The True Cost of Inaccessibility and Why Metrics Matter More Than Ever

The True Cost of Inaccessibility and Why Metrics Matter More Than Ever

Joint Post by Jaunita Flessas (George) (Senior Digital Accessibility Leader at Navy Federal Credit Union) & Michael Bervell (CEO at TestParty)

At a time when digital transformation is no longer a luxury but a necessity, accessibility is rapidly becoming a strategic business imperative. Yet for many organizations, it remains misunderstood, underfunded, or deprioritized. That’s a mistake that comes with steep financial, operational, and reputational costs.

As organizations begin to understand that accessibility is not just a compliance requirement but a driver of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and innovation, we need to reframe the conversation. Making that case often requires more than passion. It requires proof.

The best way to do that? Data. Metrics. ROI. In other words: storytelling with numbers.

This post is a deep dive into the research Jaunita Flessas (Senior Digital Accessibility Leader at Navy Federal Credit Union) shared at CSUN 2025 and in her internal playbooks, with new framing to help others make the case for accessibility in their own organizations. Whether you’re just starting a digital accessibility program or scaling an existing one, these metrics and models can guide your next steps and help justify every dollar spent.

Why We Must Quantify Accessibility

In the accessibility space, we often appeal to ethics, empathy, and equity. Those are vital. But when it comes to winning budget, resources, or executive attention, tying accessibility directly to business value is non-negotiable.

To that end, accessibility leaders need to understand the full landscape of metrics:

• Operational metrics measure how efficient your teams and tools are.
• Customer metrics reveal whether your digital experiences meet user needs.
• Product metrics show how accessibility changes impact your offerings.
• Strategic metrics link accessibility to growth, market expansion, or employee satisfaction.

As Jaunita Flessas, a leading digital accessibility voice at Navy Federal Credit Union, puts it: “Metrics allow us to track the performance and value of our programs. And when you can show value, you can drive change.”

That’s the foundation of her groundbreaking work, calculating the true cost of inaccessibility and the real ROI of building accessibility into every stage of the development lifecycle.

The $2,480 Accessibility Bug

Let’s start with a sobering number: $2,480.

That’s the estimated cost of a single accessibility issue when left unresolved in the backlog. It includes:

• $1,000 of Direct labor costs (developers, QA, managers, auditors)
• $500 of Backlog holding costs (delays, risk exposure)
• $680 of Opportunity costs (what could have been built instead)
• $200 of Indirect costs (legal, brand, and customer churn risks)

These estimates are conservative, and they compound quickly. If a digital product has 100 unresolved issues, that’s nearly $250,000 of latent risk sitting in your backlog.

And that’s a conservative estimate. Just on the cost side. What about the missed opportunity?

When accessibility issues sit in the backlog, they become technical debt. They slow teams down, multiply across environments, and require multiple handoffs to resolve, which ultimately costs more than anyone expects.

This aligns with what we’ve seen at TestParty: when clients use our real-time remediation platform early in the development cycle, the cost savings are enormous compared to retrofitting PDFs, rebuilding Shopify templates, or responding to demand letters after the fact.

The 9,924% ROI No One Talks About

Using real industry data, Jaunita created a powerful ROI model for hiring a dedicated accessibility engineer. Consider this:

• Average salary (loaded): $155,052
• Average issues prevented per year: 6,816
• Cost per issue avoided: $2,280
• Total cost savings: $15.5 million+

That’s a 9,924% return on investment—yes, you read that right. For every dollar spent on an accessibility engineer, you save nearly 100.

Even more impressive? These savings are just from issue prevention. They don’t account for brand reputation boosts, market expansion, or employee retention tied to disability inclusion efforts.

The Power of Prevention

Accessibility, like security, is exponentially cheaper and more effective when built-in from the start. Jaunita’s research shows that each prevented issue saves:

• Developer time fixing issues
• Product owner and scrum master time managing tickets
• QA time validating bugs
• Manager time overseeing remediation
• Customer support time responding to avoidable problems

This is why the “shift-left” strategy, which involves embedding accessibility into design, development, and QA from day one, is gaining traction in high-performing orgs.

Tools like TestParty’s real-time accessibility automation support this shift by integrating directly into developer workflows, preventing issues before they ever hit production.

Metrics That Matter

So, how do you show the value of accessibility beyond anecdotes?

Jaunita outlines a framework focused on multiple layers of impact:

1. Program Metrics

• Accessibility budget and spend
• Conformance trends over time
• Backlog size and time to close issues

2. Initiative Metrics

• Training effectiveness (pre/post assessments)
• Vendor compliance scores
• Audit remediation time
• Automation utilization and accuracy

3. Business Value Metrics

• Reduced legal exposure
• Increased customer retention
• Lower development cost per issue
• Competitive advantage in RFPs and procurement

TestParty customers often see value across all of these categories. For example, using automated testing in tandem with human review helps streamline audits, reduce manual hours, and deliver detailed dashboards that track remediation progress and KPIs over time.

From Metrics to Movement: Driving Executive Buy-In

Metrics alone aren’t enough. You need to tie them to the objectives your leadership already cares about:

• Financial Value: Are we saving money?
• Operational Value: Are we scaling more efficiently?
• Strategic Value: Are we managing risk or entering new markets?
• Customer Value: Are we improving satisfaction and retention?
• Employee Value: Are we empowering our teams and improving engagement?

Jaunita advises tailoring reporting to your audience. While direct managers may want granular numbers (e.g., average time to remediate a finding), senior leaders care about broader impact (e.g., reduction in legal risk or boost in customer satisfaction).

TestParty aligns with this by offering executive-friendly reporting dashboards while also providing technical-level outputs that plug into developer and QA workflows.

But What If Leadership Doesn’t See the Need?

If you’re still facing resistance, Jaunita’s advice is simple but powerful: Prove that the current approach isn’t working.

Start with baseline stats:

• Time to remediate issues today
• Vendor vs. in-house cost comparisons
• Customer support tickets related to accessibility
• Accessibility scores over time

Then, run pilot programs. Add a dedicated accessibility engineer to one team. Invest in a lightweight automation tool like TestParty. Track the difference in issue rates, time-to-market, and customer sentiment.

In almost every case, the results speak for themselves.

Accessibility is a Force Multiplier

Accessibility is often seen as a cost center, but that’s a flawed framing. Done right, it’s a force multiplier for everything your organization cares about:

• It improves UX for all users, not just those with disabilities.
• It enhances SEO, brand perception, and customer trust.
• It prevents lawsuits and reduces vendor dependence.
• It accelerates innovation by reducing rework.
• It can drive innovation itself and lead to new products and features that serve everyone.

And when paired with tools that scale your efforts, like TestParty, which blends automated audits, issue tracking, and remediation guidance into a seamless workflow, you get impact without the overhead.

Closing Thoughts: A Call to Action

As Jaunita reminds us, accessibility can either be expensive or effective. The choice is ours.

By tracking meaningful metrics, tying efforts to business value, and shifting from reactive fixes to proactive prevention, accessibility can become one of the most valuable investments your organization makes.

To learn more about this topic, check out Juanita’s original research below:

• https://www.bit.ly/winning-metrics
• https://www.bit.ly/ROI-accessibility-engineer
• https://www.bit.ly/remediation-calculator

If you're ready to scale your accessibility efforts without breaking the bank, or your development pipeline, TestParty is here to help. Let’s turn your accessibility backlog into a competitive advantage.

Special thanks to Jaunita Flessas for her groundbreaking work and thought leadership. To learn more about her research, visit her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaunitaflessas/