The world of email marketing has changed once again. Apple’s announcement at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2021) stirred feelings about the relationship between data privacy and email marketing. In their official statement, Apple notes:
“In the Mail app, Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.”
This change has likely evolved due to public outcry. The most prominent discussion includes a need for more control over personal information. As a result, policies and governance that touch on privacy and technology are evolving. Within the U.S., states like Colorado and Nevada are enacting their own data-privacy laws. Internationally, it’s been three years since the EU passed its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Jessica Lee, Co-Chair of Loeb & Loeb’s Privacy, Security & Data Innovations highlighted the largest enforcement for GDPR.
“If you look around now, I would say that Google and Apple are probably two of the largest privacy enforcers, because they’re the biggest players, they’re the largest fish. They’re getting the most pressure from a number of fronts, privacy being one of them. And the changes to some of their platform terms and policies, I think, will push the needle forward on privacy a lot faster, actually, than some of the regulations have. But that starts with a law like the GDPR and ends with Apple requiring opt-in to tracking or Google sunsetting third-party cookies.”
Public perception and expectations are also changing when it comes to data privacy. First viewed as a consumer –protection, privacy rights are now being seen as inherent human rights. This shift in paradigm is giving users access to greater protection. In a clever marketing campaign, Apple released a video in May to tackle privacy facehead-on:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4qPUSG17Y
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection enables users to select what personal information will be shared with third– party providers. This privacy opt-in will mask their IP address and load content privately. So how will marketers be impacted by these new standards? According to Business2Community.com, they’ll be impacted in a big way:
- Email tracking for open rates will become more difficult for marketers. These metrics won’t be entirely accurate since users now have the option to opt-out from sharing their information.
- If there’s email content that’s dependent on location, these emails will likely be inaccurate if users have enabled their Mail Privacy Protection.
- For email list cleaning, marketers will have a harder time cleaning out their lists based on open rates.
- In addition, if there’s an automated email sequence going out to those who opened the initial email, not all users will receive the follow-up if they’ve enabled their Mail Privacy Protection.
Email marketing is not the only tactic that’s being affected. Advertisers and ad networks like Google and Facebook will be receiving raw data collected through iOS app install campaigns. If you’re advertising an app, you’ll now be receiving the data from Apple. However, this data will be limited due to Apple’s SKAdNetwork, a privacy-attuned way of attributing impressions and clicks.
What about other platforms like Google? Google previously announced plans to make third-party cookies obsolete by late 2023, nearly two years later than initially planned in early 2022. This Privacy Sandbox initiative set standards to enhance privacy rights for users to include transparency and choice over which information was collected and how it was being used by marketers. According to Forbes, third-party cookies have already been phased out by browsers like Safari and Firefox. With Chrome being included next in the mix, 64% of the market share will likely be impacted by these policies.
So, what should marketers do next? Regardless of the timeline, changes are coming and in a post-cookie world with stricter data privacies, companies are looking for ways to adapt. Advanced technology with new creative ways to market will likely be needed to future-proof business strategies. Time will tell which solutions will be successful, although the emphasis on the user is promising at the end of the day.
