Does your website need an accessibility audit?

What is accessibility?

Most websites seem to work perfectly. Until someone tries to use them without a mouse, with a screen reader, or with limited vision. That’s when you really notice how accessible a website actually is.

That’s exactly what an accessibility audit does. Instead of relying on gut feeling or an automated scan, we look at how accessible a website is for different types of visitors.

By accessibility, we mean whether a website works for every visitor, not just for the people who built or maintain the website on a daily basis. This includes, for example, visitors with low vision or colour blindness, people who use a keyboard instead of a mouse, and visitors who rely entirely on a screen reader such as NVDA.

But accessibility goes much further than that. Temporary limitations, such as a broken arm, or a situation where someone is trying to use a website on a brightly lit screen, can also make a website difficult to use. An accessible website takes all of these situations into account.

Isn’t that standard?

You would expect it to be, but in practice, that’s rarely the case.

A website that is technically well built will often already meet a large number of accessibility guidelines. But that doesn’t automatically mean the website is fully accessible.

For example, colours may be used with insufficient contrast, forms may be difficult to use with a keyboard, or images may be missing alternative text. These are often not programming errors, but small decisions made while designing or managing a website. As a result, even a modern website can still contain accessibility issues.

Large accessibility studies have shown that more than 90% of the homepages tested contain at least one accessibility issue. That might sound dramatic, but the good news is that most of these problems are relatively easy to fix.

To be completely honest: our own website turned out not to be fully accessible either. It was only when we carried out a thorough accessibility audit ourselves that we found a number of areas for improvement that we had never thought about before.

That’s also why we believe in manual accessibility audits. Even when a website is technically well built, there are often things you only discover when you actually use the website in the same way some visitors do.

So the honest answer is that there’s a good chance your website also has accessibility issues today. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean you need a new website. In almost all cases, the issues we find can simply be fixed on your existing website.

Why have an accessibility audit carried out?

Website owners come to us for an accessibility audit for different reasons.

For some, it’s simple: they want their website to work well for all visitors. They invest time and money in their website and want to make sure nobody unnecessarily drops off because the website is difficult to use. Because every visitor you lose due to an accessibility issue is ultimately also a potential customer you’re missing out on.

Other clients get in touch after a visitor has reported a problem. Often it isn’t even an official complaint, but simply someone pointing out that a form doesn’t work with a screen reader or that part of the website can’t be operated with a keyboard. Until that point, they had no idea there was an accessibility issue.

We’re also seeing a growing group of companies preparing for the European Accessibility Act (EAA). They want to know where they stand today and address any issues before customers or regulators point them out.

But regardless of what brings them to us, most audits start at exactly the same point.

Nobody really knows how accessible a website is until someone thoroughly checks it.

And that makes sense. Most websites are tested by the people who built them or by employees who use the website every day. They know the structure, know where everything is and automatically work around small problems. Visitors don’t.

That’s why we deliberately look at the website from the perspective of different users during an audit. Not just whether something has been technically built correctly, but whether the website remains usable in practice for someone using a keyboard, screen reader or other assistive technology.

Because we build websites ourselves every day using different technologies, we also look beyond the problem itself. We try to understand why it occurs and how it can practically be fixed. That means you don’t get a theoretical report, but recommendations that developers can actually get started with, whether that’s your own team, your current web agency or us.

Can’t this be solved with automated scans?

This is a question we’ve been getting more and more lately. And the short answer is: automated scans are certainly useful, but they never tell the whole story.

Automated tools can detect quite a few problems. For example, insufficient colour contrast, missing alternative text for images or incorrectly used HTML elements. That’s why we actually recommend running automated scans regularly. They’re a good first step and help identify many common problems quickly.

But that’s also where it stops.

An automated scan can only check what is objectively measurable. It can’t assess what a website is actually like to use for someone who relies on a keyboard or screen reader.

It is generally assumed that automated tools can detect around 30% of accessibility issues. That’s a significant proportion, but it also means that a large number of problems only come to light during a manual review.

A form is a good example.

At first glance, everything may seem correct. The fields have labels, the HTML is technically correct and an automated scan will probably report no errors.

Yet a screen reader might read the fields in a different order from the way they appear visually on the screen. For someone who relies on a screen reader, a simple form can suddenly become very difficult or even impossible to complete correctly. An automated tool will usually not notice this.

That’s exactly why we also test websites the way visitors actually use them. We navigate using only a keyboard, use screen readers and carry out typical tasks, such as filling in a form or placing an order. That’s when you really notice where visitors get stuck in practice.

There are also plenty of accessibility overlays or widgets available today that promise to make a website accessible with the click of a button.

While some of these tools offer useful features, they generally don’t fix the underlying accessibility issues. They rarely make an inaccessible website genuinely accessible. They are tools, not a replacement for a well-built website.

How do we carry out an accessibility audit?

Every accessibility audit starts with a manual review of the website.

Although we also use automated tools during an audit, they never form the basis of our report. They help us carry out certain objective checks more quickly, but most of the audit is done manually.

For example, we test how well a website can be used when we rely solely on a keyboard. We also check how the website behaves with screen readers and whether interactive elements work in a logical and predictable way.

In other words: we try to use the website as much as possible in the same way visitors do.

Because we build websites ourselves every day using different technologies, we don’t stop at identifying what goes wrong. We also try to understand why it goes wrong and how it can be fixed. This means you don’t get a technical report full of jargon, but recommendations that developers can actually work with.

It also means we can easily work alongside existing developers or web agencies. Some clients implement the recommendations themselves, while others ask us to help with them. Both situations are completely normal for us.

For a number of accessibility criteria, there are clear technical guidelines. For example, there are minimum contrast ratios that text needs to meet in order to be sufficiently readable.

We obviously check these objective criteria as well and include them in our report.

But accessibility goes further than a collection of individual checks.

The foundation of every accessibility audit consists of four principles on which the international WCAG guidelines are based.

Perceivable

Can the information be perceived by every visitor, regardless of how that information is presented or consumed?

Operable

Can every visitor navigate through the website and interact with it without unnecessary barriers?

Understandable

Are the content and interactions logical, predictable and easy to understand?

Robust

Does the website work reliably across different browsers and with assistive technologies, both today and in the future?

Fortunately, you don’t need to know these principles by heart. That’s exactly why an audit exists: we translate these guidelines into concrete improvements that are relevant to your website.

Without going too deep into the technical side, the best way to think of an accessibility audit is as a thorough quality check of your website. Not based on gut feeling, but on international guidelines combined with practical tests using real-world scenarios.

What do you get after an accessibility audit?

An accessibility audit is only valuable if you can actually do something with it afterwards.

That’s why we don’t give you a technical report that spends dozens of pages listing everything that is wrong. Instead, you get a clear roadmap that you can use to improve the accessibility of your website step by step.

Not every accessibility issue has the same impact.

A visitor who can’t complete an order or submit a contact form has a much bigger problem than someone who comes across a decorative image without alternative text. Both are important, but not every problem deserves the same priority.

That’s why we clearly indicate for every issue:

• what is going wrong;
• who is affected by it;
• how big the impact is;
• what priority the issue has;
• and how it can be practically fixed.

That way, you know not only what needs to be done, but also where it makes most sense to start.

You can probably solve some recommendations yourself through your CMS. For example, adding alternative text to images or adjusting the heading structure.

Other recommendations require technical changes to the website. Because we develop websites ourselves, we can also write these recommendations in a way that developers can immediately work with.

What you do with the roadmap afterwards is entirely up to you.

Some clients implement the recommendations internally or pass the report on to their existing web agency.

Other web designers and agencies also regularly bring us in to carry out an accessibility audit. Some implement the recommendations themselves based on our report, while others ask us to provide technical support. We complement existing teams, rather than replace them.

Other clients choose to have us implement the improvements or work together with their existing developers. We fit in wherever needed, without requiring a complete rebuild of the website.

Our goal isn’t to make you dependent on us. Our goal is for you to know exactly where you stand after the audit and what the next steps are.

How much does an accessibility audit cost?

As is often the case, the answer is: it depends on the scope of the audit.

Not every website is the same. A simple informational website requires a different approach from a large webshop or a platform with hundreds of pages.

When preparing a quote, we therefore mainly look at three things:

• How large is the website?
• Is it an informational website, or does it also contain interactive elements such as a webshop, customer portal or booking system?
• Which parts do you want to have checked? Just the homepage, a number of important pages or the entire website?

Based on this, we define a clear scope so that you know in advance what is and isn’t included in the audit. That way, there are no surprises afterwards.

To give you an idea of the cost:

smaller accessibility audits start at around €250. For larger websites, webshops or extensive platforms, the price can go up to more than €2,000.

We deliberately choose to define the scope first and only determine the price afterwards. That way, you don’t pay for checks that add little value, and we can spend our time where it has the most impact.

After an initial conversation, we can usually give you a fairly accurate price estimate. Of course, you’re under no obligation to go ahead.

Is one accessibility audit enough?

Accessibility isn’t a one-off project.

A website is constantly changing. New pages are added, forms are modified, images are replaced and functionality is expanded. Every change can also introduce new accessibility issues.

That means a website that is completely fine today can have new areas for improvement again a year from now.

That said, for most websites, one thorough accessibility audit is an excellent first step. An audit will often uncover the biggest underlying problems. Once those have been fixed, the website is usually already much more accessible than before.

After that, accessibility doesn’t have to become a major exercise. Regular automated scans can help spot common problems early, while a new manual audit every few years or after a major redesign can give you a complete picture again.

For websites where new content or functionality is added regularly, we recommend carrying out an accessibility audit every year, combined with monthly automated scans.

Accessibility is therefore not a destination where you are “done” once and for all. It’s better to see it as part of the normal maintenance of a high-quality website. Just like keeping your software up to date or carrying out regular security checks.

Curious about how accessible your website is today?

Not sure whether your website is accessible, or simply want to know where you stand today? We’d be happy to look at which type of audit is most suitable for your website.

We’ll first discuss the scope, give you a clear price estimate and explain what you can expect from the audit. After that, you can decide entirely without obligation whether you want to go ahead.

Do you work with a web agency or have an internal development team? No problem. We regularly work alongside existing teams and adapt our recommendations to the way your website has been built.

Feel free to get in touch. We’d be happy to help.