Stop leaving money on the table (literally)

11.75 billion reasons to care about inclusion and accessibility + get my practical 6-step guide

You know I hate the business case for inclusion. But we’ve gotta know how to build one!

So today I’m sharing a guide to building your own business case for inclusive and accessible communication.

We’ve got:

1. What a business case for inclusive and accessible communication is,

2. Statistics that support the business case (a gigantic buffet of facts to choose from)

3. 6 steps to building your own business case.

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Bold Type is back

Reminder: Bold Type is back!

It’s a 12-week course in inclusive and accessible communication and I’d love to have you join us.

Ready to become a clear, confident communicator? Learn more about Bold Type.

Early bird places (with a free 1:1 coaching session) close 31 August.

We start on Tuesday 23 September.

Comment or send me a DM if you have any questions!

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1. What a business case for inclusive and accessible communication is

A business case for inclusive and accessible communication is a commercial argument for investment. It shows decision-makers how inclusion drives revenue, cuts costs, and reduces risk.

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2. Statistics that support the business case

This section is basically a big buffet of inspiration.

Grab what relates to you (and leave the rest).

My favourite statistics

I’ve organised the rest of the stats into themes, but my absolute favourites are:

1. 87% more likely for diverse & inclusive organisations to make better decisions than their less inclusive peers (Korn Ferry)

2. 5x more likely for employees to want to stay in their organisation long-term, when they feel they belong (Great Place to Work)

3. 56% increase in job performance when employees feel that they belong in the workplace culture (Deloitte)

4. up to 36% increase in profits where an organisation has gender and racial diversity in its senior leadership (McKinsey)

5. 71% of consumers say they’re likely to buy an inclusive alternative to a product… even if it didn't specifically apply to them (Sparks & Honey responsible marketing index)

6. 80.8% of consumers agree with the statement “brands and businesses have a role to play in addressing social issues” (Sparks & Honey responsible marketing index)

7. 73.1% of consumers think it’s important that brands create a platform for under-represented or impacted communities or relevant organisations to share their work or message (Sparks & Honey responsible marketing index)

Inclusion drives profit

You already know how I feel about inclusion for the sake of profit. But some of these statistics are amazing!

• 19% more revenue made by companies with diverse management teams (BCG)

• diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets (Harvard Business Review)

• £2 billion approximately lost by businesses a month by ignoring the needs of disabled people (Purple Goat)

• Every 1% increase in gender diversity yields a 3% increase in revenue (The Female Quotient)

• Companies with more diverse management teams generated 19% higher revenues from innovation (Boston Consulting Group)

• Diverse companies enjoy up to 20% higher innovation rates and 19% higher innovation revenues (World Economic Forum)

• Inclusive workplaces report 19% higher overall revenue (Texthelp)

• Broad talent diversity correlates with 19% higher revenue from innovation (World Economic Forum).

Inclusion boosts performance

• Companies in the top quartile for racial diversity are 36% more likely to outperform financially (McKinsey)

• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 39% more likely to financially outperform peers (McKinsey)

• Top 25% racially diverse companies are 33% more likely to outperform on EBITDA margin (McKinsey)

Inclusive teams make better decisions

• 87% of the time diverse teams make better decisions than non-diverse teams (Forbes)

• Companies with inclusive cultures are up to 1.7 times more likely to be market innovation leaders (TalentLMS)

• Inclusive teams make decisions twice as fast with 60-87% better outcomes (various sources)

• Cognitive diversity enhances team innovation by up to 20% (Gartner)

• Inclusive teams perform 30% better, especially in highly diverse environments (Gartner)

• Decisions made and executed by diverse teams delivered 60% better results (Forbes)

• Inclusive teams are 6 times more likely to be innovative

• Inclusive teams are 2 times more likely to meet or exceed financial targets

• Cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster than homogeneous groups (Harvard)

For more on how diverse teams think better and solve problems more effectively, check out Matthew Syed’s great book Rebel ideas: the power of diverse thinking.

Inclusion helps you attract and retain talent

• 22% lower turnover rate for companies with diverse workforces (Forbes)

• 80% of candidates say inclusion is important when choosing an employer (Deloitte)

• 39% of employees would consider leaving their organisation for one that is more inclusive (Deloitte)

• 72% of UK managers who quit said they would have stayed if they'd had adequate support

• 67% of job seekers state that a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers (Glassdoor)

• 75% of job seekers prefer inclusive employers

• 83% of Gen Z candidates state that a company's commitment to inclusion and diversity is important when choosing an employer

• Diverse and inclusive workplaces have 5.4 times higher workforce retention (Great Place to Work)

Inclusive teams are happier teams

• Diverse-led organisations are 12 times more likely to engage and retain employees (“diverse”-led organisations? I think a more accurate description would be “not led by white men” but OK)

• Nearly 8.5 times more likely to inspire a sense of belonging (diverse-led organisations)

• 83% of millennials are more engaged at inclusive companies

• 72% of employees would prefer to stay at a job where they feel valued and heard, even if it meant earning 30% less (Achievers Workforce Institute)

• Disengaged employees cost companies globally £8.8 trillion in lost productivity annually (Gallup)

• 72% of employees believe their performance would improve if managers provided corrective feedback (Harvard Business Review). I mention this because learning how to give factual feedback, free from weird unhelpful stereotypes, is a core inclusive communication skill.

• In the UK, only 25% of employees report full trust in their leadership (CIPD)

• 1 in 3 employees leave due to toxic cultures and management that fail to act (CIPD)

• 63% of millennials say they would leave an employer lacking inclusive values.

• 48% of UK businesses say retaining talent is their top priority.

• It is very, very hard to retain your talent if you can’t clearly communicate requests, deadlines and feedback in a way that works well for our diverse brains.

Inclusion and accessibility make your customers happy

• 8.5 times more likely to satisfy and retain customers (diverse-led organisations)

• 75% of consumers report that a brand's DEI reputation influences their purchase decisions (Brand Inclusion Index)

• 91% of companies with more workplace diversity report higher customer satisfaction (Harvard Business School)

• 59% of consumers say inclusion influences their purchasing decisions

• 70% of Gen Z are more trusting of brands that represent diversity

• 44% of global consumers say DEI has become more important to them recently (Amazon and Environics Research)

• 70% consider DEI an important factor when choosing a brand (Amazon and Environics Research)

• 45% are willing to pay more for brands that authentically promote DEI (Amazon and Environics Research)

Anyone else find it hilarious that Amazon conducted this research? Imagine taking inclusion advice from Jeff Bezos.

Customers are loyal to inclusive brands

• 64% of consumers took action after seeing a diverse, inclusive ad (The Female Quotient/Google/Ipsos)

• 69% of Black consumers were more likely to purchase from brands with representations that reflect their race or ethnicity (The Female Quotient/Google/Ipsos)

• 71% of LGBTQ consumers were more likely to engage with ads authentically representing their sexual orientation (The Female Quotient/Google/Ipsos)

• 3.5% uplift in immediate sales from progressive advertising (The Unstereotype Alliance)

• 16.3% long-term sales impact from progressive advertising (The Unstereotype Alliance)

• 29% consumer loyalty increase from progressive advertising (The Unstereotype Alliance)

• Ads perceived as progressive are rated 9.8% more meaningful and 11.8% more differentiated (The Unstereotype Alliance)

• Brand loyalty can increase by 42%, with 52% gain in pricing power (The Unstereotype Alliance)

• 20% increase in customer satisfaction from multicultural influencer marketing (Stallion Express case study)

• 15% boost in campaign effectiveness from multicultural influencer marketing (Stallion Express case study)

Inaccessibility is costing you money

• Accessibility barriers still prevent 1 in 5 people from using the internet effectively. (Does this make anyone else furious? I had to pause and let myself feel pure rage about this. OK, I’ve done some deep breathing and I’m a bit calmer. But how outrageous is this?)

• Inaccessible websites cost UK businesses £11.75 billion annually in lost revenue

• 97.8% of website homepages contain errors like missing alt text and poor colour contrast

• 83% of users with access needs limit their shopping to websites they know are barrier-free (The Click-Away Pound)

• 39% of disabled applicants have withdrawn from a recruitment process because of poor accessibility

• A 2023 study found over 70% of websites saw a traffic increase after implementing accessibility fixes, with some seeing increases over 50%.

Accessibility boosts SEO

• It’s wild how often people separate accessibility from basic UX.

• Disabled humans are…humans! And so fixing accessibility issues makes your content work for your users. UX is not seen as a niche add-on, yet accessibility often is. Weird.

• Making your website more accessible will improve UX, which benefits SEO by decreasing bounce rates, boosting session durations and generally getting people the information they need so they can take action. You know, like buying your stuff!

• Logical heading structures, semantic HTML, alt text on your meaningful images, a great mobile experience (that works well for folks with tremors, vision impairment, limb differences and so on) are accessibility features and UX features.

• And they all boost SEO.

• Some more examples of how UX matters:

• 39% will stop engaging with content when loading time takes too long.

• 85% think that a company’s mobile site should be as good or better than a desktop site.

• 88% of users are less likely to return after a bad user experience.

• Mobile users are 5 times more likely to abandon a task if a site isn’t mobile-optimised.

• 83% of consumers believe that a seamless user experience across all devices is essential.

• 80% of people are willing to pay more for a better user experience

Simple messages grab people’s attention

• 2 statistics you will often hear when talking about communication effectiveness are:

  • People take 18 seconds or 55 to 75 words to decide whether information is important (so they should pay attention to it) or irrelevant (so they will ignore it or immediately forget it).

  • People have between 3 and 7 seconds before they decide whether to engage (for example, with a social media post).

  • One of the only things I have in common with the LinkedIn hustle bros: I really want you to get straight to the point. Hustle! But only in service of accessibility, please.

• A 2006 study found that people rate us as less intelligent when we use needlessly complex language

• The average reading age of adults in the UK is at or below level 3 (most of us are familiar with the idea of reading ages, so in terms of “reading ages” then that’s around 9 to 11 years old. Personally not a fan of describing people by a reading age.)

• Even experts prefer simple language (Nielsen Norman Group).

Communication is key to project success

These statistics talk about communication in general. But I would say that failed communication is usually a case of inaccessible communication (too complex, too wordy, not clear, literal or actionable enough for neurodivergent folks).

• 44% of respondents identified poor communication as the main reason for failed projects (Economist Intelligence Unit)

• Low morale (31%), missed performance goals (25%), and lost sales (18%) can be attributed to communication breakdowns (Economist Intelligence Unit)

• 85% of respondents believe eye contact is critical in business communication (Journal of Management). *Sighs in autistic*

• 70% said that facial expressions significantly impact workplace dynamics (Journal of Management)

• Only 55% felt confident in interpreting nonverbal signals accurately (Journal of Management)

• Just a few examples of the neuronormative communication expectations that harm all of us. Businesses miss out on amazing talent, and sincere, engaged colleagues get misunderstood, left behind, underemployed and fired. I’ve seen varied statistic son the autistic unemployment rate, but it’s often put between 50 and 85%.

Overwhelm is an accessibility issue

• Almost 1 in 5 workers see the sheer volume of communication as a barrier to success (State of the Sector).

• You know how we solve overwhelm? Accessible communication, my friend. Because it means we say less, and format what we write/speak in a way that is super easy to scan or skim.

Global teams need clear communication

• 89% of employees are part of at least one global team (Harvard Business Review)

• 62% work with colleagues from three or more cultures (Harvard Business Review)

• 92% of organisations still use email as a primary communication channel (Grammarly).

• If you’re writing a ton of emails to neurodiverse, culturally diverse (and just generally varied - because humans are different) teams, accessible writing is essential.

Neuro-inclusive communication needs to be the new normal

• Neurodivergent people are everywhere. Wherever you look, we’re here. (Surprise!)

• If you think there’s nobody neurodivergent in your team at work? I’m so sorry but they just don’t feel safe sharing with you (and they shouldn’t have to).

• I move in circles where it feels like 100% of us are neurodivergent (for example: ADHD, autism, dyslexia, OCD, generalised anxiety, PTSD, CPTSD) so I find these statistics bafflingly low, but some studies estimate that around 20% of us are neurodivergent.

• In some sectors, like creative industries that’s even higher. Around 20% to 50% (Creative Equals, Creative Review)

Your competitors are committed to inclusion: don’t get left. behind

If you want to remind your bosses that actually, not everybody is rolling back DEI?

• According to the Institute of Directors, 71% of UK business leaders say they are maintaining or expanding DEI efforts in 2025.

• Only 1% reported a significant decrease in DEI efforts.

Reach diverse new customers

• The argument here is essentially “be less racist, because you could unlock lucrative new customers by not being racist to them!” I think you can guess how I feel about that.

• But here you go: racially minoritised consumers in the UK have disposable income projected to reach £252 billion by 2023, rising to £3.06 trillion by 2031 and £16.7 trillion by 2061 (WPP)

• Engaging just 1% more of this audience could unlock £2.34 billion in short-term growth (WPP report). Anyone else find this language very dehumanising?

Phew.

What have I missed? Let me know!

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2. Create your own business case for inclusion

Feeling inspired by that smorgasbord of statistics?

Now it’s time to build your own business case!

I suggest you:

1. Understand your organisation's priorities

Ask yourself:

• What problems do leaders in my organisation have?

• What is senior leadership worried about?

• What risks are they trying to manage?

• What opportunities are leaders excited about?

• What values do we live and work by?

2. Pick a problem to solve

Now zoom in on the problem. Maybe it’s:

• Losing revenue or missing market opportunities

• Struggling with recruitment or retention

• Facing legal or reputational risks

• Missing innovation targets

Identify the actual problem (or problems) that leaders want to solve.

3. Use relevant evidence

Gather some evidence from the buffet of facts and statistics I’ve shared with you (or elsewhere! I’d love to know what you find).

Pick statistics that match your organisation's pain points:

• Revenue stats if they're focused on growth

• Retention stats if turnover is high

• Legal compliance stats if risk management is a priority

• Customer satisfaction stats if reputation is a top concern.

4. Show the ROI

• Explain the benefits:

  • revenue growth,

  • cost savings,

  • risk reduction.

• And don’t forget the cost of doing nothing! Can you calculate it?

• Link investment to measurable outcomes

5. Make it personal

A load of random stats are meh.

How does this relate to you as an individual, in your team, at your workplace?

Maybe you can:

• Add employee stories or customer feedback

• Show how this affects your specific team or role

• Explain what activities you perform and what risks exist if you don't do them inclusively

• Tailor it to your audience. Like really tailor it…

Do they love Beyoncé? Are they all over Taylor Swift engagement announcements? Make it relevant to them.

• Even Beyoncé can be (well, has been) sued for inaccessibility.

• Taylor Swift’s latest website is an accessibility nightmare.

6. Position your solution

Explain why your approach (for example: hey please send me on a training programme like Bold Type!) is worth investing in:

• What specific outcomes will you deliver?

• What's your track record? (To show what a firm foundation you are building on, why you’re a great investment for more training or support).

• What are the future benefits?

• How does this differ from cheaper alternatives?

Your business case needs to speak the language leaders listen to.

If they care about profit, lead with profit. If they worry about risk, start with risk. If they value innovation, open with innovation stats.

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Get my template

Want to make your own business case for inclusive and accessible communication?

I made a Google Doc template business case for you!

Hit reply or comment “template” below and I’ll share it with you. 😊

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Bold Type is back

Reminder: Bold Type is back!

• It’s a 12-week course in inclusive and accessible communication and I’d love to have you join us.

• Ready to become a clear, confident communicator? Learn more about Bold Type.

• Early bird places (with a free 1:1 coaching session) close 31 August.

• We start on Tuesday 23 September.

Hit reply if you have any questions!