Accessibility: The Crypto of Customer Engagement

Written by: Frank Rapando, DHS Trusted Tester

As digital services grow across Africa, accessibility becomes essential for businesses to engage with a wider audience, especially as 2.5 billion people are expected to experience hearing loss by 2050, with over 1 billion needing assistive technology.

Optimizing platforms for screen readers, improving color contrast, reducing color dependence, and addressing photosensitivity are crucial steps to enhance user satisfaction. By making these changes, businesses can avoid missed opportunities, improve engagement, and build trust with diverse customer segments, ultimately boosting both inclusivity and revenue.

????????????? ??????????????: Users reliant on-screen readers face significant challenges navigating digital platforms that lack proper accessibility features. For businesses, this can result in lost opportunities, as key customer segments may struggle to engage with your services or complete essential transactions. Optimizing digital platforms for screen readers allows all users to fully engage with your platform, ultimately driving customer satisfaction and business growth.

????????????? ????????????????:From banking, healthcare information to e-commerce, poor color contrast on these platforms can severely hinder users with visual impairments from reading content, engaging with services, or making purchases. it's a critical user experience issue that can lead to frustration, decreased engagement, and, ultimately, lost revenue for a business. Addressing these design challenges, businesses can enhance user satisfaction, increase engagement, and safeguard their bottom line.

??????????? ????????????????????:Many digital platforms in Africa, such as ride-hailing apps or food delivery services, rely heavily on color to convey information (e.g., red for unavailable drivers, green for available ones). However, users with color blindness may misinterpret these signals, leading to confusion, poor service experience, and reduced trust in the platform. Use of additional cues like text labels and icons alongside color indicators helps users with color blindness interpret information accurately, improving service experience and trust.

?????????????????????????????????:As more people are relying on digital services for education, work, and entertainment, creating safe, accessible digital environments is critical to retaining users on a platform within a competitive market. Flashy elements or animations on websites or apps can negatively impact users with photosensitivity, leading to migraines or, in severe cases, epileptic episodes. Adopting options to disable or customize animations and use design choices that avoid triggering health issues would go a long way to your client base. This is particularly important for companies in industries such as education technology (EdTech) and gaming, where long hours of engagement are common.

The economic impact of digital accessibility is substantial and as Techno Brain LTD, we recognize the market need that is why we have a team of Certified testers working to ensure that accessibility is a priority on the platforms and services that we provide. Through rigorous testing and collaboration between our developers, designers, and accessibility experts, we proactively address accessibility issues at every stage of development.