Throughout 2021, Apple has made some major changes to their privacy and tracking policies, and the brand new iOS 15 is no exception. When iOS 14.5 rolled out in April, marketers faced the challenge of losing tons of tracking information in their Facebook and Google Ads. This time around, Email Marketing is in the hot seat. iOS 15 was made available for download today, and here’s what you can expect.

What’s Changing?

Apple is introducing several new features to limit tracking email activity through their Mail App. Note that about 46.3% of emails are opened in this app, so this will have a significant impact on all email data. Here’s what’s being added.

Mail Privacy Protection

This free function will allow users to opt in to mail privacy features that mask IP addresses and block third parties from tracking email opens or other IP data. Though users have to actively opt into hiding mail activity, it is predicted that 96% will.

iCloud+

This subscription-based feature includes additional privacy protection, including custom email domains and the ability to prevent Safari from tracking which websites users are sending information to.

Hide My Email

This feature, which is a part of iCloud+, will allow users to give websites a false email address. With this, brands can still send promotional emails to their inbox, but brands will not know what the customer’s real email address is, which is typically used for tracking and targeting online ads. Note that when a user has opted into Hide My Email, it will appear as a 550 Bounce Code in email data.

What Does This Mean For Marketers?

Say Goodbye To Tracking Open Rates…

This is a major loss for email marketers. Though open rates from web browsers and the Gmail app will still be able to be tracked, the data will be skewed and difficult to interpret. This new age of Email Marketing calls for lowering open rate expectations and further reliance on click-through and conversion rates.

Keep in mind that open rates aren’t the end-all-be-all. Clicks and conversions are also key metrics to help us understand the performance of email campaigns. Though we’re sad to part with open rate tracking, we won’t let iOS 15 stop us from running strategic, innovative, and effective email marketing campaigns.

Want help navigating email marketing through all of these changes? Our team of experts will steer you in the right direction!