Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection at the June 2021 WWDC —What you need to know.
What we know now:
The default iOS15 Beta setting for Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) looks like this:
When we tested this setting using both Mailchimp & Sensorpro platforms, the setting triggers an open metric with an IP address from Cupertino even when you don’t open the email.
When you open the email, the open is registered & with the correct IP address. Confusing, I know.
To fully block the tracking pixel, this is the setting required:
What this means
So we can see this gives mixed meaning to the open metric & limits its effectiveness to measure things.
Email is a tool used for more than measuring opens as a vanity metric. For example, sending to non-openers is a common use-case to send a reminder to citizens for motor tax or a vaccine reminder.
And transactional emails will now lose a deliverability metric since the Apple proxy-open fires a false positive. The “I didn’t get that email” defence will be lost, because Apple opened it.
What should marketers do now?
The email marketing industry should adapt & lead by example with new options to manage pixel tracking. Improving trust & transparency is the path to subscriber growth & retention.
Us #emailgeeks are slow to quit the crack cocaine of opens; thoughtful people may disagree, but opens are, at best, a vanity metric. And business owners that rely on email to drive business already know that sales trump opens.
And this is an excellent opportunity to include sales data in email campaigns which opens tools like RFM to identify customers likely to buy or win-back.
Curious people should try running campaigns without link & open tracking. Start to compare the results in terms of practical outcomes. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Book a free 1:1 iOS15 test with me to verify how your existing email platform behaves with the iOS15 Beta.
https://calendly.com/chris-
Industry comments:
“Do I see this as a good thing? Yes, it has been used as a vanity metric and will now force change. Will this be disruptive? Yes, it will be difficult for many to change approaches but won’t be the end of the world. Email has stood the test of time by adapting.” Jenna Tiffany, Let’s Talk Strategy.
“Open Rates have always been unreliable in their accuracy, and this will just make them more so” Kath Pay, Holistic Email Marketing
“Email marketers are already moving beyond opens and being forced into living without that metric might create more innovative thinking around how we measure email engagement.” Tanishq Juneja, Netcore.
“We as an industry need to take these matters into our own hands before someone elses’ make decisions, as we see here. The players are taking these measures because it’s what their customers are asking them.” Rui Nunes, SendXmail
“If we do not tackle the privacy issues head on then someone else will do it for us” Andrew Bonar, EmailExpert.
iOS15 Beta unpacked & tested on several email platforms by Tom Blijleven, Tobias Eickelpasch & Chris Byrne:
https://bit.ly/-apple-mpp-
Chris Byrne is co-founder with Sensorpro, an EU-made email marketing platform based in Ireland. Chris is a daily sea-swimmer & lives at the very edge of Europe in Dingle, Ireland. Get to know Chris on LinkedIn or Twitter & his latest work: https://sensorpro.net/shopify