Contact US
MENU
You could be forgiven for missing it but, if you’ve been paying close attention, you’ll have noticed the doom mongers are out in force again.
This time they’re sounding the death knell of email marketing (for the umpteenth time!) thanks to an announcement Apple made regarding the upcoming iOS 15 update.
Before we get into it, here’s what’s happening:
As part of the iOS 15 update, Apple Mail is getting a new Privacy Protection feature. The new feature will disrupt tracking pixels in emails. This means Apple will stop senders from knowing when users have opened an email and will mask their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.
In a nutshell, all emails sent to Apple devices, read using native email apps will show as 100% opened – therefore rendering open rates useless.
We expect to see this update anytime from mid-September (2021) and Apple will give users the choice whether they want to opt-in or opt-out of this feature. However, we can safely assume the vast majority will opt-in. The App Tracking privacy feature Apple added to the last update (which works in a similar way) currently has an estimated 95% adoption rate of the privacy setting and we expect the numbers to be similar for this feature.
In essence, this means open rates, click to open rate, send time optimisation and content based on time of open (like countdown timers) will no longer be reliable from readers with Apple devices (between 40-60% of all users).
“Whaaaat? We can’t track open rates from Apple devices?” is probably pretty close to what you’re thinking right now. But worry not, there is no need to panic.
You see, open rates can serve a purpose – they’re a useful indicator of a number of things, especially how strong a subject line is – but they aren’t the be all and end all. Like list size, open rates are a vanity metric. They’ll tell you information that might make you feel good when the numbers are high but this information doesn’t tell you anything about conversions or engagement – the metrics that really matter.
Great email marketing is about building relationships with your subscribers and this can’t be tracked through an open rate. This is measured through how your subscribers engage, interact and, ultimately, buy from you.
This being said, there are a number of actions you can take to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered:
This is a significant change to the email marketing landscape but one, we believe, in the same vein as GDPR, has the potential to benefit everybody. It will force senders to prioritise email content that drives engagement which, naturally, then benefits the reader. Everyone wins.
If you’re already one of our clients, we’ll be going through all of this with you. Or, if you’re new to Jarrang, and would like some support, advice or guidance, we’re here to help – you can get in touch with us below.
Apple has now confirmed that iOS15 is set to be released on Monday 20 September.