How do Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) affect click tracking in email marketing?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks clarifies that 'click tracking pixel' is not a thing, but an 'open tracking pixel' is, which is just an image affected by MPP. Click tracking is done via URLs within the email and isn't impacted by MPP or ITP.
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that email marketers need to adapt their strategies by focusing on engagement metrics beyond open rates, such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and website traffic. Segmenting audiences based on click behavior can provide more accurate insights into subscriber engagement.
Email marketer from Email Uplers shares that ITP's primary goal is to limit cross-site tracking. It achieves this by restricting the lifespan of cookies and preventing certain types of data collection. While ITP doesn't directly block click tracking within an email, it can affect the ability to track users across multiple websites after they click a link in the email, thus limiting the scope of behavioral tracking.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor shares how to focus on click-to-open rates (CTOR) as a reliable measure of engagement. CTOR can provide insights into content relevance and effectiveness, even when open rates are skewed by MPP.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that MPP has no relevance when it comes to clicks; MPP preloads and caches images. ITP is a Safari feature to prevent cross-site tracking and does not impact URLs clicked in emails.
Email marketer from Neil Patel shares the importance of click-through rates, making sure you are A/B testing your strategies, and overall focusing on conversion rates and sales. Neil Patel also says that now is the time to stop obsessing over open rates.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign focuses on leveraging behavioral data to segment and personalize emails. This approach can mitigate the impact of MPP by delivering targeted content to engaged subscribers and improving the overall customer experience.
Email marketer from GMass states that MPP has rendered open rates an unreliable metric for cold emailing campaigns. Marketers should now focus on reply rates and conversions as primary indicators of success. Additionally, personalization and relevant content become even more critical to drive engagement in the absence of accurate open data.
Email marketer from HubSpot focuses on the importance of focusing on click-through rates, website visits, and attributed revenue. They also indicate the importance of list segmentation by focusing on engagement. By observing user behavior and segmenting lists accordingly, marketers can maintain relevance and effectiveness.
Email marketer from SuperOffice shares that MPP has made open rates unreliable, so focusing on click-through rates (CTR) becomes even more critical. CTR indicates genuine engagement and interest in the email's content, offering a more accurate representation of campaign performance.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that due to Apple's MPP skewing metrics, one method is to focus on click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI to measure campaign effectiveness. A/B testing can now provide more insights into what strategies are working.
Marketer from Email Geeks answers question about registering click tracking domains by stating if they client uses "Sign in with Apple" and they are asking "do I need to register our click tracking domain like we had to do with our ReturnPath domain" then the answer is no. You only need to register your sending domain, not every single domain included in the body of the emails.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that the Apple MPP rollout is a big deal that could cause about 90% of Apple Mail users to have privacy protection on. Therefore we should see a massive drop in open rates on any list. He then states that one needs to be thinking about which metrics should be monitored and focused on instead.
Expert from Email Geeks states that MPP is about when images are loaded, and has nothing to do with clicks.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that with the rise of MPP, it's smart to pay more attention to clicks. They're still a pretty reliable action and can offer a more detailed picture of what's capturing people's interest, even with the changes in open rates.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from IAB Tech Lab explains that the industry should focus on building privacy-centric solutions, like contextual advertising and aggregated data analysis. These approaches reduce the reliance on individual user tracking and provide a more sustainable model for digital advertising.
Documentation from Braze indicates that MPP impacts email metrics, primarily open rates. With MPP enabled, Apple Mail pre-loads email content, including tracking pixels, which results in inflated open rates. Braze recommends focusing on click-through rates and conversion rates as more reliable engagement metrics.
Documentation from Litmus explains that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacts email marketing by preventing marketers from accurately tracking email opens. This is because MPP loads all images, including tracking pixels, through a proxy server, masking the user's IP address and location. While it primarily affects open rates, the lack of reliable open data can indirectly affect click tracking analysis by making it harder to segment and target audiences effectively.
Documentation from EDPB highlights that cookie consent is crucial for tracking users across websites. ITP and similar measures reduce the effectiveness of cookies for long-term tracking without explicit consent. This impacts the ability to attribute website conversions and actions directly to email clicks.
Documentation from Webkit.org explains that ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) is a feature in Safari that reduces cross-site tracking by limiting the lifespan of cookies and other website data. It does not directly block click tracking links in emails but reduces the ability to track users across different websites after they click a link.