The challenge: manual content tasks at an enterprise scale
Alt text (alternative text) is critical for SEO and for ensuring web content is accessible to users with disabilities. For users who rely on screen readers, alt text provides a descriptive interpretation of images on websites. Without accurate alt text, users who have visual impairments are unable to understand the context of an image, which hinders their shopping experience.
Before automating this process, Tapestry faced a challenge common among large retailers. Their web teams were unsure of how to consistently provide accurate and descriptive alt text for the vast number of images across their brand websites. This created a workflow bottleneck and led to missed opportunities for SEO optimization and creating barriers for users who rely on screen readers.
The solution: AI-powered workflow automation
The team turned to the integrated AI capabilities within their existing content platform. By using Amplience’s automatic image alt text feature, they were able to completely automate the process. This feature streamlines the workflow between their two core products: when an image is uploaded to Content Hub, descriptive alt text is automatically generated, which is then seamlessly available to use in Dynamic Content when building customer experiences.
This new process was particularly well-received by Tapestry’s web development team. The simple workflow and detailed, contextually relevant descriptions meant the team could save significant time while ensuring that every image met SEO and accessibility standards. The automatic alt text generated is highly detailed, capturing the essence of each image while maintaining consistency with the brand’s voice. It also gave the team valuable flexibility; they could either use the standard, AI-created description instantly or easily customize the text to fit the unique voice of a specific brand or campaign.
The impact: improved efficiency and performance
By automating the creation of image alt text, Tapestry has seen benefits that extend beyond accessibility. Having descriptive alt text also improves SEO by helping search engines to understand the content of images, which improves image ranking and discoverability in search results.
Additionally, the accessibility improvements have enhanced the experience for customers who use screen readers to navigate their websites. With rich and accurate alt text, individuals with visual impairments can now engage with Tapestry’s online content in a more meaningful way, leading to a more inclusive browsing experience.
Conclusion
Tapestry’s use of Amplience’s AI-powered image alt text generator has been a huge success. It has not only improved their SEO performance but has also ensured that their brand websites are more accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments. By automating the alt text creation process and providing detailed, brand-consistent descriptions, Tapestry has made significant strides in offering a better, more inclusive digital experience for their customers.
Watch the video below to hear from Stephanie Evans, Senior Digital Product Manager at Tapestry, on how using an integrated image alt text generator has transformed their workflow.