Why Agencies Should Offer Recurring Accessibility Services

In recent years, digital accessibility has become an increasing topic of discussion among small businesses, driven by the need to comply with legal requirements, leverage technological advancements, and integrate accessibility into their digital transformation strategies. The demand for recurring accessibility services is on the rise.

Consequently, forward-thinking agencies are starting to recognize the importance of ongoing accessibility efforts to ensure compliance, enhance user experience, and capitalize on market opportunities. This article makes the case for why your agency should start offering recurring accessibility services.

Emerging Demand Among SMBs for Recurring Accessibility Services

Digital accessibility is increasingly becoming an area of focus for small businesses. Agencies may already have some customers asking about the accessibility of their site (or asking for accessibility to be in the scope of a new website project), particularly if their customers operate small companies in eCommerce or healthcare. There are three drivers behind this emerging area of demand.

Legal Compliance and Risk Mitigation

There has been a significant and steady rise in accessibility-related lawsuits over the last five years, pushing businesses to prioritize digital accessibility to avoid legal repercussions. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), EU Accessibility Act (EAA), and other regulations mandate accessible digital content, and the release of new digital accessibility regulations globally is accelerating. As the risks and potential costs of failure to meet legal accessibility requirements continue to pile up, business owners are increasingly likely to see this as a wise investment of capital.

Technological Advancement and Market Expansion

Emerging technologies such as automated accessibility testing, voice assistants, and improved assistive technologies make it easier for businesses to implement and maintain accessible digital content. These advancements lower the barrier to entry for small businesses looking to enhance their digital accessibility. As they make these positive advancements, these same businesses will also enjoy significant benefits. By making their digital platforms accessible, small businesses can reach a broader audience, including the estimated 61 million adults in the U.S. living with a disability.

Accessibility is a Key Component of Digital Transformation

As businesses continue to move towards online operations, the need for accessible digital platforms has become increasingly apparent. This shift has highlighted the importance of digital accessibility in ensuring customers (and the employees too!) can access online services, products, and systems. Increasingly, businesses rely on these interconnected pieces to control their entire operation, from marketing and promotion, to service delivery and customer communication. It is worth noting that accessibility features do not solely benefit users with disabilities, and businesses transitioning to accessible sites typically see significant increases in overall traffic, time users spend browsing the site, and perhaps most importantly, conversions.

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Accessibility is a Recurring Revenue Center

This Isn’t One and Done

The idea that accessibility is something you have to tackle once is a common one, and it’s incorrect. Why? Because our digital world is in a constant state of change. Whether it is the content management systems, plugins that extend CMS functionality, or the content itself, all of these things are changing all the time. The only exception is an entirely static HTML site, and even that may eventually falter.

Websites and digital platforms frequently update their content and the underlying software they run on. Each change that gets introduced, whether it’s a blog post, video, software update, or interactive feature, needs to be evaluated in some fashion for accessibility.

Accessibility is not something you attain, it’s something you maintain.

Bet Hannon, AccessiCart

The technology we use to browse the web is constantly evolving too, with new devices and web standards emerging regularly. Ensuring accessibility means continuously adapting to these changes to maintain compatibility and usability for all users, whether they are on gigabit fiber with a brand new MacBook, or they’re on a rural 3G connection with a second-hand smartphone from 2007.

The needs of users with disabilities can vary widely and change over time, particularly as the underlying technologies they use change. Regularly updating accessibility features ensures that a broad range of needs are met, providing an inclusive experience for all users. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provide a solid baseline for accounting for the needs of most users.

All of this is too much for a small business owner to track. They need experts in their corner to help them manage all of this.

Why Agencies Should Care

As awareness of digital accessibility grows, more clients will come to expect the agency they partner with to help them ensure their digital content is accessible. Providing managed services can attract and retain clients, and by offering specialized accessibility services either in-house or through a partner, an agency can differentiate itself from competitors. This can be a unique selling point that sets the agency apart.

Additionally, adding these managed services involves ongoing support and updates, fostering long-term relationships with clients, and increasing lock-in. This can lead to more stable revenue streams and opportunities for upselling additional services. By offering managed accessibility services, a digital marketing agency can not only meet the evolving needs of its clients but also grow its own bottom line.

This is what we call a win-win-win proposition! The agency wins. Their customer wins. The customer’s customer wins.

The Next Layer of the Digital Quality Stack

Agencies often focus heavily on promoting the quality of their deliverables. We see performance, security, and stability (either through systems or infrastructure) as the core quality considerations. While these are important, it overlooks a key factor:

How will the experience cater to the maximum number of users possible?

Accessibility standards and practices most easily answer this question, which is why accessibility should be the next layer of the digital quality stack, alongside performance, security, and stability. Agencies should be able to reference specific operating procedures, tools, and measurable standards across all key areas of the digital quality stack.

If you need some inspiration, check out Equalize Digital’s Shift Left Accessibility Checklist.

Sell Recurring Accessibility Services with Confidence

Whether you’re developing extensive government websites or creating small brochure sites for local restaurants, it’s crucial that everything you build is accessible to people of all abilities. For agencies or freelance designers and developers, learning how to make websites accessible can seem overwhelming and daunting.

It doesn’t have to be. Equalize Digital is here to simplify the process of launching accessible websites for your clients. By partnering with us, you gain access to expert accessibility consultants, auditors, and developers on your team—without the overhead of hiring additional staff or spending months learning the intricacies of WCAG.