5 steps to an accessible webshop
As of June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act requires digital accessibility for webshops. This means that your shop must be usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. But the importance of accessibility goes beyond legislation; it is an opportunity to improve the user experience, reach a better audience, and increase your conversions. Yet many webshops today do not meet the accessibility standards.
Are you already working on it? In our earlier article 'How accessible is your webshop? Prepare for the new legislation' we discussed the impact and approach of the new regulations. Now it is time to take concrete steps. With these five practical actions you will make your webshop accessible and future-proof.
Step 1: Test your shop for keyboard accessibility
An accessible webshop must be fully operable without a mouse. For users with motor limitations, this is crucial. Test your webshop by navigating with the Tab key: are all links, buttons and forms easy to reach? A clear visual focus, such as a visible border around selected elements, helps with this.
Are there parts that are not accessible, such as buttons or input fields in forms? If so, it would be wise to work with your development team to adjust this. Often small improvements, such as adding focus indicators, are enough to make a big difference.
Step 2: Ensure good readability through color contrast and text size
For an accessible webshop, good readability is essential. Consider sufficient contrast between text and background so that text is easy to read even for people with visual impairments. According to international guidelines, contrast should be at least 4.5:1 for plain text and 3:1 for larger text.
In addition, a flexible text size helps make your Web shop accessible. Use scalable units such as em or rem in your CSS code so that users can easily enlarge the text without the layout jumping.
Step 3: Build a clear navigation and structure
A logical and clear structure of the web shop makes navigation easier. Logical menus, clear buttons and a consistent arrangement of categories provide overview. A hierarchy of headings - for example, H1 for main sections and H2 for subsections - also makes your Web shop more usable for screen readers. Breadcrumb navigation can also help to provide visitors with more overview and easy return to previous pages.
A practical way to test navigation is through a brief user survey. Ask a visitor to search for a specific page or product without explanation beforehand. This provides valuable insights for optimizations.
Step 4: Write accessible texts for everyone
Understandable texts appeal to a wide audience, including people with limited language skills. Keep texts simple and avoid jargon. Divide longer texts into short paragraphs and use clear headings for better readability.
Do you have a lot of international visitors? Consider offering translation options. This will not only increase the accessibility, but also the appeal of your webshop to visitors worldwide.
Step 5: Add Alt texts to images
Alt-texts describe what can be seen in an image and make your Web shop usable for screen readers. A good alt text is short but informative. For example, describe an image as "Blue leather bag with gold zipper" instead of just "bag."
Decorative images do not need to have alt text. This prevents screen readers from providing unnecessary information, which in turn can be distracting to users.
Accessibility as an opportunity
Digital accessibility is not just a legal requirement you have to meet as an organization. It is an opportunity to offer your customers a better experience, reach more visitors and increase your conversions. This requires a structural approach and attention to detail.
Wondering where your webshop stands now in terms of accessibility? Or would you like to discuss concrete improvements? The consultants at XSARUS are happy to think along with you. Together we ensure that your webshop is ready for 2025 - and for the future.