A man using a powered wheelchair wants to visit a shop. The website says the store is accessible.
That tells him nothing. He needs to know whether the accessible entrance is the main one, whether the lift takes his chair, whether the accessible toilet is in use as a store room, and whether the aisles on the first floor are wide enough. He goes somewhere that answered.
1. Understand that accessible is not information
It is a claim. Disabled customers plan journeys in detail because a wasted journey costs them far more than it costs anybody else, and a single word supports no planning at all.
2. Publish the entrance detail
Which entrance is step free, whether it is the main one, whether doors are automatic and whether there is a ramp with a gradient worth mentioning.
3. Publish the internal circulation detail
Lifts and their dimensions, stairs, aisle widths, whether the upper floors are reachable and whether any department is only accessible by stairs.
4. Publish the toilet detail
Whether there is an accessible toilet, where, whether it needs a key, and whether larger changing facilities exist. The presence of proper changing facilities is decisive for some families.
5. Publish the parking detail
How many accessible bays, where they are relative to the entrance, whether they are on the same level and how the route from the bay works.
6. Publish the quiet period information
Times with reduced lighting, lowered sound and fewer announcements matter enormously to customers with sensory sensitivities, and where they exist they are rarely advertised.
7. Say that assistance can be arranged
Help with shopping, somebody to carry items, a chair to rest in, or a member of staff to accompany. Most shops can do this and almost none say so.
8. Publish the assistance dog position
It should be a yes everywhere, and saying so explicitly saves people an anxious conversation they have had too many times.
9. Publish the seating
Where somebody can sit down. For customers with fatigue or pain, the presence and location of seating determines whether a visit is possible.
10. Publish the service counter detail
Lowered counters, hearing loops and whether staff can come to a customer rather than the reverse.
11. Keep it accurate per branch
An estate wide claim is worse than nothing. Each branch differs and customers who are let down once by a generic statement do not try again.
12. Handle the temporary problems immediately
A lift out of service, a blocked accessible entrance or a toilet out of use must be published the same day, alongside the changes covered in store closure and relocation enquiries from customers.
13. Combine it with the practical planning questions
Hours, stock and facilities are one journey planning question, as set out in store stock and opening hours questions across a chain, and the same detailed reassurance is needed in accessibility and claustrophobia questions before booking.
14. Answer the specifics at the moment somebody plans the trip
An assistant that answers entrance, lift, toilet, parking and assistance questions per branch, and arranges help where it is needed, serves customers that almost nobody else is serving properly. The same approach to shop front enquiries is covered in how to add an ai chatbot to your shopify. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under retail.