Apple's announcement of the upcoming iOS 15 caught many email marketers by surprise and got the Internet buzzing with its introduction of a feature called "Mail Privacy Protection," or MPP, which will give users more data privacy as they interact with their email. But for email marketers who rely on specific metrics from subscribers' actions on their email messages to shape their campaigns, MPP will likely make some tracking data become unreliable. Email tracking metrics are an easy way to measure recipient engagement and send tailored follow-up communications, but email marketers will now need to take more creative measures in order to respect recipients' privacy selections. So, what do you need to know about Apple's new MPP? Is the click rate the new open rate? What will you have to change going forward? Rest assured we are here to point you in the right direction with your future email campaigns. While much of this information could apply to any email marketing platform, we will also share specifics for L-Soft customers who are LISTSERV® Maestro users and anyone interested in flexible email tracking options and subscriber best practices. As the launch of LISTSERV Maestro 10.0 may coincide with Apple's iOS 15 autumn release, we have covered all bases and designed the new version with privacy protection in mind. *** What is Mail Privacy Protection (MPP)? *** Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) is a new feature of the iOS 15 operating system, which will affect Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads and Mac computers (macOS Monterey). When users update their devices to the new operating system and open their Apple Mail app, they will see a prompt that asks if they would like to protect their mail privacy. If the first option, "Protect Mail Activity," is selected, the user's IP address would be blocked and all mail content would be loaded privately. The second option, "Don't Protect Mail Activity," if selected, will show the user's IP address to trackers and load mail content directly on the device. *** Important Considerations *** This additional layer of privacy will only affect people who use the Apple Mail app. Metrics will not be impacted for those who use a different mail app, such as Gmail or Outlook. However, it is estimated that the majority of Apple users do use the Apple Mail app. It doesn't matter what type of email address the recipient has (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) because the Apple Mail app allows users to connect to any email account. *** What Does This Mean for Email Tracking? *** Because most users will likely select "Protect Mail Activity," there will be two main impacts on email tracking. First, IP addresses and location will not be tracked, so Apple Mail users will not have any location insights. Second, as inbox content is downloaded privately by Apple before the user opens a message, open rates will no longer be reliable. In fact, open rates will probably skyrocket because all mail content will be downloaded to a proxy server, which in turn will make email marketing software flag all of the messages as opened and read. *** What Can Email Marketers Do? *** We have several suggestions for how to successfully conduct your future email campaigns. 1. Reframe your campaigns so that they are not just based on the open rate, or work without it. Although it's common to send follow-up emails to recipients who opened or did not open a previous email to keep the momentum, email marketers must now get creative. Instead of sending follow-up emails based on the open rate, send follow-up emails to recipients who clicked on specific links. Just because someone opened your email does not mean they were engaged, so click rates can be a much better indicator of how engaging your emails are to your recipients. Going forward, you can analyze which links were clicked to see what your recipients like and don't like about your mailing. In LISTSERV Maestro 10.0, users now have the option to completely disable the open rate metric, if they prefer. This way, they can focus on tracking metrics such as click rates to see which links were the most popular. 2. Keep your lists clean for high subscriber engagement In anticipation of this new privacy tool release, it's more important than ever to make sure that your subscribers are still interested in being on your list. The goal of all email marketers is to see positive interactions with their messages, and we all know how annoying it can be to receive unwanted email. As marketers, you can prevent unwanted email by ensuring that your content is relevant and valuable to your subscribers. In addition, make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe if they desire. If your recipients no longer want to be on your list, it's okay! Although you may reach fewer people going forward, the level of engagement will be higher. *** What Are the Impacts of MPP? *** As email marketers and communicators, it's important to follow the highest level of ethical standards. It's obviously important for us to follow all laws, but it's also our duty to go beyond what is written in the laws and hold ourselves to even stricter standards. At L-Soft, we have been advocating for best practices for permission-based email marketing for decades. We highly recommend that all of our customers use double opt-in subscription confirmation. That way, it's clear who has actively joined your email list. In addition, our LISTSERV Maestro platform gives marketers the choice of different tracking options for recipients, including anonymous email tracking, depending on the desired level of privacy. Although this may seem like a step back for email marketers, it's important to view this change from the consumer's perspective. This new feature is a big step forward for U.S. consumers and Internet users in their fight for privacy, and it's important that email marketers respect this societal push. Even though other parts of the world have taken steps toward data privacy, including the European Union's passing of the GDPR, the United States has not yet enacted significant national regulation regarding consumer data privacy. That said, Apple took privacy into its own hands by releasing MPP. Have any questions about the MPP or the upcoming LISTSERV Maestro 10.0? Subscribe and log in to comment. ######################################################################## EmailRules - A LISTSERV Blog for Email Communicators View Blog: http://www.lsoft.com/blog Unsubscribe: &*TICKET_URL(EMAILRULES,SIGNOFF); Contact the EmailRules list facilitators at: [log in to unmask]