How Apple iOS 15’s New Privacy Features Will Affect Email Marketing

During the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that its upcoming iOS 15 update will offer iPhone owners more control over their privacy and data. This may sound like good news all-round for the average person. But for email marketers, this data is what helps create effective email campaigns that deliver the right content to users and brand consumers.

What does this mean for email?

You’ve probably already noticed that Apple has mostly steered clear of using newsletters as an avenue to market its product. So the three major changes likely to affect email will come as no surprise. Let’s look at Apple’s new mail privacy update:

One feature of the new privacy update will be the users ability to disable tracking pixels within Apple Mail. This means that senders can no longer rely on seeing when users open their email. Although disabling tracking pixels is not entirely new. According to a report carried out by Litmus earlier this year, it found that 93.5% of all email opens on phones come in through Apple Mail on iPhones or iPads. 

Therefore, the impact of this feature compared to previous providers could be significantly more. The privacy protections, which need the user’s consent, would apply to any email opened on Apple’s Mail app. If the user uses the Gmail app or another mail app, the privacy controls will not be affected. This makes it even more important that senders segment their lists and database to determine the potential impact. 

Privacy and personal data security should always be a priority. Now, with the privacy protection, marketers will have to minimise their dependence on open rates and look more closely at other performance metrics like bounces, inbox placement, clicks and transactions after the click. 

Another feature of the privacy update is to remove location data. This will hide users IP addresses, which typically provides a location. Traffic will run through the Apple servers and a third party server and remove the information. Traffic leaving a user’s device will be encrypted so that third parties can’t see what users are searching for.

Lastly, iCloud subscribers will be able to achieve even more privacy. Allowing users to hide their identity and their email addresses when used to sign up to any services online.

When can you expect it to go into effect?

Judging from previous iOS releases, the iOS 15 update may be available as early as September. Email providers are not affected until these new privacy features are live. Meanwhile, marketers should take some time to understand what potential impact this change could have, and what strategies they can plan for that might help eliminate any issues trying to collect worthwhile data.

So, how can we help?

As an agency who specialise in email marketing services we understand how powerful email can be. There’s no doubt that it’s a hugely effective, low cost tool that when used correctly can increase sales and build brand loyalty. 

Our approach to email focuses on data. Good data underpins every successful email strategy. It’s all about making sure each campaign reaches the right person, with the right content.

Despite Apple’s new privacy update, our approach remains the same. Email is an ever-evolving landscape, so our focus shifts from data that relies on open rate analytics to other alternative ways of measuring success. These might include segmenting more contacts or checking delivery rates depending on the goals of our clients.

In order for you to be ready for the changes and know how to use the new Apple updates to your advantage – we’ve gone directly to our tech partners to find you some useful resources written by professional email marketing providers:

Klaviyo: iOS 15: What You Actually Need To Be Worried About

Klaviyo offers insight from its own experts on deliverability and using the Klaviyo platform post new data laws. So that you can get ahead of the game and not only be proactive but also to remain positive.

dotdigital: IOS-15 what you need to know

Here to keep you informed every step of the way, dotdigital shares how you can adjust your thinking and be ready for the changes to come. Using them to your advantage to build better, stronger relationships with your customers. 

In summary

The most crucial aspect is to find a solution that suits your business’s needs. Try to embrace the challenge to come by getting ahead of iOS 15, so that it never becomes a problem for your brand. Remember to test, segment your database, measure your results and repeat until you find what works. As DotDigital and Klaviyo partners, we can help create email marketing campaigns that truly convert.