Accessibility Audits as a Revenue Stream

Accessibility is a growing market — and most agencies ignore it

Web accessibility lawsuits have increased every year since 2018. Over 4,000 ADA-related web accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2025 alone. Businesses are scared, and they should be — the average settlement is $20,000–$50,000, plus attorney fees.

For agencies, this fear creates a service opportunity. Accessibility audits are a natural extension of website audit services, and most clients don't know they need one until you tell them.

Why clients need accessibility services

Legal exposure

The ADA requires businesses to provide equal access to goods and services — including on the web. Courts have consistently ruled that websites are "places of public accommodation." Any business that serves the public can be sued for an inaccessible website.

Industries with the highest lawsuit rates: retail, food service, hospitality, healthcare, banking, and education.

Business impact

Beyond lawsuits, inaccessible websites lose customers:

• 26% of US adults have a disability
• 71% of disabled users will leave an inaccessible site immediately
• Accessibility improvements often improve usability for all users (bigger buttons, clearer text, better contrast)

SEO overlap

Many accessibility improvements also improve SEO:

• Alt text on images helps both screen readers and image search
• Heading hierarchy helps both assistive technology and search engines
• Clean HTML structure benefits everyone

What an accessibility audit checks

The Recon audit includes accessibility as a scored category (10% of overall weight). Key checks:

• Image alt text — every meaningful image needs descriptive alt text
• Color contrast — text must have 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background
• Form labels — every input needs an associated label element
• Keyboard navigation — all interactive elements must be keyboard-accessible
• ARIA landmarks — main page sections need proper ARIA roles
• Heading hierarchy — logical H1→H2→H3 structure, no skipped levels
• Link text — descriptive link text, not "click here" or "read more"
• Focus indicators — visible focus styling on interactive elements