Using WebAIM Million and Market Benchmarks to Sell Accessibility Internally

Accessibility advocates inside organizations often have the hardest job: convincing stakeholders who don't experience barriers that barriers matter. Abstract appeals to "doing the right thing" or vague references to legal risk rarely secure budget. What works is data—specific, credible numbers that make the business case concrete.

The WebAIM Million provides one of the most valuable datasets for this purpose. Every year, WebAIM analyzes the accessibility of the top 1 million homepages, providing benchmarks that show exactly how bad the web is—and how your organization compares.

This guide shows how to use WebAIM accessibility statistics and other market data to build persuasive internal cases for accessibility investment. You'll get slide-ready statistics, framing strategies for different audiences, and ways to position your organization's accessibility work relative to competitors.

Key Statistics from the WebAIM Million

The Headline Number

The most powerful statistic from the WebAIM Million is also the simplest:

96.3% of home pages have detectable WCAG failures.

This number is shocking. It means that the vast majority of websites—including your competitors, your vendors, and likely your own—have accessibility barriers that automated tools can detect. And automated tools only catch 30-40% of issues, meaning the actual number of sites with accessibility problems is even higher.

How to use this statistic:

• "We know that 96% of websites have accessibility issues. The question isn't whether we have problems—it's whether we're going to address them before our competitors do or after."
• "Only 4% of websites meet even the basic automated accessibility checks. Do we want to be in the 96% majority, or the 4% minority that actually works for all users?"

Common Failure Categories

The WebAIM Million breakdown by error type shows which issues are most common:

Low contrast text: 83.6% of pages. The most common failure. Text that doesn't meet WCAG contrast requirements is difficult or impossible to read for users with low vision—and annoying for everyone else in bright environments.

Missing alt text on images: 54.5% of pages. Over half of pages have images without text alternatives. Screen reader users encounter "image" or nothing at all where meaningful content should be.

Empty links: 48.6% of pages. Links without accessible names are announced as "link" by screen readers—users can't tell where they go without clicking.

Missing form labels: 45.9% of pages. Form fields without labels leave users guessing what information to enter.

Missing document language: 17.1% of pages. Without language declaration, screen readers may mispronounce content.

How to use these statistics:

• "These five error types alone affect the majority of websites. We can make meaningful progress by focusing on just these fundamentals."
• "83% of sites have text that people with low vision can't read. That's 15-20% of the population who struggle with content we think is perfectly clear."

Year-Over-Year Trends

WebAIM has conducted this analysis since 2019, enabling trend comparison:

The web isn't getting much better. Despite increased attention to accessibility, the WebAIM Million shows improvement has been slow. Some years show slight improvement; others show regression. The fundamental accessibility problems persist.

How to use trend data:

• "Accessibility isn't getting solved by the market. If we wait for 'the industry' to fix this, we'll be waiting forever."
• "The slow improvement rate means early movers still have competitive advantage. Most organizations are still not addressing accessibility seriously."

Benchmarking Against Your Industry

Finding Industry-Specific Data

While the WebAIM Million covers the web broadly, industry-specific data strengthens your case.

Healthcare. Healthcare accessibility varies widely, with patient portals often being less accessible than marketing sites.

Higher education. WCAG accessibility in education faces specific regulatory requirements under Section 508 and state laws.

How to use industry data:

• "Our industry has been specifically targeted for accessibility lawsuits. [X]% of ADA digital cases were filed against [industry] companies last year."
• "When we benchmark against our three main competitors, [findings from your own analysis]."

Competitive Positioning

Analyzing competitor accessibility creates powerful internal leverage.

How to benchmark competitors:

1. Run automated scans on competitor homepages and key user journeys (free tools like WAVE can do initial assessment)
2. Document error counts and types
3. Create a comparison matrix showing your organization vs. competitors
4. Identify where competitors are ahead or behind

Framing competitive analysis:

• If competitors are ahead: "Competitor X has invested in accessibility. They're serving customers we're currently excluding."
• If competitors are behind: "None of our competitors are accessible. First-mover advantage is available—the organization that makes this investment captures market share."
• Either way: "Accessibility will eventually be table stakes. The question is whether we're leading or catching up."

Translating Data for Different Audiences

For Executives

Executives care about risk, revenue, and strategic positioning. Frame accessibility data accordingly.

Risk framing:

• "ADA digital accessibility lawsuits increased [X]% last year according to [UsableNet/legal tracking source]. Our current accessibility posture exposes us to similar action."
• "96% of websites have accessibility failures. We don't know if we're in that 96% because we haven't systematically assessed. That's unknown risk."

Revenue framing:

• "CDC statistics show 27% of US adults have disabilities. Our inaccessible site effectively excludes a significant portion of our addressable market."
• "Accessibility improvements typically increase conversion rates for all users, not just those with disabilities. Clearer interfaces, better forms, and navigable experiences serve everyone."

Strategic framing:

• "The European Accessibility Act takes effect in 2025. Proactive compliance now is cheaper than reactive compliance later."
• "Our stated DEI commitments ring hollow when our digital properties exclude people with disabilities."

For Engineering Leadership

Engineering leaders care about technical debt, development velocity, and team capability.

Technical debt framing:

• "Accessibility issues compound like other technical debt. Components built inaccessibly create problems in every feature that uses them."
• "Fixing accessibility now costs less than retrofitting later. Integrating accessibility into our development process prevents accumulation."

Velocity framing:

• "Automated accessibility testing in CI/CD catches issues before they ship. Finding problems in code review is cheaper than finding them in production."
• "Accessible components are reusable components. Investment in accessible design system elements pays dividends across products."

Team capability framing:

• "Accessibility skills are engineering skills. Teams that understand accessibility write better code—cleaner markup, proper semantics, thoughtful interaction design."

For Product Teams

Product managers care about user experience, feature prioritization, and measurable outcomes.

User experience framing:

• "Accessibility improvements are usability improvements. The same changes that help screen reader users help everyone using our product."
• "We have no data on how users with disabilities experience our product because we haven't tested. That's a blind spot in our user research."

Prioritization framing:

• "These accessibility fixes address concrete user problems, not hypothetical ones. [X]% of websites have these issues, meaning [X]% of users encounter these barriers regularly."
• "Accessibility work can be prioritized by user journey. Fix checkout accessibility first, then account management, then browse. Incremental improvement is valid."

Measurable outcomes framing:

• "Before/after accessibility work, we can measure: error rates in forms, completion rates for key flows, support tickets related to accessibility, and accessibility audit scores."

Building Your Business Case Presentation

Slide-Ready Data Points

Structure your presentation with these key data categories:

The problem (market context):

• 96.3% of websites have detectable accessibility failures (WebAIM Million)
• 27% of US adults have some form of disability (CDC)
• [X] digital accessibility lawsuits filed in [most recent year] (UsableNet/legal tracking)

Our current state (internal assessment):

• [Results from your own accessibility audit]
• [Comparison to competitors if available]
• [Known accessibility complaints or issues]

The opportunity (business case):

• $13 trillion global disability market spending power (Return on Disability)
• [X]% conversion improvement potential (industry benchmarks)
• Risk mitigation value: average settlement costs vs. remediation investment

The ask (proposed investment):

• Specific budget request
• Timeline and milestones
• Expected outcomes and metrics

Anticipating Objections

Prepare for common pushback:

"We haven't been sued, so we're fine." Response: "Lawsuits are lagging indicators. The absence of legal action doesn't mean accessibility is adequate—it means we haven't been targeted yet. [X] companies in our industry were sued last year."

"Our users don't complain about accessibility." Response: "Users who can't access our product don't become users who complain—they become non-customers. We don't have data on who we're excluding because they can't reach us."

"We'll address it when regulations require us to." Response: "Regulations already require accessibility in many contexts (ADA, Section 508, EAA). Proactive compliance is cheaper than reactive remediation under regulatory pressure."

"It's too expensive." Response: "The cost of remediation now is lower than the cost of remediation later plus the cost of legal exposure plus the cost of lost customers. [Specific ROI analysis for your situation]."

Conclusion – Data Beats Rhetoric

Selling accessibility internally requires moving beyond abstract arguments to concrete data. The WebAIM accessibility statistics provide credible, third-party evidence that the web is broken—and that your organization likely has work to do.

The key elements of a successful internal pitch:

• Credible external data (WebAIM Million, CDC disability statistics, lawsuit trends)
• Internal assessment (your own accessibility audit results)
• Competitive context (where you stand relative to peers)
• Audience-appropriate framing (risk for executives, technical debt for engineering, UX for product)
• Specific ask (what investment you need and what outcomes you'll deliver)

Stop trying to convince stakeholders that accessibility matters in the abstract. Show them the numbers, show them the risk, show them the opportunity. Data sells accessibility in ways that appeals to conscience cannot.

Ready to add your organization's data to the business case? Get a free scan and see where you stand—then use that data to make your internal case.

Related Articles:

• 13 Essential WCAG Compliance Statistics Reshaping Web Accessibility Standards
• The Metrics That Matter: A Deep Dive into Digital Accessibility KPIs