Get A Free ADA Compliance Audit Of Your Website
Download NowThere are over 40,000 live websites made using the BigCommerce platform. It’s a very popular option for businesses looking to set up their own online store. But what about digital accessibility?
BigCommerce ADA compliance isn’t something that businesses can afford to ignore. Aside from the moral importance, it’s also good for business. Disabled people and their loved ones have an estimated spending power of a whopping $13 trillion.
Web accessibility ensures they can access and engage with your website. That means more sales, more profit, and a boost for your company reputation.
So, let’s explore how to get started with Big Commerce ADA compliance.
Understanding the basics of the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was established in 1990. It provides protections for disabled Americans to prevent them from being discriminated against, and ensure they can enjoy daily life to the fullest. It covers diverse areas, including transportation, employment, and access to services and products.
The ADA requires businesses to make adjustments, wherever reasonable, to ensure that disabled people can access their products and/or services. This includes eCommerce stores as well.
For web accessibility, your company should aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. These form the gold standard for digital accessibility, from keyboard navigation to color contrast requirements.
Learn more about building accessibility into your eCommerce website.
Does BigCommerce offer any built-in accessibility features for ADA compliance?
BigCommerce offers some built-in accessibility features, but these are relatively limited.
The platform’s default theme, Cornerstone, is compliant with WCAG 2.1 Level A across several areas, including keyboard accessibility and readability. However, this only applies to Version 5.2 and above, and still doesn’t reach the Level AA standards.
Your development team can edit the code and elements to increase accessibility. But first you need to know where the problems are.
For your BigCommerce store to meet ADA compliance, you’ll need to take a proactive approach. That includes:
- Leveraging digital tools to identify accessibility issues
- Implementing recommended changes
- Ensuring compatibility with assistive tech
- Training your development and content teams in accessibility best practices
Want to make sure your website is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act? Then unlock the ADA compliance checklist now. Discover actionable steps to ensure ADA compliance, helping you avoid lawsuits and any other negative consequences of non-compliance.
Get started with an ADA compliance audit of your BigCommerce store
The first step is using an automated tool, like our web accessibility checker. This tool can scan your website for compliance issues, in line with WCAG requirements.
Once it’s finished scanning your webpages and content, it generates a tailored report on your current accessibility. This will include a clear breakdown of any potential violations, and what you (or your developer) can do to put it right. There are also several AI fixes available, including for adding alt-text to images.
You should then follow this up with a manual review to ensure nothing has been missed. Recite Me offers a free downloadable accessibility checklist to simplify the process.
Prioritizing ADA violations to fix from your audit
When you first receive an accessibility audit report, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. Rather than picking violations at random, it’s a good idea to have a clear strategy.
Below are some pointers to keep in mind when prioritizing:
- High-traffic pages: Violations on your home page or product pages are more likely to impact on your customers and your bottom line, so focus on these first.
- Significant issues: Aim to target problems that have a big effect on user functionality, such as inaccessible contact forms
- Quick fixes: It’s worth making any quick adjustments right away, such as improving link wording. As mentioned, Recite Me’s automated accessibility checker can take care of some quick fixes, like adding alt-text, with AI.
Examples of ADA issues your BigCommerce store could have
BigCommerce ADA compliance issues aren’t always obvious. Sometimes very small tweaks to your website can make a world of difference to disabled web users. Below we’ll explore some examples of common issues you might need to tackle.
1. Adding text alternatives to images and product media
Alternative text (known as alt-text) provides descriptions for visual media, so that they can be read by screen readers. This enables visually impaired users to understand visual content on your website, even though they cannot actually “see” it. Without alt-text, visually impaired people will miss out on essential information from your website. You should also add text alternatives to audio and video content, through captions and transcripts. This ensures that people with hearing or auditoring-processing disabilities can understand the content.
Around 18.5% of home page images from popular websites had missing alt-text in 2025. On average, that’s 11 per page. So, it’s not an uncommon issue.
How to fix:
Add descriptive alt-text to all relevant images on your BigCommerce store, ensuring these are kept concise. If an image is only decorative, you can simply add alt=””, which means that screen readers will ignore it.
Transcripts can be added as a downloadable file beneath the video. Captions can be added post-production.
2. Making navigation accessible to shoppers
Users visit your website with a purpose. Whether that’s to browse or make a purchase, it’s frustrating for disabled users when they can’t navigate or engage with your site. That leads to abandoned carts and a negative reputation – or worse!
Interactive elements must be fully accessible by keyboard. Visitors should be able to use your buttons and navigation menus with just the Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys. They should also be labelled clearly for those who use screen readers.
How to fix:
Check that your web pages are navigable and functional with keyboard-use only and assistive technologies, like screen readers. Try tabbing through your web content. Are all the interactable elements clearly delineated and accessible? Is the tab order logical, or is it disorientating?
Similar to images, buttons should also have clear descriptive anchor text for screen reader accessibility. This ensures that visually impaired web users know exactly what the button links to.
3. Create a consistent page hierarchy
Webpages can quickly become confusing with incorrect heading usage. That’s true for all your web users, but particularly for those who use screen readers, as they are more reliant on headings for navigation.
For example, if a heading skips from H2 to H4 and then to H3, rather than following the semantically correct H2, H3, H4 order, this would make navigation very confusing with assistive technology.
How to fix:
Make sure all your webpage sections have clear headings that follow the correct semantic hierarchy. Your BigCommerce webpages should have only one H1 for the website title, then use H2s for sections, H3 for subsections, and so forth.
As with other issues on this list, make sure you test your webpages with screen readers and assistive tech to ensure they are easy to navigate.
4. Improve visual accessibility
The visual design of your BigCommerce store impacts its accessibility in several ways. Poor color contrast between textual elements and the background can make it difficult for visually impaired people to read. Meanwhile, lots of bright colors, pop-ups, and visuals can be overwhelming for those with cognitive disabilities.
How to fix:
WCAG recommends a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for body text, and 3:1 for larger text (18pt and above, or 14pt bold). If you’re unsure about whether your contrast is accessible, you can quickly review this with a free color contrast checker.
Beyond this, you should also aim to avoid reliance on color as a visual cue. For example, to highlight form errors, relevant icons should be used. You should also ensure that any interactive elements, such as hyperlinks and buttons, are visually distinct from the surrounding content.
5. Making web forms clear and accessible
Website forms are integral to your online store. They enable customers to send questions, feedback, or even customization requests. So, they need to be fully accessible.
Unfortunately, they can be rendered inaccessible for assistive tech users due to an absence of clear information.
How to fix:
Check that any forms on your BigCommerce store are navigable and operable by keyboard alone. Add visible labels for any input fields, along with focus indicators, to ensure they are understandable and can be read by screen readers. When submission errors occur, make sure that clear error messages are displayed to inform users about what went wrong.
Maintaining compliance for your store over time
Accessibility isn’t static. New developments in technology and regulations come out frequently, and your BigCommerce store needs to respond to these changes.
To maintain BigCommerce ADA compliance, your accessibility efforts must be ongoing. There are several steps you can take to make this work.
Schedule regular audits for your store
It’s not enough to conduct a single audit and then click away. As you add new blog posts or tweak product pages, new compliance issues will crop up. If your last audit was years, or even months ago, who knows what issues may be lurking on your fresh content?
Scheduling regular audits ensures you are continuously removing accessibility barriers.
Provide ADA training to your team
Accessibility barriers need to be targeted at their roots. That starts with your team, from web developers to blog writers. If they don’t understand the ADA and its requirements, how can they spot a violation in their own work?
ADA training ensures that your team understands the core principles of the legislation. For example, Recite Me’s free ADA accessibility training covers a wide range of topics, including inclusivity fundamentals, the role of WCAG standards, and practical accessibility implementation. It only takes up to 25 minutes to complete, and you can study the 3 modules over several sessions.
Staying up to date with WCAG updates and developments
Keep a close eye on accessibility blogs and websites for updates on WCAG requirements. For example, on the official W3C website, you can find updates on the current version of WCAG, and working drafts of the upcoming WCAG 3.0.
Meanwhile, on Recite Me’s online resource hub, you can learn about new web accessibility standards, including WCAG 3.0, and find comprehensive guidance on inclusive web design practices.
Why ADA compliance matters for BigCommerce retailers
Running an online business can be hectic. With so many responsibilities stacking up, it can be easy to neglect digital accessibility. Unfortunately, that can have a devastating impact on your business.
Legal risks
BigCommerce stores that are not accessible for disabled people could be at risk of legal action. In fact, 4,000+ ADA lawsuits were filed in just 2024 alone.
Lawsuits in relation to web accessibility are typically related to Title III, which covers ‘public accommodations’. Company websites and applications have often been legally interpreted as public accommodations, and so to avoid lawsuits and costly fines, ADA compliance is essential.
Negative brand reputation
In the social media age, news about poor accessibility practices travel far. Considering more than 1 in 4 American adults are recorded as disabled, repeated ADA violations could drastically impact your brand reputation. That, in turn, can reduce your sales and profitability.
Reduced customer reach
The disabled community and their loved ones have a collective estimated spending power of $13 trillion per year. Neglecting this community is not only immoral, it’s also a mistake for your business growth.
Accessible web development helps you to meet ADA compliance, and increases your potential customer base. If your website does not enable keyboard navigation or has poor color contrast, you could be preventing your best customers from making their purchases.
Digital inclusivity
On the most fundamental level, BigCommerce ADA compliance helps disabled people live equal, fulfilling lives.
It removes online barriers, enabling disabled web users to browse their favourite digital stores, make purchases, and engage with customer services. Improving web accessibility creates fairer digital spaces for all.
Get a free automated ADA compliance audit of your website. This audit will highlight compliance violations and provide the recommendations needed to meet ADA compliance standards.
Conclusion: Get ADA Compliant Today
BigCommerce is a popular platform for creating online stores. Whilst it has some accessibility features, this won’t achieve full ADA compliance. That’s essential for avoiding legal action, boosting brand reputation and reach, and creating an inclusive internet.
Recite Me has several web accessibility tools to make developing ADA-compliant websites simple. Make a start on your inclusive BigCommerce store with a free website accessibility audit, or speak to our experienced accessibility consultants for tailored support.
BigCommerce ADA Compliance FAQs
Looking for a recap or quick summary? Here are a few of our most frequently asked questions to help you get to grips with the essentials:
Is BigCommerce ADA compliant?
No, BigCommerce websites are not inherently compliant with ADA. You’ll need to take a proactive approach to ensure your online store is compliant. Fortunately, there are plenty of useful third-party tools available to help you identify and resolve issues, such as Recite Me’s web accessibility checker.
What is the most common ADA violation on BigCommerce sites?
Several ADA violations are common on ecommerce stores created on platforms like BigCommerce. These include:
- Missing text alternatives for images, videos, and audio content
- Poor webpage structure with incorrect heading hierarchy
- Low color contrast making text unreadable for visually impaired web users
- Unclear and unnavigable web forms
How do I make my BigCommerce website ADA compliant?
You can make your BigCommerce website ADA compliant by removing barriers for disabled users. W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the most well-known standards for digital accessibility. Steps towards compliance include:
- Adding descriptive alt-text to images
- Enabling keyboard-only navigation
- Improving color contrast to a minimum ratio of 4.5:1
Need more help becoming ADA compliant?
The following resources are packed full of actionable tips and expert advice for making your digital content compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act:
Free ADA Accessibility Training
Take the first step to ADA compliance by completing our training course.
Free ADA Accessibility Guide
Ensure your organization is meeting the requirements for ADA compliance.
