Yay!!! Email marketing is about to get way more complicated.  (my ‘Yay’ was sarcasm). 

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):

Ultimately the impact of the APPLE tracking pixel change will impact roughly 30% of all email users.  (less than the 45% because of adoption and other factors)

Email ‘Open Rate’ tracking will go from being absolute to estimated.  With 70% of inboxes still being able to track email opens the 30% balance will be extrapolated out and open rate data will continue to appear in tracking reports.

BUT – Open Rates will continue to be useful for determining A/B testing of subject lines, overall understanding of campaign awareness because of exposure but the big change will be the ability to use ACTUAL opened emails effectively.

To summarize:

Good:

• Will still be able to track statistically relevant ‘Open Rate’ information (this metric has always been directional and that will continue to be the case).
• A/B testing of subject lines/timing/etc and estimated open rate of campaigns/newsletters will be fine.

Bad:

• Marketing Automation triggers based on actual emails opened will be severely impacted.
• Email address validation and deliverability that relies on address level email open data will be severely impacted

Ok...enough of that. I will keep you guys updated on this as it all develops. I would suggest asking your marketing automation/esp provider what their view is on all of this.  Please let me know what you hear.

Now let’s get some quick stats that are trending right now so we can get your emails performing!

Quick Stats:

Email Performance has Reverted Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels:

BtoB: 
Email Open Rates January 2020: 17%
Email Open Rates June 2021: 17%

BtoC:
Email Open Rates January 2020: 19%
Email Open Rates June 2021:  20%

This is important to know because overall email open rates have been inflated for the past year.  Knowing that it is not an issue that you are causing but actually reflective of the overall change of the country’s behavior is helpful.

LIST Subject Lines Are Doing GREAT!!

• Example:
  
  • 11 Must Haves For The Summer
  • 8 Mistakes Every CFO Makes

BtoB:
‘List’ Subject Lines: 22% Higher Average Open Rate

BtoC:
‘List’ Subject Lines: 28% Higher Average Open Rate

This is really simple content that for some reason we all like to check out.  When you are thinking you don’t have any fresh content to promote revisit existing stuff you have that could be turned into a ‘list’.

Since You Didn’t Ask:

Ok, now onto the totally useless part of this thing...

Watching:

• Mare of Easttown: (HBOMax) – this was awesome.  One season.
• Mosquito Coast: (Apple+) – This was great.  Stars the dude who was married?(engaged?) to Jennifer Aniston

Listening:

I need a life. I was driving this weekend and thought...Why is there no ‘song of the summer’?  What an epic waste of space I am that this is on my mind.  And because I don’t think there is a song of the summer I will give my list of the all-time worst ‘songs of the summer’:

• “Call Me Maybe” (2012)
• “Hot in Herre” (2002)
• “Despacito” (2017)

I am sure you will all disagree and think some of these are good songs, but the interesting part is that you would be wrong.

Until next time...

Also, write me back and let me know what you think of all of this nonsense.

Best,
Jay

p.s. pass along to a friend if you think they may want to sign-up...www.JaySchwedelson.com

AND – PAST ISSUES OF SCOOP ARE NOW LIVE AT https://jayschwedelson.com/Scoops