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Introduction 1
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Lecture1.1
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Section 1 - How to design accessible information 3
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Lecture2.1
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Lecture2.2
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Lecture2.3
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Section 2 – How to deliver accessible information 8
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Lecture3.1
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Lecture3.2
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Lecture3.3
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Lecture3.4
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Lecture3.5
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Lecture3.6
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Lecture3.7
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Lecture3.8
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Section 3 – Experiences 7
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Lecture4.1
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Lecture4.2
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Lecture4.3
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Lecture4.4
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Lecture4.5
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Lecture4.6
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Quiz4.1
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The business case for Universally Designed communications
This, and the following subsections, are extrapolated from the Universal Design for customer engagement, addressed to the owner or manager of a small tourism business. As a TAD Access Advisor, the lessons presented here – and the further reading materials – will enable you to appreciate and apply the techniques that are described.
Universal Design for customer engagement is the design of all forms of customer communications so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability and disability.
These sections will signpost you to useful tips and methods for designing communications, following a specially prepared “Toolkit” developed by Dolmen on behalf of the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority, Ireland. The Toolkit, which is widely accepted as “best practice” training materials in the tourism sector, is free to download, as it is intended that it should be widely used by the tourism sector as a means of improving profitability and ensuring greater customer satisfaction.
The Toolkit was designed for all businesses that provide services to tourism customers. This ranges from small Bed and Breakfast establishments to large hotels, from coffee shops to large restaurants as well as music venues, cultural institutions, tour and transport operators, and everything in-between.
Business owners communicate with their customers in various ways, from the initial contact to purchase, as well as during and after the tourism experience. At all the “touch points” where the service provider and the customer meet, it is vital to ensure the best possible communication, taking into account the widest possible range of customer requirements.
The business owner/manager should ask him/herself:
- Is a warm welcome being translated into a better experience for your customers, and more revenue for your business?
- Are we communicating with our customers as well as we can in our print materials, on our website, over the phone and in person?
- After we make the first sale, how are we keeping customers engaged?
Better communication can increase the spend by your customer, widen your market, improve brand recognition and customer loyalty.
By adopting a Universal Design approach to communications you will:
- Increase the number of repeat customers.
- Improve word of mouth referrals and online reviews.
- Improve how you successfully communicate to a wider market.
- Increase spend by your customers.
From the use of the customer communication Toolkit in Ireland, it was demonstrated that:
- 52% of customers purchase more from a business as a result of a good customer experience.
- Two thirds of customers are willing to spend an average of 13% more with a business they believe provides good customer service.
- 24% of customers will continue to use the service providers for two or more years after good experiences.
All businesses should be focused on meeting the needs of as many existing and potential new customers as possible. Businesses need to consider providing a better service and experience to existing and future customers. Crucially, improving the accessibility of written, verbal and web-based communications will give an immediate increase in market reach, making your services available to a larger number and broader range of potential customers.
- All your customers will benefit from universally designed communications
- Communication will be more accessible, easier to understand and more useful to as many of your customers as possible.
- The more flexible your service is and the more options it gives your customers, the more likely a service is to meet the diverse needs of as wide a customer base as possible.
As your customers get older, they are more likely to experience practical difficulties when travelling and using tourism services. In Europe, tourists over 65 are the only customer segment that has grown (by 10%) between 2006 and 2011. Their tourism expenditure grew by 33% in these five years and the trend continues today. This is because there are an increasing number of tourists over 65, who have money to spend and more leisure time than other customer segments. Tourism customers over 50 years old buy 40% more than the under 30s, averaging 5 or 6 trips per year.
- A good reputation makes good business sense. A satisfied customer will tell other people about your service, increasing awareness and potentially creating new customers. Two thirds of customers are willing to spend an average of 13% more with a business they believe provides good customer service.
- What’s good for society benefits your business. If you incorporate a Universal Design approach in your business, you are likely to receive a reputation for a high level of corporate social responsibility. Welcoming all customers to use your service not only increases your bottom line – it benefits your local community and society as well.
- The Demographic Case. There are no typical tourism customers. They can be male or female, of all ages and all different in size and ability. Tourism customers typically consist of a range of nationalities, where English may not be their first language.
- It is important to remember, that at some stage we all will experience some form of difficulty, such as only having the use of one arm because you’re carrying a baby, or having difficulty hearing because of loud background noise. However this additionally may include more long term personal difficulties, ranging from hearing and seeing difficulties, to mental health and physical difficulties.
- How we design our communications to cater for all users is an essential part of the tourism manager’s or consultant’s skill set.
Watch this video as an Introduction to the Business Case for Universal Design and the Irish Toolkit:
Download and read Toolkit section 1: Business Objectives and Overview (PDF document)
Written communication
The Irish Toolkit section, “Written Communication”, aims to give tourism business owners/managers an introduction to the key issues that apply to every use of writing. It will:
- help you assess your written communication to ensure the information is easy to read; and understand for your target market;
- help you to better engage with your customers through written communication;
- help you to deliver a better customer experience;
- help you to develop new customer communications.
Written text guidance:
The way you communicate with your customers is very important; your tone, the words you use and the way you write. It is important to think about who you are writing for (your target market) and what they know about your business (particularly their familiarity with the technical terms you may use).
The following checklist gives some key pieces of guidance on how to communicate with your customers effectively:
- Think of the person you are writing for
- What background information do they know about your business?
- Are they familiar with the technical terms your business uses?
- How will they read the document? Will they just skip to the section of interest to them?
- Be personal: Use ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘you’ in your documents.
- Use active verbs: Try to put the person, group or thing doing the action at the start of the sentence as often as possible. This will help make your text more personal and clearer.
For example, write “We will send you a confirmation of your booking on Tuesday” instead of “A confirmation of your booking will be sent on Tuesday.” - Make text easy to read and understand
- Always use the simplest and clearest language possible.
- Avoid technical language that your customer may not understand. If you must use technical language, clearly explain what it means in plain English.
You may also consider these tips for organising and preparing your written content:
- Define unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms: Where your customer may be unfamiliar with an acronym, spell it out the first time it is used followed by the acronym in brackets. For example, the Visitor Information Centre (VIC).
- Try to keep unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms to a minimum.
- Keep sentences short: Aim to use no more than 15 to 20 words per sentence. Break up sentences with full stops, rather than semi-colons. Use one space after a full stop to help with accessibility, particularly for your customers using text-to-speech software.
- Be consistent with the terms and formats: Use the same terms and formats for the same concept throughout your document. For example, make sure you write dates and numbers consistently; don’t change from using the word ‘seven’ to writing the number ‘7’.
- Use questions and answers: Questions and answers help to get information across or emphasise certain facts.
- Proofread your document: It is important to proofread your document. It is recommended that this is done at least an hour later, though preferably 24 hours later. This helps you see the document with fresh eyes, making you more likely to notice mistakes. If possible, ask someone else to proofread it as well.
- Use a house style: Create a house style of terms, phrases and explanations of technical terms that everyone in your business uses repeatedly. This can also be applied to writing and layout standards for your written communication.
- Do you have standard explanations for technical terms that you use for people outside your business? What standard explanations for technical terms may not be understood by all your customers?
We also suggest you to take a closer look at the topic related to “easy to read” writing and compare the following documents to discover how the technique can transform a complex document in a “easy readable” one:
- Resolution on European Disability Strategy
- Resolution on European Disability Strategy in Easy to Read
Other sections of the Written Communications toolkit cover the following subjects, each with a Checklist and examples to support a practical approach by the business owner/manager or staff:
- Document Design
- Form Design
- Signage Guidance
- Signage Design
Watch this YouTube video as an introduction to Written Communication (Viking Splash)
Download and read Toolkit section 2: Written Communication
Face-to-face, telephone and video communication
The Irish Toolkit section, “Face-to-Face, telephone and video communication”, aims to give tourism business owners/managers an introduction to the key issues that apply to every use of face-to face communications. It will:
- help you assess your face-to-face, telephone and video communication to ensure you are communicating in a way that is easy to understand;
- help you to better engage with your customers through face-to-face, telephone and video communication;
- help you to deliver a better customer experience;
- help you to develop new customer communications.
Sections of the Face-to-face Communication toolkit cover the following subjects, each with a Checklist and examples to support a practical approach by the business owner/manager or staff:
- Verbal Communication
- Face-to-Face Communication
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Telephone Based Call Routing and Message Service
Verbal communication should be applied when designing how to communicate with customers verbally. While this guidance is focused on face-to-face, telephone and video communication, it equally applies to speeches, conversations, presentations, machine voice recordings and public announcements.
- Use Plain English. Always use the simplest and clearest language possible. Avoid using technical words that your customers may not be familiar with.
- If you must use technical language, clearly explain what it means.
- Think about what you are saying: are you answering your customers’ questions?
- Are your customers familiar with the technical terms your business uses?
- Speak clearly: speak in a clear voice, clearly pronouncing your words.
- Speak slowly: take your time and speak slowly to your customer.
- Tailor what you are saying to meet your customer’s needs.
- Keep your message simple: state one piece of information at a time.
- Provide the information in a logical order.
- State the purpose of your conversation: at the start of your conversation state the purpose of it.
- Listen and respond to your customer: be aware of the language your customer uses and their literacy level.
- Consider that adults may have literacy and numeracy difficulties and may not be familiar with your language.
To deep we suggest you to:
Watch this YouTube video as an introduction to Face-to-face communication (Jurys Inn)
Download and read Toolkit section 3: Face-to face, telephone and video communication
Electronic and Web-based communication
The Irish Toolkit section, “Electronic and Web-based communication”, aims to give tourism business owners/managers an introduction to the key issues that apply to every use of electronic communications, including Web-sites, social media, apps and so on. It will:
- help you assess how you engage with your customers to ensure information is easy to read, use and understand for your target market;
- help you to better engage with your customers through electronic and web-based communication systems;
- help you assess your face-to-face, telephone and video communication to ensure you are communicating in a way that is easy to understand;
- help you to better engage with your customers through face-to-face, telephone and video communication.
This contents of this toolkit are described as “just good common sense” but will help staff members who prepare electronic or Web content, either as information managers, developers or service personnel who use electronic tools to deliver services to customers.
There are two levels of changes that this Toolkit will deliver:
- Incremental changes: these are small changes that are easy to put in place, which can improve your customer’s experience and make information easier to understand. This can range from the language and tone you use in emails, to the images you use on your website to explain your services.
- Radical changes: these are bigger changes that create tangible impacts. This can range from creating a more efficient and effective ways of communicating with your customers, enabling you to target new customer segments, to improving customer engagement by responding to your customers’ enquiries faster.
Sections of the Electronic Communications toolkit cover the following subjects, each with a checklist and examples to support a practical approach by the business owner/manager or staff:
- Writing Good Web Content
- Writing for the web
- Content quality
- Links and microcontent
- Titles and descriptions
- Designing and Developing Usable Websites
- Website navigation guidance
- Forms
- Login details
- Time out messages
- CAPTCHAsSearch functions
- Multimedia, images and colour.
- Accessibility
- Mobile Web Content and Apps
- Apps for smartphones and devices
- Email and Newsletter Guidance
- Accessible Documents and Brochures
- SMS Based Communication
- General guidelines for SMS (texting).
- Social Media Guidance
- Facebook posts
- Youtube
Watch this YouTube video as an introduction to Electronic and Web-based communication (Purty Kitchen)
Watch this W3C video to understand what web accessibility means
Download and read Toolkit section 4 Electronic and Web-based communication