Case study

Legal & General customer Hugh, who is blind, was alienated by our old website - but finds plenty to praise in the new one.

For Hugh, lack of accessibility was a serious problem with Legal & General's old website. "I've got a Legal & General product, but I stopped using the Legal & General site. When I go on a site and I don't know if I'm getting to where I want to go, I just don't go back. When there's no sign that a site has been built with accessibility in mind, if there's a problem, I don't bother. So I started to talk to Legal & General over the phone rather than go on the site."

This was a pity, because Hugh is a big fan of the internet. "I use the internet every day for news, shopping, downloading and exchanging documents and find out about companies for work purposes," he says.

"I also buy sports kit online, sometimes do supermarket shopping and am considering using the Web to order organic food. I've also used the Internet to buy electronic goods, such as a set-top box. Consumer sites are generally much better than financial ones in terms of accessibility."

However, the new site has seen a big shift in Hugh's opinions. "The thing that impressed me was that straight away, I was able to skip to main body links - certain links that are there to help screen reader users navigate to familiar places. I have an ISA and I quickly found my way into the ISA section.

"Some sites put in too much irrelevant content and some have too many skip links. On my bank's site, for instance, I can't use the full range of navigation keys.

"But the Legal & General's new site doesn't have too much content and seems quite focused. There are combo drop-down menus so that I can select the product I'm looking for. Compared to other financial sites, it's a lot more straightforward which means speed and saving time.

"A very important feature of the Legal & General's website is that pages are organised into headings and I can skip between them. The use of H1s and H2s means that if I get lost I can re-orientate. I can also use all my navigation keys, which is a really big plus and gives me lots of choice on how I navigate the site.

"I want to start using the website again and I might even buy more products. The new site will give me the chance to make informed decisions based on how products work. It's opened a door to a new world of things that I want to browse and buy."

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Many of our customers have told us they find the Legal and General website much easier to use since we made it more accessible.