Web Accessibility as an Opportunity, Part 1: User Experience
Web accessibility will become a legal requirement in Austria starting June 28, 2025, regulated by the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG)
Accessibility directly contributes to your business success.
We'll explain why in the following post. If you're short on time, here's the gist: accessibility improves user experience, which benefits your customers and, consequently, your business.
The Concept of "User Experience" and Business Success
User Experience (UX) describes the overall experience people have when interacting with a product, system, or service
35% of e-commerce revenue is lost due to poor UX.
In the digital world, good UX design is crucial for the success of products and services: poor UX leads to lower conversion rates
Accessibility Benefits More Than Just Marginalized Groups
It's a misconception that only small user groups benefit from accessibility. Often, adaptations for accessibility end up benefiting a larger group than the original target audience. There's even a term for this: the "Curb Cut Effect"
Facilities originally designed for people with disabilities often benefit a much larger population.
This effect can also be observed in the digital realm, for example, with videos that have subtitles. After the advent of sound films, subtitles were primarily intended for people with hearing impairments. Today, however, many people also benefit from them when watching videos in noisy environments or in a foreign language
Better UX Through Accessibility
Let's return to the BaFG. An online service is considered accessible under the BaFG if it meets the AA criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from Version 2.1 onwards. This is because the BaFG implements the European Accessibility Act, which is based on the standard EN 301 549 which, in turn, incorporates the WCAG. We will refer to the latest Version 2.2 of the WCAG as of February 2025.
The WCAG outlines four pillars of accessibility: perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness. It is trivial to show that each of these aspects supports common UX guidelines. A detailed explanation of this claim would exceed the scope of our post, so we must defer it to a later time. Instead, we will focus here on two practical examples to demonstrate how UX benefits from accessibility.
Example: Contrast Ratio
The color contrast of text against its background significantly affects readability on screens
Figures 1 and 2 demonstrate two contrast ratios. Figure 1, with a ratio of 3.05:1, does not meet WCAG 2.1 AA, while Figure 2, with a ratio of 6.22:1, does.
The text in Figure 1 is already difficult to read under good conditions. A user trying to read this on a smartphone in daylight will have even more trouble. The economic argument is simple: if a potential customer cannot read your product or service description, they won't spend money on it.
Example: Error Suggestions
WCAG 2.2 AA Criterion 3.3.3 requires that users be provided with suggestions on how to correct input errors. This can be achieved, for example, by displaying a pattern for correct inputs.
If you try to filter accommodations on Booking.com without entering anything, the message shown in Figure 3 appears. Such hints, which provide users with solution suggestions, have long been considered good practice in UX design
The economic benefit is also clear here: if a potential customer cannot correctly fill out your form, they will quickly lose interest in contacting you or making a purchase.
Conclusion
Through two practical examples, we have shown how fundamental the requirements of accessibility are for good usability and that by offering accessible services, you not only contribute to inclusion but also reduce the frustration of all users.
UX has a measurable impact on business success. Accessibility contributes to good UX. Therefore, make the legal requirements of the BaFG an enrichment for your digital services and use accessibility as an opportunity for your business to increase customer satisfaction.
By the way: accessibility not only benefits UX but also the technical aspects of your online services, such as search engine optimization. We'll explain how this works in our next post. Stay tuned!