Challenge
BlackFin Rods runs a large Shopify catalog with real exposure to ADA demand-letter risk — the kind of legal pressure that's become common for US ecommerce stores with inaccessible checkout flows, unlabeled forms, or poor keyboard navigation. They needed more than a surface-level scan: a defensible, documented audit and remediation trail.
Approach
We ran a full WCAG 2.1 AA audit combining automated tooling (WAVE/WebAIM, axe, Lighthouse, and a Playwright accessibility test suite across every template) with manual and screen-reader testing on the flows that matter most — navigation, search, product detail, cart, and checkout. Every finding was ranked by severity and legal exposure, not just by WCAG success-criterion number, then remediated in priority order.
Deliverables
- Full audit report (automated + manual findings)
- Prioritized remediation plan
- Remediated components across navigation, forms, cart, and checkout
- Formal compliance decision memo
- Published accessibility statement
Results
- WAVE/WebAIM AIM accessibility score raised from as low as 4.0/10 on some pages before remediation
- Up to 9.5/10 on remediated pages after; homepage now scores 7.6/10
- Formal compliance decision memo delivered, documenting a good-faith remediation trail
- Published accessibility statement live on the store
