Marketers were left shaking in their boots when Apple released information on iOS 15. (PSST – it’s set to launch this fall!) The main reason was for Mail Privacy Protection and the disabling of tracking pixels. Fear not! The email masters at Litmus did the legwork and got us covered.
How it Works:
- Emails will be downloaded to a user’s device from the sender’s web host or email service provider (ESP).
- Apple will cache all of the images in the email, copy them to a new location on the Apple Privacy Cache with a new, generalized IP address for the user.
- The caching will mimic an open rate and marketers should expect some inflated numbers these coming months.
- If the subscriber does open the email, the message will be downloaded from the Apple Cache rather than the sender’s ESP, so the original tracking pixel will not be able to actually reflect the user opening the email.
- This affects any email opened from the Apple Mail app, but not other email apps used on Apple devices (i.e. the Gmail app).
How to Prepare:
- Determine how much of your audience uses Apple Mail to read your emails.
- Put your creative to the test and understand what’s most compelling to your audience.
- Rethink your baselines and start tracking click-through rates.
- Think list hygiene now! You may not be able to rely on upcoming open rates to clean your unengaged audiences.
- Create audience segments that rely on open data for the future.
Check out the full, detailed post by Litmus for even more email words of wisdom and updates on Apple Privacy Protection.
