What is DuckDuckGo's email privacy action and how does it affect email marketing?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Sendinblue suggests that due to privacy changes, marketers should focus on providing value to subscribers, personalizing emails based on customer data, and segmenting audiences based on engagement rather than opens.
Email marketer from Email on Acid says that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection impacts email marketing by changing how open rates are measured and making it more challenging to personalize emails based on location or device. It encourages marketers to focus on subscriber engagement, list hygiene, and click-through rates.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that because of MPP, they are focusing more on click-through rates and website conversions to gauge campaign success, and less on open rates.
Email marketer from DuckDuckGo Blog explains that Email Protection is a free email forwarding service that removes trackers and protects email privacy. It works by creating a unique @duck.com email address for users, which then forwards emails to their regular inbox after removing trackers.
Email marketer from MarketingProfs shares that to adapt to email privacy changes, marketers should focus on building stronger relationships with subscribers, collecting zero-party and first-party data, and focusing on metrics beyond open rates, such as website visits and purchase data.
Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection affects open tracking by preventing accurate open rate metrics. Because MPP pre-loads images, all emails sent to users with MPP enabled may register as opened, regardless of actual engagement.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests focusing on improving email list quality and hygiene in order to get more accurate results that aren't impacted as much by MPP.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that the iOS 15 update with Mail Privacy Protection means open rates are no longer a reliable metric, because Apple preloads images and reports inflated opens. They recommend shifting focus to clicks, replies, and conversions.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource explains that in response to privacy initiatives such as DuckDuckGo's email privacy action, email marketers will need to prioritize first-party data collection and consent-based marketing strategies to maintain relevance and effectiveness.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that she may not have gotten the actual gig with DuckDuckGo because she just kept listing problems.
Expert from Word to the Wise discusses the impact of Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, noting it is similar to the privacy impacts of DuckDuckGo's email privacy action and that it will likely make open rates an unreliable metric and marketers will need to adapt by focusing on clicks and conversions as key performance indicators.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that DuckDuckGo's email privacy action has been in the works for longer than people think, as they tapped her for advice before the Apple announcement.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from IAB Tech Lab discusses industry standards for privacy, including consumer consent and data usage policies. It is important for email marketers to comply with these standards in light of privacy changes.
Documentation from Litmus explains that Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacts email marketers by skewing open rates, affecting A/B testing based on opens, and making segmentation based on open behavior unreliable. They suggest focusing on other metrics like clicks and conversions.
Documentation from SparkPost discusses how Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates because Apple Mail downloads email content, including tracking pixels, regardless of whether the user actually opens the message. Marketers are encouraged to focus on other metrics.
Documentation from Apple Developer Documentation explains that Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacts email marketing by hiding a recipient's IP address and masking when they open an email. This makes it harder for marketers to track open rates and target users based on location.