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• Data Privacy Issues to Be Aware of and How to Overcome Them

  9 mai 2024, par Erin

  Data privacy issues are a significant concern for users globally.

  Around 76% of US consumers report that they would not buy from a company they do not trust with their data. In the European Union, a 2021 study found that around 53% of EU internet users refused to let companies access their data for advertising purposes.

  These findings send a clear message : if companies want to build consumer trust, they must honour users’ data privacy concerns. The best way to do this is by adopting transparent, ethical data collection practices — which also supports the simultaneous goal of maintaining compliance with regional data privacy acts.

  So what exactly is data privacy ?

  

  Data privacy refers to the protections that govern how personal data is collected and used, especially with respect to an individual’s control over when, where and what information they share with others.

  Data privacy also refers to the extent to which organisations and governments go to protect the personal data that they collect. Different parts of the world have different data privacy acts. These regulations outline the measures organisations must take to safeguard the data they collect from their consumers and residents. They also outline the rights of data subjects, such as the right to opt out of a data collection strategy and correct false data. 

  As more organisations rely on personal data to provide services, people have become increasingly concerned about data privacy, particularly the level of control they have over their data and what organisations and governments do with their data.

  Why should organisations take data privacy issues seriously ?

  Organisations should take data privacy seriously because consumer trust depends on it and because they have a legal obligation to do so. Doing so also helps organisations prevent threat actors from illegally accessing consumer data. Strong data privacy helps you : 

  Comply with data protection acts

  Organisations that fail to comply with regional data protection acts could face severe penalties. For example, consider the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is the primary data protection action for the European Union. The penalty system for GDPR fines consists of two tiers :

  • Less severe infringements — Which can lead to fines of up to €10 million (or 2% of an organisation’s worldwide annual revenue from the last financial year) per infringement.
  • More severe infringements — This can lead to fines of up to €20 million (or 4% of an organisation’s worldwide annual revenue from the last financial year) per infringement.

  The monetary value of these penalties is significant, so it is in the best interest of all organisations to be GDPR compliant. Other data protection acts have similar penalty systems to the GDPR. In Brazil, organisations non-compliant with the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais (LGPD) could be fined up to 50 million reals (USD 10 million) or 2% of their worldwide annual revenue from the last financial year.

  Improve brand reputation

  Research shows that 81% of consumers feel that how an organisation treats their data reflects how they treat them as a consumer. This means a strong correlation exists between how people perceive an organisation’s data collection practices and their other business activities.

  

  Data breaches can have a significant impact on an organisation, especially their reputation and level of consumer trust. In 2022, hackers stole customer data from the Australian private health insurance company, Medibank, and released the data onto the dark web. Optus was also affected by a cyberattack, which compromised the information of current and former customers. Following these events, a study by Nature revealed that 83 percent of Australians were concerned about the security of their data, particularly in the hands of their service providers.

  Protect consumer data

  Protecting consumer data is essential to preventing data breaches. Unfortunately, cybersecurity attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In 2023 alone, organisations like T-Mobile and Sony have been compromised and their data stolen.

  One way to protect consumer data is to retain 100% data ownership. This means that no external parties can see your data. You can achieve this with the web analytics platform, Matomo. With Matomo, you can store your own data on-premises (your own servers) or in the Cloud. Under both arrangements, you retain full ownership of your data.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, while respecting user privacy.

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  What are the most pressing data privacy issues that organisations are facing today ?

  Today’s most pressing data privacy challenges organisations face are complying with new data protection acts, maintaining consumer trust, and choosing the right web analytics platform. Here is a detailed breakdown of what these challenges mean for businesses.

  Complying with new and emerging data protection laws

  Ever since the European Union introduced the GDPR in 2018, other regions have enacted similar data protection acts. In the United States, California (CCPA), Virginia (VCDPA) and Colorado have their own state-level data protection acts. Meanwhile, Brazil and China have the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), respectively.

  For global organisations, complying with multiple data protection acts can be tough, as each act interprets the GDPR model differently. They each have their own provisions, terminology (or different interpretations of the same terminology), and penalties.

  A web analytics platform like Matomo can help your organisation comply with the GDPR and similar data protection acts. It has a range of privacy-friendly features including data anonymisation, IP anonymisation, and first-party cookies by default. You can also create and publish custom opt-out forms and let visitors view your collected data.

  

  Today’s most pressing data privacy challenges organisations face are complying with new data protection acts, maintaining consumer trust, and choosing the right web analytics platform. Here is a detailed breakdown of what these challenges mean for businesses.

  Complying with new and emerging data protection laws

  Ever since the European Union introduced the GDPR in 2018, other regions have enacted similar data protection acts. In the United States, California (CCPA), Virginia (VCDPA) and Colorado have their own state-level data protection acts. Meanwhile, Brazil and China have the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), respectively.

  For global organisations, complying with multiple data protection acts can be tough, as each act interprets the GDPR model differently. They each have their own provisions, terminology (or different interpretations of the same terminology), and penalties.

  A web analytics platform like Matomo can help your organisation comply with the GDPR and similar data protection acts. It has a range of privacy-friendly features including data anonymisation, IP anonymisation, and first-party cookies by default. You can also create and publish custom opt-out forms and let visitors view your collected data.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, while respecting user privacy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  Maintaining consumer trust

  Building (and maintaining) consumer trust is a major hurdle for organisations. Stories about data breaches and data scandals — notably the Cambridge Analytical scandal — instil fear into the public’s hearts. After a while, people wonder, “Which company is next ?”

  One way to build and maintain trust is to be transparent about your data collection practices. Be open and honest about what data you collect (and why), where you store the data (and for how long), how you protect the data and whether you share data with third parties. 

  You should also prepare and publish your cyber incident response plan. Outline the steps you will take to contain, assess and manage a data breach.

  Choosing the right web analytics platform

  Organisations use web analytics to track and monitor web traffic, manage advertising campaigns and identify potential revenue streams. The most widely used web analytics platform is Google Analytics ; however, many users have raised concerns about privacy issues. 

  When searching for a Google Analytics alternative, consider a web analytics platform that takes data privacy seriously. Features like cookieless tracking, data anonymisation and IP anonymisation will let you track user activity without collecting personal data. Custom opt-out forms will let your web visitors enforce their data subject rights.

  What data protection acts exist right now ?

  

  As time goes on and more countries introduce their own data privacy laws, it becomes harder for organisations to adapt. Understanding the basics of each act can help streamline compliance. Here is what you need to know about the latest data protection acts.

  General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

  The GDPR is a data protection act created by the European Parliament and Council of the European Union. It comprises 11 chapters covering the general provisions, principles, data subject rights, penalties and other relevant information.

  The GDPR established a framework for organisations and governments to follow regarding the collection, processing, storing, transferring and deletion of personal data. Since coming into effect on 25 May 2018, other countries have used the GDPR as a model to enact similar data protection acts.

  General Data Protection Law (LGPD)

  The LGPD is Brazil’s main data protection act. The Federal Republic of Brazil signed the act on August 14, 2018, and it officially commenced on August 16, 2020. The act aimed to unify the 40 Brazilian laws that previously governed the country’s approach to processing personal data.

  Like the GDPR, the LGPD serves as a legal framework to regulate the collection and usage of personal data. It also outlines the duties of the national data protection authority, the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD), which is responsible for enforcing the LGPD.

  Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) for the Privacy Act 1988

  Established by the Australian House of Representatives, the Privacy Act 1988 outlines how organisations and governments must manage personal data. The federal government has amended the Privacy Act 1988 twice — once in 2000, and again in 2014 — and is committing to a significant overhaul.

  The new proposals will make it easier for individuals to opt out of data collection, organisations will have to destroy collected data after a reasonable period, and small businesses will no longer be exempt from the Privacy Act.

  United States

  

  The United States does not have a federally mandated data protection act. Instead, each state has been gradually introducing its data protection acts, with the first being California, followed by Virginia and Colorado. Over a dozen other states are following suit, too.

  • California — The then-Governor of California Jerry Brown signed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) into law on June 28, 2018. The act applies to organisations with gross annual revenue of more than USD 25 million, and that buy or sell products and services to 100,000 or more households or consumers.
  • Virginia — The Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) took effect on January 1, 2023. It applies to organisations that process (or control) the personal data of 100,000 or more consumers in a financial year. It also applies to organisations that process (or control) the personal data of 25,000 or more consumers and gain more than 50% of gross revenue by selling that data.
  • Colorado — Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the Colorado Privacy Act (ColoPA) into law in July 2021. The act applies to organisations that process (or control) the personal data of 100,000 or more Colorado residents annually. It also applies to organisations that earn revenue from the sale of personal data of at least 25,000 Colorado residents.

  Because the US regulations are a patchwork of differing legal acts, compliance can be a complicated endeavour for organisations operating across multiple jurisdictions. 

  How can organisations comply with data protection acts ?

  One way to ensure compliance is to keep up with the latest data protection acts. But that is a very time-consuming task.

  Over 16 US states are in the process of signing new acts. And countries like China, Turkey and Australia are about to overhaul — in a big way — their own data privacy protection acts. 

  Knowledge is power. But you also have a business to run, right ? 

  That’s where Matomo comes in.

  Streamline data privacy compliance with Matomo

  Although data privacy is a major concern for individuals and companies operating in multiple parts of the world — as they must comply with new, conflicting data protection laws — it is possible to overcome the biggest data privacy issues.

  Matomo enables your visitors to take back control of their data. You can choose where you store your data on-premises and in the Cloud (EU-based). You can use various features, retain 100% data ownership, protect visitor privacy and ensure compliance.

  Try the 21-day free trial of Matomo today, start your free analytics trial. No credit card required.

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• CRO Program : Best Practices and KPIs to Track [2024]

  8 mai 2024, par Erin

  Driving traffic to your website is only one part of the equation ; the second part is getting those visitors to convert by completing a desired action — creating an account, signing up for a newsletter or completing a purchase. 

  But if you fail to optimise your website for conversions, you’ll have a hard time guiding visitors further down the funnel and turning them into customers.

  That’s where a CRO program (or conversion rate optimisation) can help. 

  This article will cover conversion rate optimisation best practices and outline key metrics and KPIs to start tracking to see an improvement in your conversion rates.

  What is a CRO program ? 

  In the simplest terms, a CRO program — also called a CRO plan — is a digital marketing strategy. It focuses on implementing different tactics that can lead to an increase in conversion rate and maximising revenue. 

  

  One thing to remember is that the definition of “conversion” varies from business to business. The most obvious type of conversion would be a financial transaction or a completed form — but it comes down to what you consider a valuable action. 

  Many different actions can count as conversions, depending on your marketing goals. 

  Besides making a purchase, other common examples of key conversion moments include creating a new account, signing up for a free trial, booking a demo and subscribing to an email newsletter. 

  Another thing worth noting is that while the average conversion rate on e-commerce websites is 3.76%, it might fluctuate across different industries and device types. Case in point — desktop devices have higher conversion rates than mobile devices, clocking in at 4.79% and 3.32%, respectively. 

  So, in addition to defining your key conversion moments, you should also go over conversion insights relevant to your specific industry. 

  

  The importance of conversion rate optimisation 

  You’d be right to assume that the ultimate goal of a conversion rate optimisation process is to drive revenue through higher conversion rates — but don’t focus solely on the numbers. The core principle of a CRO program is improving the customer experience. Once you’ve achieved that, the increase in conversion rate will follow. 

  

  According to a recent report, global conversion rate optimisation (CRO) software sales are expected to reach $3.7 billion by 2032 — up from $1.1 billion in 2021. 

  This growth indicates the increasing interest in strategies and tools that can help optimise the conversion funnel. Businesses are looking for ways to keep potential customers engaged and improve the average conversion rate — without necessarily increasing their spending. 

  Here are a few reasons why a CRO program deserves a spot in your broader digital marketing strategies : 

  • It can lower your cost per acquisition (CPA) : A CRO program is about optimising your conversion funnel by leveraging existing assets and website traffic rather than increasing your spending — which lowers the costs of acquiring new customers and, in turn, drives ROI. 
  • It can maximise customer lifetime value (CLV) : If you can turn one-time buyers into repeat customers, you’ll be one step closer to building a loyal user base and increasing your CLV. 
  • It can lead to increased sales and boost your revenue : Higher conversion rates typically mean higher revenue ; that’s arguably the most obvious benefit of implementing a CRO program. 
  • It improves the overall user experience : The goal is to make your site more accessible, easier to navigate and more engaging. Delivering the experience people want — and expect — when navigating your website is one of the core principles of a CRO program.
  • It helps you to get to know your customers better : You can’t meet your customers’ needs without taking the time to know them, create user personas and understand their preferences, pain points and conversion barriers they may be facing. 

  Conversion optimisation gives you a competitive edge in revenue and brand reputation. 

  5 CRO best practices 

  

  Here are five conversion rate optimisation strategies and best practices that can make a real difference in the customer experience — and drive potential conversions. 

  Create a CRO roadmap in advance 

  First and foremost, you’ll need a well-defined “game plan” that aligns with and reflects your conversion goals. 

  A CRO roadmap is a detailed manual that outlines how to implement different elements of your CRO-related efforts. Marketing teams can refer to this step-by-step framework for test planning, prioritisation and resource allocation while optimising their marketing strategy. 

  While conversion rate optimisation can be a complex process — especially when you don’t know what to tackle first — we’ve found that there are three things you need to consider when setting the foundations of a successful CRO program : 

  • The “why” behind your website traffic : You’re likely using different online marketing strategies — from SEO to pay-per-click (PPC). So, it’s best to start by gathering channel-specific conversion insights through marketing attribution. Then identify which of these efforts have the biggest impact on your target audience. 
  • The so-called “conversion blockers” that tell you where and why visitors tend to leave without completing a desired action : Funnel analysis might reveal problematic pages — drop-off points where you tend to lose most of your visitors. 
  • Your “hooks” : User feedback can be of great help here ; you can learn a lot by simply asking your customers to fill out a quick online survey and tell you what motivated them to take action.

  Before working on that “game plan,” perform a pre-test analysis. 

  Matomo combines web analytics and user behaviour analytics with features like Heatmaps, Session Recordings, Form Analytics, Funnel Analytics, A/B Testing and User Flow. It can give you those initial benchmarks for measuring progress and a potential increase in conversion rate. 

  Validate your ideas with A/B and multivariate testing 

  Conversion rate optimisation is an iterative process. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that A/B testing variants of page layouts, CTAs, headlines, copy and other elements is a big part of it.

  Multivariate and A/B testing allows you to test a wide range of elements across your site and identify what works — and, more importantly, what doesn’t — in terms of driving conversions.

  On that note, Matomo’s A/B Testing feature can support your conversion rate optimisation process by identifying variants that perform better based on statistical significance. 

  Try Matomo for Free

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  Get to know your website visitors 

  Driving conversions comes down to understanding potential customer’s pain points and needs — and delivering an experience that positions you as the solution and gets them to take action. 

  Here are a few things that can help you understand your website visitors better : 

  • Collecting customer feedback through surveys and using it to identify main areas for improvement 
  • Creating detailed customer personas and optimising your website design and messaging based on your target audience’s pain points, needs and wants 
  • Using heatmaps — colour-coded data visualisation tools that illustrate user interactions — and scroll maps to get a comprehensive overview of online sessions and identify the most engaging elements and those that stand out as potential conversion barriers 

  Matomo’s Heatmaps can help you identify the most-clicked elements on the page and show how far users scroll — providing powerful user insights you can use to optimise these pages.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  Remove friction points 

  As we previously discussed, identifying friction points and barriers to conversion — issues that prevent visitors from converting — is one of the crucial aspects of developing a CRO plan. 

  Many different “conversion blockers” are worth looking into, including : 

  • Lengthy or otherwise complex checkout processes 
  • No guest checkout feature 
  • Device type, browser and OS compatibility issues 
  • Slow site speed and other technical issues
  • Lack of free shipping and limited payment methods 
  • Absence of social proof (customer reviews and testimonials) and trust badges

  Once you’ve identified what’s slowing down or completely discouraging users from reaching key conversion moments, take the time to address it. 

  Switch to text-based CTAs 

  Calls-to-action (CTAs) play a crucial role in guiding customers from interest to action. However, sometimes they fail to do their job — encouraging website visitors to proceed to the next step — effectively. 

  The most obvious reason is that your CTAs aren’t visually engaging or clear enough. In that case, you can try using action-oriented language and stronger visual elements and aligning the CTA copy with the context of the page. 

  But more often than not, the issue comes down to a phenomenon called “banner blindness” — the tendency of website visitors to ignore (either intentionally or unintentionally) elements on a page that resemble banner ads. 

  And if that’s what’s preventing visitors from converting, consider switching to text-based CTAs. 

  Conversion rate optimisation metrics and KPIs 

  At this point, you should know the outcomes you hope to achieve. Your next step should be to figure out how you’re going to measure and analyse results — and identify the changes that made the most impact on your conversion funnel. 

  After all, your CRO action plan should be based on data — assumptions and “gut feelings” will rarely lead to a notable increase in conversion rates. 

  

  That brings us to key performance indicators (KPIs) : 

  Tracking CRO metrics and website KPIs can help you understand the customer’s journey and path to purchase, identify opportunities for improving the user experience (UX) and determine how to optimise conversions.

  That said, you shouldn’t try to track every metric in the book ; think about your ultimate goal and identify the metrics and KPIs most relevant to your business. 

  We’ll assume that you’re already tracking macro- and micro-conversions. However, we’ve outlined a few additional key conversion rate optimisation metrics you should keep an eye on to make sure that your CRO program is performing as intended : 

  • Cost-per-conversion : By measuring how much you spend on each successful conversion — again, completed forms, sign-ups and sales all count as key conversion moments — you’ll be in a better position to assess the cost-effectiveness of your online marketing strategies.
  • Starter rate : This metric tells you the number of people who start filling out the form, after seeing it. This metric is particularly important for companies that rely on getting leads from forms. 
  • Average order value (AOV) : This metric is important for e-commerce sites to understand the value of their transactions. AOV calculates the average monetary value of each order.

  That’s not all ; you can also use a web analytics tool like Matomo to gain granular insights into visitors : 

  • Unique, new and returning visitors : Tracking the number of new and returning visitors your website gets within a given timeframe will help you understand your user base and determine if your content resonates with them. While you want a constant stream of new traffic, don’t overlook the importance of returning visitors ; they’re the foundation of a loyal customer base.
  • User flows : By analysing the user flows, you’ll have a visual representation of how visitors use your website, which will help you understand their journey and the specific path they take. 
  • Bounce rate : This metric tells you how many users viewed a single page on your site and ended up leaving before they took any kind of action. As such, it’s a clear indicator of how good your content, CTAs and website layout are at keeping users engaged.
  • Exit rate : Another key metric to track is the exit rate — the percentage of users who drop off at a specific page. High-exit pages usually lack important information and CTAs, cause frustration or otherwise fail to meet users’ expectations. Keep in mind that there’s a difference between bounce rate and exit rate — the latter involves users who viewed at least one other page. 

  There are many other user engagement metrics you should keep an eye on in addition to the ones mentioned above — including time on-page, actions per visit, scroll depth and traffic source. You’ll find all this information — and more — in Matomo’s Page Analytics Report. 

  Conclusion 

  Implementing a CRO program can be a time-consuming and iterative process. However, it’s vital for guiding your marketing efforts and making data-driven decisions that’ll ultimately help you drive growth and reach your business goals. 

  It’s best to start by identifying where your website visitors come from and what contributes to — or prevents them from — taking further action. But that’s easier said than done. You’ll need to leverage web analytics tools like Matomo to gather powerful user insights and monitor your website’s performance. 

  As an all-in-one, privacy-friendly web analytics solution, Matomo combines traditional web analytics and advanced behavioural analytics — delivering a consistent experience based on 100% accurate, unsampled data.

  Join the 1 million websites that have chosen Matomo as their web analytics platform. Start your 21-day free trial today — and see how Matomo can help you improve your website’s conversion rates. No credit card required.

  Try Matomo for Free

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  
  

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• Accessibility Testing : Why It Matters and How to Get Started

  7 mai 2024, par Erin

  Nearly 96% of website homepages had failures with meeting web accessibility criteria in 2024. Aside from not complying with web accessibility laws and regulations, companies are failing a growing number of users with accessibility needs.

  With disabilities, chronic illnesses and ageing populations all rising, brands need to take accessibility more seriously. 

  In this article, we explain why accessibility testing is so important and how you can get started today.

  What is accessibility testing ?

  Accessibility testing optimises digital experiences to make them accessible for users with a range of disabilities and impairments. This includes users with vision impairments, hearing loss, neurodivergence, motor disabilities and cognitive conditions.

  The goal is to create inclusive experiences for everyone by implementing UX principles that address the usability needs of diverse audiences.

  To help developers create accessible experiences, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The international WCAG standards define the Four Principles of Accessibility :

  • Perceivable : Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they perceive.

  • Operable : User interface components and navigation must be operable.

  • Understandable : Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable.
  • Robust : Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by various user agents, including assistive technologies.

  

  The current version of WCAG (2.2) contains 86 success criteria with three grades representing conformance levels :

  • Level A is the minimum conformance rating, indicating that web content is accessible to most users.

  • Level AA is the recommended conformance level to make content accessible to almost everyone, including users with severe disabilities.
  • Level AAA is the highest conformance rating, making content accessible to everyone, regardless of disability.

  

  Why is accessibility testing important ?

  With record numbers of lawsuits over online accessibility cases, it’s clear that companies underestimate the importance of accessibility testing. Here are seven key reasons you should pay more attention to it :

  1. Create inclusive experiences : Above all, accessibility testing creates inclusive experiences for all users.
  2. Adhere to accessibility regulations : Accessibility laws in most major markets — including the EU web accessibility policy — make it illegal for companies to discriminate against users with disabilities.
  3. Social responsibility : Companies have an ethical responsibility to cater to all users and consumers. 57% say they’re more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities.
  4. Accessibility needs are growing : 16% of the world’s population (1 in 6) experience significant disability and the number will continue to grow as ageing populations rise.
  5. Improve experiences for everyone : Accessibility improves experiences for all users — for example, 80% of UK viewers aged 18-25 (2021) watch content with subtitles enabled.
  6. Maximise marketing reach : Platforms like Google prioritise accessibility yearly, making accessible content and experiences more visible.
  7. Accessibility is profitable : Inclusive companies earn 1.6x more revenue, 2.6x more net income and 2x more profit, according to Accenture (PDF).

  

  Who needs inclusive UX ?

  Accessibility testing starts with understanding the usability needs of audiences with disabilities and impairments. Here’s a quick summary of the most common impairments and some of the needs they have in common :

  • Visual impairments : Users may rely on screen readers, magnification software, braille displays, etc. or require certain levels of contrast, text sizes and colour combinations to aid visibility.
  • Hearing impairments : Users may rely on closed captions and subtitles for video content, transcripts for multimedia content and visual alerts/notifications for updates.
  • Motor or mobility impairments : Users might rely on adaptive keyboards, voice recognition and other assistive devices.
  • Cognitive and neurological impairments : Users may rely on technologies like text-to-speech software or require simplified user interfaces, contrast designs, etc., to aid comprehension.
  • Speech impairments : Users may rely on speech recognition and dictation software for any interaction that requires them to speak (e.g., automated customer service machines).

  While accessibility tools can alleviate certain accessibility challenges, inclusive design can remove much of the burden from users. This can involve using plenty of contrast, careful font selection, increasing whitespace and plenty of other design choices.

  Refer to the latest version of the WCAG for further guidance.

  How to run accessibility testing

  Now that we’ve emphasised the importance of accessibility, let’s explain how you can implement your own accessibility testing strategy.

  Create your accessibility testing plan

  Careful planning is crucial for making accessibility testing affordable and profitable. This starts with identifying the assets you need to test and optimise. This may include :

  • Website or web app
  • Mobile app
  • Videos
  • Podcasts and audio
  • PDFs
  • Marketing emails

  Map out all the assets your target audience interacts with and bring them into your accessibility testing plan. Optimising your website for screen readers is great, but you don’t want to forget your marketing emails and exclude vision-impaired users.

  Once you’ve got a complete list of assets, identify the elements and interactions with each one that require accessibility testing. For example, on your website, you should optimise navigation, user interfaces, layouts, web forms, etc.

  You also need to consider the impact of device types. For example, how touchscreens change the experience for motor impairments.

  Now that you know the scope of your testing strategy, it’s time to define your accessibility standards. Use external frameworks like WCAG guidelines and relevant legal requirements to create an internal set of standards.

  Once your accessibility standards are complete, train your staff at every level. This includes designers, developers, and content creators — everyone who works on assets is included in your accessibility testing strategy.

  Implement your accessibility standards throughout the design and development phases. Aim to create the most inclusive experiences possible before the accessibility testing stage.

  Implement accessibility practices at every level

  Treating accessibility as an afterthought is the biggest mistake you can make. Aside from neglecting the importance of accessibility, it’s simply not affordable to create assets and then optimise them for accessibility.

  Instead, you need to implement accessibility standards in every design and development stage. This way, you create inclusive assets from the beginning, and accessibility testing flags minor fixes rather than overhauls.

  By extension, you can take lessons from accessibility tests and update your accessibility standards to improve the quality of future assets.

  Set clear specifications in your accessibility standards for everyone to follow. For example, content publishers should be responsible for adding alt-text to all images. Make designers responsible for following contrast guidelines when optimising elements like CTA buttons.

  

  Next, managers can review assets and check for accessibility standards before anything is signed off. This way, you achieve higher test accessibility scores, and most fixes should be minor.

  This is the key to making accessibility testing manageable and profitable.

  Automate accessibility testing

  Automation is the other big factor in making accessibility efficient. With the right tools, you can run tests periodically without any manual workload, collecting data and flagging potential issues at almost no cost.

  For example, you can run automated accessibility tests on your website every month to check for common issues. This might flag up pages without alt-text for images, colour issues on a new batch of landing pages or a sudden drop in mobile loading times.

  Every automated test you can run reduces the manual workload of optimising accessibility. This frees up more time for the manual tests that require the attention of accessibility experts. 

  • Free up time for accessibility tasks that require manual testing
  • Identify issues with new content, assets, code, etc. faster
  • Run automated accessibility testing on new CRO changes

  Schedule manual accessibility reviews

  While it’s important to automate as much accessibility testing as possible, most accessibility standards require some form of manual testing. If we use the WCAG standards as a guideline, more than 70% of success require manual review and verification, including :

  • Testing websites with a screen reader
  • Navigating apps by only using a keyword
  • Quality assessing closed captions and subtitles
  • Testing web forms for people using speech input
  • Checking conversion actions for users with mobility issues (CTAs, forms, payments, etc.)

  Yes, you can automatically check all images for alt-text, but simply providing alt-text isn’t enough. You also have to review alt-text to make sure they’re descriptive, accurate and informative about the experience.

  Once again, the best way to minimise your time spent on manual testing is to implement accessibility standards throughout design and development. Train your content publishers to create alt-text that meets your criteria and editors to review them before pieces are signed off. 

  This way, you should always have the required alt-text before the content reaches the accessibility testing stage. The same applies to video transcriptions, web forms, website navigation, etc.

  Building a culture of accessibility makes the testing process as efficient as possible.

  What tools do you need for accessibility testing ?

  Now that we’ve covered the key essentials of accessibility testing, let’s look at some of the best accessibility testing tools to help you implement your strategy.

  accessiBe : AI-powered accessibility testing automation

  accessiBe is an accessibility testing automation and management system. It incorporates two core products : accessWidget for automating UI accessibility and accessFlow as an all-in-one solution for developers.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility testing
  • Accessibility widget for easy optimisation
  • Product accessibility for web, mobile and native apps
  • AI-powered accessibility insights
  • Compliance with WCAG, EAA and more

  As explained earlier, automation is crucial for making accessibility testing efficient and profitable. With accessiBe, you can automate the first line of accessibility checks so testers only need to get involved when manual action is necessary.

  Maze : Intelligent usability testing software

  Maze is a usability testing system that uses AI and automation to enhance traditional qualitative testing. You can run automated tests on live websites, capture survey feedback and recruit users to test experiences with real people.

  

  Key features :

  • Live website testing
  • Feedback surveys
  • Usability interviews
  • Test recruitment
  • Automated analysis

  While traditional usability interviews can provide in-depth insights, they’re expensive, time-consuming and difficult to run at scale. Maze’s solution is a hybrid testing system that automates data capture and analysis while supporting real user testing in one system.

  Matomo : Empowering people with ethical web analytics

  Matomo is a web analytics solution that gives you 100% data ownership while respecting user privacy. Think of this as a Google Analytics alternative that doesn’t use your visitors’ data for advertising purposes.

  

  Key features :

  • Privacy-friendly and GDPR-compliant tracking
  • Conversion rate optimisation features like heatmaps, session recordings, A/B testing and more
  • Accurate, unsampled data – see 40-60% more data than other analytics tools that sample data
  • Open-source

  Accessibility starts with creating quality experiences for everyone. Matomo reliably captures 100% of the data you need to optimise experiences without losing their trust. Instead of handing their personal info to Google or other tech giants, you retain full data ownership — fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, etc.

  Try Matomo free for 21-days (no credit card required), or speak to our sales team for more info on how Matomo can enhance your site’s user experience and support your accessibility testing strategy.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  UserTesting : Video-based user testing software

  UserTesting is the more traditional system for running usability tests with real people. The platform helps you recruit users and manage usability tests with a series of sessions and video interviews.

  

  Key features :

  • Usability testing
  • Test recruitment
  • Live interviews
  • AI-powered insights
  • Usability services

  UserTesting is a slower, more expensive approach to testing experiences, but its video-based interviews allow you to have meaningful conversations with real users.

  Siteimprove : WCAG compliance testing

  Siteimprove automates website testing, accessibility and optimisation. It includes dedicated tools for checking WCAG and DCI compliance with an automated scoring system. This helps you keep track of scores and identify any accessibility and usability issues faster.

  

  Key features :

  • Automated accessibility checks
  • Inclusivity scores
  • Accessibility recommendations
  • Accessibility tracking
  • Marketing and revenue attribution
  • Usability insights

  Siteimprove provides a first line of accessibility testing with automated checks and practical recommendations. It also tracks accessibility scores, including ratings for all three WCAG compliance levels (A, AA and AAA).

  Find the value in accessibility testing

  Accessibility testing isn’t only a moral obligation ; it’s good business. Aside from avoiding fines and lawsuits, inclusive experiences are increasingly profitable. User bases with accessibility needs are only growing while non-disabled audiences are using accessibility resources like subtitles and transcripts in greater numbers.

  Accessibility improves everyone’s experiences, and this only does good things for conversion rates, revenue and profit.

  Start building your datasets for accessibility testing today with a Matomo 21-day free trial — no credit card required. Gain 100% ownership over your analytics data while complying with GDPR and other data privacy regulations.

  Try Matomo for Free

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  
  

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