How do AI assistants and MPP impact email open rates, and what are better metrics to measure outbound campaign effectiveness?

Summary

The consensus among email marketers and experts is that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and the actions of AI email assistants have made email open rates an unreliable metric for measuring campaign effectiveness. MPP inflates open rates by preloading pixels, while AI assistants can trigger opens without human interaction. Therefore, marketers are strongly advised to shift their focus to more indicative engagement metrics, such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, return on investment (ROI), website traffic, email clicks, and revenue per email. Analyzing full event logs and user agents can help identify the source of email opens, and using UTM parameters will improve tracking accuracy. Deliverability metrics, list segmentation for personalization, and attribution tracking are also crucial for a comprehensive understanding of campaign performance. Focusing on what the business defines as 'effective' will allow the business to revise the KPIs (key performance indicators) to metrics that will deliver results and value.

Key findings

  • MPP Impact: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates, rendering them unreliable.
  • AI Influence: AI email assistants trigger artificial opens, distorting open rate data.
  • CTR Importance: Click-through rate (CTR) is a crucial metric for gauging true engagement.
  • Conversion Focus: Conversion rates and ROI are vital for assessing campaign effectiveness and revenue generation.
  • Traffic Monitoring: Tracking website traffic from email campaigns helps assess engagement and interest.
  • Engagement Metrics: More important engagement metrics are email clicks, and list segmentation for personalised messages.

Key considerations

  • KPI Revision: Revise key performance indicators (KPIs) to prioritize metrics beyond open rates for a more accurate view of performance.
  • Data Analysis: Analyse the source of email opens and clicks to improve reporting accuracy. Also analyse the user agents and event logs.
  • Tracking Enhancement: Utilize UTM parameters to track campaign performance effectively.
  • Comprehensive View: Consider deliverability metrics to gain a well-rounded picture of campaign performance and identify areas for improvement.
  • Personalization: Use list segmentation to personalize email messages and improve campaign results.
  • Attribution Tracking: Focus more on revenue attribution.
  • Focus on Goals: Focusing on what the business defines as 'effective'.

What email marketers say
10Marketer opinions

The introduction of Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and the rise of AI email assistants have significantly impacted the reliability of open rates as a key email marketing metric. MPP inflates open rates by preloading pixels, while AI assistants can trigger opens without a human actually reading the email. As a result, marketers are advised to shift their focus to alternative metrics that provide a more accurate reflection of engagement and conversion. These include click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, return on investment (ROI), website traffic, and revenue per email. Analyzing full event logs and user agents can also help identify the source of email opens. Focusing on engagement metrics that are more relevant will help marketers stay on track.

Key opinions

  • MPP Impact: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) inflates open rates, making them an unreliable metric.
  • AI Impact: AI email assistants can trigger artificial opens, further distorting open rate data.
  • CTR Importance: Click-through rate (CTR) is a crucial metric for gauging engagement.
  • Conversion Focus: Conversion rates and ROI provide insights into campaign effectiveness.
  • Website Traffic: Monitoring website traffic sourced from email campaigns helps measure interest and engagement.
  • Engagement Metrics: Email Clicks, engagement and list segmentation are key focus areas for gauging success.

Key considerations

  • Metric Shift: Adjust key performance indicators (KPIs) to prioritize metrics beyond open rates.
  • Data Analysis: Implement methods for identifying the sources of email opens and clicks for more accurate reporting.
  • UTM Parameters: Utilize UTM parameters to track campaign performance effectively.
  • Holistic View: Use a range of metrics to get a more comprehensive view of the campaigns performance.
  • Attribution Tracking: Improve tracking revenue attribution so you can link your marketing campaigns and revenue.
Marketer view

Email marketer from G2 responds that marketers should use metrics like click-to-open rate (CTOR), conversion rate, and bounce rate to measure email marketing success after MPP rolled out. These metrics provide a clearer picture of engagement and campaign performance.

February 2023 - G2
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that analyzing full event logs and user agents can help identify the source of email opens.

March 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor responds that MPP privacy features have had a big impact on open rates which are no longer a reliable benchmark. They suggest that marketers focus on clicks, conversions and revenue as a better guage of performance.

January 2023 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot explains that since MPP, marketers need to focus on engagement, and that while opens are still useful, they are no longer reliable. Instead metrics like email clicks, website traffic and attribution are more important.

August 2021 - HubSpot
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit shares on r/emailmarketing that with MPP, you should look at click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of your outbound campaigns.

September 2023 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) inflates open rates by preloading pixels, making open rates an unreliable metric. He suggests focusing on other metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and revenue per email.

April 2021 - Neil Patel's Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Uplers responds that with MPP impacting open rates, it's crucial to focus on metrics that indicate engagement and conversion, such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI). Also consider metrics like time spent viewing an email (if available via advanced tracking).

November 2021 - Email Uplers
Marketer view

Email marketer from Smart Insights explains that marketers need to revise their key performance indicators (KPIs) to account for the reduced reliability of open rates as a key engagement metric. They suggest that marketers focus on click-throughs, conversions, and revenue attribution to measure email marketing success.

August 2021 - Smart Insights
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus shares that MPP will lead to inaccurate open rates. They suggest shifting focus to metrics like clicks, website traffic, and conversions. They also recommend using UTM parameters to track campaign performance more accurately.

August 2023 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that Superhuman tracks opens via pixels (images) and works like anything else.

April 2021 - Email Geeks

What the experts say
6Expert opinions

Experts emphasize that open rates are becoming increasingly unreliable due to Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and the influence of AI email assistants. MPP preloads images, inflating open rates with false positives, while AI agents can trigger opens without a human reading the message. Image loads, in general, have always been an imperfect indicator of actual engagement. Therefore, marketers should shift their focus to engagement metrics like clicks and conversions, and align the chosen metrics with specific campaign goals. The information you're seeking to measure should inform the metrics you focus on.

Key opinions

  • MPP impact: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) makes open rates less reliable due to false positive opens.
  • AI agent impact: AI agents can trigger opens, further inflating open rates artificially.
  • Image loads: Image loads have never perfectly reflected whether people read the email.
  • Engagement metrics: Focus on engagement metrics like clicks and conversions instead of obsessing about open rates.

Key considerations

  • Metric alignment: Choose metrics that align with the specific goals and information you're trying to measure.
  • Goal clarity: Define what 'effective' means for a campaign to determine appropriate metrics.
  • Stop Obsessing About Open Rates: Focus more on engagement metrics.
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks responds that the information you're looking for will inform what might be the metric you should be focusing on.

April 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that image loads have never accurately reflected whether people read your mail as some read without images and others load images without reading the email. Also points to 2 blog posts from 2010 and 2020.

October 2022 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains why marketers should stop obsessing about open rates and focus more on engagement metrics like clicks and conversions.

November 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) changes how email opens are tracked, making open rates less reliable, and discusses the implications for email marketers. It mentions the false positive opens that MPP generates.

March 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that depending on the AI agent, there might be two opens recorded per email: one for MPP and another for the AI agent, leading to inflated open rates.

February 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that open rate probably isn't a good metric for "effective" - or maybe it is, but it depends on what "effective" means.

January 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

Email marketing documentation highlights the impact of Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) on the accuracy of email open tracking. MPP preloads images, inflating open rates and making them a less reliable metric. To evaluate campaign effectiveness, it's recommended to focus on alternative metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, revenue, unsubscribe rates, and spam complaints. In addition, it is suggested to monitor engagement data on landing pages, personalize emails using list segmentation, and utilize deliverability metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of performance.

Key findings

  • MPP Impact: MPP artificially inflates email open rates, reducing their reliability as a performance metric.
  • CTR Importance: Click-through rate (CTR) is a key metric for determining campaign effectiveness.
  • Alternative Metrics: Other metrics like conversion rates, revenue, unsubscribe rates, and spam complaints provide valuable insights.
  • Landing Page Data: Engagement data on landing pages is essential for understanding campaign performance.

Key considerations

  • Supplement Open Rates: Supplement open rates with alternative metrics to obtain a more accurate understanding of campaign performance.
  • Monitor Deliverability: Track deliverability metrics to ensure effective email delivery.
  • Personalize Emails: Use list segmentation to personalize email messages and improve campaign results.
Technical article

Documentation from Mailchimp explains that email open tracking relies on a tracking pixel. MPP impacts the accuracy of this tracking by preloading images, which artificially inflates open rates. They suggest that users should supplement open rates with other metrics for a more accurate understanding of campaign performance.

January 2024 - Mailchimp
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost answers that the changes made by MPP mean that marketers should rely more on click-through rate, conversion rates, and engagement data on their landing pages. Deliverability metrics are also helpful for getting a more rounded view of performance.

February 2025 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from Oracle Bronto explains that while open rates have traditionally been used to determine email engagement, changes in privacy policies make it harder to rely on them. Metrics such as click-through rate, conversion and revenue should be used to assess campaign engagement and success.

October 2023 - Oracle Bronto
Technical article

Documentation from Sendinblue shares that MPP can falsely report opens. They suggest monitoring metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), unsubscribe rates, and spam complaints to evaluate campaign effectiveness and overall deliverability.

October 2022 - Sendinblue
Technical article

Documentation from ActiveCampaign shares that it's important to focus on click-through rate to determine your campaigns effectiveness. Use list segmentation to personalize your messages to improve results.

March 2024 - ActiveCampaign