The overarching reason we have digital accessibility laws is so that people with disabilities have access to the digital world. We offer a myriad of services and documentation to help clients demonstrate compliance:
- audits / audit reports
- progress reports (through Accessibility Tracker)
- VPATs / ACRs
- conformance statements
- certification
And the ultimate complement to it all is user testing.
Why? That’s what this is all about: access.
And if you have user tested your digital asset and can provide documentation speaking to the accessibility of your asset, then that’s strong evidence of compliance that gets super boosted when you have other documentation.
Of course, the reason user testing is so compelling is not because of the documentation, but because of what the documentation represents: you have invested in accessibility and, optimally, have fixed all issues so that user testing documentation bestows a clean bill of health for the accessibility of your digital asset.
Most user testing involves professionals who are blind or visually impaired, using a screen reader to test your content. And this is exactly what we offer to our clients.
Optional, but always highly recommended.
For organizations working through ADA lawsuits or settlement agreements, user testing documentation provides compelling evidence of good faith accessibility efforts. Defense attorneys particularly value this documentation because it demonstrates that real users with disabilities can successfully use the digital asset.
For those working towards compliance with other laws like the European Accessibility Act, user testing similarly can provide monitoring authorities with evidence that an organization is actively investing in accessibility and working toward or maintaining compliance.
User testing also serves as an excellent final validation step after remediation. You’ve conducted your audit, fixed the issues, and validated the fixes – but does everything actually work smoothly for end users? User testing provides that answer.
How User Testing Works
Our user testing process is straightforward and thorough. We work with accessibility professionals who have one or more disabilities and extensive experience using assistive technology to navigate digital content. Most commonly, our testers are blind or visually impaired and use screen readers like NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver.
The testing session typically lasts up to 30 minutes and focuses on testing the primary user flows or a pre-determined scope. For an e-commerce site, this might include browsing products, reading product descriptions, adding items to a cart, and completing checkout. For a government website, it could involve finding specific information, downloading documents, or submitting forms.
During the session, we record both the screen activity and the tester’s audio commentary. Our tester provides real-time feedback about their experience – what works well, what creates confusion or barriers, and how efficiently they can complete tasks. This commentary is invaluable because it reveals not just whether something is accessible, but how accessible it is in practice.
After the session, we provide you with a comprehensive report documenting the findings along with the full video recording. The report includes specific observations about user experience, any accessibility barriers encountered, and recommendations for improvements. The video recording serves as concrete evidence of successful navigation and task completion.
What our clients love is we provide them with a user testing report as well as the video recording of the session for their records (by the way, you can store your accessibility documentation inside of Accessibility Tracker).
Key Takeaway
With multiple strong compliance and practical wins stacked together, user testing services are an investment with a great ROI. It doesn’t take long to get user testing for your digital asset(s), but the benefits permeate your compliance efforts for years.
