The fastest way to unlock more traffic and higher conversion is often the most overlooked: make your experience accessible. An estimated 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the global population, live with significant disabilities, according to the World Health Organization’s disability fact sheet (WHO) which underscores the size of the market many brands unintentionally exclude (the WHO overview quantifies the audience and impact). At the same time, WebAIM’s latest global scan of a million homepages shows 95.9% still ship with detectable WCAG failures, with low-contrast text and missing alt text leading the errors (WebAIM’s 2024 report details the patterns). In other words, WCAG compliance is not just an ethics box. It is a competitive advantage hiding in plain sight.

What WCAG 2.2 changes and why it matters for conversion

WCAG 2.2, finalized in October 2023 as a W3C Recommendation, adds nine success criteria designed to remove common friction points in modern interfaces. The W3C’s overview highlights practical improvements that map directly to conversion blockers, such as Focus Not Obscured, Focus Appearance, Dragging Movements, Target Size Minimum, Consistent Help, Redundant Entry, and Accessible Authentication (What’s new in WCAG 2.2).

• Focus Not Obscured ensures sticky headers or popups do not hide the active element, which reduces task abandonment when navigating with a keyboard.

• Target Size Minimum requires interactive targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels or equivalent spacing, reducing tap errors on mobile and tremor-prone users, which yields cleaner checkout completion.

• Dragging Movements demands non-drag alternatives for interactions, which improves list reordering or sliders for users on small screens and those with motor impairments.

• Consistent Help, Redundant Entry, and Accessible Authentication reduce cognitive load by putting help in a predictable place, avoiding repeated form inputs, and enabling logins without puzzles or excessive memory tests.

These are the very points where funnels leak. When authentication is simpler, help is consistent, and targets are easy to use, more users complete the journey.

Accessibility drives revenue, not just compliance

In ecommerce, the cost of inaccessible journeys is measurable. The UK’s Click-Away Pound report found that nearly 70% of disabled users will leave a site with barriers, contributing to an estimated £17.1 billion in lost UK revenue annually, and the survey details that 4.3 million disabled users clicked away due to poor experiences (CAP 2019 report PDF). Beyond immediate revenue loss, legal risk is rising. UsableNet’s 2024 Year-End analysis tracked more than 4,000 ADA-related digital lawsuits, with 77% targeting ecommerce and over 1,000 cases filed against sites using accessibility widgets, proving overlays are not protection (UsableNet 2024 report).

Accessibility investments also improve engagement across channels. Facebook’s business guidance notes that captioned video ads increase view time by an average of 12%, a clear signal that accessible content formats boost attention across audiences, not just for deaf and hard of hearing users (the Facebook Business update shares the test results).

The SEO upside of WCAG 2.2

Search engines understand your content through structure and context. Accessible practices help both. MDN’s accessibility guide explains that semantic HTML and proper headings benefit users and are also good for SEO, since search engines give more importance to keywords in headings and descriptive links (MDN accessibility basics). Google’s image best practices recommend descriptive filenames, titles, and alt text to improve image SEO, which directly aligns with WCAG’s alternative text requirements (see Google’s Image SEO best practices).

Performance and stability matter too. Google’s guidance on Core Web Vitals advises that achieving good LCP, INP, and CLS aligns with what its core ranking systems reward and improves real user experience (Google Search Central on Core Web Vitals). Many WCAG-aligned choices, such as fewer intrusive interstitials, clear focus states, and predictable layouts, contribute to better page experience signals, which reinforce organic visibility and on-page engagement.

Why Shopify is a strong foundation for accessible commerce

For ecommerce, platform choices influence day-to-day compliance and velocity. Shopify publishes accessibility best practices for theme developers and merchants, and its public accessibility statement cites WCAG 2.2 as the guiding principle for ongoing efforts (Shopify theme a11y best practices and Shopify Accessibility Statement). In practice, starting with an accessible theme and then hardening patterns during build can save months of remediation later. If you are standing up a new storefront, Flintler recommends building on Shopify for speed, scale, and accessible foundations using Shopify.

If you are deciding between a custom build and a no-code stack, Flintler’s guide on long-term cost of ownership explains how technical decisions compound SEO and conversion over time, including accessibility choices that affect content velocity and performance (custom website vs no-code).

How Flintler integrates accessibility into growth programs

Flintler’s structured 5-phase process ensures accessibility is not a bolt-on, it is a growth lever aligned to outcomes:

• Discovery: We audit your current product and content against WCAG 2.2 and run an analytics-backed UX review to pinpoint friction and revenue loss, similar to our approach in this UX audit to prototype case study.

• Strategy: We define content architecture, semantic patterns, and a search plan that unifies accessibility with organic growth, as outlined in our piece on SaaS UX, UI, and content architecture that converts.

• Design: We apply accessible color systems, target sizes, and focus states, and we design authentication, help, and form flows according to the new WCAG 2.2 criteria. For example, Redundant Entry and Consistent Help show up as clearer multi-step checkout patterns.

• Refinement: We run assistive technology testing, keyboard-only passes, and automated scans. We validate Core Web Vitals and contrast, and harden headings, landmarks, and alt text at scale. This mirrors the rigor seen across our work and the 5-phase brand build.

• Launch: We ship with an a11y backlog and governance built into content ops, analytics dashboards for page experience, and a testing cadence that keeps new features compliant. For fast-moving teams, our 90-day brand launch roadmap outlines how to compress timelines without compromising quality.

This is not only about checking boxes. It is about shipping experiences users can actually complete. Accessible forms convert more reliably. Clear headings and alt text improve search discovery for the very content driving demand. Predictable help and simpler authentication increase task success and reduce abandonment.

Practical next steps modern brands can take now

Start with the highest impact fixes that also map to WCAG 2.2. Prioritize:

• Contrast, focus states, and keyboard navigation for core flows.

• Alternative text and descriptive link text across high-traffic templates.

• Form labels, error messaging, and Redundant Entry fixes at checkout and signup.

• Consistent Help patterns, target sizing, and non-drag alternatives.

• Captioning and transcripts for video, which improves engagement as shown in Facebook’s internal tests.

Brands that move first win twice. They welcome a larger portion of the market and earn more qualified organic traffic while competitors push users away. If you want to see how a11y-informed design decisions roll up to measurable growth, explore Flintler’s case studies like Vela, Lume, Nexa, and Forma, or learn how we align brand, product, and activation in product-led branding and our rebrand process case study.

Accessibility is a business decision. It reduces legal exposure, boosts organic visibility, and removes friction where revenue happens. If you are ready to make it central to your growth strategy, meet the team behind Flintler’s 110% creativity promise on our About page, browse the Blog for deeper tactics, or start a conversation with us via Contact.