While the world has made some progress toward making physical infrastructure accessible to people with disabilities, there is a gaping divide in the internet. More than 97% of web pages fail to meet commonly accepted digital accessibility standards such as WCAG 2.0, and people with disabilities are three times less likely to go online than people without disabilities.
The numbers above should tell you how underserved people with disabilities are when it comes to digital accessibility. However, it also represents an opportunity for your website. Partnering with a leading accessibility provider will help make the internet accessible to people with disabilities and open a new revenue stream for your organization. Here are a few reasons you should participate in a digital accessibility partnership program.
The opportunity to help make the internet more accessible
Everybody, including people with disabilities, has the right to access information and make meaningful connections online. However, most web pages and mobile apps aren’t accessible to people with visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments. Partnering with an accessibility leader will not just make your website accessible; it will also help other websites and users enjoy the benefits of digital inclusion.
What are the most common accessibility issues your partner product should address? According to research conducted by WebAIM, low-contrast text is the most common, with 83.9% of home pages affected. Missing alt text for images is also a problem in 55.4% of websites. There are other issues, such as the lack of support for screen readers or people with dyslexia, that also affect millions of users.
Additional revenue for your website
Whether you run a web development business, agency, or have end customers who can benefit from an accessibility solution, partnering with a digital accessibility service provider can help you generate additional revenue. You can promote your new partnership by offering digital accessibility as an add-on to your web development services or through influencer marketing.
Most affiliate and partnership programs in the accessibility sector offer generous commissions. Aside from one-off earnings from new sign-ups, recurring revenue from monthly plans also makes up a significant portion of partner earnings.
However, you should ensure that you choose a partner program that pays quickly and on time. Otherwise, waiting to get paid, especially when you partner with a less-established provider, could lead to frustration on your end.
Access to an established, innovative accessibility provider
When choosing an accessibility partnership program, it’s easy to get swayed by the promise of high returns and easy registration. However, it’s more important to choose the right provider – one that has a high adoption rate, a good reputation, and a history of innovation.
For example, UserWay has a customer base of over 1 million websites, including The Motley Fool, Coca-Cola, and Disney and partners like ShortPoint, Cater’s, CMSMax, Cheq and others. The number keeps growing by the day as more websites and partners realize the value of offering digital accessibility and search for an accessibility solution that is easy to implement and provides full-scale ADA & WCAG 2.1 compliance.
UserWay’s AI-powered widget and other accessibility solutions offer an array of features that address common accessibility concerns across the digital journey. Users can select an accessibility profile that matches their disability, such as no or low vision, color blindness, and motor impairments. The technology can scan a website, identify accessibility issues, and remediate them automatically.
The solutions are constantly being updated to meet the unique needs of people with disabilities. For example, the widget features a custom font for users with dyslexia. We have recently introduced a voice navigation feature for users who are not able to use touch-based navigation methods.
With a wide range of features, you might think that the UserWay widget takes a long time to install. However, it is surprisingly easy to implement – all it takes is a single line of code to make your website compliant with WCAG 2.1. This ease of implementation is also one of our partners’ main selling points to their end customers and to enhance their offering and lines of business.
However, you shouldn’t just take our word for it. Instead, you can listen to some of our top partners as they tell their accessibility stories and how UserWay gave them the opportunity to generate additional income. Watch our onDemand webinar, featuring speakers from Tribute Technology, CMS Max, and ShortPoint to hear it from our partners.
