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Home Blog How to Improve Customer Satisfaction Through Accessibility
When you consider that 73% of consumers will switch to a competitor after multiple bad support experiences, and over half will leave after just one bad experience (Zendesk), more needs to be done when it comes to accessible support.
July 25, 2025
When businesses prioritize accessibility in customer service, CSAT, NPS and first contact resolution rates improve. However, many businesses still provide inaccessible customer support.
Let’s explore why and how accessibility directly enhances customer service experiences, and what steps you can take to lead the way in your organization.
Accessibility and customer satisfaction are two sides of the same coin. For millions of customers worldwide, the ability to access your services independently, efficiently, and with dignity is the experience. If something doesn’t work for those customers, it simply doesn’t work at all.
According to the World Health Organization, roughly 1.3 billion people globally live with some form of disability. And with aging populations and longer life expectancies, this number is growing rapidly. Consider also that the global spending power of people with disabilities and their families is estimated at $13 trillion.
So what happens when services are inaccessible to this massive market segment?
Customers face delays, confusion, dependence on others, or outright exclusion. And for the business? Lower CSAT, longer handle times, and higher churn.
Why do accessible customer service practices lead to higher loyalty and satisfaction? Because they fundamentally improve the quality and ease of support. Here are a few ways accessibility boosts your NPS, CSAT, and other experience metrics:
Reduces Wait and Handle Times: With the introduction of modern AI service-bots, resolving issues can be almost instant, with only more complex cases (or personal handholding for other reasons) being escalated to agents. This results in customers spending less time on hold (and repeating themselves). shorter wait times and quicker answers, and ultimately fewer frustrating interactions (crucial, since most customers won’t stick around through many bad support experiences).
Improves First-Time Fix Rate: Giving agents visual context through a customer’s camera or allowing AI to interpret images means problems get diagnosed correctly the first time. This higher first-contact resolution leads to smoother outcomes and less need for repeat calls.
Builds Emotional Loyalty: When customers with disabilities feel understood, included, and respected during support, it creates goodwill that runs deep, not just with them but also their families and friends. They remember brands that value their independence and time. These customers are more likely to remain loyal and even recommend your company to others, boosting your NPS through genuine advocacy.
Prevents Brand Damage: Inaccessible services can lead to public complaints, lost trust, and even lawsuits. By contrast, brands known for inclusion are seen as progressive and human-centric. Providing accessible support protects your reputation and turns a potential risk into a point of pride.
The Be My Eyes Customer Accessibility Suite provides one powerful model for delivering more inclusive and more effective support. It’s a multi-modal approach that many organizations are adopting to serve blind and low-vision customers. It includes three key components:
Service Directory: A centralized, accessible hub of company support contacts within the Be My Eyes app. Blind or low-vision customers can easily find your branded, searchable listing and connect with the right support team.
Service AI: A tailored and trained image-to-text AI chatbot that interprets user-submitted images (such as product instructions or error messages) and provides instant, contextual support. This visual AI tool can typically resolve around 90% of inquiries without any human intervention, dramatically reducing the workload on your agents while maintaining high user satisfaction.
Service Connect: A one-way video, two-way audio call system for live assistance. With Service Connect, support agents can literally “see through” a customer’s smartphone camera, or smart glasses such as Meta AI glasses, to troubleshoot issues visually. The agent hears the customer and sees the problem, enabling fast, accurate resolutions without guesswork (for example, guiding someone through setting up a device or reading a label).
Microsoft’s Disability Answer Desk uses AI and video assistance to support blind and low-vision customers. For example, Microsoft’s Disability Answer Desk integrated visual AI support and live video assistance (through tools like Be My AI™ and Service Connect).
The results and impact have been astounding:
Accessibility delivers clear, measurable benefits across the board. Beyond the Microsoft example, organizations adopting accessible support tools report resolving issues up to 3× faster on average (e.g. 4 minutes with AI assistance vs 12 minutes with a live agent). And, CSAT scores improve by around 5%
Improving accessibility doesn’t require starting from scratch. It’s about embedding inclusive practices into your existing service strategy. Here are some steps to get started:
Audit Your Support Channels: Evaluate whether your phone lines, websites, mobile apps, and chat interfaces are accessible to people with various disabilities. Use standards like WCAG 2.1 as a checklist, and gather real feedback from users with disabilities. Can a customer navigate your IVR or website with a screen reader or only a keyboard? Are videos captioned and images described? Identifying the gaps is your launchpad for change.
Adopt AI-Driven Tools: Leverage smart technologies that make support more accessible. For example, AI-powered image recognition (like Be My AI) can let customers send a photo of an error message or product issue and receive instant help in response. These solutions are fast, scalable, and proven to resolve many issues without needing a human agent – freeing up your team for the more complex cases and lowering overall resolution times.
Offer Visual Assistance Options: Sometimes, no amount of text description can replace seeing the problem. For challenges that are inherently visual, provide a way for customers to get live sighted assistance. This could mean video call support where an agent can see the customer’s camera feed (as with Be My Eyes’ Service Connect). Being able to visually guide a user through plugging in a cable or configuring a device can turn a potentially frustrating ordeal into a quick fix.
Train Your Agents: Ensure your support team is prepared to assist customers with disabilities confidently. This includes training on disability etiquette (e.g. interacting with a screen reader user on the phone), awareness of the tools at their disposal, and empathy for the extra challenges some customers face. If you introduce specialized tools like Be My Eyes for visual assistance, provide hands-on training so agents are comfortable using them. An empowered, knowledgeable agent can make all the difference in delivering an inclusive experience.
Promote Your Accessibility: Once you’ve improved your support, make sure people know about it! Highlight your accessible support options on your website’s help page and in customer communications. You can even list your company’s accessible support in communities and apps like Be My Eyes so that blind or low-vision customers can easily find you.
When you reduce friction at crucial support moments, customers have better experiences and stick around longer. When you solve more issues through AI or first-touch resolution, you cut operational costs and improve efficiency. When you proactively include everyone, you protect and enhance your brand’s reputation (avoiding the damage of being called out for exclusion or facing legal action). And by making your services usable by all, you open your doors to a broader, more loyal customer base that others might be overlooking.
By investing in accessible support today, you’re building a more resilient, innovative, and future-ready service organization. And as Microsoft’s case shows, you might just achieve some of your best CSAT scores yet.
Be My Eyes partners with forward-thinking companies to deliver exceptional, accessible customer service through our Customer Accessibility Suite. Want to learn how your business can benefit from this today? Book a personalized demo here.
