companies about website and product accessibility, launched a research survey, in 2015, entitled ‘Click-Away Pound Survey’.

In the past the company analysed e-commerce websites, over a five year period, and found that 70% of the websites they had checked were inaccessible. From other research Freenay Williams had compiled they found that 100% of the disabled people they asked said that they pay more money for certain products simply because the website is accessible and user friendly. They also found that 70% of disabled people didn’t bother contacting a company if their website was inaccessible but instead looked for a different company to buy what they were looking for.

 

The results of part one of the click-away pound survey:

 

In the UK in 2016, around 6.1 million internet users have impairments that affect the way they use the Internet. Those 6.1 million people will spend £16.55 billion online this year.

Ignore accessibility and 71% of those potential customers will go elsewhere, taking their £11.75 billion with them.

The Click Away Pound Survey 2016 shows that over 80% of these customers will spend their money not necessarily on the website that offers the cheapest products, but where fewest barriers are placed in their way. In fact, 71% of these customers will click away from websites that do not cater for their access needs.

Those customers who click away have an estimated spending power of £11.75 billion in the UK alone - almost 10% of the projected total UK online spend in 20161.

1 £126 billion by the beginning of 2016 (IMRG Capgemini: e-Retail Sales Index. 2015)

According to Scope, there are 13 million disabled people in the UK, who have an estimated combined spending power of £250 billion.

Penny Mordaunt, Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work said “This report sends a strong message about the benefits of accessible online services for both disabled people and businesses. Whether it’s adapting a shop, restaurant or website, there are simple things that businesses can do to improve the lives of disabled people whilst tapping into their valuable spending power.”

Susan Scott-Parker OBE, CEO of Business Disability International, said: “This important report shows that UK retailers have decided they can ignore the 15% to 20% of people in the UK with disabilities. Given the minimal costs associated with good website design, why would any business make it needlessly difficult for so many potential customers to spend their money? Any senior business leader now has even more reason to persuade the business to up its digital game, not just because the law requires it but because it makes commercial sense.”

Rick Williams, Managing Director of Freeney Williams said: “After 20 years of legislation, most high street retailers in the UK understand they need to take disabled shoppers’ needs into account when designing ‘bricks and mortar’ shops. Although the same law applies to their online presence, many of those businesses seem oblivious to the need to make their websites accessible. The UK has an ageing population, and we believe the accessibility issues identified in our research will only increase over time.”

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The Click-Away Pound survey is managed by Freeney Williams Limited, one of Europe's leading disability and diversity consultancies. We work extensively in all sectors to achieve long-lasting and self-sustaining change designed to meet the needs of employers and service providers in the real world.

Most businesses will be unaware that they are losing income because only 7% of customers who have difficulty using a site will contact them. Unless businesses actively develop an understanding of accessibility, many will be unaware that the barriers even exist. Yet it is within the control of website owners to take down the barriers which are actively discouraging disabled and older customers.

 

You’ve Clicked Me Off

How much revenue are businesses losing due to inaccessible websites for disabled customers?

 

Background:

With UK e-commerce now valued at more than £45 billion and a majority of businesses moving online, could they be missing a trick by not making their websites accessible and therefore losing out on the disabled shoppers market?

 The Extra Costs Commission, which is an independent enquiry hosted by Scope, published a report in 2015 that stated 75% of disabled customers had walked away from a shop because it wasn’t user friendly for them. The report suggested that as a result of this these businesses are missing out on a market which is estimated  at £1.8 billion a month.

 As a result of these findings, Freenay Williams, a specialist disability consultancy business that helps, and teaches, companies about website and product accessibility, has launched a research survey entitled ‘Click-Away Pound Survey’. The company hopes that their findings will paint a picture of how much revenue online businesses could be losing due to their websites being inaccessible.

 In the past the company analysed e-commerce websites, over a five year period, and found that 70% of the websites they had checked were inaccessible. From other research Freenay Williams had compiled they found that 100% of the disabled people they asked said that they pay more money for certain products simply because the website is accessible and user friendly. They also found that 70% of disabled people didn’t bother contacting a company if their website was inaccessible but instead looked for a different company to buy what they were looking for.

 Due to the inconvenience involved for a disabled person to go shopping, the majority of them now do their shopping online.  It is for this reason that Freenay Williams feel that the revenue businesses could be losing may be significantly more than £1.8 billion a month.

 The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 ensures most high street stores understand the needs of accessibility for disabled customers, but they often fail to account for website accessibility. Under the Equality Act (2010)  they could be taken to county court for an inaccessible website. To date though, there hasn’t been a single case which has gone to court because the DDA isn’t strong enough or because a settlement has been reached outside of court.    

Story Name:

You’ve Clicked Me Off

 

Story Idea:

Based on the aforementioned statistics, I feel this would be a great story as it is not something many people will be aware of even though it could be directly impacting on them – if they had an online business. From my research into this story, I have learnt that the reason why so many e-commerce websites aren’t accessible is because of the lack of awareness about how exactly to make their website accessible and at the same time user friendly too. It isn’t necessarily  because of cost as it can be free to make a website accessible. Not many people will be aware of this which is why I think this story would be a good opportunity to inform and educate.

I would like to bring these statistics to the attention of businesses and ask them why they aren’t doing more to make their websites accessible even though it could be of mutual benefit to them. Rather than interviewing a handful of disabled shoppers I would rather focus on one shopper that has experienced this problem and also have a demonstration of them using an inaccessible website. This individual could also challenge a big company like Amazon or Apple and we could follow their progress. Alternatively, to add jeopardy to the story, five-ten disabled shoppers could be lined up in the studio and told to buy something you’d expect to do easily e.g buying a cinema ticket or groceries. They could be given an hour to do this and then they could report back live about their findings and whether they managed to fulfil the task. From this a ‘Top 10’ list of most accessible and user friendly websites could be created. This could also then be posted on Twitter.

 

I must emphasise that when I say ‘disabled’ it only relates to those who are visually impaired and therefore use assistive software to access the internet. Also, those who have a physical disability  and can’t use a mouse or keyboard.

 

In Brief:

1. Bring these statistics to the attention of the audience

2. Explore why businesses could be under the impression there website is accessible but in reality it isn’t.

3. What it takes to make a website accessible and user friendly

4. Iron out any misconceptions

5. Widen the scope of this story to see what the future holds for websites but also access for all

Target Programme:

Radio 5 Live is where I foresee this story fitting in best. 5 Live is all about getting live testemonials of ‘real’ people on air. It is also all about running a story throughout the day from various angles on its different shows. I feel my idea meets all these criterion. I’d like to launch the story on Wake Up To Money as an introduction to the matter and then pass the story over to 5 Live Breakfast to have live reaction from disabled people. I’d like to have a case study on the segment ‘In Conversation’ with the companies they are having problems with. That way we would hear live from the horse’s mouth what the problem is and the company is held to account live as to what they would do. The presenter, Nicky Campbell could then finish the interview by  asking what the company proposes to do about the problem. I’d like 5 Live Daily’s Martin Lewis to pick up the story also but widen the subject matter and use his phone-in segment to get reaction and opinion. The PEG would be the research survey Faynay Williams have launched recently.

I feel that this would be of interest to a 30+ middle class demographic because it would bring awareness to those whom are self employed and run an online shopping site. Alternatively, those who work in PR, HR or even web designers, as well as disabled shoppers themselves.

 

Contributors\Interviews:

• Rick Williams, who owns Freenay Williams, about his company’s findings and his own experiences because he is blind.
• Vox pops from disabled shoppers about their experiences and thoughts.
• Organisations like the RNIB to question if they feel specific legislation about website accessibility would resolve the problem - as seen in the U.S.
• Speaking to a web designer to see how difficult and costly it can be to make a website accessible
• A business that does have an accessible website and if they feel they have had an influx in sales due to making their website accessible. At the same time speaking to a business that hasn’t got an accessible website to ask them why.
• The Business Disability Forum (BDF) as they have in-depth knowledge on this topic.  

 

Outcomes:

Explain the difference between accessibility and usability.

To use the power I have as a journalist to inform and educate the general public about the importance of accessibility.

To inform businesses about this market they could be benefitting from, which in turn will make online shopping easier for disabled shoppers.

Iron out the misconceptions some businesses may have about the costs involved. Question current laws and ethics of businesses

Explore why disabled shoppers have failed to take these companies to court.