Other than new emojis (đ¶âđ«ïžâ€ïžâđ„đ”âđ«) â the Apple iOS 15 update comes with a few other things you need to be aware of, especially if youâre in charge of running marketing campaigns and communicating with customers.
Whilst there are always smaller updates and new features to be aware of, this oneâs a biggie, with enhanced privacy features incoming that could change how marketers report and analyse email performance forever.
But donât panic! Read on to find out exactly what has changed, how it might impact your business and, most importantly, how we can help!
Announced in June earlier this year at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple recently began rolling out their new iOS 15 privacy features.
These includeâŠ
Mail Privacy Protection (Free): Apple Mail will now allow users to opt into mail privacy features that mask IP addresses and block third parties from tracking email opens or other IP data.
From Apple: âThe new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email and masks their IP address so it canât be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.â
iCloud+ (Subscription)(50GB: ÂŁ0.79): For an additional subscription cost, iCloud can now offer advanced privacy features, such as the Private Relay option that stops sites from tracking Safari users much like a VPN service.
From Apple: âPrivate Relay ensures all traffic leaving a userâs device is encrypted, so no one between the user and the website they are visiting can access and read it, not even Apple or the userâs network provider.â
Hide My Email (within iCloud+): This feature essentially allows users to provide âfakeâ email addresses and âcloakâ their actual addresses. Emails sent from a brand to the fake address will still reach the same inbox, however, brands will not be able to access the users' ârealâ address.
From Apple: âHide My Email lets users share unique, random email addresses that forward to their personal inbox anytime they wish to keep their personal email address private.â
Whilst these are big wins for customer privacy, we need to watch carefully how this might impact our email marketing efforts and the metrics we track.
The paid features of the update arenât too concerning as they require additional purchases. However, the free Mail Privacy Protection service has a much higher opt-in potential, with similar updates launched previously seeing over 90% of users opting in (RakaCreative).
Simply put, this update means that email tracking tools â like HubSpot â will no longer be able to accurately identify if someone (using Apple iOS) has truly opened an email. The Mail Privacy Protection feature will artificially open the email, causing tools to log that an email has been opened, when in fact it may not have been by the actual end user.
So if youâre using email open rates as a KPI, this figure could now be artificially inflated and inaccurate. If youâre using email open rates to trigger additional automation events, this could also cause a few headaches. If you use software like HubSpot, this then branches out into areas like custom dashboards, lists and branching structures within workflows.
Generally speaking, Apple is the most popular email client by user adoption, tracking at around 47% of the market share (Litmus). This means â in theory â almost 50% of your emails will now be automatically logged as âOpenedâ.
Whilst this figure might seem scary, itâs important to bear in mind the overall likely adoption of Apple across your target audience and sector. So think back to your buyer personas and utilise industry trends to understand the impacts specific to your business.
The Apple iOS 15 Update will impact every business differently. As we work with a broad variety of sectors and types of business, weâre keen to help explore how this might impact your unique marketing strategy and systems â plus, most importantly, outline how to mitigate any impacts. Get in touch with us today if you have any concerns or want to learn more.