Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox – it’s a non-negotiable quality requirement and a catalyst for innovation, user satisfaction, and business growth. With 2 billion people worldwide living with disabilities and controlling $13 trillion in annual disposable income, inclusivity is not only a moral imperative but also a significant market opportunity.

But how do executives and managers begin to weave accessibility into the fabric of both their workflows as well as business reporting in a way that’s both proactive and scalable?

We’ve talked to thousands of companies and many of you have asked what we recommend to help as a starting point for metrics as you work toward establishing KPIs and OKRs for accessibility in product. Based on customer insights from a number of companies in a spectrum of industries (like entertainment, automotive, healthcare, technology, and e-commerce), we’ve crafted a scorecard template featuring 5 accessibility metrics. 

Accessibility is a human right, and there’s no technological reason for companies not to build and ship inclusive products. However, we acknowledge that shifting priorities, adjusting workflows, and managing cultural change within an organization requires tangible measurements, so we focused this scorecard template on 3 key areas:

• Drive proactive improvements: Anticipate and address accessibility early and continuously across all parts of the business.

• Scale effectively: Implement processes that grow with your team and product offerings while using resources efficiently.

• Boost business performance: Reduce risk by increasing customer loyalty and expanding into new markets.

This template is designed to help you establish or refine your accessibility processes and connect them to business KPIs – specifically revenue retention as well as revenue growth – ensuring your products are not only compliant, but also exceptional in user experience and commercial performance.

Why focus on accessibility metrics?

Before we dive into the specifics of the scorecard template we want to highlight the tension business leaders often face between having to measure performance and doing what’s right.

This tension is wonderfully highlighted in V.F. Ridgway’s 1956 paper “Dysfunctional Consequences of Performance Measurements”, where the author states:

“Quantitative measures of performance are tools, and are undoubtedly useful. But research indicates that indiscriminate use and undue confidence and reliance in them result from insufficient knowledge of the full effects and consequences. Judicious use of a tool requires awareness of possible side effects and reactions. Otherwise, indiscriminate use may result in side effects and reactions outweighing the benefits, as was the case when penicillin was first hailed as a wonder drug. The cure is sometimes worse than the disease.”

So, while metrics provide tangible goals and benchmarks, we advise you to use common sense and your best managerial judgment to adjust your KPIs and metrics in a way that they best align with your company culture and business goals.

5 accessibility scorecard metrics for your company

Below we’re outlining five key metrics a company can track to connect accessibility and business performance. Each of these metrics can be used to create more granular measurements and goal setting that cascade down through the organization depending on organizational structure and management approach.

1. Percentage of employees trained in accessibility

2. Percentage of projects with end-to-end accessibility criteria

3. Revenue attributable to accessible products

4. User satisfaction from users with disabilities

5. Percentage of compliant products in portfolio

Let’s look at each in more detail!

Metric 1: Percentage of employees trained in accessibility

Why it matters: This is a leading indicator, since a well-trained team is essential for embedding accessibility into your company’s culture. Higher training rates ensure that all team members can contribute to creating, marketing, and selling accessible products. Aligning training goals with incentives is critical to ensure maximum success.

Examples for how to measure:

• Set Training Milestones:

• Define clear training goals and training intervals for different roles (e.g., managers, designers, developers, marketing, sales, QA, etc.).

• Monitor progress against these milestones on an ongoing basis.

• Utilize a Learning Management System (LMS):

• Track course completion rates and learning outcomes.

• Generate reports on training progress and completion.

• Use training records to reward desired inclusive behavior:

• Update records as employees complete courses.

• Use regular management reviews to reward inclusive behavior.

Metric 2: Percentage of projects with end-to-end accessibility criteria

Why it matters: Another leading indicator that shows how training outcomes are being implemented. Integrating accessibility from the outset prevents costly fixes later and ensures a smoother development process. It fosters a proactive approach rather than a reactive one which in turn accelerates time-to-market.

Examples for how to measure:

• Implement end-to-end accessibility platform:

• Set up real-time reporting across every step of the product development cycle.

• Use automated and assisted tooling to accelerate remediation.

• Set targets for each step of the workflow:

• Set measurable quality benchmarks to advance a project from design to code to QA to production.

• Hold discipline leaders accountable to approve moving to the next phase.

• Regular check-ins and compliance reports:

• Schedule periodic reviews to ensure accessibility criteria are being followed.

• Use findings to adjust processes and provide additional training if necessary.

Metric 3: Revenue attributable to accessible products

Why It Matters: Despite being a lagging indicator, this metric is critical to influence strategic allocation of resources. This revenue metric links accessibility efforts directly to financial performance for both retained and net-new revenue, demonstrating financial return on investment (ROI) and encouraging continued investment in accessibility initiatives.

Examples for how to measure:

• Segment Revenue Data:

• Use analytics tools as well as qualitative data to track revenue lost and gained due to accessibility quality.

• Track and compare sales data before and after accessibility improvements.

• Attribution Modeling:

• Implement tracking mechanisms in marketing campaigns targeting accessibility-conscious consumers.

• Analyze conversion rates from these campaigns.

• Customer Surveys:

• Ask new customers if accessibility influenced their decision to purchase and/or cancel their contract.

• Incorporate findings into revenue attribution.

Metric 4: User satisfaction from users with disabilities

Why It Matters: Satisfaction scores reflect how well your products meet the needs of users with disabilities. Higher scores indicate a better user experience, leading to higher efficacy, increased loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.

Example for how to measure:

• Conduct continuous targeted survey data:

• Use tools to create accessible surveys and capture user satisfaction data such as net promoter scores (NPS) or usability metric for user experience (UMUX).

• Include questions specifically designed to gauge satisfaction levels related to accessibility.

• Regular usability testing with assistive technologies:

• Engage users who rely on screen readers, screen magnifiers, or other assistive devices, and record measure such as Accessibility Usability Scale (AUS)

• Observe and document their interactions with your product to identify pain points.

• Establish qualitative feedback channels:

• Establish dedicated channels (e.g., online community, email, feedback forms) for users with disabilities to share their experiences.

• Monitor social media and forums for unsolicited feedback.

Metric 5: Percentage of compliant products in portfolio

Why It Matters: While reaching a level of 100% compliance (e.g. WCAG 2.2 AA)  is as unrealistic as striving for 0 bugs in any piece of software, accessibility is a non-negotiable quality requirement and business risk factor that needs to be tracked continuously. 

So, establishing a benchmark through continuous monitoring, and defining an acceptable range of percentage coverage is helpful for prioritization and resource allocation – just like for privacy and security.

Examples for how to measure:

• Continuous accessibility monitoring:

• Establish continuous end-to-end monitoring from design and code to the live product for every key product/project in your company’s portfolio.

• Regular manual testing with disabled people either in-house or using vendors such as Fable.

• Regular business reporting:

• Create a compliance matrix listing all your products and their conformance levels.

• Establish monthly and quarterly reporting on progress and/or regress.

Implementing the template in your workflow

1. Start with executive buy-in: Leadership support is crucial for any evolution of existing KPI frameworks. Present these metrics to stakeholders to secure the necessary resources and commitment, and align the right incentives for both managers and ICs to make the change sustainable.

2. Customize the metrics: While this template provides a solid foundation, tailor the metrics to fit your company’s specific needs and goals. Make sure you adjust for measures you can already track or easily add to your tracking mechanisms.

3. Integrate into existing processes: Embed these metrics into your current project management and reporting systems to ensure they become a natural part of your workflow. You want to pick a pragmatic starting point. So, if your company reporting circles around quarterly business reviews, then make sure to start adding your accessibility scorecard reporting to those. From here you can evolve and advance. You might even start with reporting for one product group first, and build the business case for others to follow.

4. Foster a culture of inclusivity: Encourage all team members to take ownership of accessibility. Regular training and open discussions can promote a shared commitment. It’s crucial that everyone in the company not only sees accessibility as a compliance topic but a way for the company to provide a better experience for its employees as well as customers which opens up massive business growth opportunities.

5. Review and adjust regularly: Just like privacy, security, and overall quality measurements, accessibility is an ongoing journey. In order to build a sustainable, scalable business practice, be sure to regularly review your metrics, celebrate successes for both people and business, and adjust strategies as needed.

The Bigger Picture: Benefits Beyond Compliance

This scorecard template serves as a starting point to help you establish or refine workflows that are both proactive and scalable. And adopting these metrics doesn’t just ensure a quality product and keep you compliant, but also offers a competitive edge:

• Enhanced user experience for everyone: Accessibility is a proxy for user experience, and improvements often benefit all users, making your products more intuitive.

• Expanding your market: Tapping into the disability market opens up significant revenue opportunities worldwide.

• Brand Reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity strengthens your brand and builds customer trust.

Building accessible products is a collective team effort that requires strategic planning and measurable goals. By incorporating proven methods to measure each metric, you make the process more actionable and transparent.