Tesco originally built a separate, accessible version of their grocery website specifically for users with visual impairments at a cost of £35,000. After extensive user testing with people with varied visual impairments, the site launched and quickly became their primary e-commerce platform, used by all customers, not just those it was originally designed for. This is now known as the ‘curb cut effect’: design for the edges, and the middle takes care of itself.
The pre-Christmas period following launch saw orders reach 700,000 per week, with an average spend of £95. Annual site revenue climbed to £13 million: a return of over 37,000% on the original £35,000 investment.
total investment
to build an accessible site
annual revenue
generated as a result
orders per week
avg. spend of £95 (2001)
Legal & General rebuilt their website with accessibility at its core: introducing semantic HTML, descriptive alt text, and accessible forms. The results were immediate and significant: organic search traffic jumped 25% within the first day of launch. Inaccessibility complaints were eliminated entirely. The investment paid for itself within 12 months.
-Caroline Fawcett, Customer Experience Director, Legal & General
source: w3.org/WAI/business-case/archive/legal-and-general-case-study
increase
in natural search traffic
more visitors
seeking quotes online
reduction
in maintenance costs
annual spending power
of households with at least 1 disabled member in the UK
Purple Pound
of disabled users
will leave a website that presents access barriers
Silktide / C.A.P. Survey
of disabled users
would pay more to use an accessible website
Scope for Business
of organisations
cite improved revenue as a benefit of investing in digital accessibility
Level Access
average increase
in overall traffic seen by sites that implement accessibility, within three months
Semrush
average increase
in sales for e-commerce sites that redesign with accessibility at core
Silktide
source: https://www.w3.org/WAI/business-case/
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