Times they are indeed a-changin’ … especially when it comes to privacy protections and email marketing.
By now you’ve probably heard that Apple’s latest update includes new mail privacy protections (MPP) that will shake up open rates.
Other than being prepared to explain why your open rates look drastically different than previous months, you may assume there’s not much to do beyond educating yourself.
Read on to learn about the impact of MPP and get our five to-dos to ensure your email marketing and marketing automation strategies survive the change.
Understanding the impact
The new privacy protections are included with the following Apple updates:
- iOS 15
- iPadOS 15
- MacOS Monterey
- WatchOS 8
The privacy protections are available to anyone using Apple Mail – this includes company emails and Gmail accounts accessed via Apple Mail as well.
According to Litmus, approx. 52% of emails are opened on an Apple device.
For marketers, this means that you will no longer be able to identify who or how many people opened an email accessed via the latest version of Apple Mail.
While many marketers assumed open rates would dive-bomb, instead, they will see an overinflation, rendering open rates useless for tracking engagement.
Here’s how Act-On explains it:
5 to-dos for every marketer to survive MPP
Here are five to-dos marketers can’t overlook to ensure their email marketing and marketing automation programs keep running without a hitch.
1. Update reporting metrics and KPIs. While email marketing is unlikely to die any time soon, the open rate is less important than ever. Click thrus and activity that takes place on your website are the only accurate measure. Update your KPIs accordingly.
2. Amend workflows for email nurturing programs. If your nurturing programs use workflows based on open rates, now is the time to update them.
3. Change A/B subject line testing protocols. Email marketing best practice is to A/B test subject lines based on open rates. With over-inflated open rates, it’s time to evaluate what you’re A/B testing.
4. Revisit engagement and re-engagement criteria. Many email marketing clients, including HubSpot, identify unengaged subscribers as those who haven’t opened one of your last ten emails. If you continue to rely on open rates as the standard metric, you’ll believe your contacts are much more engaged than they actually are.
5. Increase opt-in subscribers. A healthy email list is more important than ever. Finding and connecting with the people who want to receive information from you is the cornerstone of a successful email strategy.
