What is Mail Privacy Protection?
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, or MPP, is a new feature introduced by the tech giant as part of the September 20, 2021 release of iOS15, the current version of its operating system for iPhone and iPod Touch products.
As explained by Apple: “Mail Privacy Protection hides your IP address, so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if and when you’ve opened their e-mail.”
Why Does It Matter:
MPP limits the ability of an e-mail marketer, or any individual who relies on sending e-mail communications, to fully and accurately understand how recipients of their e-mails behave after opening an email from the Apple Mail app. This is true for all recipients who opt in to MPP and use Apple Mail to view e-mails on their devices, regardless of mailbox provider (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook).
With MPP activated, Apple will preload message content before delivering it to the user, even when the intended recipient does not – in reality – open the e-mail. Therefore, if your audience is comprised heavily of Apple Mail users, the open rate for e-mail campaigns to this audience will be inflated as more individuals upgrade to iOS15 and activate MPP.
If you rely on open rate to judge the effectiveness of a campaign or user-specific engagement history to maintain subscriber lists and inform audience segmentation, it is recommended that you re-evaluate your e-mail strategies and define different ways to measure the impact of your campaigns.
Learn more about MPP, how it is impacting both senders and recipients of e-mail campaigns, and what to do in response by checking out this white paper from computer software company Validity or this recent article from e-mail marketing company Litmus.
