Case Study
Explore Utah Valley Streamlines Accessibility Management While Improving Compliance
How Explore Utah Valley Transformed Its Destination Website to Provide an Accessible Experience for All Visitors
Summary of Key Benefits
Reporting of accessibility progress
Detailed reporting helps Explore Utah Valley understand high-severity accessibility issues that need attention, helping ensure ongoing compliance.
Automated issue remediation
Since implementation, over 1,600 accessibility issues have been fixed using active monitoring and automated fixes, with over 50% representing high-severity issues which often result in litigation.
Reduced impact on the web team
Streamlined accessibility management and automated fixes freed up time for precious internal resources who were previously making manual updates that required extensive coding knowledge.
Explore Utah Valley is a leading destination marketing organization (DMO) committed to promoting the diverse attractions and natural beauty of Utah Valley. With a mission to inspire travel and provide valuable resources to both visitors and the local community, Explore Utah Valley recognized the importance of ensuring its website was accessible to all users.
Explore Utah Valley received feedback from visitors and the local community that its website was inaccessible. Recognizing the need to address these concerns, the company began researching digital accessibility solutions and discovered AudioEye through its partnership with Simpleview. AudioEye’s comprehensive approach, which leverages automation technology and accessibility experts, stood out as the ideal solution to fix the website’s accessibility and maintain ongoing compliance.
Before AudioEye, Explore Utah Valley worked with a different digital accessibility provider that left the team with cumbersome manual updates, requiring extensive coding knowledge and offering no support for maintaining compliance. This situation created a significant burden on the small team, leading them to seek a solution that was both budget-friendly and as automated as possible.
"Ultimately, we felt it was our obligation to do what would be most beneficial for our visitors. Personally, I have family members with sight impairments, and this was tugging at my heartstrings. So I'd say more than the small guy threats, we wanted to be friendly to all our friends, family, and visitors.”"
Charlene Christensen, Director of Services & Marketing at Explore Utah Valley
Solution
Explore Utah Valley’s primary goal was to create an inclusive and accessible website that could inspire any online visitor to book a trip. The small team needed a solution that would fix accessibility issues on existing content and scale accessibility as the website expanded in the future. Adhering to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines supported a commitment to accessibility for users and visitors of UtahValley.com.
AudioEye provided automated fixes that were seamlessly integrated with Simpleview CMS, enabling ongoing monitoring and real-time fixes on Explore Utah Valley’s website. The AudioEye team collaborated closely with Simpleview to test core website templates with accessibility experts, ensuring that the foundational components were accessible. Through quarterly expert testing, common issues across multiple websites were identified, allowing Explore Utah Valley to address these challenges proactively. Additionally, expert fixes were implemented to resolve any specific accessibility barriers that emerged.
Key Outcomes
- The team can now provide updates and detailed reporting to management and board members, demonstrating the value of AudioEye’s integration
- Ongoing digital accessibility compliance is maintained, reducing legal risks
The collaboration with Simpleview’s digital services team has led to improvements in search engine optimization (SEO) — aligning with accessibility best practices - Explore Utah Valley has initiated the process of updating ALT text for its library of 18,000 images, establishing a new standard for future content
- The team no longer needs to allocate a full-time staff member to fixing accessibility errors, freeing up resources to focus on broader accessibility goals
By implementing AudioEye’s accessibility solution, Explore Utah Valley has significantly enhanced the inclusivity of its website, offering an improved experience for all visitors seeking travel inspiration and planning. The platform’s ease of use has allowed the company to keep up with accessibility changes seamlessly.
"We can, with confidence, say to our users, ‘Here are the steps we are taking and changes we are making to ensure our destination website is inclusive and accessible’ — and this is all thanks to AudioEye’s integration with Simpleview."
Emily Shaw, Database Tools & Research Specialist at Explore Utah Valley
Accessibility Improvements
1,691
AudioEye’s solutions fixed over 1,691 issues across UtahValley.com
+50%
Over 50% of the identified issues were of high severity, which often result in litigation
+50%
More than half of Explore Utah Valley’s issues have been automatically resolved, with custom fixes addressing other issues
Explore Utah Valley remains dedicated to creating an inclusive digital environment that encourages all online visitors to explore the destination. With AudioEye’s tools and support, the DMO is well-equipped to keep accessibility at the forefront of its web strategy, ensuring that all users can fully experience the beauty and attractions of Utah Valley.
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