As with other digital platforms, when it comes to websites, ensuring the greatest degree of accessibility possible is paramount for guaranteeing more inclusive online experiences. This provides needed accommodations to some of your customers while also helping to broaden your customer base. However, ADA compliance is often a complex and confusing legal issue. Federal requirements are unclear and there is no consistent enforcement, leaving it up to state and local courts to determine the outcome of legal challenges.
At Cro Metrics, we cannot provide legal advice on ADA compliance. However, when it comes to ADA guidelines and building website experiences/experiments, we strive to work with our clients to expand their reach by following the standards they have adopted provided they are within our control.
The gold standard of accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WGAG). The current working standard for digital accessibility is WCAG 2.1 A, AA in the United States and Canada. These guidelines are rooted in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which requires certain businesses to make accommodations for people with disabilities. As such, web content should be accessible to blind users, deaf users and those who navigate via voice, screen readers or other assistive technologies.
Incorporating ADA with Experimentation
Most often, Cro Metrics is working on an existing website that may have varying degrees of ADA compliance. As such, we’re limited to much of the underlying website coding and structure when creating experiences that alter the user experience. In other words, we cannot change the fundamental structure of a site for the purposes of improving ADA compliance, only elements we control or introduce.
If through conversation with our clients, we learn of their desire to adhere to ADA compliance standards, there are some elements within our control if they are being modified or created for a website experience Cro Metrics is building. For example:
Adding “alt” tags to (new) media files
Using descriptive HTML tags for things such as form elements
Adding (or preserving) descriptive anchor text to hyperlinks
Using proper heading tags, when available in the underlying site HTML
Ensuring fonts are accessible, to the degree in which we control
Adding column headers, row identifiers, and cell information to (new) HTML tables
Adding ARIA labels to interactive components (sliders, modals, forms, etc.)
New content should be keyboard-navigable
Beyond this, we recommend our clients prepare assets with ADA in mind if they would like to improve overall user experience and/or are concerned about compliance. For example, if we are being supplied a video to add to an experience/experiment, it should include subtitles, transcripts and an audio description.
It’s important to note that while our practices will help you adhere to the level of ADA compliance you are striving for, if you are following WCAG guidelines, you should be fully meeting that level (A, AA, or even AAA) to make that claim on your website.
Third-party Solutions
Because ADA compliance can be complex and websites are fluid and not always built with ADA in mind, solutions such as accessiBe exist. accessiBe is a snippet that can easily be installed, much like any other third-party script. While we are not endorsing any such solution and clients are advised to evaluate solutions for their own needs, it’s our hope that sharing potential solutions will be valuable to you and your customers.
Next Steps
If you have questions about ADA compliance and how it relates to the services we provide, we’re here to help! We typically recommend a meeting to first discuss your requirements. From there, we can align on what’s available to us when building website experiences/experiments on your behalf, along with any checks and balances we mutually agree upon. We’re also happy to meet with any stakeholders, including representatives from your legal team. You can initiate a conversation with your Program Manager, or with Business Development, and they’ll help coordinate with the right members of our team.
Learn More
Want to understand more about why ADA compliance matters? This insightful article highlights why ADA is not only good for your visitors, but a worthwhile investment for your organization.
