SCOOP 8 FEBRUARY 24, 2021

So, Apple is really into privacy.  Good for them.  Unfortunately, it means a big new headache for email marketers.

Why you ask?

I will put the boring details below, but the basics are that APPLE is going to eliminate the ability for marketers to track email ‘open rates’.  Let that sink in for minute...

Think about all the marketing automation triggers you have setup based on email opens vs. non-opens...

Or how about your A/B testing of subject lines and using email opens to determine the winner....

Or when you sell email newsletter sponsorship advertisements, and you tout your email open rate to close the sale...

And I haven’t even touched on how bad this screws up your ability to improve email deliverability by leveraging opened email data...

This will affect about 45% of all email that is sent and received.  So yeah – it’s a big deal.

BORING PART ALERT!

Here is what APPLE is doing:

This is how APPLE describes it -

“In the Mail app, Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location”

The change will eventually happen this fall when you update your iPhone to IOS 15. You will see a screen that will invite you to opt-in.

Ok...now that you are sufficiently nauseas lets discuss how email marketing will be fine...

GOOD NEWS!  WE MIGHT STILL BE OK!

In December of 2013 (yes, 2013) Google launched the same thing as what APPLE is about to do. While it has caused some headache, it did not wipeout the ability to track ‘opened’ emails to Gmail users.

BUT...APPLE is not GOOGLE. APPLE has already stated the purpose of what they are doing. Disabling the ability to track opened emails is among those purposes.  GOOGLE was caching images to reduce adware and malware issues.  Very different goals.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST...The only constant in the world of email marketing is that change will occur.  I will use my crystal ball and tell you what the world of email will look like 12 months from now:

SUMMER 2022 Email Predictions (cause of APPLE CHANGE):