Around one billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, have some form of disability. This begs the question: is your website designed to be accessible to as many users as possible?
Not only will improving accessibility on your website make their experiences significantly better from an emphatic standpoint, it also grants you access to a greater pool of potential audience who will navigate and interact with your website.
There’s also a strong business case for accessibility as accessible websites tend to be more SEO friendly and experience better search rankings. Hence, it’s now more important than ever to improve the user experience (UX) of your website, a web design trend that has gained momentum in recent years.
So here are some tips that can be implemented to increase the accessibility of your website.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Trends
1. Be Responsive
Having a responsive website that adjusts smoothly to various hardwares is just as important for users without disabilities. In fact, it is an important feature of accessible website designs.
With more users shifting away from desktop usage and accessing internet from their tablets and mobile devices, it’s no longer enough to have a static website that only looks decent on a desktop monitor. You should ensure that your website is able to adapt its content to different devices and screen sizes.
If you’re unfamiliar with designing websites for responsiveness, do get in touch with a professional web design agency for further assistance.
And if you’re looking to design one yourself, check out our list of recommended CSS frameworks that you can work with.
2. Enable Resizable Elements and Zoom
The disruption caused by the pandemic has forced many businesses to shift their operations online, with physical meetings being cancelled in favor of virtual events.
With augmented reality technology, prospective customers can try out a wide range of products without heading to the physical store. From IKEA’s virtual reality showrooms, to LÓreal’s virtual makeup filters, the restricted bricks-and-mortar retail experience can be enhanced by an expanded offerings of unique AR experience.
And this new digital phenomenon is likely to stay, particularly as social distancing restrictions remain the norm for most countries.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chat Bots
Chatbots are the future and chances are, you’ve probably seen them on some eCommerce websites.
These computer programs mimic conversations with consumers through a messaging interface. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), these chatbots help companies to interact with their customers in an automated manner. And while this technology is still somewhat in its infancy, many key players such as Facebook and Google, have adopted them into their operations.
You can create a chatbot to answer frequently asked questions with specific responses and help consumers narrow down their customer service issues before directing them to an actual person for further inquiries.
And while chatbot marketing is a powerful tool, it’s crucial that the automated process is used in a supplementary manner without fully replacing the human touch.
4. Video Content
As Bill Gates once stated, content is king on the Internet. And among the different forms of content, it seems like video has become a dominant contender for the top spot. The rise in video content-focused platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat has shown a preference for interactive or visual content over traditional static media, particularly with the younger generations.
And it’s not too hard to see why video is the dominant form of online content these days. From full-length documentaries to amateur home-made videos, videos are undoubtedly much more entertaining and attention grabbing than other content formats. Experts have predicted that internet video traffic will account for over 80% of all traffic by the year 2021.
With people spending more time watching videos online, it’s clear that marketers should start to introduce video content into their digital marketing strategy, if they haven’t already.
5. Social Shopping
As consumers increasingly work and shop from home, it’s important that brands provide them with the easiest and quickest way to shop online. When it comes to modern shopping, having a streamlined purchase journey will undoubtedly help to reduce abandonment and improve sales.
And as people spend more time on social media apps, it’s an indisputable fact that social commerce will remain a key market driver for many participating brands. From product discovery to the checkout process, social shopping enables brands to sell products directly through social media platforms. This creates a frictionless, omni-channel social commerce approach that can effectively capture the attention of consumers and boost online engagement.
Some social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, have already integrated checkout features to let users shop without ever leaving the app, with many more industry players working towards this goal as well.
Rethinking Digital Marketing For the New Normal
While we don’t yet know the full extent of this new normal, we can all agree that life will not go back to the way they were. In this period of uncertainty, businesses will need to fully experiment with new digital marketing strategies and tools to revamp their digital presence in this new world and stay ahead of their competitors.
And if you’re looking to improve your digital marketing strategies, why not learn some SEO basics?
