The protection of online user privacy has attracted much attention in recent years, and it has always been a competitive advantage that Apple is proud of. In a recent press conference, Apple announced that iOS 15 will soon have a new “Email Privacy Protection” feature that will hide the user’s IP address and location, and even Mail Open activity. The news came as a shock to a group of Email Marketers.

Apple’s new features, while controversial, are not unexpected. In light of the growing public concern about data privacy, Apple is committed to protecting users’ personal information and allowing them to use its products with peace of mind. You may still remember that when iOS 14 was updated, Apple introduced a feature that limited the tracking of mobile apps, allowing app developers to access app activity only with the user’s active consent. Because this feature will greatly reduce the accuracy of Facebook advertising, it has caused doubts in the industry. The current “Email Privacy Protection” feature is just the next milestone in Apple’s user privacy protection journey.

What user data is protected?

Although Apple has not yet announced the specific implementation details of “email privacy protection”, there has been a lot of speculation from the outside world. Apple has long shown that this feature can hide the activity of opening emails. Before the “email privacy protection” was in place, email senders could generally obtain personal information such as IP address, device type, location, etc., after users opened an email. In other words, a simple act of “opening the email” by the recipient can give the sender access to a lot of personal information. Apple’s action is to make it clear to Email Marketers, “Don’t assume that because someone opens your email, you have the right to their personal information!” To do this, brands must aim to increase the engagement rate, not just the open rate.

While this measure will only affect Apple’s email app, it will not affect the emails of other email service providers such as Outlook or Gmail. However, in light of the trend towards online privacy protection, there is no guarantee that these email service providers will not follow Apple’s lead in introducing similar email privacy protection features in the future.

Use engagement rate, not open rate, as a KPI

Email open rate has always been a highly important KPI for Email Marketers. We often measure the success of our headlines against open rates and find the time to send them with the highest open rates. Email automation often revolves around open rate metrics: one of the most common automation settings is to send another email with the same content but a different subject to the recipient within a specified period of time when the email has not been opened. Now, these practices have to be adjusted.

In addition to open rate, email engagement rate – including link clicks on email links – is also an important metric for measuring the effectiveness of an email. Email Marketers can use methods such as A/B Testing to test the email format, typography, and tone & manner that best fit your brand and industry to increase email engagement.

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