54% of disabled people feel that organisations could do more to improve the experiences of disabled customers. The most common themes were around physical accessibility (e.g. ramps, wider aisles), providing help (e.g. reaching items from high shelves, carrying shopping to the car), and treating disabled customers with respect, patience, and understanding.

We also asked people if they could name an organisation which had stood out in the way they had dealt with them. Almost every sector of the economy was mentioned  by at least one person, and in total customers named 165 different organisations, but there were some clear stand out performers who came up again and again.

The 5 organisations below were each mentioned by more than 4% of those who named someone, with the NHS standing out as, by a distance, the most frequently named.

When it comes to interacting with organisations online, 1 in 3 customers have experienced difficulties during the pandemic, and in over half of those cases it led to the customer not spending money that they would otherwise have spent.

At an average of £165, that means that inaccessible websites may have cost UK businesses as much as £412 million[2] during the pandemic alone.

Designing the customer experience with disabled customers in mind is not only the right thing to do, it’s the business savvy thing to do if you want to make sure that you are catering to the needs of a significant minority of customers who are affected in one way or another.

In many cases a better experience for disabled customers is one that is better for all customers, whether that’s making your website easier to read, or your store layout more comfortable.

Hi Mike, can you tell us a little more about Purple Tuesday and why it’s important? 

Purple Tuesday is a change programme for organisations of all sizes from all sectors to get involved in, with the common goal of improving the customer experience for disabled people 365 days a year. More than 5,000 organisations have so far used Purple Tuesday 2021 as an opportunity to make practical commitments to improve the disabled customer experience. 

How many people in the UK live with a disability? 

One in five people in the UK have a disability – which is a lot, but perhaps not surprising given disabled people make up the world’s largest minority group! 

That’s a lot of people. What’s the combined spending power of disabled people in the UK?  

The Purple Pound – the amount of money spent by disabled households annually – is estimated to be worth £274bn to UK businesses – a staggering sum, although 90% of firms don’t have a disability strategy to benefit from disabled people’s considerable spending power.  

That sounds like a missed opportunity. We understand you’re focusing on the online space this year. Why is that? 

More than one in three disabled people had difficulties using websites during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic – and your research has found that UK businesses lost out on almost £412 million during the pandemic because their websites are inaccessible to disabled people. 

That’s why we’re urging companies to review the experience of their disabled customers. Currently they’re missing out on valuable revenue opportunities, which could be fixed by simple changes to their websites. It makes commercial sense to be inclusive and accessible.  

Eve Williams, Chief Marketing Officer, eBay UK has commented “eBay’s purpose as a business is to create economic opportunity for all, and accessibility is a fundamental pillar of that. We know that small changes can make a world of difference to people with a disability who use our platform, and we’re committed to continually adapting and evolving our site and native apps to ensure we’re catering to the needs of our customers. 

Embedding Disability Inclusion into any organisation first starts with Leadership and here are some tips that Leaders can take to starting the journey:

• Ensure the conversation is frequent and continual, it has to be part of everything you do so start with adding it to your monthly Board agenda and normalise the conversation

• Support the conversation and promote your commitment to change by appointing an accountable board level Champion who bangs the drum and remove barriers to disability inclusion

• Take the message in to your Supply Chain and procurement processes by advocating and encouraging disability inclusion within your supplier and partner organisations

• Then leverage those partnerships by building your own campaign to promote disability inclusion and expedite the move towards accessible experiences for your staff and customers

• And remember to make your commitment publicly visible by signing up to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme, elevating your reputation and commitment for change.