On top of an overarching bid to offer users more control over their own personal data, Apple’s latest iOS 15 updates (happening anytime between September to November) also boasts powerful ways to help users stay focused, featuring enhanced on-device intelligence to discover information, and expanded ways to explore the world through Maps, Weather, and Wallet. One major change that will leave marketers reeling again though, will be its impacts on email marketing.
What the iOS 15 Updates Mean
Apple users will now be able to:
- Turn off open tracking
- Hide their IP addresses
- Hide their email addresses
It’s quite likely that users will be turning off the open rates, should actions follow in line with the previous Apple updates. When Apple released iOS 14.5 and its app tracking update, a whopping 96% of its users decided to leave tracking disabled. So it should come as no surprise that a similar adoption rate will happen with iOS 15.
Apple commands up to 58% of the email client market share and a full 90.5% of all mobile email opens happen on an iPhone, so the update will certainly be a huge turning point for email marketers everywhere. But as most marketers & eCommerce businesses know, a solid email marketing strategy is more than just measuring open rates. A few issues to note:
- Retention and re-engagement strategies need to be revisited
- List hygiene will be impacted
- Campaign and automation workflows will also need to be adjusted
How to Pivot
A good marketer is more than their tools so adapting your strategy in a deliberate and informed way is going to be crucial. Preparing yourself by deciding on new data and metrics to measure your email campaign success is key. Seeing that a full release of iOS 15 is to come in October, making the right plans now buys you a bit more time should further adjustments need to be made. Here are some of the things you can do to stay ahead of these changes:
Focus on Click-rates
Leaning on this metric more will give you an idea of your email content effectiveness and what resonates the most with your customers.
Expand Your Engagement Based Segments
Moving the focus away from open-rates centric measurements is essential. Include action-oriented activity that spurs clicks and purchases to lead you to an albeit smaller, but much highly-targeted audience pool.
Test, Test & Test Some More
Start A/B testing email content and email subject lines that boost clicks. No one audience list is the same. While different audiences resonate and engage with a variety of different subjects, now would be a great time to find out what sticks when it comes to clicks and focus on creating winning content.
Get More Out Of Your Shopper Analytics
If the end-goal is sales and not engagement, it’s much more beneficial for customers to receive create high-value content that serves their convenience. Looking at shopper recency, order value data and purchasing history would also give you a better idea on how to segment your audiences. Not only does this help you carve a more data-driven approach, but it also allows you to consider the aspects that go into your customer’s real purchasing journey.
Conclusion
Let’s face it – the shift to a world where customers can take ownership over their personal data is in general, a better one. While this may present its own set of obstacles, businesses and marketers would need to adapt and shift to rise to the challenge. Whether it’s creating more innovations in personalisation, or finding more ways to offer customers value in exchange for info, or even utilising existing customer data in smarter ways; it would be interesting to see how this would push the shift across all measurements in success moving forwards.
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