A website is often described as your 24/7 salesperson. And that’s true! Your website can provide potential customers with information at any time, answer questions, build trust in your company, and ultimately even lead to a purchase – and you don’t have to do much for it (once the website is created, of course).
However, you’re probably also aware that your website is only one part of your marketing strategy. First and foremost, your website needs to be found. So you need to generate attention and reach.
Once potential buyers have found your website, the question arises: what should they do there?
- Will they be redirected to a product page where they can purchase the product directly?
- Do they land on a page that explains your service and encourages them to book an appointment?
- Or perhaps they could download a PDF to become curious about your service or product?
All these steps are part of your marketing funnel. And just like your website, your entire funnel should be accessible to reach people with disabilities.
In this article, we will go through the three parts of a marketing funnel (start, middle, and end) and discuss what you should pay attention to regarding accessibility.
Getting started with the accessible marketing funnel: How do you spark interest?
There are countless ways to digitally attract potential customers to your product and lure them to your website. Here, we’ll give an overview of just three methods that we consider highly effective.
1. Build reach via LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms.
On social media platforms, you have limited control over the accessibility of your posts. Much of how users can interact with the platform depends on the platform itself.
However, something you can always keep in mind, and which is very helpful, is the use of alt text for your images and subtitling your short videos.
2. Barrier-free reach through Google search (SEO/SEA)
If you primarily want to be found through Google search or Google ads, you can safely leave accessibility to Google. However,
If you create a Google ad with product images (for example, for shampoo), you should, of course, add alt text to the image.
3. Building accessible reach on YouTube
If YouTube is the main source for your reach strategy, you should add subtitles and transcripts to your videos so that people with hearing impairments can access them.
This is becoming increasingly worthwhile, as we often watch videos at the doctor’s office or on the tram, where we cannot turn on the sound.
The middle of the accessible marketing funnel: What happens after people become aware of it?
Generating reach is just the first step in your funnel. What happens next? Do people land on your website or landing page? Do you give them a PDF as informational material to download and then keep them updated with a newsletter? Or do they have the opportunity to participate in a workshop to learn more about your product or service?
Whatever it is: If you want to be inclusive and accessible, you need to make sure that these steps of the funnel are also accessible.
Potential customers land on your (accessible) landing page.
Once potential customers have landed on your landing page, the accessible experience must continue. You need to ensure that the website can be navigated using a screen reader and keyboard so that all potential customers have access to all relevant information about your product.
You can see what this looks like in real-life situations in our video featuring blind person Nina Schweppe. Watch the video to see how people with screen readers experience a website.
Interested parties can download an (accessible) PDF.
Another common tactic is to encourage prospects to download a PDF in exchange for their email address. This provides potential customers with added value and allows you to showcase your expertise in your field while simultaneously collecting email addresses to cultivate long-term relationships and make prospects more ready to buy.
Your PDFs should, of course, also be accessible to promote your inclusive customer experience and give people with disabilities the opportunity to be convinced of your expertise, your product, or your service.
Creating accessible PDFs is a complex topic. It starts with choosing the right font size and contrast and extends to using appropriate tags and descriptions to make the PDF’s content accessible to screen readers.
We don’t yet offer a service to make PDFs accessible ourselves, but we highly recommend Axes4 or Yvonne‘s services. Visit the Axes4 website or Yvonne’s website (German); they can make virtually any document accessible.
Interested parties participate in an (accessible) webinar/workshop.
Participating in a webinar or workshop can be a very effective way for potential customers to get to know you and your offerings better.
However, creating accessible webinars presents a considerable challenge. First, you should determine whether the tools you’re using to conduct the webinar are accessible. We’ve already tested Zoom with blind participants and had excellent results.
For deaf people or people with hearing problems, it would of course be perfect if your webinar had live subtitles or a sign language interpreter was available to translate your words.
Of course, it needs to be weighed up whether the effort and costs are justified. If a recording of the webinar exists, it could at least be subtitled afterwards.
Perhaps in the future, artificial intelligence (AI) can also help to make live broadcasts more cost-effective and accessible.
Everything you need to know about creating accessible content!
- What types of content actually need to be accessible: social media, websites, newsletters?
- What requirements apply to content, and how do you implement them—without missing anything?
- How do you integrate accessibility into your daily workflow without it becoming a major extra burden?
Through theory and practice, we’ll show you what we’ve taught participants—from Aktion Mensch to Deutsche Bahn—over the past three years!
The end of the accessible marketing funnel: How does the sale take place?
Once you convince your potential buyers of your product or service, they naturally want to complete the purchase! Here, too, there are various ways to close a deal, and all of these should, of course, be seamless.
Barrier-free checkout process
If you are selling a product rather than a service, your customers will likely go through a checkout process to purchase it.
This checkout process usually involves adding a product to the shopping cart, reviewing the cart, entering personal details, and confirming the order.
That sounds easier than it is: Over 70% of people abandon their purchase at checkout. There are various reasons for this: among other things, the checkout process is unnecessarily complicated, important information is missing, or the customer’s confidence in making the right purchase decision hasn’t been strengthened.
Focusing on making the sales process accessible can not only help you reach a new target audience but also generally improve usability, making life easier for your existing target audience and increasing your conversion rate.
Unfortunately, it’s currently quite difficult to guarantee a fully accessible checkout process. Even platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce are not technically accessible by default. You have to make some adjustments yourself to ensure accessibility.
Accessible appointment booking
If you are selling a service or offering a high-priced product, your customers will likelywant to have one or more conversations with you before deciding on your offer.
Calendly is a tool that delivers on its promise of accessibility and ensures it in the long term. It can be integrated into your website, or you can add a button that links to a dedicated Calendly page where appointments can be booked.
Calendly offers a free version and is GDPR compliant. It’s a tool we would definitely recommend (without any sponsorship) for quickly and easily scheduling appointments online. Click here to go to the Calendly website (German).
Accessible emails
Finally, let’s talk about emails. Whether it’s for newsletters, scheduling, or purchase confirmations, emails are usually part of your marketing in some way. Therefore, your emails must be accessible.
Fortunately, there isn’t too much to consider when it comes to emails, as email programs do most of the work for you. The most important things are to use an easily readable font size and choose colors with sufficient contrast.
Furthermore, you should ensure that all images or graphics in your emails include alternative text to make them accessible to people with visual impairments. It’s also best to avoid embedding images containing important text directly into your emails. Images in emails can often cause problems anyway, so make sure that important information contained in images is also included elsewhere in the email in written form.
Conclusion
An accessible marketing funnel is crucial for creating an inclusive and accessible customer experience. From generating awareness and website interaction to closing the sale, every step should be designed to include and engage people with disabilities.
By making our marketing funnel accessible, we demonstrate our commitment to the diversity of our target audience and create an inclusive environment where all customers feel welcome.
An accessible marketing funnel is not only ethically and legally important, but also offers business advantages, as it expands the potential to a larger customer base.
