E-commerce accessibility checklist: from product page to checkout

A store loses a sale at the first barrier, so test in the order a shopper moves. Use the 15-minute hand check at each stage and a free scan on a page from each template: home, collection, product, cart, checkout and account.

The checklist by stage

Why store accessibility is a revenue question

A store is a series of tasks: find a product, understand it, choose options, pay and get a confirmation. If any task is blocked for a customer, the sale is lost, and most customers who hit a barrier leave quietly. Accessibility work on a store is therefore not a separate project from conversion work. The same fixes that help a screen reader user, such as clear labels and predictable forms, help a customer on a small phone or in a hurry.

The shopper's journey, and what can go wrong at each stage

A page-type checklist

Home page

• A skip link and a logical heading outline.
• Banner text that is real text with enough contrast, and carousels that can be paused.
• A search box with a label.

Collection and search pages

• Filters that work with a keyboard and announce when results change.
• Product cards with a single clear link and a heading.
• Pagination or "load more" controls that are large and named.

Product page

• Meaningful alternative text on product images.
• Variant pickers with names and keyboard support.
• Prices and stock status that do not rely on color alone.
• Reviews that can be read and filtered with a keyboard.

Cart and checkout

• Quantity and remove controls that are named and big enough.
• Form fields with visible labels, autocomplete and clear errors.
• A summary of errors at the top, and focus moved to it.
• A payment step that works with a keyboard and a screen reader.
• A confirmation page that is clear and readable.

Account and support

• Login that allows password managers and does not rely only on a puzzle.
• Order history tables with proper header cells.
• A contact page with more than one way to reach you.

Email and transactional messages

Order confirmations, shipping notices and receipts are part of the shopping experience. They should use real text for key information, have a sensible reading order, use sufficient contrast and avoid putting prices or dates only in images. If an email has a button, make it large and give it a name that says what it does. Test the email in a screen reader if your platform allows previewing.

Testing a store efficiently

1. Choose one product of each type and one test order.
2. Run an automated scan on each page type.
3. Complete the order with only the keyboard.
4. Complete it again with a screen reader running.
5. Complete it on a phone with zoom set to a larger text size.
6. Record issues, fix by impact and retest.

A worked example: a store owner's first month

Imagine a small store selling kitchenware on a hosted platform. The owner runs a free scan on the home page, a collection page, a product page and the cart, and gets 31 issues, many of them repeats. She groups them: six unlabeled icon buttons, eleven images without descriptions, eight low-contrast price and label colors, three form fields without labels and three heading problems.

In week one she fixes the theme-level items with her developer: button names, price color and the form labels in the newsletter and checkout. In week two she adds descriptions to the images on her twenty best-selling products. In week three she does a keyboard run through checkout and finds that the postcode lookup can only be reached with a mouse, which goes to the developer as a high-priority item. In week four she retests, notes the date and results and publishes a short accessibility statement. The scan now shows five issues, all low severity, and she has a record of what changed. None of this needed a rebuild.

Setting priorities when you have limited time

Marketplaces and selling on other platforms

If you also sell through a marketplace, you control less of the page, but you still control your listings. Write clear titles, add accurate descriptions and provide good image descriptions where the marketplace allows. Pay attention to the messages you send to customers from your own accounts. Where the marketplace platform itself has a barrier, report it to them, and offer customers an alternative way to contact you.

Common questions from store owners

• Do I have to fix everything at once? No. Work through the priorities and keep a record.
• Is it enough to run a scan? A scan is a good start. Add a keyboard and screen reader check of checkout.
• What if my theme developer has disappeared? A new developer can usually apply the main fixes in a few hours. Give them your list.
• What about customers who phone or email? Make sure those routes are visible and answered. They are a valuable fallback while you improve the site.
• How do I show that I took reasonable steps? Keep your scan results, notes and change log, and publish an accurate statement.

Accessible product information

Shoppers cannot try a product on or hold it, so the page must carry the whole story. Make sure the facts that decide a purchase are real text, not locked in images: dimensions, materials, care instructions, delivery times and the return window. A size chart that is only a picture is unreadable to a screen reader user and hard to enlarge on a phone. Provide it as a table with header cells, and keep the units clear. Describe the benefit of a feature, not only its name, and avoid abbreviations that only insiders know.

Promotions, banners and countdowns

• Sale banners should be real text with good contrast, not part of an image.
• Countdown timers should not impose a hard deadline without a way to extend or stop it, because time pressure is hard for many people.
• Pop-ups offering discounts should be easy to close with the keyboard and should not reappear on every page.
• Animated banners should have a pause control.
• Coupon fields should be labeled and should give clear feedback when a code is accepted or rejected.

Reviews and customer content

Reviews are valuable and are often added by an app. Check that star ratings are available as text, such as "4 out of 5 stars from 128 reviews", and not only as a row of icons. Filters and sort controls should work with a keyboard. When customers upload photos, remind them to describe the image if your system allows it, and consider adding a short description when you feature customer photos yourself.

Quick wins that take under an hour each

• Add a skip link to the theme.
• Restore a visible focus outline.
• Name the icon buttons in the header.
• Darken the lightest text colors.
• Label the newsletter and search fields.
• Write descriptions for the images on your five best-selling products.

Together these remove many of the issues a scan reports, and they improve the experience for every shopper.

In short

Start with checkout, then templates, then content. Test with a keyboard, a screen reader, a phone and zoom. Keep a record of what you find and fix, and recheck after changes. The checklist above is long, but the first week's work is short: a scan, a keyboard run through checkout and fixes to the issues that block a purchase.

Your questions about online stores

• How much of this can I do myself? Scans, keyboard tests, content fixes and many theme settings need no code. A developer helps with deeper template changes.
• How long will it take? A small store can fix the main problems in a few weeks of part-time effort. Larger stores take longer.
• Do I need to test on a real screen reader? It helps. VoiceOver and NVDA are free, and a few minutes on checkout will teach you a lot.
• What if an app I rely on has barriers? Tell the vendor, look for alternatives and offer customers another way to complete their task.

Apps and third-party code

Reviews widgets, upsell popups, live chat, payment add-ons and consent banners run code you did not write. Test after each install and each update, and ask vendors for their accessibility information. Platform guides: Shopify store guide, WordPress accessibility guide, Wix guide and Squarespace guide.

If you sell into the EU

The European Accessibility Act covers e-commerce services for consumers in the EU. See the EAA guide for online sellers.

Turn the checklist into a routine

1. Run it before each major sale or redesign.
2. Scan a page from each template and save the results with the date.
3. Fix what blocks a purchase first, then the rest.
4. Recheck, and publish an accessibility statement.

For the pages that matter most, the $99 One Page assessment lists every finding on that page with the element, the evidence and a recommended fix, plus a Fix Pack and two rechecks. Agencies launching stores for clients can use Agency Pass.