How iOS 15 Will Kill Email Open Rates—And How Marketers Can Prepare

Apple's forthcoming iOS 15 privacy update will soon render email open rates irrelevant, leaving marketers to adapt their strategies. The update will allow users to activate "Mail Privacy Protection" which will mark emails as "opened" regardless. This change is concerning to both B2B and B2C companies, as open rates no longer measure the true engagement of emails. To prepare, marketers should test subject lines and content, analyze open-based automated workflows, clean out contact lists, and adopt SMS as an opt-in channel.

Optimizing content and subject lines, as well as using engagement-based logic for automated workflows, are key for successful emails. Additionally, cleaning out contact lists and using SMS as an opt-in channel can help marketers stay on top of their messaging. iOS 15 is an opportunity to focus on the true goal of emails—engaging customers—rather than relying on open rates.

The iOS 15 update is a reminder to marketers that open rates are not a universal metric and should not be the main focus of email marketing. Companies should use this opportunity to improve their email campaigns through testing, analyzing, and adopting SMS.