Should email service providers filter clicks from iCloud Private Relay IPs?
Summary
What email marketers say7Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Privacy Matters Blog argues that filtering anonymized IPs could be seen as a violation of user privacy. They suggest exploring alternative tracking methods that don't rely on IP addresses.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests that filtering all iCloud Private Relay IPs might be too aggressive. They recommend analyzing click behavior from these IPs to identify and filter only those exhibiting bot-like characteristics, rather than a blanket ban.
Email marketer from StackExchange notes that Apple Private Relay hides the IP address, making it difficult to track the user's location or browsing activity. This impacts open and click tracking, requiring marketers to adjust their strategies.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Tips Blog suggests implementing a hybrid approach: track engagement from Private Relay IPs separately, and adjust marketing strategies accordingly. This balances data accuracy and respects user privacy.
Email marketer from Email Testing Blog recommends A/B testing different filtering approaches to see which yields the best results in terms of engagement and deliverability. They suggest comparing a control group with no filtering to groups with varying degrees of filtering.
Email marketer from Deliverability Discussions Forum warns that aggressively filtering Private Relay IPs could negatively impact sender reputation if legitimate users are inadvertently blocked. They advise carefully monitoring deliverability metrics before implementing any filtering rules.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that blocking Apple Private Relay IPs completely would mean potentially losing genuine engagement data and recommends a more nuanced approach, such as monitoring click patterns instead of outright blocking.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise suggests that filtering or blocking iCloud Private Relay IPs may cause inaccurate metrics. She recommends considering that clicks coming from these IPs could still represent legitimate user engagement, and that focusing on overall engagement trends might be a better strategy.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Apple Private Relay clicks come from the same set of IPs with the same UA because they're doing VPN-like things, and these are probably legit clicks, not just Apple checking links for safety.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that traffic from iCloud Private Relay IPs is anonymized and actual clicks will be mostly legitimate. Using data from these ranges for open metrics requires some thought as it will be a mix of human and machine generated for images.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Apple Developer Documentation explains that Private Relay obscures user IP addresses, routing traffic through multiple servers. This means that ESPs will see anonymized or generic IP addresses associated with Apple's relay servers, rather than the user's actual IP address.
Documentation from Mozilla explains how VPNs work in general and how they hide IP addresses. This is relevant for iCloud private relay as it operates as a VPN.
Documentation from Cloudflare specifies what technologies are available to anonymize data and IP addresses. This is relevant for iCloud private relay as it operates in similar ways.
Documentation from RFC specifies general guidelines for anonymizing client IP addresses, emphasizing the importance of protecting user privacy. It highlights techniques like IP masking and proxying, which are relevant to understanding how services like iCloud Private Relay operate.
Documentation from IETF provides recommendations for providers to be transparent and work with anonymization methods. This includes supporting anonymization technologies and ensuring that services remain functional while respecting user privacy.