Why Accessibility Audit is a Must for Business Products: EU Directive  

2024 is the year of many changes in the digital industry. It started with generative AI hype and continued with increase in demand for modernization services. But this time modernization is needed to make digital products more user-centric and accessible. 

You’ve probably heard about the directive of the European Parliament and Council that emphasized that all digital products and services should become more accessible. 

So if you have already considered performing your product redesign, it’s high time to do it. And to make it a success, start that makeover with the accessibility audit. Since our team is an expert in this kind of audit and redesign, we decided to share some expert tips that will help you make your product more accessible. 

What accessibility requirements are in the EU directive? 

We carefully looked through all the directive text so you don’t have to. And here is what key requirements and demands we discovered in it: 

So basically the EU Parliament and Council want digital products to become truly accessible to diverse users with a range of abilities. And that’s a good thing, because by following their guidelines businesses can make their products more user-centric and pleasant to use. And the easiest way to do it is by starting with an accessibility audit. Let’s talk about it in detail. 

What’s an accessibility audit and why you need it

Accessibility audit is a comprehensive evaluation of a digital product that ensures compliance with standards and guidelines while making your product accessible to a wider audience. With an accessibility audit, you will be able to spot:

Accessibility audit will not only help you spot these issues, but also suggest the best way for addressing  them. It will help you to jump-start meaningful product redesign to enhance the experience for all users, improve customer retention, and ensure legal compliance. As a result, you’ll get a more inclusive product that will last for years.

How Artkai performs accessibility audits

Our team provides professional UX audit and accessibility audit services to businesses of all sizes with diverse products. We know that although every product is of different complexity and design, there is one proven approach that allows us to easily detect accessibility flaws and start fixing them. 

Here is how we perform accessibility audit step by step: 

Step 1. Quick accessibility assessment – We start with assessing key features, user journeys, and product components to understand how intuitive and easy to use they are. Our team of designers delves into your product UI/UX to provide you with the valuable deliverables such as accessibility conformance report, list of failures according to WCAG standards, actionable recommendation on how to fix major flaws. 

Step 2. In-depth accessibility audit – This is a comprehensive audit that helps us to find every accessibility flaw in all product components, modules, design patterns, etc. By the end of this audit we provide you with a clear picture of your product’s accessibility status. Apart from accessibility conformance report, you will get a product accessibility template, and accessibility statement. 

Step 3. Technical audit – It’s an in-depth audit of a digital product helping to detect all tech-related issues and areas of improvement. We delve into your product’s infrastructure, architecture, and code to help you modernize your product to meet users needs, market trends and industry-specific requirements. 

Step 4. Redesign strategy – Once you’ve got all necessary deliverables after the accessibility audit, we provide you with a precise product redesign strategy. Our NNG-certified designers prepare a redesign plan, new prototypes with updated product design and perform testing with the real users. 

Wrapping up 

Accessible products represent the direction every forward-thinking business is heading toward. They ensure inclusivity, allowing everyone, regardless of their abilities, to engage with digital products seamlessly. 

In a world that prioritizes diversity and equality, accessibility turns into a must-have. And the EU Directive also emphasizes this statement. 

So, it’s time to ask yourself now — how accessible is your product? 

If you're unsure, then we highly recommend performing an accessibility audit. And in case you need expert help with that, contact us.