Deaf and other disabled communities often use the phrase “nothing about us without us.” It’s a call to action that accessibility tools should be informed and influenced by the people they serve. At Rev, that’s why it’s important for our products to provide real solutions for the communities that are most affected by poor transcriptions, translations, and lack of captioning.

Brands, communicators, and content distributors all over the world are facing challenges delivering accessible, compliant content at scale to keep up pace with today’s rapidly growing rate of consumption. A Cisco study found that 82% of all internet traffic was video content and 85% of Facebook videos were watched without sound.

While accessibility becomes an increasingly central focus for brands, an overlooked area is its impressive benefits for brand engagement. In today’s content-saturated world, brands constantly battle for attention, but the key to unlocking deeper video engagement isn’t flashy filters or viral dance crazes. Accessibility features like accurate captions serve an essential role in building lasting brand loyalty.

At SXSW earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining Amanda Morris from The Washington Post, Zohar Dayan from Vimeo, and Rachel Kolb from Harvard University for a discussion about how accessibility builds better brand engagement. Here are the three biggest insights from our conversation.

1. Captions Unlock Higher Engagement and New Audiences

When you add captions to your content, it can increase engagement by a whopping 80%. This is not surprising considering 75% of people say they often watch mobile videos on mute for a variety of reasons: noisy environments, respecting others, or simply wanting to focus visually.

Even with the sound on, clarity shouldn’t be overlooked. Captions ensure your audience fully grasps your brand’s message, fostering deeper understanding and connection.

By prioritizing accessibility, brands also prove that they’re paying attention to a wider spectrum of audiences. That doesn’t mean checking an accessibility box: Captions and accessibility-conscious features open doors to a world of brand love that unlocks new audiences. Captions allow deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to engage with your content, expanding your reach and building a community that truly reflects the diversity of your customer base.

2. Accessible Content Is Discoverable Content

Captions also help brands improve the discoverability and accessibility of their content. Search engines love transcripts, and captions make video content more searchable and shareable, allowing viewers to find specific moments based on keywords. This is a content marketing dream come true that brands shouldn’t forget.

Of course, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. Brands need to strike a balance that allows audiences to customize their experience. The more brands let audiences consume content on their own terms, the stronger the relationship will be.

If possible, give viewers the opportunity to choose if they want captions, and maybe allow adjustments for size, style, and placement. It’s also wise to see captions as more than just text: Play with fonts and effects to make them stylish additions that complement your brand aesthetic.

3. It’s Time To Ditch the Disability Dongle

Moving forward, brands need to abandon the “disability dongle,” the term designers use for well-intentioned tools that don’t actually help disabled people. There are so many disability “solutions” that miss the mark on true accessibility, typically because the creators didn’t actually talk to the disabled communities they were designing for.

A great example is a wheelchair that can climb stairs: Sounds great on paper, until you ask an actual wheelchair user, as most will tell you they would rather have a ramp. A wheelchair that can climb stairs is expensive, it may not function in the rain, and it’s probably not going to work half the time. A ramp is reliable, more cost-effective, and it’s already an easy solution.

With this in mind, brands need to involve people who are deaf and hard of hearing from the get-go when they start captioning. This ensures captions cater to their audience’s actual needs and preferences. Listen to disabled communities when they say, “nothing about us without us.” True inclusion requires collaboration. When brands work hand-in-hand with the communities they’re trying to reach, they create solutions that are truly inclusive and effective.