As first seen on the ISP Media blog
Let’s face it. Australia is an ageing population. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009), “Over the past two decades, the number of elderly people increased by 167.8%, compared with a total population growth of 30.1% over the same period.”
To be more precise, “The proportion of people aged 65 years and over has increased from 11% to 13.3%. During the same period, the proportion of population aged 85 years and over has more than doubled.”
So what does this mean for entrepreneurs like you and me? Well if it’s not already obvious enough, target this demographic if you want to make it big! Whether it be medical devices or simply just more comfortable shoes, the potential of the older Australian market is infinite.
In addition to a huge growth in population, parents are screaming a high level disposable income – aptly named DINKS (Double Income No Kids), and SINKS (Single Income No Kids).
Furthermore, it has become a growing trend for Baby Boomers to forget traditional values and spend their hard-earned cash, rather than saving every penny for their will.
So how do the elderly spend money? With more adults becoming technology-savvy, people of all ages are browsing and buying online to find the information, products and services they seek.
But let’s take a realistic look at this. 50 per cent of those aged 65 and over have a disability, most of which involve sight and movement. So what’s the solution? Make your website more accessible.
Although incredibly important, it is surprising how little people know about web accessibility. Primarily designed for the vision-impaired, AA and AAA standards are guidelines that cover everything from appropriate HTML coding to the ratio of colour contrast on the screen.
Some of the simple issues that AAA guidelines tackle include ensuring you can increase font size, accessing sections of your site without a mouse (solely by keyboard) for those who are mobility-impaired, and how to make your website compatible with screen readers, widely used by the vision-impaired community.
In the States, the strength of the disabled persons market is valued at US$175-billion. Imagine the range of people you could reach by following such web accessibility guidelines…
In the UK, Legal and General Insurance entirely rebuilt their website to suit web accessibility guidelines, and as a result, saw a ROI within 12 months, a 90 per cent increase in traffic, and an 25 per cent to 200 per cent increase in sales. What’s more, they saved £200K in site maintenance per year. There is no arguing the benefits of AAA guidelines with results like those.
In 2007, giant supermarket chain TESCO released two separate websites – one for the general population, and designed specifically for disabled persons.
Research found the site that followed AAA guidelines generated substantially more sales than the other, and due to being much easier to read and follow, was widely used by those without any impairment at all.
It’s a no-brainer, really. So how do you get started re-jigging your website to suit? The massive downside to confronting this issue is finding a web designer who knows these AAA guidelines down to a tee. They are far and few between.
However, a fantastic place to start is Vision Australia, based in Melbourne. They are able to review your site for you and point you in the right direction. But if you’re keen to start changing your site today, try to stick to a few key guidelines. You can find everything you need to know at the WCAG website.
