DRAFT: Contact blurb specific to developer audience (Education and Outreach Working Group)

At 09:45 AM 12/2/2011, you wrote:
>ACTION-16: write Contact blurb specific to developer audience 
>(Education and Outreach Working Group):

Should this go to this list or to the wiki?  Thanks!

If you sell goods and services online, you have an eager market that 
is 54 million people strong in the United States, maintains an 
aggregate income that now exceeds $1 trillion, and boasts $220 
billion in discretionary spending power according to Fortune 
Magazine.  As ideal as it sounds, many online retailers fail to reach 
this valuable market because their web sites are not accessible the 
group described - people with disabilities.  This large and growing 
group of customers is likely to lose interest when form inputs aren't 
labeled, graphic elements are not described, or the next step in a 
purchase process shows up in a modal dialogue that can't be found by 
assistive technology.  These and other design barriers can make 
online shopping miserable for potential buyers with disabilities.

If your customers are frustrated, you want to know about it.  The 
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/>Web Accessibility Initiative at the W3C has a 
resource to help them communicate with you in a constructive and 
useful way.  Consider posting a link on your shopping pages for 
customers who encounter shopping barriers.

The guide is called 
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible>Contacting Organizations 
about Inaccessible Websites and can help your potential customers 
describe specific areas of pain.  Open the channels of communication 
to potential customers with disabilities.  You may make their 
holidays much merrier and give yourself the gift of a new customer 
who is likely to return.  May your all your holidays be bright!