Hi again 👋

Most businesses use analytics tools on their store, and automated accessibility scanners to test their site. That’s good standard practice, and it’s exactly what I’d expect.

But unless you're actively manually testing your product pages - there's a very good chance you're in the 94% of stores with accessibility barriers.

This week: Here are four ways you can check your own store, for free, and without specialist tools.

1. Try buying something using only the keyboard ​
   ​Put the mouse aside. Start on a product page and go all the way through to order confirmation. You should be able to reach every option, button, and field in a sensible order, without guessing where you are or what happens next. If you find yourself stuck or disoriented, some of your customers are too.
   ​
2. Pay attention to where your focus is being guided
   As you move through the journey, it should always be obvious which field, button, or option you’re interacting with. If focus disappears, is faint, or jumps unexpectedly, people lose their place. And when people lose their place during checkout, they often don’t bother finding it again.
   ​
3. Make a mistake on purpose
   Leave a required field empty or enter something invalid. Does the site clearly explain what went wrong and what to do next, or does it feel like nothing happened? Unclear errors are one of the fastest ways to convince someone this isn’t worth the effort.
   ​
4. Look at your product images through words, not pixels
   ​Product images need useful alt text, not file names. A good rule of thumb is to describe the product as if you were explaining it to someone in the next room. If someone can’t see the image clearly, they still need enough information to feel confident about what they’re buying.

Let me know what you find on your own store, and I’ll use the most common issue as the basis for next week’s video.

Talk soon,
Dave

P.S. Thanks for reading - have a great rest of your day.