How to estimate real open rates with Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and image caching?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
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.
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.
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.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
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.
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.
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.
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.