Context
An e-commerce platform had received user complaints about confusing navigation and checkout friction. The product team suspected accessibility gaps were contributing to higher-than-average drop-off rates among older and differently-abled users.
My Role
UX researcher and auditor — planned and facilitated usability sessions, conducted WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance review, and delivered a prioritized recommendation report to the product team.
Approach
I recruited 8 participants spanning age and ability groups and ran moderated usability tests on the checkout and product discovery flows. In parallel, I conducted a systematic WCAG 2.1 audit using axe DevTools and manual keyboard/screen reader testing (NVDA + VoiceOver).
Key Findings
- 7 of 8 participants struggled with the multi-step checkout — unclear progress indicators caused abandonment at step 3.
- Colour contrast ratios failed on 12 interactive elements, violating WCAG 1.4.3.
- Missing ARIA labels on icon-only buttons made the cart inaccessible to screen readers.
- Form error messages were announced too late in the reading order, confusing keyboard-only users.
Recommendations Delivered
- Redesign checkout progress indicator with clear step labels and estimated time remaining.
- Update colour tokens to meet 4.5:1 contrast minimum site-wide.
- Add descriptive
aria-labelattributes to all icon-only buttons. - Move inline error messages directly below each field and link them via
aria-describedby.
Impact
The audit report was accepted in full and prioritised for the next two-sprint cycle. The checkout redesign alone was projected to reduce abandonment at step 3 by 18%.