If Your Checkout Is Leaking Revenue, Accessibility Can Fix It
Digital inaccessibility is the silent leak in every e-commerce funnel, and it's larger than most digital teams realize.

Introduction
This Privacy Notice aims to clearly and transparently explain which personal data we collect when you visit our website, why we collect it, how we use it, and what Your rights are.
We process your personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and applicable national data protection laws. We are committed to ensuring that all processing activities are carried out in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimization, integrity, and confidentiality.
Specifically, in this notice you will find information about:
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which data we collect about you and for what purposes;
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the legal bases on which we process such data;
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who we may share your data with;
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how long we retain your data;
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your rights and how to exercise them.
While we sometimes need Your data for example, to respond to your requests or improve our website), we do so with respect, care and only when truly necessary.
Our Privacy Promises
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We deeply value your privacy, and for this reason, we guarantee that:
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We treat your data as if it were our own.
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We use your data only for the purposes outlined in this notice.
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We retain your data only for as long as strictly necessary.
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We do not share your data with third parties without a valid legal basis or your explicit consent.
1. Who Processes Your Personal Data
The Data Controller — that is, the entity that determines the purposes and means of the processing of Your personal data — is AccessiWay S.a.S., with registered office at 7 Rue du Général Henrion Bertier, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Sein registered with the Nanterre Trade and Companies Register under number 914 022 595.
AccessiWay is part of the team.blue group and, in certain cases, acts as joint controller together with team.blue NV, with registered office at Skaldenstraat 121, 9042 Ghent, Belgium. In this context, Your personal data may be shared within the group for statistical, administrative, operational, and service improvement purposes.
AccessiWay and team.blue have defined their respective roles and responsibilities under a joint controllership agreement pursuant to Article 26 of the GDPR, ensuring full compliance with data protection regulations.
For more information regarding joint controllership or to exercise Your rights, you may contact AccessiWay via email at the following email addresses:
📧 legal.fr@accessiway.com or info@accessiway.com.
2. Who This Privacy Notice Applies To
This notice applies to:
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users who browse the website www.accessiway.com,
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individuals who contact us through the form available on the website or via email;
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users who interact with tools we have implemented (e.g. widgets, cookies);
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individuals who, through the website or other channels, access external platforms or third-party entities through which they may submit a job application (e.g. recruiting portals or employment agencies).
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In such cases, the privacy notices of the third parties involved — independent from AccessiWay — also apply.
3. What Data We Process
To manage your interaction with our website, we may process the following categories of personal data:
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Identification and contact details such as name, surname, company, job title, email address, and phone number.
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These data may be partially processed through our customer relationship management (CRM) system.
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Data relating to your interaction with our services such as information collected via the website or through Hubspot, such as communication history, preferences, requests, and commercial or technical notes.
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Technical data such as IP address, device type, operating system, browser, access times, and other data automatically recorded by our systems or servers.
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Browsing data and preferences such as collected via cookies or similar technologies, in accordance with the choices expressed through the cookie consent banner.
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Application data such as personal information included in your CV or other documents submitted through third-party platforms (e.g. professional experience, education, contact details).
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These data are processed by AccessiWay only after being transmitted by the third party, which remains autonomous in the initial processing.
4. Purposes and Legal Basis of Processing
We process Your personal data in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and applicable national data protection laws. Your data may be processed for the following purposes:
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Technical operation of the website
We process technical data, using technical cookies and similar tools, to allow You to access the site, view it correctly, and ensure it functions properly (e.g. browsing, content loading, storing preferences).
📌Legal basis: this processing is necessary to provide a service requested by the user, pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR. Your consent is not required for these cookies.
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Handling contact or support requests
When you send us a request — via the contact form or by email — we process your data to respond and provide the information requested.
📌 Legal basis: this processing is necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.
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Compliance with legal obligations
In certain cases, we may need to process your data to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, or IT security requirements.
📌 Legal basis: this processing is based on compliance with a legal obligation, pursuant to Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR.
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Statistical analysis and website improvement
We use analytical tools (e.g. analytical cookies) to collect aggregated data in order to understand how the website is used and to improve its content and functionality.
📌 Legal basis: we process this data only with your freely given and specific consent, pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.
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Marketing and Profiling
If you authorize us to do so, we may use your data to send you promotional communications or provide personalized content (e.g. through profiling cookies).
📌 Legal basis: this processing is carried out only with your explicit consent, pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
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Management of job applications through third parties
We may receive job applications via third-party platforms (e.g. job portals) or through recruitment agencies. In such cases, we process the submitted data to assess your suitability for the proposed role.
📌 Legal basis: this processing is necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.
Note: the privacy policies of the third-party platforms or agencies involved also apply, independently of AccessiWay.
5. Cookies and Tracking Tools
This website uses a cookie management system provided by iubenda, which allows you to:
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view a full and transparent list of the cookies in use;
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modify or withdraw your consent at any time;
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access the complete Cookie Policy, integrated in the cookie widget.
You can manage your preferences by clicking on the cookie widget icon located at the bottom left corner of every page on the site.
Technical cookies are necessary and therefore enabled by default. Other non-essential cookies (analytical, profiling) are only enabled with your consent.
For more information, please refer to the full Cookie Policy accessible from the cookie widget.
6. Use of accessWidget
This website integrates accessWidget, an automated accessibility tool developed by accessiBe Ltd. and distributed by AccessiWay. The widget allows users to personalize their browsing experience based on their needs.
When the user activates the widget, their IP address is technically transmitted, but:
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it is not stored, tracked, or associated with identifiable individuals;
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it is anonymized via a proxy located in the European Union;
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it is not used for profiling or marketing purposes.
📌 Legal basis: provision of a service requested by the user (Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR).
7. Data Security
We adopt appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security, integrity, and confidentiality of the personal data we process. These measures are designed to prevent unauthorized access, loss, disclosure, or alteration of your data. In particular, we implement:
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secure connections via HTTPS (SSL/TLS);
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authentication systems and access control;
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access limitation and internal access tracking mechanisms;
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regular audits and verification procedures;
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continuous updates to systems and security measures according to the level of risk.
8. Data Retention
Your personal data is stored only for the time strictly necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected. Specifically:
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Contact data: up to 10 years if relevant for contractual or legal purposes;
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Technical and browsing data: according to what is outlined in the Cookie Policy;
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Marketing data: until consent is withdrawn.
9. Your Rights (Data Subject Rights)
As a data subject, you may exercise the rights provided under Articles 15–22 of the GDPR at any time. In particular, you have the right to:
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Obtain confirmation as to whether or not your personal data is being processed and access such data (right of access);
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Request the rectification of inaccurate personal data or the completion of incomplete data (right to rectification);
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Request the erasure of your data, if the conditions set out in the GDPR are met (right to erasure);
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Obtain restriction of processing where applicable (right to restriction);
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Object to the processing of your data, in whole or in part, under certain circumstances (right to object);
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Receive your data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and, where technically feasible, have it transmitted directly to another controller (right to data portability);
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Withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
📧 You can exercise Your rights at any time by contacting us at: legal.fr@accessiway.com.
🔗 If you are located in France and believe that the processing of your personal data violates applicable law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the French Data Protection Authority (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés – CNIL) via the website: www.cnil.fr.
*If you have difficulty accessing our form, please feel free to contact us. Send an e-mail to info@accessiway.com
You know your funnel. You know where users drop off. You invest in UX research, session recordings, A/B tests and CRO agencies to close the gaps. But there's a category of drop-off that doesn't show up cleanly in your analytics because the users leave before your tracking even registers them as a lost conversion.
They hit a barrier and left. Your data shows nothing.
Digital inaccessibility is the silent leak in every e-commerce funnel, and it's larger than most digital teams realize.
The scale of the problem
Let's start with the population reality. In Europe, 101 million people live with some form of disability, which is 27% of the population (Eurostat, 2022). Globally, the figure is 1.3 billion, or 16% of the world (WHO, 2023). They are a significant share of any meaningful consumer market.
But disability is not the only lens. Accessibility barriers affect a much broader group:
Older users with age-related vision decline, motor difficulties, or cognitive changes
Mobile users in suboptimal conditions, like bright sunlight, one hand occupied, slow internet connection
Temporary impairments: a broken wrist, eye surgery recovery, and acute illness
Situational constraints: a commuter unable to use audio, a parent with one hand holding a child
Microsoft's Inclusive Design research framework describes this as the "exclusion cascade": for every user with a permanent disability excluded by an inaccessible design, many more users with temporary or situational limitations experience the same barrier.
With 71.0 accessibility errors per page, 26.6% above the cross-industry average, the Shopping sector ranks 28th out of 29 categories in WebAIM's 2026 Million Report, which analysed 95,039 shopping websites. That makes it one of the most inaccessible sectors on the web. For an industry built entirely on conversion, every inaccessible form, unreadable button or missing image label is a lost transaction. This is not just a compliance failure. It is a revenue problem.
Accessiway's consumer survey (6,599 respondents across Germany, Austria, France, Italy and the UK, August–November 2025) puts clear numbers to what this means for e-commerce. 68% of online shoppers abandon a website when they encounter a digital barrier. And when that barrier sits in the purchase flow itself, 61% abandon the transaction entirely. Under-35s is the demographic group most comfortable with digital purchasing and most likely to become loyal repeat customers, and they are the most likely to leave and not return.
The business impact is direct. Up to 20% of your potential customers may be functionally excluded from your digital funnel. The revenue they represent doesn't disappear but goes to more accessible competitors. The Accessiway survey estimates that accessibility barriers block over €50 billion in European transactions annually.
The legal mandate: what digital teams must prepare for
The European Accessibility Act (EAA), EU Directive 2019/882, is enforceable from 28 June 2025. For digital and e-commerce teams, the scope is explicit and broad.
Affected digital touchpoints include: websites, online shops, mobile applications (iOS and Android), checkout processes, digital forms, PDFs, and any interactive content involved in the purchase journey. The required technical standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, as specified in EN 301 549.
Compliance applies in every EU market in which you operate, not only where your company is headquartered. For example, if you sell in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland, you must comply with all six. Penalties apply per market and per infringement: in some member states, fines can reach €907,000 per violation.
The practical implications for digital teams are significant. A single checkout flow that fails keyboard navigation is a violation. A product image without alt text is a violation. A contrast ratio that fails WCAG 2.1 AA on a promotional banner is a violation. These are extremely common issues in even well-resourced digital estates.
One important technical note: automated scanning tools identify only a portion of real-world accessibility issues. A significant share of them is found only through manual expert testing and structured user testing with people with disabilities. A clean automated scan is not a compliance certificate.
The performance opportunity
Reframing accessibility from compliance obligation to performance lever is the shift that the most effective digital teams are making.
SEO is the most direct and measurable benefit. The technical requirements of WCAG 2.1 AA overlap significantly with SEO best practices: semantic HTML structure, proper heading hierarchy (H1–H6), descriptive alt text, meaningful link text, fast load times, and mobile optimisation. Search engine crawlers and screen readers parse content in functionally similar ways. A 2025 Semrush study of 800+ websites found that reducing accessibility issues correlates with +23% organic traffic and +27% keyword visibility. For competitive categories where paid search CPCs are rising, unlocking organic gains through accessibility remediation is a meaningful efficiency play.
AI-powered search makes this more valuable, not less. As Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and ChatGPT increasingly surface content in response to commercial queries, the content that gets cited and featured is content that is clearly structured, semantically correct, and technically clean. That is precisely what accessible content is. Brands that optimise for accessibility today are effectively optimising for AI discoverability tomorrow.
Conversion rate improvements are real and consistent. Accessible design means more intuitive navigation, better colour contrast, clearer form labels, and more logical information architecture. These improvements benefit every user, not just those with disabilities. A funnel that works for someone using a screen reader works better for everyone. A checkout that is keyboard-navigable is a checkout that is simply better designed. Semrush study shows that 73% of sites that undergo accessibility remediation see measurable organic growth, with an average of +12% monthly improvement in the post-remediation period (Semrush, 2025).
First-party data completeness is an underrated benefit. If up to 20% of your potential users cannot complete your registration, account creation or checkout flow due to accessibility barriers, your first-party data is structurally incomplete. The behavioural insights you derive, the segments you build, the personalisation you deploy — all are based on a biased subset of your audience. Fixing accessibility expands the completeness and reliability of your data.
The strategic shift required
The most progressive digital teams are making four connected transitions:
From website only to full digital estate. Accessibility is not a homepage problem. It's a mobile app problem, a PDF problem, a campaign microsite problem, a checkout form problem. Auditing and remediating the full estate requires a different kind of tooling and approach.
From automated scanning to AI + real-user testing. Automated tools are a starting point, not a finishing line. Real users with disabilities expose usability gaps that no script can detect. Testing validates that your remediation has actually improved the experience, and not just satisfied a checklist.
From a one-time project to an ongoing process. Every new release, every A/B test variant, every campaign landing page is an opportunity to reintroduce barriers. Accessibility requires the same continuous monitoring approach as performance.
From compliance checkbox to performance KPI. Accessibility score, barrier count, and coverage across the digital estate should sit alongside conversion rate and organic traffic in your performance reporting. Treating it as a KPI changes how the organisation prioritises and resources it.
How Accessiway supports digital & e-commerce teams
Accessiway is Europe's leading digital accessibility provider, with 2,000+ clients and 550+ B2B partners across 4 European offices.
Accessibility Platform is built specifically for digital teams managing complex, evolving estates. It provides continuous automated auditing, AI-assisted fix guidance, a prioritised remediation backlog, and a live compliance dashboard. Coverage spans website, app (iOS and Android), PDFs and campaign assets. For teams working in agile sprints, Accessibility Platform integrates into development workflows so accessibility is validated at every release, not chased retroactively.
Our checkout and funnel audit service provides IAAP-certified expert testing across your full purchase journey, including product pages, cart, checkout, account creation, and confirmation across multiple browsers and operating systems. Issues are logged with screenshots, WCAG criteria references, and specific solution guidance for your development team.
User testing with real users with disabilities is the step that turns compliance into genuine quality assurance. We run structured sessions with participants who use assistive technologies like screen readers, switch controls, voice navigation, keyboard navigation, and others in their everyday lives. Their experience surfaces the usability gaps that no automated tool or expert audit alone can identify, and gives you confidence that your funnel actually works for everyone.
Accessibility-as-a-Product embeds ongoing retesting cycles into your release process, ensuring your digital estate stays compliant as it grows. We work alongside your Digital, Product, Marketing and IT teams, ensuring that accessibility is a maintained capability.
Let's do the math, shall we?
You spend to acquire traffic. You invest in UX to convert it. You optimise CX to retain it.
Digital inaccessibility undermines all three simultaneously: it loses customers before conversion, degrades the experience you've invested in, and ensures a segment of your audience never becomes part of your loyal base.
Don’t miss the opportunity, become accessible now!
Sources: Eurostat (2022); WHO (2023); Accessiway consumer survey, n=6,599, DE/AT/FR/IT/UK, Aug–Nov 2025; Microsoft Inclusive Design; Semrush (2023 & 2025); European Accessibility Act, EU Directive 2019/882.

Paolo Berro
Optimizing Core Web Vitals has a direct impact on digital accessibility
Digital Accessibility

Editorial Board
Every campaign you run sends paid and organic traffic into your digital funnel. Every euro of that investment is partially wasted if the funnel excludes up to 20% of potential customers before they convert.
Digital Accessibility

Author
Accessibility is a measurable performance variable that impacts organic reach, conversion rates, campaign effectiveness, and brand reputation simultaneously.
Digital Accessibility