đ November 11, 2022 đ© Cameron Taylor
Imagine taking your email list and cutting it down by 10%. This 10% would no longer be able to receive any information from your company and you could no longer engage with them. This would, understandably, upset you and your company to lose access to these subscribers for no reason. Well, if you arenât tailoring your emails with accessibility in mind, you are leaving about 10% of your mailing list behind. Roughly 10% of members on your mailing lists have some type of accessibility need. If you arenât building content with accessibility in mind you are providing a poor email experience for a substantial portion of your audience, which could result in lower engagement and retention. Content should be built out with the widest swath of your audience in mind. Building with accessibility in mind can help you achieve this goal.
What exactly is Accessible Marketing? Accessible marketing, while not new, has gained a lot of attention in the past few years. It falls under the umbrella of Inclusive Marketing, which focuses on creating communication that speaks to groups that have historically been underrepresented or ignored. These groups include women, racial and ethnic minorities, cultural minorities, LGBTQA+ individuals and those with mental or physical disabilities or impairments. Inclusive marketing puts the experience of the diverse clientele at the front of the campaign planning process and tailors the content to speak to their unique experiences. This allows brands to create a connection with groups that have typically been left out of the conversation.
Accessibility marketing is the branch of inclusive marketing that focuses on the different mental and physical impairments that your clients may have and how that could affect how they interact with your communications. Accessible content centers the human experience as its primary focus and creates audience communications with diverse experiences in mind. See Paul Airyâs Accessibility Issue for some additional context (https://createsend.com/t/d-ABFFF5F25EC93A19).
Taking the conditions that your subscriber may be experiencing into consideration can better inform your marketing strategies and content. There a several reasons why taking steps to make your content more accessible benefits your company and your customers.
Reach
With 10% of people living with a permanent disability, not tailoring your communications with accessibility in mind puts your company at a disadvantage when it comes to audience reach. You could be missing out on customers who would be able to engage with your messaging if you built with them in mind. From a business standpoint, it only makes sense to design your marketing campaigns to reach as many people as possible.
Brand Perception
Frustrated. Disheartened. Angry. These are emotions that you never want associated with your brand, but those could be the emotions elicited by your content if your customers canât access your communications. Not being able to receive information could make your guest feel left out and create a negative emotion towards your brand.
Solving For One Can Improve For Many
There are many things we use in our daily lives that were originally designed for those with disabilities but were adopted for public engagement. Ability aids are often adopted for a wider audience due to the ease and convenience that they sometimes provide. Electric toothbrushes and touch screens were designed for those with motor impairments but are now utilized by a wider audience. Closed captions are extensively used by people who donât have auditory disabilities because itâs helpful for hearing people as well. Improving accessibility for some can improve the experience for many.
Designing your marketing campaigns with accessibility in mind is an effective way to elevate your communications with your customers. It makes engagement with your message easier for both disabled and non-disabled customers while improving the overall impression of your brand. Accessible marketing recognizes the needs of your customers and puts it first when designing content. By improving the accessibility of your content, you improve your subscriber’s experience.
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