How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) affect the tracking of email opens and clicks, and how are machine opens categorized?

Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that Apple's MPP impacts the reliability of open rates. Because Apple Mail will preload all emails, even if a user doesn't open them, it can inflate open rates and make it harder to gauge true engagement.

Email marketer from HubSpot responds that marketers should focus more on other engagement metrics like clicks, website visits, and conversions to gauge campaign success. They also recommend segmenting and targeting based on these metrics.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that clicks work differently than image requests. They are not going through those image proxies and it highly depends what the browser / device does with those requests. You are more likely to identify the device, but note that Apple and others also have security / privacy features there, which might route browser requests through proxies or privateVPN type set ups

Email marketer from SuperOffice shares that they will be focusing on metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, website traffic from email campaigns, and social media engagement to gauge email marketing success.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that the future of email marketing relies on subscriber-centric data. Open rates provide information but more information on preferences will improve targeting.

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection emphasizes the need to focus on owned data, so focusing on zero and first party data will give you information you can trust.

Email marketer from Litmus shares that MPP primarily affects open rates, making them less accurate. It also impacts the ability to reliably determine device and location data based on opens.

Email marketer from Email Uplers explains that MPP impacts open rates, location tracking, and device information. The inflated open rates will skew A/B testing results and automated email flows triggered by opens.

Email marketer from GMass explains that both MPP and Gmail’s image proxy pre-load images and therefore “open” emails. The difference is, Gmail’s image proxy has been around for years, and good email marketers have adjusted to account for that reality. MPP has just exacerbated the problem.

Email marketer from Validity shares that future-proofing email programs post-MPP involves a deeper understanding of customer preferences, enhanced data privacy practices, and an emphasis on engagement beyond the open.

Email marketer from Reddit states that Apple Mail Privacy Protection does not directly impact click tracking. Clicks are recorded when a user interacts with a link in the email, which MPP does not interfere with.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that what they are counted as highly depends on the tool being used. They are technically http fetches from a server to your server, so they are not coming from any device. Any tool which is counting them as “Desktop” or “mobile” is doing it wrong. (This also applies to other proxies; Gmail, Yahoo etc; there are well known solutions out there which try to group them into mobile and desktop as well; they are also doing it wrong)

Expert from Email Geeks shares that the headers are sanitized by the apple proxy, so there may not be enough information to choose between mobile and desktop (unless you’re doing something fancy with css to track?). It might make sense for the service to categorize them in their own group, neither mobile nor desktop.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that clicks are going to come from the users browser rather than their MUA, so MPP won’t really affect them. Other privacy preserving proxies might well, though.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Apple Mail Privacy Protection impacts email metrics by loading images through a proxy. All of the images will be loaded, whether or not the recipient opens the message and it greatly diminishes the usefulness of open rates as a metric.

Expert from Word to the Wise suggests that to mitigate the effects of Apple MPP marketers should focus on engagement based on user actions such as clicks and purchases, relying less on open rates. Adjust automations and triggers to be based on clicks and web activity rather than opens. Make use of preference centers to get more explicit preferences from users

Expert from Email Geeks explains that in the HTTP referer info, it doesn’t explicitly say mobile or desktop, so it’s up to the tracking mechanism to identify them and decide how to categorize. They’re going to be a mix of mobile and desktop but probably the vast majority will be mobile.

Documentation from SparkPost responds that marketers need to shift their focus from open rates to clicks, conversions, and other engagement metrics to measure success. Implementing strategies like preference centers and progressive profiling is important.

Documentation from Apple shares that Mail Privacy Protection hides a user's IP address so it can’t be linked to their other online activity or used to determine their location. It also prevents senders from seeing if they’ve opened their email.

Documentation from Sendgrid explains that MPP works by pre-loading all emails in the Apple Mail app, effectively opening the email on behalf of the user. This means that even if the recipient doesn't actually open the email, it will be counted as an open.

Documentation from Oracle explains that with MPP, IP addresses are masked, preventing location-based targeting. Device-specific data is limited, making it difficult to optimize campaigns based on the devices recipients use.