Apple is making significant changes to their privacy policy and operating system in their devices. This upcoming change is going to have a profound effect on email marketing and the way it is measured.

Essentially all email addresses that use an Apple mail device (i.e. iPhones, Macs, iPads etc.) will no longer accurately report on email ‘Opens’ because most apple email software (up to 100% of devices) will automatically download all images from an email server and no longer share any unique details of the user’s device. This means that ‘Opens’ for all email service providers will no longer be a valid way to tell if a user/email address has seen or engaged with your email. This will have a significant impact to email results and metrics because most email lists/databases have over 35-40%+ engaged email users that are using Apple devices.

We are continuing to monitor this upcoming change and the initial version of this software update (IOS 15.0) to Apple devices is just being released as of this week, effective September 20, 2021.

As more Apple device users download and install the latest operating system for their devices the negative impact of inaccurate open reporting will start to become more prominent in campaign reporting.

In the coming months and as this change takes place it will be important to review all existing as well as future campaigns and programs to update them and place a greater emphasis on ‘Clicks’ with a call-to-action and landing pages. This will focus on driving more interactions as the measurement of ‘Clicks’ will be the primary and most prominent measurement of email moving forward.

Here is some additional information about this Apple “mail-privacy-protection” change and some general recommendations from another leading email technology provider.

https://www.litmus.com/blog/apple-mail-privacy-protection-for-marketers/

Most importantly are the recommendations and what you should do to prepare for this upcoming change:

• Size up the potential impact to your program by determining how much of your audience even uses Apple Mail to read your emails. (This is available in itracMarketer campaign reporting)
• Clean up your lead quality, list hygiene, and sender reputation since you may not be able to rely on opens anymore as a sign of a deliverability problem.
• Create audience segments and cohorts that rely on open data so you can keep on using them, at least in the near future.
• Start testing creative to understand what’s most compelling to your audience so you can confidently continue sending emails that drive engagement.
• Start tracking click-through rate over delivered (if you aren’t already) to set a new, additional baseline for campaign success moving forward.

Based upon these recommendations the Customer Success team here at itracMarketer is here to help you through this change to your email marketing program. Please get in touch with us if you require additional information and/or support so that you can continue to drive engagement and results from the email contacts on your lists.