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Human testing, beyond alt text.

What a person checks, how often your plan includes it, and what it costs

Every plan includes automated checks and human-reviewed alt text. Neither can tell you whether someone who uses only a keyboard or a screen reader can actually buy something from your store. Human testing can, and it produces a signed record you can hand to your attorney.

What is human testing?

A person at Accessrank works through your store the way a shopper using only a keyboard or a screen reader does. They try to find a product, choose options, add it to the cart and check out, and they note everything that gets in the way: a pop-up they cannot close, a button with no name, a cart update that is never announced. They then sign and date the result.

Automated checks catch a real but limited share of barriers. This is the part only a person can do.

What is a flow?

A flow is one shopping task from start to finish, like finding a product and adding it to your cart. We count tasks, not pages. A typical store has flows like these:

  • Browsing from the home page and menu
  • Searching for a product
  • Browsing a collection with filters and sorting
  • Choosing options on a product page and adding it to the cart
  • Reviewing the cart, changing a quantity and removing an item
  • Reaching checkout
  • Logging in to an account
  • Filling in the contact form

Each third-party app on your store, such as reviews, chat, quick view or a subscription picker, adds a flow of its own. Your free audit counts the flows in your store, which is how we size the testing for your plan.

What does a person check?

  1. Keyboard-only walk. Can you reach everything, see where you are on the page, and never get trapped in a pop-up.
  2. Screen reader walk on a computer. Is the page read in a sensible order, do buttons and fields have names, and are cart updates and form errors announced.
  3. Screen reader walk on a phone. Most shoppers are on mobile, and drawers, sticky add-to-cart bars and carousels behave differently there.
  4. Zoom and reflow. At 200 to 400 percent zoom, nothing is hidden and there is no sideways scrolling.
  5. Forms and error recovery. Checkout, newsletter, contact and account forms, including what happens when something is entered wrong.
  6. Third-party apps. Reviews, chat, quick view, size charts, subscription pickers and pop-ups.
  7. Media. Captions on product video, and motion you can pause.

What do you get?

  • A signed, dated record of each flow tested and what was found.
  • A screen recording with audio of every session.
  • A list of what was fixed, with the re-test date.
  • The record becomes part of your Accessibility Compliance Record.

The record documents testing and effort. It is not legal advice and does not guarantee the outcome of any claim.

How often is it included, by plan?

  • Starter: add a test when you need one. Prices are below.
  • Growth: once a year, on your core shopping path, up to 8 flows, with a keyboard and a screen reader on a computer.
  • Scale: twice a year, every template and app flow, up to 16 flows, adding the screen reader on a phone. Your core path is also re-tested after a theme change, up to 4 times a year.
  • Enterprise: quarterly and on request, scoped to your storefronts.

Your free audit sizes the testing for your store.

What if you have been served?

We recommend human testing on top of alt text review. We sell it with a plan or with our served package, because we test stores whose fixes we have made, so the record shows your fixes verified.

  • Already on a plan. On Growth and above, one letter response a year and human testing each year are included. Further responses are quoted.
  • Add testing to your plan. A focused walk covers up to 6 flows, with a keyboard and a screen reader on a computer, on your core shopping path: $1,500. A full walk covers up to 12 flows and adds the screen reader on a phone, zoom, forms and third-party apps: $3,000.
  • Everything, now. From $5,900, delivered in about 7 days: an emergency audit, source-code fixes to the items the letter cites, a barrier-by-barrier response with a checklist for your counsel, a signed human testing record with proof video and VPAT-format documentation, and a technical review of settlement terms for your attorney.

Need testing in one week? It adds 30%. A re-test after fixes is 40% of the original test.

Next step

Start with a free scan. It counts your flows and suggests a plan. If you have already been served, talk to us now. Accessrank is not a law firm and does not provide legal representation or advice; see our Disclosure.