Multiverse meets web accessibility standards with Ketch CMP

Multiverse is training the next generation of leaders through real work experience. Since starting in the UK in 2016, they’ve trained over 10,000 professional apprentices in partnership with more than 1,000 of the world’s best employers. Focusing on the skills of the future, their programs range from business operations to data science and software engineering. After noticing the need for global training solutions, they expanded to the US in 2020.

Challenge: an approaching web accessibility audit, with consent management compliance concerns

Website accessibility requirements are sometimes overlooked in the user experience journey. For ethical and legal reasons, ensuring an inclusive website experience is critical in the modern digital landscape. 

When Multiverse found themselves approaching an accessibility audit, they caught an issue that needed immediate attention: their legacy CMP (consent management platform). The vendor’s banners weren’t standing up to Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) standards. 

Many traditional consent banners don’t meet the standards for accessible experiences. A few of the requirements: 

• Cookie consent banners must be accessible by “tabbing” through the page (for visitors using only a keyboard)
• Consent banner language should be simple enough for all users to understand
• Consent banner color design should incorporate best practice ratios to ensure easy

When Multiverse asked their legacy vendor to fix the problem, they were unresponsive. It was time for a new solution. 

Solution: compliant consent banners integrated with a complete data privacy platform 

With no time to lose–the WCAG audit date was approaching quickly–the Multiverse and Ketch teams kicked off the project. First up: a new consent banner to comply with accessibility requirements. 

Ken Day, Senior Product Designer at Multiverse, took the lead in detailing all necessary banner changes to the Ketch team, informed by audit requirements. Priorities included: 

• Making sure the consent banner had a compliant focus state indicator. The focus indicator is a visual signal that helps a website visitor understand where to look. To be compliant, the focus indicator must meet or exceed the minimum required contrast ratio of 3:1. (Curious about what works? Whocanuse.com is a helpful resource for testing color combinations.)
• Ensuring all consent modals were able to be read by screen readers. As the Ketch and Multiverse teams tested banner options together, they discovered that some pop-up and expandable sections of banner styles weren’t being picked up by screen reader technology. The teams used HTML to improve this, tagging sections to indicate new header or paragraph text. 
  

Once the Ketch team had a complete understanding of the banner and modal changes required, they got to work. The Ketch engineering team was engaged throughout the deployment, making tweaks and changes to Ketch banners to meet all accessibility needs. The Ketch customer success team ensured Multiverse requests were prioritized and completed urgently to meet the looming audit deadline. 

Ken was thrilled with the team speed and collaboration. “Ketch has the best customer support, ever. Their CX and engineering teams are fast, proactive, and communicative. They are serious about listening to customer feedback and translating it to product enhancements.” 

Privacy banners are just one part of the Ketch consent and preference management product. In addition to compliant banners, Mutiverse can now: 

• Serve jurisdiction-aware banners for any privacy law, now and in the future. Multiverse operates in the United Kingdom and United States. With customizable policy templates from Ketch, they are serving location-specific banners to all visitors, and can roll out new policies and jurisdictions as their business expands. 
• Connect people’s consent preferences to data in downstream systems. Using Ketch Integrations, Multiverse can automatically send people’s privacy choices to their internal systems and external apps. Wherever personal data lives, Ketch enables them to see the permissions granted for that data. 

Result: website privacy notices ready for audit

In just one week, the Multiverse team went from worrying about the upcoming accessibility audit to ensuring every website privacy notice was audit-ready. Ketch banners will pass the test, giving every Multiverse website visitor a comprehensive experience including privacy choices. 

The project wasn’t just a success for Multiverse, but Ketch too. When the engineering team enhanced accessibility features for Multiverse, they extended these features to the entire Ketch customer base. Co-innovation with Multiverse has made Ketch a better product for all customers. 

With the accessibility features in place, Multiverse is looking ahead to rolling out the complete Ketch Data PermissioningPlatform. Beyond consent and preference management, Multiverse will deploy the following Ketch products: 

• Data discovery and classification to understand their data footprint
• Data subject rights automation to streamline their request intake and fulfillment processes
• Risk assessments and reporting to improve their collaboration and workflows for completing  privacy risk assessments like DPIAs, TIAs, and PIAs 

David Roud, Data Protection Officer at Multiverse, is thrilled to be partnered with Ketch. “We needed an urgent data privacy vendor change. Ketch fits that bill and more. Their next-generation privacy tech is helping Multiverse continue to build our culture of responsible data practices.”