Written by Originally appeared in our LinkedIn Newsletter: Spoken Like An Entrepreneur
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/once-upon-open-rate-adapting-privacy-first-world-lakenya-kopf-tkgze/
Once upon a time, on a spreadsheet far, far away, lived a column specifically dedicated to open rate numbers and another for open rate percentages. This handy little column allowed the happy people of Entrepreneurland to know exactly how effective their marketing was. Not only was it the perfect answer to A/B testing when it came to subject lines and preheaders, but it also allowed the hardworking people of Entrepreneurland to know if their content was being seen when it landed in the inboxes of awaiting citizens in ConsumerWorld. Did their audience prefer clever and intriguing, or blunt and straight to the point? Were their messages reaching their target, or were they being ignored (even worse, lost in the pit of despair some dared to call the spam folder)?
Then one day, darkness covered the world, and the evil Data Police – who wore badges that looked suspiciously like an apple with a bite taken out of it – declared that the happy people of Entrepreneurland could no longer know how adequate their subject lines were or how likely individuals were to open their emails. They decreed that the people should shift their attention to the content of the email and whether or not the copy was strong enough to solicit action – with absolutely no way to know if people were reading their content unless they clicked on a call-to-action in the email (or used a non-Apple device). It was a sad day in Entrepreneurland…
Okay, fine, I am no Hans Christian Andersen, but hopefully, the point of my poorly told tale is clear: the days of tracking open rates for emails are officially over. Back in 2021, with the release of iOS 15, Apple rolled out their Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). This created muted screams of anguish around the marketing world as it strategically killed the possibility of tracking open rates on any Apple device operating iOS 15 or later and any macOS system.
“MPP is a feature that gives users more control over their email data, preventing senders from using invisible pixels (tracking pixels) to collect information about users, such as when they open an email. When enabled, MPP obscures real opens and the devices used by recipients, making it harder for marketers to accurately track open rates.”
Why was this such a big deal? MPP falsifies open rates by preloading emails, triggering the pixel, and making it appear as if the email was opened – even if it wasn’t.
Simply put, it was no longer efficient in a marketing funnel to have an action triggered based on an email being opened, as the person may have never seen it – either incorrectly pushing them into another sequence or falsely meeting an open goal and prematurely removing them from an automation.
So, what are you supposed to track? The recommendation that emerged then – and remains true today – is to place call-to-actions (CTAs) in emails, encouraging readers to click through in order to track conversions and measure the effectiveness of the message. The challenge is not every email requires a CTA within its primary message.
The solution? Place a P.S. message that may not necessarily tie directly to the main email content but still gives the reader an action to take. It could be as simple as “reply to this email,” or it could be a P.S. highlighting a product, service, or relevant resource your audience might find helpful. This little bit of homework gives the recipient a “next step” to take, providing the marketing a more reliable method to track engagement and conversions rather than depending on potentially inflated open rates.
I do applaud CRMs, such as ActiveCampaign, who implemented filters to assist users in determining how many of their open rates may be false by allowing reports to exclude unverified emails.
In the example below, you can see the percentage drop by 30% when MPP is removed:
Whether or not you choose to take the advice of this post, the point is this: the glory days of open-rate tracking have officially come to an end. If you can, try to shift your focus to creating action-based emails and tracking click rates, but leave open rates and click-to-open rates in the past. While open rate stats are still available on CRMs and email marketing systems (as they can still accurately track Windows and Android-based devices), they should now serve as a secondary factor when determining the success of your campaigns. Instead, use them alongside bounce rates to ensure at least that your messages are reaching inboxes rather than spam folders.
Data privacy is here to stay, and with the instability of social media (because Instagram was offline on March 25th for an hour and Twitter on March 10th for three hours), email marketing has solidified itself as the go-to for reaching your audience. If you haven’t emailed your audience in a while, consider this your green flag to get started today. The more you communicate with your audience, the more responsive they will be when receiving your message.
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