iOS 15: Change is inevitable; change is constant ??

iOS 15 Is Coming: Everything Email Marketers Need To Know To Prepare

Apple recently introduced its new?Mail Privacy Protection?for the Apple Mail app during the 2021 edition of the Worldwide Developers Conference, the world of email marketing exploded. (WWDC 2021).

Apple revealed new tools to let consumers control and monitor how applications use their data, including the ability to block email tracking in the Mail app.

Apple explained that?“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” (Apple Press Release, July 7 2021). Thus, this?feature allows recipients to opt-in to prevent senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about recipients.

With Apple's event?today (14/09/2021) likely to usher in the next iPhone, we're closer to the launch of iOS 15.

?Here’s what you need to know.

The iOS 15 update: What Apple’s changing

There are three primary updates that will affect an email marketer’s ability to serve subscribers:

1. Mail privacy protection will eliminate the ability to accurately track open rates
2. Private relay will hide the user’s IP address while browsing the web
3. Hide my email will allow users to mask their real email address with a fake one

How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection work?

All emails will initially be routed to a proxy server to pre-load content, regardless of whether the recipient actually opens the email. Thus, this is expected to inflate open rates because those using Apple Mail who are opted-in to Mail Privacy Protection will show as a unique open, even if they haven’t actually opened your email. As a result, the reliability of any activity dependent on email opens or open rates will be impacted. This may include but is not limited to A/B tests results, automations, journeys, and basic segmentation. Additionally, personalisation based on real-time engagement and location will also be impacted.

Private Relay- Isn't this big news for Email Marketers?

Mail Privacy Protection comes with the extra benefit of hiding IP addresses. Again, this prevents third parties from defining the user’s location or email habits and preferences. This sounds great for users since they can efficiently block all remote content and hide their online activity, but for email marketers, it is another insurmountable obstacle to?overcome.

With this feature on, email marketers see generic information because the system routes the content through multiple proxy servers and assigns an IP address that corresponds to the user’s general?region.

Without the specific information about the recipient, such as the location, device in use, and habits, it becomes much harder to segment subscription lists and create hyper-personalized email messages that lie at the core of successful email marketing campaigns.

Hide My Email?Feature ?? ??

Subscribers will be able to create a ‘disposable’ email address when interacting with businesses — like filling out a form to download an eBook. This is basically a fake email address that will route messages to the real one, but it prevents the email sender from knowing the subscriber’s real address. Thus, long after the recipient has abandoned the fake email address, it may still show up on the business’ email list.

The main problem with this approach is that email marketers will no longer see the user’s actual email address. In addition, the system will continue to obscure the email address in the reply.

This may also cause “hard” bounces because users may delete these temporary e-mails without any particular reason. The increased amount of “hard” bounces leads to a low deliverability rate. The latter is essential for maintaining a good sender’s reputation and ensuring high open rates related to conversions and lead generation.

Is this the death of Email?

The death of email has been long exaggerated. Email is going strong, especially when combined with an omnichannel strategy that marketers can leverage to connect with customers across all devices, to provide unique 1:1 real-time experiences.

How Email Marketers Can Navigate Apple's iOS 15 Changes

1. Review ESP Reports to understand, benchmark, and plan for the impact.
2. Review existing activities (emails, journeys, automations) to identify those impacted that relied on Open, Open Time, or Location.
3. Understand NorthStar metrics to replace Opens, like?Clicks, tracking & attributing these activities to?Conversion?and?Customer Lifetime Value.
4. Use Control Groups to highlight the impact of your activities.
5. Ask customers to update their preferences on your preference and/or profile center.
6. Stay attentive to any increases to your unsubscribe rate and/or spam complaints
7. Clean your subscriber lists & data.
8. Stronger focus on bottom of the funnel metrics.
9. Avoid a single view of the customer.
10. Build a first-party data structure.

10+1. Keep testing. Keep changing.

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, don’t be alarmed. Apple’s iOS 15 change is a considerable blow for marketers and customers who want a personalised experience from brands they know and trust. Email continues to be one of the best ways to communicate with your audience —?that’s not changing. I expect that it will encourage the email industry to keep innovating so that companies can provide the greatest possible experience for their subscribers and consumers. After all, it’s all about the individuals who get our emails at the end of the day.

When the Going Gets Tough, the?Tough Get Going.

We'll get through it:). That’s it, I really hope you found something useful! ?? Thank you so much for reading!

PS1: As always, let me know your thoughts on the topic. I’d love to hear your ideas and views in the comments below ??????. If you liked the post, please hit ?? so others can enjoy it too.

PS2: Are you a founder, tech CEO from Series A to pre-IPO, industry expert, VC, fellow (email) marketer, or researcher interested in the fields of data-driven email marketing, AI, or do you just simply put always the customer first? I’d be more than happy to learn about your work, so feel free to reach out via [email protected].

PS3: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

About me

Hi, I’m?Antonis Gkekas?and I lead?the CRM Marketing operations at Penta, a digital platform for business banking aimed at SMEs, freelancers, and startups.

Follow me on?Twitter where I share more awesome content, case studies and guides!

Resources- Related links for further learning:

• Hubspot
• Apple
• Litmus
• Emarsys
• Omnisend (Image credit: "How to Adapt to the iOS 15 Updates Affecting Email Marketing" by Bernard Meyer via Omnisend)
• MailPoet
• Datarati
• Tinuiti
• Metapress
• Designmodo
• PracticalEcommerce

Happy Learning !!

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