1/23/2025

Ensuring Your Shopify Store is Accessible: Tips for Inclusivity & UX

In today's digital marketplace, building an accessible Shopify store isn't just a nicety—it's a necessity. With nearly 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. living with a disability, ensuring that your online store is usable for EVERYONE can significantly broaden your audience and improve your brand's image. This post dives deep into how you can make your Shopify store more inclusive and user-friendly, leveraging the latest guidelines and best practices for optimal User Experience (UX).

Why Accessibility Matters

Accessibility is essential not just for legal compliance (like the Americans with Disabilities Act) but also for building a CONNECTIVE and inviting online presence. An accessible site ensures that customers with disabilities can navigate your offerings without friction, boosting customer satisfaction and engagement. Accessible design fosters equal access, allowing anyone to shop from your store and convert at higher rates.

The Economic Impact of Inaccessibility

The numbers are striking: the purchasing power of consumers with disabilities, including family and friends, adds up to over $13 trillion annually. Failure to provide an accessible shopping experience can mean missing out on this substantial market. Not to mention, lawsuits related to accessibility issues skyrocketed, with over 4,600 cases filed in 2023 alone. Being proactive about inclusivity helps avoid legal risks and enhances your brand reputation.

Key Accessibility Standards to Follow

The backbone of creating an inclusive Shopify store lies in adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which outline a series of doubles-check points. Here are important components of WCAG, organized around the POUR principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

POUR Principles

Perceivable: Offer information in ways that can be perceived by all. This includes using text alternatives for non-text content (like images) & making sure text is readable via sufficient color contrast.
Operable: All functionalities must be operable by all users. You must ensure that those using keyboard navigation can access all links, buttons, and fields without any physical barriers.
Understandable: Your content should be easy to read and understand. Clear instructions, consistent layouts, and error alerts go a long way here.
Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Assessing Your Current Shopify Store’s Accessibility

Before jumping into creation or modification of your store, it's crucial to assess its current accessibility. Here’s how:

Automated Tools: Use tools like WAVE or SortSite to check for initial accessibility issues on your store. These can identify potential problems but should not be relied on solely.
Manual Test: Use your keyboard to navigate the site. If you struggle to access any part or find any navigational elements ambiguous, these will likely hinder users with disabilities.
Usability Testing: Involve real users from the disabled community to provide feedback on their experience. Their insights will be invaluable in unearthing underlying issues.

Practical Tips to Enhance Accessibility on Shopify

Now that you’ve gauged where you stand, let's shift gears to actionable strategies that align with your Shopify store.

1. Enhance Text Accessibility

Color Contrast: Use tools like contrast-ratio.com to ensure body text contrast ratio is at least 4.5:1 against the background. Headings (24px and above) need a minimum ratio of 3:1. (Check these guidelines directly from Shopify.)
Text Size & Spacing: Ensure a minimum text size of 16px for body content. Also, observe line heights and letter spacing to ensure readability.
Headings Hierarchy: Correctly use headings (H1-H6) to establish a logical structure for assistive technologies like screen readers to navigate your content easily.

2. Provide Alternative Text for Images

Make sure to add descriptive alt text for all images and product photos. This is more than a brief description; clarify the image's purpose. For detailed guidance on alt images, visit Shopify’s Alt Text Article.

Ensure all interactive elements (like forms and buttons) can be accessed using the keyboard alone. This is vital for users unable to use a mouse. If needed, consider employing keyboard shortcuts and clearly indicate focus states on elements such as buttons.

Create an intuitive navigation system, avoiding too many levels in menus and providing succinct category names. Test your menus from the perspective of a first-time visitor.
Consider a search bar in a prominent location, allowing users to find specific products quickly.

5. Design Responsive Layouts

Mobile responsiveness is key in today’s online shopping world. Make sure your Shopify store layout adapts seamlessly on various devices. Over 50% of online traffic comes from mobile devices, so ensure to compare visual layouts in both desktop & mobile views through Shopify's Theme Editor.

6. Use Simple and Understandable Language

Avoid jargon and ambiguous terms. A guiding principle remains to write for the lowest common denominator. Use clear language, short sentences, bullet points, & headings to break complex content down.

7. Use Captions & Transcripts for Multimedia

If your store uses videos or podcasts, ensure to provide captions for videos and transcripts for audio content. Access to this content may significantly enhance engagement, especially for those who are hard of hearing.

8. Test Frequently for Accessibility

Regular testing ensures new content doesn’t introduce accessibility issues. Each time you add new products or content, re-evaluate based on the standards set forth by WCAG.

Leveraging Tools to Enhance Your Store’s Accessibility

Shopify provides several integrated tools that can help enhance your store's accessibility. Beyond default themes, consider using third-party applications, such as:

AccessEz Accessibility Widget: A tool that provides a hosting platform for accessibility and compliance.
accessiBe: Use this AI-driven accessibility solution to automate compliance with accessibility standards effortlessly.

By utilizing such tools, you can ensure ongoing compliance with regulations while minimizing your workload.

Promote Your Commitment to Accessibility

Once your Shopify store is accessible, don’t let that achievement go unnoticed! Promote your commitment to inclusivity. Share this information on your About page, social media channels, and product descriptions. This proactive approach conveys to customers that you genuinely care about your user base.

Why not go a step further and leverage the power of AI?

Consider enhancing your store's engagement by integrating unique tools. At Arsturn, we enable you to instantly create custom ChatGPT chatbots tailored to your website. Engage your audience effectively and answer queries in real-time—helpful for visitors with accessibility needs!

Promotion for Arsturn

With Arsturn, you can effortlessly set up conversational AI chatbots to foster interaction before they enter your store. Tailor chatbots to engage your audience specifically, answering common questions and guiding shoppers through the buying process before they even browse your product catalog. Collect valuable data insights to refine your strategies even further!

Join thousands of businesses utilizing conversational AI to build meaningful connections across digital channels. Claim your customizable AI chatbot today!, no credit card required.

Conclusions: Be Proactive

The narrative is simple: accessibility matters. Not only does it show empathy and inclusivity, but it also opens the floodgates to potentially NEW customers desiring more options in shopping. Implementing accessible design can differ in simple steps but serves an invaluable purpose in increasing your market reach while evading legal distractions. If you remain proactive and stay informed with the latest guidelines from sources like Shopify and WCAG, your Shopify store will remain on the right track towards creating an inclusive online shopping environment for everyone. Dive deep into your brand’s character; let’s lead the industry towards accessibility, one click at a time!