Guides
If you get a demand letter
Steady first steps when a letter says your store isn't accessible, and how your SiteRemora record helps.
Important
This guide is general information. For advice on your situation, talk to a lawyer.
What the letter is
A demand letter says someone using assistive technology, such as a screen reader, couldn't use your store. It usually cites the Americans with Disabilities Act. It lists the barriers it found and asks you to fix them and pay to settle.
A demand letter is a claim and an invitation to settle, and it usually comes before any lawsuit. That leaves time to respond carefully.
First steps
- Keep the letter and note any deadline. Don't let a response window pass.
- Talk to a lawyer who handles website accessibility claims, before you reply. Ask your insurer whether your policy covers this kind of claim.
- Run a scan. See which cited barriers SiteRemora finds, how severe they are, and where they come from.
- Fix what you can, and keep the record. Every fix is dated and recorded with its before and after.
- Fix the whole store, beyond the pages in the letter. Shoppers and testers use the home page, collections, products, cart and search.
How your SiteRemora record helps
Your lawyer will want to know what you've done, and when. SiteRemora keeps that record as you work:
- the Fixes page, with every change and its date,
- the change report, a printable month of fixes and how your score moved,
- the record export, every scan and fix in a spreadsheet,
- your Sunday summaries, which show the trend week by week.
See Change report and record export.
The record shows ongoing work over time. It sits alongside your lawyer's advice, and no tool can promise how a claim ends.