The impact of Apple’s Mail Protection Privacy is here (for real this time!)

Despite Apple implementing its Mail Protection Privacy (MPP) with the iOS15 update in September 2021, many TFD clients didn’t see an immediate impact to their open rates. Perhaps it was a slow adoption from end users implementing the new update, or a lag in the functionality of the actual update (seems unlikely), but most of our clients were blissfully unaware of what MPP was doing to one of their most sacred metrics. Come the end of December, the tides changed. What we initially dismissed as declines due to Black Friday/Cyber Monday or holiday fatigue (some of which could also be a contributing factor), was in large part the reality of MPP hitting marketers with a harsh new 2022 reality. 

The Numbers

On October 1, 2021, just 11 days after the iOS 15/functionality release, TFD client average newsletter opens by email client were:

This same client sampling on 3/1:

Note the difference in Apple Mail (iOS) and Apple Mail reported opens in just a five month timeframe. Very significant. While you can see that other email clients picked up some of those lost percentages, that information in the wrong hands, might assume your newsletters subscribers are more heavily Gmail users, when in reality they are just a larger representation of reported opens, not necessarily all opens.

Where to go from here

Surely you’ve seen this impact in your email metrics as well. If so, here are our suggested next steps in managing an open rate-less world. 

Update your cleansing/re-engagement campaigns. Automations removing inactive contacts from a database have been an integral part of every ESP/CRM Twenty-First Digital has touched. Removing unengaged contacts from your database keeps newsletter engagement high and costs low. With the implementation of MPP, none of those benefits have changed, but who you’re pushing through that campaign should. 

In a pre-MPP world, trigger criteria for a re-engagement campaign typically was determined by recency of open, i.e. if a consumer hasn’t opened any email in the last X days. Maintaining that same criteria in a post-MPP isn’t possible. That old criteria will actually push more people through the re-engagement campaign than you likely want. Why give someone a reason to opt-out or send a tone-deaf message about not opening emails when they aren’t ready, or worse when they are actually opening? Let’s not forget the outcome of a contact not taking a certain action in our series means they will be removed from newsletter lists (for most existing TFD clients). While we likely want many of them to be removed, let’s not throw out valuable contacts that aren’t ready. 

Updating your trigger criteria for your re-engagement campaign can be as simple as switching to other important metrics like last click, last website session, or create date. Some combination of those, while aiming to keep the users enrolled in the automation pre-MPP, is a good place to start. Also be mindful of your re-engagement campaign conversion rate. Typically this automation is used for cleansing. But if you’re converting more than 5% on this effort, you may look at that as, “Yay, we’re winning all these people back!” when in reality you may be pushing more people through this effort before they need to be. TFD clients typically see 1-3% of users re-engage during this automation. 

Looking for more email support? Or just want to chat MPP? Send me a note at ashley@twentyfirstdigital.com.