On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Guy Hanson, VP for Customer Engagement, Validity, a data integrity platform that enables constant assessment of customer data quality coupled with marketing analytics.

Apple is soon going to alter the Email marketing landscape with the iOS 15 update. This comes hot on the heels of iOS which changed the game for performance marketing. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) update will significantly reduce data available to marketers. Even though these changes are sweeping, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.

In this episode, Kunle and Guy talk about the upcoming changes to Apple mail and their impact on Email marketing. You will get to hear about what this change really is, how it will affect you and possible solutions to cope with it. This is a great episode for email marketers and any business that sends emails to customers.

Here is a summary of some of the most important points made,

• • 40% of a typical audience check emails in the Apple mail client
  • Things like countdown timers will not work properly for Apple mail users
  • Click rate affects split testing due because it leads to a smaller sample size
  • Subscriber engagement is a key driver of sender reputation
  • Inbox placement rate is tracking how many emails end up in your inbox
  • You can still use old techniques on non-Apple mail users

Covered Topics:

On today’s interview Kunle and Guy discuss,

• What is Apple changing
• Immediate Impacts of MPP
• Analytics using metrics other than open rate
• Segmenting Non-Apple users
• Resurgence of SMS marketing
• What Analytics will look like going forward

Timestamp:

• 10:00 – Meet Guy:
  • Worked in Data and Email marketing for 2 decades
  • Also involved with the DMA Research
  • Validity works with marketing companies
  • “Deliverability is a surprisingly dark art”
• 14:10 – What is Apple changing:
  • Mail Privacy Protection
  • “Marketers love email marketing because of it’s measurability”
  • How email tracking works
  • All emails will now appear to be opened, so tracking will be less effective
  • End-users IP addresses will also be masked
• 17:40 – Impact of these changes:
  • 40% of a typical audience check emails in the Apple mail client
  • Also depends on Apple’s popularity geographically
  • The granularity of reporting will change
  • Open rate activity informs other metrics like recency management
  • Things like countdown timers will also not work properly
• 23:30 – Analytics using metrics other than open rate:
  • Click rate is arguably a more reliable metric
  • Click rate affects split testing due because it leads to a smaller sample size
  • Sender reputation scores are also a good metric
  • “Subscriber engagement is a key driver of sender reputation”
  • Inbox placement rate is tracking how many emails end up in your inbox
  • Using e-receipts is a great way to build lists for retailers
• 37:40 – Segmenting Non-Apple users:
  • You can still use old techniques on non-Apple mail users
  • “This is not Armageddon for emails”
• 42:00 – Resurgence of SMS marketing:
  • Email still has an important role in an omnichannel strategy
  • SMS is great for real time notifications
• 46:40 – What Analytics will look like going forward:
  • Split reports for Apple vs Non-Apple users
  • The apple pixel doesn’t fire if the email goes to the junk folder
• 51:00 – Average volumes of Validity clients

Takeaways:

• You can still use old techniques on non-Apple mail users
• The apple pixel doesn’t fire if the email goes to the junk folder
• Using e-receipts is a great way to build lists for retailers

Links & Resources

• Guy on LinkedIn

Tweetable Quotes:

“Marketers love email marketing because of it’s measurability.”

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