Crafting an experience for everyone

Over two millennia ago, a Tamil philosopher and poet wrote, "Yaadhum oore, yaavarum kelir," which translates roughly to "All places on earth are my hometown, all people on earth are my kinsmen." There's no way to ascertain how true these words were when he penned them, but they certainly resonate well in today's hyper-connected world where boundaries of all sorts are getting blurred day by day.

Moreover, technologies like social media have made people more aware and empowered today. In the context of business, this means that paying customers and potential customers can easily converse with each other and share their experiences and insights. So ultimately, it's imperative that businesses provide uniform, consistent, quality experiences to customers from all walks of life.

But how can they achieve this goal?

The key to this is inclusivity—the principle that emphasizes treating all customers equally and making them feel welcomed, irrespective of who they are or where they're from. However, the biggest challenge with delivering inclusive experiences is that situations don't always have a one-size-fits-all solution. Some situations require a thoughtful, multi-pronged approach that caters to the differences that exist among people.

Here, we'll aim to provide you with a few pointers that can help you get started on this journey.

Gender inclusivity

The first and most important kind of inclusivity that businesses should provide relates to the experiences of people of all genders. Even a simple mistake like omitting the title "Ms." in a form, or handing the dinner check to the man at the table when it was the woman who asked for it, could contribute to a negative customer experience. So the first thing businesses must do is to unlearn common gender stereotypes.

A customer is a customer, regardless of their gender identity. This kind of neutrality is especially vital to those in customer-facing roles. A woman looking to buy a car isn't necessarily interested only in its color and appearance; she might be more concerned with how much torque it produces or what kind of suspension it has. So as a rule of thumb, never assume what a customer expects based on their gender alone.

Additionally, though the majority of people conform to binary gender categories, it's essential to accord equal respect to those who don't. Non-binary identities have existed since time immemorial and are in no way "unnatural." Therefore, make sure to educate team members on gender identities and treat customers from the trans/queer community the same way you'd treat any other customer.

Disability inclusivity

According to a recent WHO report, "Over one billion people live with some form of disability"—a number that is "dramatically increasing." While it's alarming that 15% of the world's population already experiences some form of disability, it's appalling to know that this number is only expected to increase in the future.

Disabilities consist mainly of two types: cognitive/mental and physical. Disability due to old age is a third type, but in most cases, it's a combination of the two main types to varying degrees. That said, there's not much that businesses can do with respect to customers with cognitive disabilities other than treat them with kindness and compassion. However, there's a wide range of facilities and accessibility options that businesses can provide to customers with physical disabilities.

Accommodations such as ramps for wheelchair access, reading materials in Braille, and entries for service animals are essential today. Similarly, having employees who know sign language can also add more value to your team and enhance the experience of hearing-impaired customers.

Furthermore, if your offering is a software or technology-based product, make sure to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Also, you should include alternative display/UI options that provide a smooth experience for colorblind users as well. Even simple things, such as including accessibility text in your website images and social media posts, can make a difference to customers with disabilities.

The two findings from the WHO report mentioned earlier are sufficient to take disability inclusivity seriously. However, if you're still not convinced of the importance of putting in the money and effort towards it, the report makes a third point: "Almost everyone is likely to experience some form of disability—temporary or permanent—at some point in life." Hopefully this puts things in perspective!

Linguistic inclusivity

The third major area of inclusivity that businesses should focus on is linguistic inclusivity, because languages are one of the main forms of diversity among people.

People move around the world for various reasons and it's not always possible or necessary to learn the language of the place they're in. For instance, a tourist in Paris doesn't need to know French, but someone who intends to make it their home has to learn it eventually. Irrespective of the length of their stay, people who don't know the local language are bound to interact with local businesses.

The simplest and most effective way to address this area is to hire bilingual/multilingual individuals for customer-facing roles. If that isn't possible, you can explore technological solutions, such as translation apps which can help translate conversations in real time.

Besides, in today's hyper-connected world, your customers don't have to be from the same region as you. Someone from Kenya can easily buy something from Canada. Therefore, it's important that your online presence also supports multiple languages. Your website, for one, is a good starting point for your multilingual journey. Next, you can look at providing help articles in multiple languages, which is something easily achievable through a good helpdesk tool that supports a multilingual knowledge base.

As mentioned earlier, there's no one-size-fits-all solution for providing an inclusive customer experience. But the three areas touched upon in this article are a good starting point.

That said, here are a few best practices that can help you make this journey more genuine and effective:

• Start any inclusivity initiative with earnestness and thoughtfulness. Don't approach them like just another item in a long checklist. This attitude tends to be reflected in the execution, too.
• Race is another major area of difference among people. However, a customer—irrespective of their race—is still a customer if they have the means to purchase your offering. Therefore, all that you need to do while interacting with customers of different races is to shed preconceived notions and treat them like any other customer. There isn't anything else you need to do exclusively for customers of different races.
• Always include representatives from the community in the ideation/design stages. For instance, only a visually impaired person can give proper insights about the challenges they face. Decisions involving the community in question can't be made based on assumptions.
• Once a prototype/proof of concept of your offering is ready, test it, again, with a member from the community and fine-tune it if needed.
• Conduct regular awareness and sensitivity sessions with team members so that they can unlearn established prejudices and learn about the actual state of and challenges that the communities in question face.
• For translations of written content, always consult with experts in the language. Don't rely entirely on technological implements. Even the best AI isn't fully mature in this area yet.
• Document your processes and concepts so that the initiatives can keep going even in the absence of the team that started them.
• Form focus groups and conduct periodic discussions with people from different communities to determine how you can improve your initiatives.
• Enhance the secondary experiences that are not directly related to your core offering. This could be something like stocking sanitary napkins in restrooms for female customers in cases of emergencies.
• As much as possible, hire representatives of diverse communities so that they can act as a guiding force for your inclusivity initiatives. When a customer realizes there's someone like them at the other end of a transaction, they feel represented, and in turn form a closer bond with the business.
• Make efforts to inculcate the spirit of inclusivity in all your team members, even if their role is not directly customer-facing. Ideally, inclusivity is something that is present in the organization's very culture and not something restricted to specific teams or roles.