Can They Actually Use It? A Lunchtime Website Audit for Real Customers

Accessibility can sound like a topic for large public bodies, specialist agencies and someone with a very long checklist. In reality, it is a straightforward commercial question: can the people who want to buy from you actually use your website?

That matters for a lot of customers. It covers the older buyer who has nudged their browser zoom up a notch, the mobile shopper squinting at your checkout in bright sunlight, the person using a screen reader, and the keyboard-only user who cannot escape your dropdown menu. None of them are edge cases. They are ordinary people trying to give you money.

So forget the idea that this has to be a six-month project. You can do a useful first pass in a lunch break. Below is a practical triage you can finish before close of play, framed by the customers each fix helps you recover.

Why this is a sales conversation, not a charity one

The UK Equality Act 2010 has been part of the picture for years, and the reasonable adjustments duty does not disappear because your business is small. The European Accessibility Act, which came into force in 2025, has also raised expectations around digital products and services in the EU. Even if you only trade in the UK, it shapes what customers, suppliers and competitors now treat as normal.

But the commercial case is simpler. If your enquiry form cannot be understood by a screen reader, you lose the enquiry. If your menu traps someone on a mobile keyboard, they leave. If your button text is pale grey on white, a chunk of your audience cannot see the call to action. These are not abstract compliance issues. They are holes in the bucket.

The one-hour triage: nine fixes worth doing first

You do not need to rebuild the site. You need to find the points where real customers get stuck and remove the friction.

1. Check the contrast where it matters most

Start with body text, buttons and form labels. Pale grey text on a white background may look elegant on a designer's monitor, but it falls apart on a phone in daylight. Use a free contrast checker, or simply view the page on your phone with the brightness turned down. If you have to squint, fix it.

Who this helps: older buyers, anyone browsing outdoors, and people with low vision. It also makes your calls to action easier to spot for everyone.

2. Give meaningful images useful alt text

Every image that carries information needs a short description in the alt text. Product photos, team photos, diagrams and icons with a purpose all count. Purely decorative images can have empty alt text so screen readers skip them.

Do not stuff alt text with keywords. Write what the image shows and why it matters. 'Blue waterproof jacket, front view' is useful. 'Jacket jacket buy jacket online' is not.

Who this helps: screen-reader shoppers, people with images blocked on slow connections, and search engines trying to understand your page.

3. Label every form field properly

A placeholder inside a field is not a label. Once someone starts typing, the hint disappears. Use a visible label above or beside each field, and make sure the label is connected to the field in the code. Your web developer will know what that means; you just need to check that the label stays visible.

Who this helps: anyone with memory or cognitive fatigue, mobile users, and screen-reader users who need to know what each field is for.

4. Make keyboard focus visible

Press the Tab key through your homepage. You should always be able to see which link or button is selected. If the focus outline has been removed to make the design look tidy, put it back. A visible focus state is not ugly; it is a signpost.

Who this helps: keyboard-only users, people with motor impairments, and anyone who finds a mouse or trackpad awkward.

5. Free people from keyboard traps

Open your main menu and try to tab through it. Can you get out? Press Escape. Can you close it? If the menu traps keyboard users inside, that is a serious blocker. The same applies to pop-ups and cookie banners. Every overlay needs an obvious way to close it.

Who this helps: keyboard users, screen-reader users, and anyone who has ever been stuck in a menu on a phone.

6. Write link text that stands alone

A link that says 'click here' or 'read more' tells a screen-reader user nothing when they scan a list of links. Use text that describes the destination: 'Read the delivery guide' or 'Book a fitting'. It is better for everyone, and it takes seconds to fix.

Who this helps: screen-reader users, people scanning quickly, and anyone who opens links in a new tab and loses the original context.

7. Do not rely on sight or colour alone

Instructions such as 'click the green button' or 'see the diagram below' assume the customer can see what you can see. Use text labels and clear wording instead. If you use colour to show an error, add an icon and a written message too.

Who this helps: colour-blind customers, screen-reader users, and anyone reading on a poor-quality screen.

8. Let text resize without breaking the page

Zoom your browser to 200% and check that the content still makes sense. Nothing should overlap, disappear or require horizontal scrolling for ordinary paragraphs. On mobile, try increasing the text size in your phone settings. A resilient layout is a usable layout.

Who this helps: older buyers, people with low vision, and mobile users who have text size turned up for a reason.

9. Write error messages that explain the fix

When a form fails, do not just say 'Error'. Say what went wrong and what to do next: 'Please enter a phone number so we can confirm your booking.' Keep the message close to the field and make sure it is announced to screen readers.

Who this helps: anyone who has ever abandoned a form in frustration, which is most of us.

What to do when the hour is up

You will not fix everything in one sitting, and you do not need to. Write down what you found, mark the issues that block a purchase or enquiry as urgent, and put the rest into a sensible queue. A contact form that cannot be labelled properly is more important than a decorative icon with imperfect alt text.

If you use a web designer or developer, send them the list with screenshots. Most of these fixes are small code or content changes. The bigger win is making accessibility part of your routine: check new pages before they go live, and ask yourself whether a real customer could use the page without seeing it perfectly, hearing it clearly or using a mouse.

That is the practical version of accessibility. It is not about scoring points. It is about widening the door enough that more customers can walk through it.