An All-Around Better User Experience
Many accessibility improvements benefit everyone. Captions on videos are essential for the deaf and hard of hearing, but they’re also used by people watching in a noisy airport or a quiet library. Clear, high-contrast text helps someone with low vision, but it also reduces eye strain for a tired shopper at 2 a.m. You’re not just building for a niche; you’re building a more resilient, user-friendly experience for all.
Common Stumbling Blocks on an E-commerce Site
So where do most online stores fall short? The problems are often in the very fabric of the shopping journey.
- Product Images & Carousels: Missing or unhelpful alt text (like “image123.jpg”) makes products invisible to screen reader users. Auto-rotating carousels can be impossible to pause, causing a nightmare for some.
- Complex Forms at Checkout: Unlabeled form fields, unclear error messages (just a red box?), and poor keyboard tabbing order can turn the final step into an insurmountable wall.
- Low-Contrast Text: Light grey text on a white background might look chic, but for many, it’s completely unreadable.
- Inaccessible Menus & Links: Drop-down menus that require a precise mouse hover to appear, or links that just say “click here” without context.
- Missing Video Captions & Transcripts: Product demos and explainer videos are useless to deaf users without captions.
A Practical Roadmap to Getting Started
Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t be. You don’t have to achieve perfect compliance overnight. This is a journey. Here’s a sensible approach.
1. Audit Your Current State
Start with a combination of automated tools and manual testing. Tools like WAVE or axe can catch a lot of technical issues—missing alt text, color contrast problems, and so on. But they can’t catch everything. You absolutely must do manual testing with a keyboard (try navigating your entire site without a mouse) and, ideally, with screen readers like NVDA (free for Windows) or VoiceOver (built into Mac).
2. Train Your Team
Accessibility isn’t just a developer’s job. It’s for content writers learning to write meaningful alt text. It’s for designers thinking about color and focus states. It’s for UX folks mapping out intuitive flows. Bake accessibility thinking into your team’s DNA from the start of every project.
3. Tackle the Critical User Flows First
You know, the big ones. Focus your initial efforts on making these journeys seamless:
| User Journey | Key Accessibility Checks |
| Browsing & Search | Logical heading structure, accessible search bar, meaningful product category links. |
| Product Pages | Descriptive alt text for all images, accessible zoom, clear “Add to Cart” button. |
| Shopping Cart | Easy item quantity updates, clear pricing, keyboard-accessible “Proceed to Checkout.” |
| Checkout & Payment | Clearly labeled form fields, descriptive error messages, accessible CAPTCHA alternatives. |
4. Write an Accessibility Statement
This is a public commitment. It tells your customers what standards you’re aiming for (e.g., WCAG 2.1 AA), what you’ve already done, and—crucially—provides a clear, easy way for them to report accessibility barriers they encounter. It shows you’re serious and you’re listening.
The Human Element: Beyond the Code
At its heart, digital accessibility compliance for e-commerce isn’t about legal checklists or technical specs. It’s about empathy. It’s about recognizing that your customers are a beautifully diverse group of humans, each with their own unique way of interacting with the world.
Building an accessible store is an ongoing conversation with your audience. It’s a promise that everyone is welcome to browse, explore, and purchase from you with dignity and independence. And that, in the end, is the best brand statement you can possibly make.
