By Bogdan RanceaLet me say this straight — if your ecommerce site isn’t accessible, you’re losing money.
Not because your products are bad.
Not because your ads are off.
But because a big part of your audience simply can’t use your site properly, and they’re clicking away without ever converting.
The good news?
This is one of the easiest wins most ecommerce brands completely ignore.
Let’s fix that.
What Accessible Ecommerce Actually Means
Accessible ecommerce means your site works for everyone — including people with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities.
And no, it doesn’t mean your store needs to look dull or boring.
It means your site:
- Can be used with just a keyboard
- Has text that’s readable (think colour contrast and font size)
- Includes alt text on images for screen readers
- Doesn’t rely on flashy effects or hard-to-understand forms
It’s about designing with empathy — making sure your site is easy to use, no matter who’s on the other end.
This isn’t just about being a good person.
It’s about making your store usable for more people, which means more sales.
The Real Business Case for Accessibility
Too many brands treat accessibility like a legal checkbox.
But let’s be real — accessibility isn’t just a compliance issue.
It’s a growth lever.
When you design for everyone, you:
- Reach more people
- Increase trust
- Improve SEO
- Reduce drop-offs
- Build long-term loyalty
Here’s a number that might sting:
71% of users with a disability will leave a site immediately if it’s hard to use. (Click-Away Pound, 2019)
So if your site doesn’t work for them — they don’t complain, they just disappear.
Even worse? They won’t come back.
And let’s not forget the legal side:
ADA lawsuits have exploded in recent years.
In 2022 alone, over 4,000 lawsuits were filed against websites that failed to meet accessibility standards.
It’s not just big brands getting hit. Small online stores are in the firing line too.
How Most Ecommerce Sites Fail at Accessibility
Most ecommerce brands don’t even know their site is hard to use.
Here’s where the problems usually show up:
- Low contrast between text and background (like grey on white)
- No alt text on product images, so screen readers can’t describe the product
- Small click targets, like buttons or links that are hard to tap on mobile
- Menus that don’t work with keyboards, especially dropdowns
- Forms that aren’t labelled properly, leaving users confused and stuck
- Autoplay videos with no captions or play/pause control
- Animations or parallax effects that trigger motion sensitivity
This stuff might seem minor when you’re designing a store, but for someone who depends on a screen reader, or can’t use a mouse, it’s the difference between buying from you — or bouncing instantly.
The Financial Upside No One Talks About
You’re probably thinking: “Sure, it sounds like the right thing to do… but is it worth the effort?”
Let me show you how real the upside is.
- Walmart made changes to improve site accessibility and saw a measurable increase in traffic and conversions.
- Tesco (UK-based) built a separate accessible version of their online grocery platform and gained loyal users from the disabled community.
- Legal & General overhauled their site with accessibility at the centre and saw a 35% increase in traffic and improved search rankings.
- Ecommerce brands that work with accessibility consultants often see conversion rates jump by 10–15%, just from removing usability blockers.
That’s revenue you don’t need to fight for.
It’s just sitting there, waiting for you to stop ignoring part of your audience.
A Simple Accessibility Checklist for Ecommerce Stores
Here’s the truth: you don’t need to rebuild your whole store from scratch to make it accessible.
Most of the time, it’s not about big overhauls. It’s about cleaning up the small things that get in the way of people using your site — and buying from you.
These are the practical steps I follow when designing and optimising ecommerce sites for accessibility.
1. Run an Accessibility Audit
Start by scanning your site to catch obvious issues.
Tools like WAVE or Google Lighthouse will flag problems like:
- Missing alt text
- Poor heading structure
- Low contrast ratios
- Empty links and buttons
- Unlabelled form elements
These tools don’t catch everything, but they’re a solid first pass.
You’ll be surprised how many basic things they highlight — and most fixes take minutes.
Pro tip: Bookmark those tools and run a check after every major design update.
2. Check Colour Contrast
If users can’t read your text, they won’t stick around — no matter how good your offer is.
The minimum recommended contrast ratio for body text is 4.5:1, and for large text (like headings), it’s 3:1.
Use tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to make sure your font and background combinations meet the standard.
Don’t assume that just because something “looks nice” it’s readable.
That soft grey on white? It’s probably killing your conversions.
And don’t forget hover states. If your call-to-action changes colour on hover, check that the new version still passes.
3. Test with a Keyboard
A lot of users rely on keyboards to browse — not just people with disabilities, but also power users and anyone using assistive tech.
Here’s a quick test:
- Load your homepage
- Don’t touch the mouse
- Use only Tab, Shift + Tab, Enter, and arrow keys
- Try to navigate your main menu, product categories, cart, and checkout
If you hit a dead end or get stuck in a loop, something’s broken.
Menus, modals, dropdowns, and forms should all be accessible using the keyboard alone.
And make sure there’s a clear visual indicator (like a focus outline) so users know where they are on the page.
4. Add Alt Text to Every Product Image
Alt text helps screen readers describe your product to users who can’t see it.
Here’s the catch: don’t just stuff keywords.
Good alt text should be functional — describe the product, the context, and the purpose of the image.
For example:
❌ “image123.jpg” — useless
✅ “Black leather Chelsea boots with rubber sole” — clear and descriptive
If it’s a decorative image, mark it as such (alt="") so screen readers skip over it.
This tiny step improves UX and boosts your SEO — Google uses alt text to understand what’s on your page.
5. Use Proper Headings and HTML Structure
Screen readers navigate content by jumping through headings. If your structure is messy, users get lost.
Stick to one H1 per page, followed by H2s for main sections, H3s for sub-sections, and so on.
Don’t skip heading levels or style text to look like a heading using bold or large fonts — use real semantic tags. That’s what screen readers depend on.
Also avoid empty heading tags, or nesting headings in weird places like buttons or links.
Clean structure = better usability and better crawling by search engines.
6. Label Your Forms Clearly
Forms are where most accessibility breaks down — and where most sales happen.
Every input should have a visible label, not just a placeholder.
Why?
Because placeholders disappear when someone starts typing — and that’s a nightmare if they forget what they were meant to write.
Also, group related fields together (like billing address) using fieldset and legend tags. And if a field is required, say it clearly — don’t just rely on a red asterisk.
Finally, add error messages that are easy to see and understand. “Invalid input” isn’t helpful. Tell users what went wrong and how to fix it.
7. Avoid Autoplay and Flashy Effects
Designers love animations and auto-play videos, but they often come at the cost of accessibility.
For some users — especially those with motion sensitivity or epilepsy — things like flashing graphics or parallax scrolling can be disorienting or even dangerous.
At a minimum:
- Give users the ability to pause, stop or hide any moving content
- Don’t autoplay sound or video without controls
- Avoid rapid flashes or flickers
If you use motion in your design, test it on slow internet and with reduced motion settings enabled — you’ll quickly see where problems show up.
Bonus: Mobile Accessibility
Remember that accessibility isn’t just a desktop thing.
Test your site on multiple mobile devices. Make sure:
- Tap targets (buttons and links) are big enough
- Font sizes adjust properly with zoom
- Forms are easy to fill in without extra scrolling
- Your mobile menu works without weird popups or broken tabs
More than half of online shopping happens on mobile — if your site isn’t accessible there, you’re cutting out a huge part of your traffic.
When you build accessibility into your design process, everything becomes easier:
Conversions go up, bounce rates go down, and people actually enjoy using your site.
And the best part?
You don’t have to wait months to see results.
Even small fixes can make a massive difference — for both your users and your bottom line.
Accessibility Helps SEO, Too
If you care about ranking higher on Google — and who doesn’t — accessibility should be part of your SEO strategy.
Google’s main goal is to show users the best possible experience. That means sites that are easy to use, fast, well-structured, and built for humans. And guess what? Accessible ecommerce sites tick every one of those boxes.
Here’s how accessibility directly improves your search performance:
1. Alt Text = Better Image Rankings
When you add accurate alt text to your product images, you’re not just helping people using screen readers — you’re also giving Google more context about your images.
This makes it easier for your products to show up in Google Images, which drives a surprising amount of ecommerce traffic, especially for visual-heavy products like clothing, furniture, beauty, or food.
If your competitors aren’t doing this, you’re one step ahead already.
2. Structured Headings Help Google Understand Your Content
Search engines use your page structure to figure out what your content is about.
Properly formatted headings — H1 for your page title, followed by logical H2s and H3s — help Google crawl your content more efficiently.
It also improves how snippets are pulled into search results, and increases your chances of getting featured snippets or sitelinks.
If your heading structure is all over the place, you’re making it harder for both users and bots to find what they need.
3. Clean HTML = Faster, Easier Crawling
Good accessibility often means cleaner code: semantic HTML, labelled elements, no random inline styles, fewer bloated scripts.
That makes it easier and faster for Googlebot to crawl and understand your site.
It also reduces technical SEO issues, and helps you avoid messy indexation problems — especially on product-heavy ecommerce sites where structure matters most.
4. Faster Load Times Improve Rankings
Accessibility best practices often lead to faster websites. For example:
- Avoiding autoplay videos reduces load time
- Limiting flashy motion and animations cuts down heavy scripts
- Designing with clean structure often reduces bloated code
Speed is a confirmed ranking factor. Even shaving off a few seconds can mean higher rankings and better conversions.
5. Lower Bounce Rates + Better UX = Ranking Boost
When users can actually use your site — read your content, navigate your menus, complete your forms — they stay longer.
That sends positive engagement signals to Google.
A site that’s hard to use? High bounce rate. Low dwell time. Less chance you show up in the top results.
Accessible sites naturally have better usability, and that leads to better behaviour metrics — which Google pays attention to.
Bottom line?
Improving accessibility doesn’t just help your customers — it helps your rankings, your traffic, and your revenue.
You don’t need to choose between SEO and accessibility.
They work together, and this is one of the lowest-effort ways to improve both at the same time.
Where to Go from Here
If you’re running an ecommerce store, accessibility can feel like something you’ll “get to later”.
But the cost of ignoring it gets higher every month.
- People leave your site without converting
- You get hit with bad reviews or even lawsuits
- Your search performance suffers
- Your store becomes hard to scale
And the worst part?
You won’t even notice it’s happening — because people don’t always tell you when your store is broken for them.
They just go somewhere else.
So here’s my advice:
Fix it now.
Bake accessibility into every part of your design process.
Not because you have to — but because you can’t afford not to.
