Accessibility costs money. And if that's all it does, accessibility is a cost centre. It costs your business money and doesn't generate any direct revenue on its own.
If you think accessibility is a cost centre for your business, you should just fire your customer support staff. After all, they don't bring in revenue and they're likely to create more work for your product team.
But you can't run a successful business without a customer support department to help customers resolve complaints, build value and create a loyal customer base.
Building an accessible product won't give you any tangible results. There's nothing to point to on your bottom line and say that's accessibility.
But there are some things to look out for:
- Fewer complaints from customers unable to use your product
- An uptick in customer satisfaction
- Growth in your customer base
- Reduced expenses on redesigns and rework
Can these be directly attributed to accessibility? Maybe not.
But if you only invest in something expecting instant results, you might as well fire your marketing department next.