How customer identity improves accessibility and customer experience

The first thing most customers interact with on your website or app isn’t your content…it’s your login screen. If signing in feels clunky, confusing, or inaccessible, you’re losing more than a transaction. You’re losing trust, loyalty, and the chance to make a great first impression.

That’s why accessibility and user experience (UX) aren’t just nice-to-haves. They’re mission critical. And why the right Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) solution matters more than you might think.

Accessibility isn’t optional anymore

According to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion people globally live with a disability. That’s about one in seven potential users. Many rely on screen readers, high-contrast modes, or keyboard-only navigation to interact with digital services.

Despite this, most login journeys still create barriers. CAPTCHA challenges often break screen readers (and less face it, they’re better solutions than CAPTCHA, but that's a subject for another day). Poorly labeled fields confuse assistive technologies. And error messages or forms that don’t work on mobile devices block entire segments of users.

Accessibility is about more than compliance. It's about inclusion. But compliance still matters, especially for regulated industries. That means meeting the following standards:

• WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), define how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. WCAG 2.1 AA is the current benchmark for most organizations.
  
  
• ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act requires digital properties of public and private organizations to be accessible, especially in the United States.
  
  
• Section 508: A U.S. federal law requiring that information and communications technology developed, procured, or used by federal agencies be accessible to people with disabilities.
  
  
• EN 301 549: A European standard that outlines accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, used as a baseline for digital accessibility compliance across EU member states.
  
  
• European Accessibility Act (EAA): Set to go into effect in June 2025, the EAA requires many consumer-facing digital services and products including websites, mobile apps, banking services, and e-commerce platforms to meet accessibility requirements across the EU. Non-compliance could result in fines or legal action.
  

It's worth mentioning Section 508, EN 301 549 and EAA all directly reference WCAG (versions and conformance levels vary standard to standard). While the ADA statute does not directly reference WCAG, DOJ guidance does recommend WCAG 2.1 AA in litigation.

Meeting these standards helps you reduce legal risk and, more importantly, ensures all users have an equal opportunity to engage.

Better UX = better business

Accessibility gets people in the door. Great UX helps keep them there.

When login experiences feel disconnected or overly complex, users drop off. According to multiple studies, more than 60 percent of users abandon accounts when the sign-in experience is frustrating.

Common issues include:

• Too many form fields or unnecessary steps
  
  
• Poor mobile optimization
  
  
• Password resets that take too long
  
  
• Login screens that don’t match the app’s branding
  

Fixing these issues leads to higher conversion rates, better engagement, and improved retention. CIAM is often the starting point of this transformation.

How Strivacity delivers accessible sign-ins

Strivacity is built to make every sign-in feel effortless and to make sure no customer is left out. Here’s how we support both accessibility and UX out of the box: 

Multiple sign up and sign-in methods
Give customers the flexibility to sign-up and sign-in using social accounts, passkeys, or passwordless options that better fit their devices and preferences.

WCAG-compliant UI templates
Start with prebuilt, customizable templates that meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines—no additional accessibility audits or heavy front-end work required. Our default brand policy is regularly evaluated and is a great place to start your brand’s accessibility journey development.

Adaptive access policies
Use behavioral, contextual, and device signals to challenge only when needed. This reduces friction without weakening security.

Consent and preference management
Let customers manage how their data is used with clear, accessible interfaces that work across devices.

Unified experience across channels
Ensure users get a consistent login experience across mobile apps, web portals, and partner environments. No more jarring transitions or duplicated effort.

Remove friction with A/B journey testing
Optimize accessibility and conversion by testing different sign-in flows. Show which journeys perform best across devices and user segments so you can make data-driven improvements that benefit all users.

Accessibility and UX can and should coexist with security

Accessible products make better experiences for everyone, not just people with disabilities. You don’t have to choose between meeting accessibility standards, providing a great customer experience, and keeping your environment secure. With the right CIAM platform, you can do all three.

Organizations like Level Access help businesses proactively identify gaps in accessibility, provide automated and manual testing, and support long-term compliance strategies. And when combined with a CIAM solution like Strivacity, you’re not just reducing risk…you’re building experiences that welcome everyone.

The bottom line

Putting accessibility and UX at the center of your customer identity strategy is not only the right thing to do but is also a business accelerator. It helps reduce drop-off, improves engagement, and earns customer trust from the very first interaction. It all starts with your identity platform.

Want to see how Strivacity helps you build secure, accessible customer journeys—without tying up your engineering team? Let’s talk.