How to estimate real open rates with Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and image caching?

Summary

Estimating real open rates with Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) requires a fundamental shift in how email engagement is measured. Since MPP inflates open rates due to image caching, relying solely on this metric is no longer reliable. The consensus across marketers, experts, and documentation is to prioritize alternative engagement metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), website visits, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value. Segmenting audiences by email client (Apple Mail vs. others) allows for more nuanced analysis. Improving email content, personalizing messaging, ensuring deliverability, and utilizing email intelligence tools are all vital strategies for understanding true audience engagement in the post-MPP landscape.

Key findings

  • Inflated Open Rates: MPP significantly inflates open rates, making them an inaccurate reflection of actual engagement.
  • Focus on Engagement: Click-through rates, website visits, conversions, and customer lifetime value provide more reliable insights.
  • Segmentation is Key: Segmenting audiences based on email client (Apple Mail vs. others) enables better data analysis.
  • Content Matters: High-quality, personalized content drives engagement and encourages clicks.
  • Deliverability is Crucial: Maintaining a good sender reputation ensures emails reach the inbox.

Key considerations

  • Adapt Measurement Strategies: Re-evaluate and adapt email marketing strategies to prioritize engagement over open rates.
  • Understand Your Audience: Gather data and feedback to understand subscriber behavior and preferences.
  • Optimize Email Content: Improve the quality, relevance, and personalization of email content.
  • Utilize Advanced Tools: Explore and implement email intelligence tools to gain better insights into engagement.
  • Prioritize Deliverability: Continuously monitor and improve email deliverability.

What email marketers say
13Marketer opinions

Estimating real open rates after Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) requires a shift in focus from relying solely on open rates to analyzing a broader range of engagement metrics. MPP inflates open rates by pre-loading images, making them less reliable. Experts recommend tracking trends over time, segmenting audiences, and concentrating on metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), website visits, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value. It's also crucial to improve email content, personalize messaging, and use email intelligence tools to gather engagement signals for a more accurate view of subscriber interaction. Ensuring deliverability through monitoring sender reputation and following email best practices remains vital.

Key opinions

  • MPP Impact: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates, making them an unreliable metric for measuring email engagement.
  • Focus on Trends: Track open rate trends over time to understand how MPP affects your specific audience rather than focusing on absolute numbers.
  • Alternative Metrics: Click-through rates (CTR), website visits, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value provide a more accurate picture of engagement.
  • Segmentation Importance: Segmenting audiences by Apple Mail users vs. non-Apple Mail users allows for more granular analysis.
  • Content Quality: High-quality, personalized content encourages engagement, driving clicks and conversions.

Key considerations

  • Rethink Measurement: Re-evaluate how you measure email campaign success, prioritizing engagement metrics over open rates.
  • Audience Understanding: Strive for deeper insights into your subscribers' behaviors and preferences through surveys and feedback forms.
  • Deliverability Matters: Maintain good sender reputation and follow email best practices to ensure your messages reach the inbox.
  • Engagement is Key: Concentrate on providing value to your subscribers and building strong relationships through personalized communication.
  • Use of Email Intelligence: Investigate and implement email intelligence tools to improve insights into subscriber engagement.
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that for customers showing 100% inbox placement, she typically expects to see between 60-70% open rates at iCloud.com, @me.com, and @mac.com counting MPP opens in that rate. For non-Apple owned domains, she expects to see around 25-30% open rates from senders seeing 100% inbox placement, though she often sees newsletters hit 40-50% if they are reliably getting into the Primary tab at Gmail. She’s also seen transactional sends around 60-90% open rates depending.

June 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Vero answers that MPP affects open rates, it's crucial to improve the quality and relevance of your email content and offers to drive engagement. Focus on providing value to your subscribers and creating personalized experiences that encourage them to click through to your website.

November 2021 - Vero
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that in light of MPP, it is important to adapt your email marketing strategies to focus on metrics beyond open rates. Emphasize click-through rates, conversion rates, and website traffic to better measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. Additionally, segmenting your audience and personalizing your emails can help improve engagement.

March 2024 - Sendinblue
Marketer view

Email marketer from Automizy suggests that it is crucial to ensure your emails are delivered to the inbox. Monitor your sender reputation, authenticate your email domain, and follow email best practices to avoid being marked as spam. Additionally, encourage subscribers to add your email address to their contacts to improve deliverability.

August 2022 - Automizy
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacts the accuracy of open rates. When a user with MPP enabled opens an email, it may register as an open even if the user hasn't actually viewed the email. They recommend focusing on click-through rates and website traffic for a more accurate measure of engagement.

January 2022 - Mailchimp
Marketer view

Email marketer from Customer.io explains that MPP has made open rates less reliable, forcing email marketers to rely on other metrics such as click-through rates, website visits, and conversion rates. It is suggested to shift focus on providing value to your subscribers and building a strong relationship with them. Also it's important to get a better understanding of customer behaviors and preferences through surveys and feedback forms.

July 2023 - Customer.io
Marketer view

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign responds that marketers refine their email measurement strategies after MPP, consider tracking metrics such as click-through rates, website conversions, and customer lifetime value. These metrics provide a more comprehensive view of customer engagement and the overall effectiveness of your email campaigns.

March 2021 - ActiveCampaign
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit responds that since MPP inflates open rates, focus less on the absolute number and more on the trend over time. Compare open rates before and after MPP to understand the impact on your specific audience.

August 2021 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Really Good Emails responds that to maintain subscriber engagement after MPP, focus on creating valuable and personalized content. Encourage subscribers to click through to your website by providing compelling offers and information. This will help you track engagement even if open rates are affected.

October 2023 - Really Good Emails
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that with MPP, you won't have 100% open rates. Open pixel image loads are just an estimate, and using it as a sign of trend changes is best, anything beyond that is misusing or misstating the data.

February 2025 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Uplers answers that with MPP affecting open rates, it's important to track alternative engagement metrics. Click-through rates (CTR), website visits, conversion rates, and social shares offer more accurate insights into user engagement. A/B testing subject lines and content can still be valuable by focusing on these other metrics.

July 2024 - Email Uplers
Marketer view

Email marketer from SmartMail answers that marketers should use email intelligence tools to gather engagement signals for a better understanding of open rates. These tools use the various engagement signals to deliver more accurate data on subscriber engagement.

December 2021 - SmartMail
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot responds that due to MPP inflating open rates, focus on other engagement metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and website traffic. They also suggest analyzing trends over time to understand how MPP has affected your open rates and engagement.

August 2022 - HubSpot

What the experts say
3Expert opinions

Estimating real open rates in the era of Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and image caching requires a shift in perspective. The consensus is that traditional open rates are no longer a reliable measure of campaign success. While comparing trends over time can offer high-level insights, focusing on engagement metrics such as clicks and conversions provides a more accurate assessment of audience interaction. The key is to adapt measurement strategies to account for MPP's impact and prioritize metrics that reflect genuine engagement.

Key opinions

  • Open Rate Unreliability: Mail Privacy Protection significantly reduces the reliability of open rates as a primary metric.
  • Trend Analysis: Open rate trends can provide a high-level overview but should not be the sole basis for evaluation.
  • Engagement Metrics: Clicks, conversions, and other engagement metrics offer a more accurate reflection of campaign success.

Key considerations

  • Shift Focus: Transition from relying on open rates to emphasizing engagement metrics for campaign assessment.
  • Contextualize Data: Interpret open rate trends with caution, considering the influence of MPP and other image caching.
  • Holistic Measurement: Employ a combination of engagement metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of audience interaction.
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks shares that unless you have reason to believe your Apple audience responds far differently than your non-Apple audience, you might be able to get an estimate. However, Apple isn't the only one caching/prefetching images. Your open rate is only really useful as a high-level trending, like comparing similar sends to similar audiences on a monthly basis to see if they're going up or down.

October 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) effectively hides opens, and that while opens used to be a quick look at a campaign's success, they're no longer reliable. It is suggested to measure success based on clicks instead of opens.

August 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that with MPP skewing open rates, campaign engagement is what counts now. Marketers should be leveraging a combination of engagement metrics as they measure their email program’s success.

May 2024 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Documentation consistently advises against relying on open rates as a primary metric due to the impact of Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). Instead, focusing on metrics like click-through rates (CTR), website traffic, and conversion rates is recommended for a more accurate understanding of audience engagement. Segmenting audiences by device and email client (particularly Apple Mail users vs. non-Apple Mail users) allows for comparative analysis. Personalization and valuable content are also highlighted as crucial for driving engagement.

Key findings

  • Unreliable Open Rates: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) diminishes the reliability of open rates as a performance metric.
  • Alternative Metrics: Click-through rates (CTR), website traffic, and conversion rates are more reliable engagement indicators.
  • Audience Segmentation: Segmenting audiences based on device and email client usage improves data analysis.

Key considerations

  • Metric Shift: Shift focus from open rates to more dependable engagement metrics.
  • Segmentation Strategy: Implement audience segmentation to compare behaviors of Apple Mail users vs. others.
  • Personalization: Focus on personalizing email content to improve engagement and encourage clicks.
  • Content Value: Provide valuable content to incentivize subscriber interaction.
Technical article

Documentation from Litmus explains that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacts the reliability of open rates as a metric. It suggests marketers should shift focus towards other engagement metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and website traffic. Segmenting audiences based on Apple Mail users vs. non-Apple Mail users can also provide insights.

January 2024 - Litmus
Technical article

Documentation from Oracle Bronto answers that to deal with the impact of MPP on open rates, it's important to segment your audience based on device and email client. Analyze click-through rates and website traffic to get a better understanding of engagement. Personalize your emails and focus on providing value to your subscribers.

June 2023 - Oracle Bronto
Technical article

Documentation from Campaign Monitor shares that to navigate the impact of MPP on email metrics, consider segmenting your audience to compare the behavior of Apple Mail users and non-Apple Mail users. Focus on metrics beyond open rates, such as click-through rates, website traffic, and conversion rates. A/B test your emails and analyze the results based on these alternative metrics.

December 2023 - Campaign Monitor
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost explains that marketers should emphasize metrics beyond open rates when evaluating email campaign performance. Click-through rates, website traffic, and conversion rates offer a more accurate measure of engagement. Additionally, segmenting your audience and personalizing your emails can help improve overall campaign effectiveness.

July 2023 - SparkPost