A Consent Checkbox With No Label Attached

A box with nothing to say

Since July 1, booking and sign-up forms on many small business sites end with a new checkbox. A sentence sits a little above it, asking permission to send news and specials by email.

Tap the sentence on a phone and nothing happens; only the tiny box responds. Listen with a screen reader and the box is announced as an unchecked checkbox, with no words at all.

To a sighted visitor the sentence and the box look connected. In the page's code they are strangers.

How a label joins words to a box

HTML has a label element for exactly this. The label holds the sentence and names the box it belongs to, either by pointing to the box's identifier or by wrapping around it.

Once joined, the browser treats the words and the box as one control. Many forms skip the step because the page looks the same either way.

A nearby heading or a paragraph is no substitute. Only a label, or an equivalent setting in the code, gives the box a name.

What a proper label changes

• Screen readers announce the sentence with the box and its state.
• A tap or click on the words ticks the box, a far larger target on a phone.
• Speech recognition software can tick the box when the user says its words.
• The consent record can store the exact words that sat beside the box.

The second matters to everyone. A checkbox is one of the smallest targets on a page, and a sentence that ticks it is many times larger.

The form looks exactly the same afterwards. The work is entirely in the code.

Why consent boxes end up unlabelled

Many were added in a hurry in late June. Someone placed a checkbox at the end of the form, left its own label empty, and typed the consent sentence as an ordinary paragraph nearby.

Others came from a form tool that labels the box with a single word, such as Newsletter, while the real request sits in small print above it.

Some themes also replace checkboxes with styled images and hide the real box, which can break the connection again after a label is added.

What the anti-spam law asks of the request

Express consent under the anti-spam law needs a positive act, so the box starts unticked. The request names the business, explains the purpose, gives a way to get in touch, and mentions that the person may withdraw at any time.

It should also stand apart from agreeing to the order or the terms. Treat this as a general outline, not legal advice about your own forms.

Implied consent from existing customers continues during the transition period, but a sign-up box on a form is a request for express consent.

Consent the visitor could actually perceive

A consent record says that a person ticked a box beside certain words. If a screen reader announced only an unchecked checkbox, that person was never given the words.

The label is what connects the tick to the request. Without it, the record describes a request the visitor may not have received.

The same goes for a visitor on a small screen, where an unlabelled sentence can end up some distance from its box, with nothing tying the two together.

A worked example

A restaurant equipment supplier sells ranges, refrigeration and smallwares to restaurants and cafes from a showroom in an industrial area. Most new trade accounts are opened through a form on its website.

In late June the owner added a checkbox for the monthly specials email at the foot of the account form, with the consent sentence typed as a paragraph above it.

A cafe owner who relies on a screen reader phoned, puzzled by a checkbox read out with no words. Testing on a phone showed the other problem: tapping the sentence did nothing.

The sentence is now the box's label, naming the supplier and saying customers can unsubscribe at any time. The box starts unticked and sits apart from the account terms.

Each consent is stored with the date, the form and the label's wording. The record now matches the request, because the customer who ticked the box heard or read the same words it contains.

What the record should hold

For each address, keep the date and time of consent, the form and page it came from, and the exact wording of the label at that moment.

If the wording is ever revised, keep each earlier version with the dates it was in use. A record that says only yes cannot show what the person agreed to.

Keep the record where someone other than the person who built the form can find it.

Testing the box

Click or tap the sentence: the box should tick. Then move through the form with the Tab key and press the space bar on the box.

Turn on the screen reader built into the computer or phone, and listen as you reach the box. The sentence should be read with it, along with whether it is checked.

Try it on a phone as well, where the sentence and the box may wrap onto separate lines.

The counter-case

A form that asks for no marketing consent needs no box. A booking form used only to arrange the booking itself is in that position.

Some businesses gather consent through a separate sign-up, such as a newsletter form elsewhere on the site. The same label rule applies there.

Wherever a box asks for consent, the words beside it are the request. They belong to the box in the code as well as on the screen.

Labelling the consent box

1. Find every consent box on the site.
2. Tie each sentence to its box as a label.
3. Start every box unticked.
4. Keep consent separate from the order terms.
5. Name the business and the right to unsubscribe.
6. Store the label wording with each consent.
7. Test with a tap, a keyboard and a screen reader.

Step two is a small change in the code with a large effect. It makes the box easier to use for everyone, and it makes the record mean what it says.

Consent records to gather before CASL starts sets out what else the record should hold for each address, from its source to its date.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.