Accessibility improvements to their web app

Mercari is Japan's leading peer-to-peer online marketplace.

Project origins

In early spring 2022, Mercari, Inc. was focusing on improving accessibility to achieve WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance for its web app as part of a massive project to refactor its entire platform.

While the team had set up automated testing, they had never observed real users with visual or motor impairments interacting with their site, leaving them uncertain about the effectiveness of their efforts. As a result, Satoshi Kobayashi, the Product Owner, initiated an in-depth study to inform roadmap planning and build internal knowledge for future accessibility initiatives.

He reached out to AQ, given our prior contributions to their web app design system and familiarity with the product, as well as our in-house UX research capabilities.

While we had previously worked with AQ on a design system for a different project, and they were already familiar with our services and web apps, the primary reason we chose them for this project was that accessibility studies require more detailed planning than standard usability studies. Given their extensive knowledge accumulated through past projects and their reputation as a reliable partner, we decided to entrust this project to them. — Satoshi Kobayashi, Product Owner

What we did

• Expert reviews to access compliance with WCAG 2.0 Level AA
• User interviews (90min x 6 participants)
• Insights analysis and strategy workshop

AQ brought on accessibility expert Yuki Ueno of RARE TEKT and teamed up with Mercari's product manager, design system designers, and frontend and backend engineers, to kickstart the project.

We searched for elderly users who were either visually impaired, had a visual disability, or had motor impairments in their fingers or arms. The recruitment was even more difficult than we had anticipated but we switched from home visits to remote interview, and succeeded in recruiting six participants. Over Zoom, we observed each participant as they operated their screen readers and smartphones. At times, we asked them to turn on the lights, and at other times, we asked family members to assist with video recording.

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（This video shows a participant using a screen reader while navigating the Mercari site. Watch with the audio on.)

After completing both the expert reviews and interviews, we held a bilingual workshop with the full project team. Mercari members discussed findings from AQ's research report, which we delivered in Japanese and English, and identified opportunities for improvement using “How Might We”s. There were many discoveries that served as motivation moving forward, such as participants noticing UI improvements that the team had implemented, and identifying points that would also benefit users without disabilities. Discussions ranged from deeply technical to organizational mindsets and the resources necessary to continue the efforts.

Results and learnings

Throughout the project, the Mercari team proactively made numerous design and code revisions in response to the issues uncovered. Their hunch that automated testing only identified a limited number of issues proved correct, with many more discovered during the expert review. It reinforced the idea that you can’t truly understand a product until you see it being used in practice.

The experience of seeing firsthand people with visual impairments taking longer than expected to complete certain tasks, or gave up halfway through, was shocking to me. In particular, we discovered significant challenges when they tried to use Mercari with a screen reader, which made me realize that every single one of us involved in providing the service needed to raise our awareness of accessibility. — Satoshi Kobayashi, Product Owner

To usher in ongoing efforts to improve accessibility, AQ provided resources and supported Mercari's exploration of what it might look like for them to add this capability to their teams, using their UX maturity model.

In addition to assessing the current state, this project achieved:

• Accessibility improvement issues added to the upcoming feature roadmap
• Established accessibility improvements as a priority for FY23
• Proposed an internal review process for their internal accessibility team
• Proposed an "Accessibilty Week"

It was exciting for AQ to see a service with such a large user base take meaningful action. As designers and researchers, it was valuable to experience firsthand how much users appreciate efforts to improve accessibility. This project has sparked a broader movement within our studio, inspiring us to actively seek out more opportunities to build a strong track record in this space.