7 Creative Ways to Market Your Bank’s Accessibility
iStock-1094557984-min
ADA compliance is essential to any business. Your physical space must be compliant and with technology growing every day, your virtual platforms must be compliant as well. 

The banking industry is making giant steps in moving towards virtual platforms and if your bank is not on board with ADA compliancy, you could be alienating customers, missing out to the competition and even be putting yourself at risk for a lawsuit. 

Although many financial institutions are aware that they need to be ADA compliant, there are gray areas as to what it means to be ADA compliant. What’s more, many businesses that get up to code find that errors on their site prevent some of their ADA features from functioning. 

As a result, many disabled people have difficulty using banking sites and apps. In fact, a study from the Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania found three out of five people had difficulty using virtual banking platforms due to accessibility barriers. 

To stand out, you need to get your bank up to ADA code and you must maintain compliancy. But more than that, you must let people know you are ADA compliant. Your inclusiveness will attract both disabled and nondisabled people to your business. 

But how do you show people that you are ADA compliant? This will require an effective marketing campaign. This article will show you how to launch a campaign advertising your ADA compliant features. 

Make Your Marketing Communications ADA Compliant

It may seem like a no-brainer, but you are going to launch a campaign sending the message that your bank’s virtual platforms are ADA compliant, you better make your means of communication, well, ADA compliant. Here are some tips regarding the best marketing practices and how to integrate ADA compliance into your strategies. 

Social Media and ADA Compliance

With many people using social media to communicate, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on, are ideal for reaching a target audience. Post regularly at optimal hours using engaging language, CTAs, and links to your web pages if possible. 

Images including non-text attachments, like graphics, images and tables are integral in catching user’s attention on social media, but they won’t be effective in reaching disabled users unless you use alt text to make them ADA compliant. 

Alt text describes what the image contains so visually impaired people will understand the content they are receiving. Anytime you post on a social media platform using non-text elements, use advanced settings to describe what the image is and how it relates to the post. 

Blog Posts and ADA Compliance

Blog posts are a great way to advertise ADA compliance. You can use blogs to explain the importance of compliancy in virtual banking as well as how your company is getting on board. Once blogs are published, you can share their links on social media or convert them into other pieces of media such as posts, videos and more. 

However, it’s important that the blogs you are creating are ADA compliant. They should contain headings assigned as H1, H2, H3 and H4 formats so impaired users can skim through content to find the information they need. Keeping headings in number order will ensure they can do so in a consecutive fashion. 

If you include links, describe where they are leading. For example, you should never use the actual link or the words, ‘click here’. Rather, you will want to include a word or phrase that will let the user know what will happen if they click on the link. 

It should go without saying that any images used in blogs should have alt text included. 

Videos and Audio Files and ADA Compliance

Video is known to be one of the most effective marketing tools and it’s a great way to show how your bank has gotten onboard with ADA compliance. But it won’t mean a thing if the viewer is unable to see or hear what’s going on. 

It’s essential to include subtitles on your video. These will be beneficial to people with hearing impairments, and it will make your video easier to view in noisy environments. A transcript will be useful in helping people with vision issues understand what’s going on. 

PDFs and ADA Compliance

PDFs are often integrated into the marketing process. They are used for catalogues, guides, course offerings, and more. They can even be used to provide exclusive information in turn for a newsletter sign up. 

Keep in mind that PDFs are essentially full-page images so people with visual impairments will not be able to determine the information they are offering. Therefore, all elements, like paragraphs, lists, graphs, tables, images, links, and headings will need to be tagged to make them scannable. 

Accessibility Pages on Websites

You can also market your bank’s ADA compliance by including an accessibility statement on your website. The page can simply feature a few sentences explaining that your site is up to date with the latest compliancy requirements. 

It’s also recommended that you add a section asking people to contact you if they find any issues. That way, you can deal with previously unknown components that may be getting in the way of your client’s ability to access certain elements of your apps or website. 

ADA Compliance and SEO

Making your website and marketing materials ADA compliant goes hand in hand with SEO. Adding the elements mentioned in this article will not only help impaired people find the information they need, but it will also help search engines find the information they require to figure out what your website is about. This will help your bank get to the top of search pages making for an efficient marketing strategy. 

ADA compliancy is essential to any business but it’s especially important in the banking community where there’s such an urgent need for it. The tips in this article will help you get ADA compliant, and it will market the fact that you are compliant to potential clients. Good luck getting updated in the coming months. 

About inclusve 

inclusve is a web accessibility company with a mission for digital equality for everyone, including those with disabilities. They do this by ensuring websites are fully accessible, so that all users can enjoy an equal experience. www.inclusve.com

Leave a comment