Back in January, the team at EcomBack was working with a regional food retailer in New England to remediate their Shopify store after the business received an ADA demand letter.
Our team was working through the common accessibility issues we see during website audits, such as missing alt text on product images, inaccessible PDF documents, hover menus that don’t work with screen readers, and animated GIFs that need to be replaced with static images.
Then we reached the store’s bundle builder — powered by Bundly.
Here’s the accessibility issues we discovered:
During our audit, our tester used VoiceOver on macOS while navigating the bundle page in Google Chrome.
The issue appeared at a critical moment in the user journey.
When a shopper finished selecting all required products for a bundle, the bundle became purchasable. Sighted users could clearly see that the “Add to Cart” button had become active.
But for screen reader users, nothing changed.
From the perspective of assistive technology, the interface remained exactly the same. A user relying on a screen reader would continue tabbing through product cards with no indication that they had completed the bundle.
In other words, the customer had successfully finished building their bundle, but had no way of knowing it.
Without an accessible notification or change announcement, screen reader users were never alerted that the bundle was ready to purchase. As a result, they could not easily proceed to add it to their cart.
Turning an Audit Into an Improvement
What started as a routine accessibility test quickly turned into a collaborative effort between our team and the developers behind Bundly.
Over the course of two weeks, we worked together through three rounds of testing and iteration to redesign how the bundle interface communicates with assistive technologies.
The updated experience now properly notifies screen readers when the bundle is complete and when the “Add to Cart” button becomes available.
How EcomBack Helps Businesses Avoid Accessibility Risk
Many ecommerce businesses first think about accessibility after receiving an ADA demand letter. At EcomBack, our goal is to help business owners move from reactive fixes to proactive accessibility compliance.
Our services include full accessibility audits, screen reader testing, remediation guidance, employee training, ongoing maintenance, and even collaboration with developers to implement accessible solutions that works for your website or app.
Accessibility is not a one-time checklist — it’s an ongoing process. But with the right testing and collaboration, ecommerce businesses can create online experiences that work for every customer.
