Consequences for email marketing due to iOS 15

Apple regularly provides updates for its operating system. On 20.09.2021, iOS15 was released and is now available for millions of users with new features. However, the current version has far-reaching consequences for the email marketing of businesses. The team at our online marketing agency in Munich has analyzed the effects in more detail and has highlighted all the key impacts on newsletter delivery and the future of email campaigns in online marketing for you.

What features does iOS 15 bring?
In addition to a range of other new features, iOS 15 also includes the functions "Hide My Email" and "Mail Privacy Protection." With "Hide My Email," randomly generated email addresses can be used to interact with websites or applications and, for example, sign up for newsletters without having to reveal your personal email address.

In the “Mail Privacy Protection” section, iOS 15 extends internet data protection and prevents individual activities from being monitored online by networks and servers. Among other things, it is no longer possible to track whether or when emails have been opened.

Apple users have two ways to hide their email address: “Sign in with Apple” creates randomly generated email addresses for use with third-party apps, while “iCloud+” allows you to create as many new email addresses as you want directly on your smartphone, in Safari, or at icloud.com and use them individually.

What does iOS 15 mean for email marketing?
With iOS 15, Apple essentially offers disposable email addresses (an iCloud+ service) that, when used in Safari, allow users to generate a new email address for activities like filling out a form. Messages are forwarded to the user's actual personal inbox. Users have the option to block unwanted emails at any time by simply deactivating the generated email address.

This makes it impossible to assign a customer, for example when registering for the newsletter, to an existing customer account, as different email addresses are used.

ChatGPT: This means that both in customer acquisition and customer retention, the open rate will lose significance. In contrast, click-through rates and other performance metrics (KPIs), such as revenue per email opened, will come to the forefront. It remains to be seen how many Apple users will actually use the "Hide My Email" feature. Regardless, companies should focus on relevant emails that are confirmed with a clear opt-in.

For advertisers, "Mail Privacy Protection" means that previously used invisible tracking pixels can no longer provide insights into the open rate. Immediately after opening the new Mail app, all Apple users are asked if they want to use "Protect Mail Activity." This new feature also makes A/B testing of subject lines or segmentation based on open rates significantly more difficult. Additionally, countdown timers (counting days and seconds to a special event within email marketing) as well as location-based content (content depending on the location) will no longer work.

Conclusion: The Future of Successful Email Marketing for Businesses
Market leaders like Apple are further advancing data privacy. For businesses, new solutions and appropriate analytics and strategies are required, focusing primarily on first-party data, meaning the expansion of the company's own data.

This is made possible, among other things, by opt-in procedures, in which users proactively agree to receive emails. This consent is encouraged with the help of personalized content that offers users real added value. The focus can be on clicks on links or websites that provide further information, content, offers, forms, etc.

The impact of iOS15 on email marketing is significant, but with the right concept for powerful email marketing, you will continue to reach your target audience in the future. Feel free to contact our email marketing specialists.