There’s no reason to panic over the iOS update.

Something just like this comes up every few years and sends the marketing world into a tizzy. As we did with CASL, GDPR, etc., we will get through this. We will adapt our marketing efforts and life will go on, but as a marketer, you need to know how this update affects your business.

In fairly plain terms, here’s how the iOS privacy update will affect your email marketing.

Your open rates will go down. (Tell your boss now!)
If a contact checks email on their iPhone using the native iPhone mail app, their opens will not be tracked. The accuracy of open rates has long been debated. For every email provider/software out there, the only way to record or track an open was when images were downloaded. Now iOS will block that tiny image pixel and prevent the capture of the open. But remember - not everyone uses an iPhone and not every iPhone user takes advantage of the native mail app. Email opens from iPhone users who download the app specific to their email provider (Outlook, Hotmail, etc.) will continue to be tracked - as well as emails opened on the desktop (with the exception of Macs).

It will be more difficult to determine the best send times and subject lines.
Because these opens (in the iPhone native mail app) are no longer trackable - neither are the time stamps for when the message was opened. And with less open data, it becomes a little harder to measure the success of your subject lines and preheaders (making the A/B testing tool a little less impactful). But NO FEAR - let’s face it…the click is where it’s at. The click is an indicator of interest, the best time of send and the impact of your subject line and preheader. All you need to do is focus on getting the clicks (which ultimately lead to conversions).

Tracking your contact’s journey from click to conversion just got harder.
If you are currently able to track a contact’s journey from the click in an email message to the various pages of your website, well…the story is the same…no more. (Again, let’s remember that this will only affect those on iPhones using the native mail app and the web browser.) This iOS update will mask the contact’s IP address/location so their visits to your web pages can’t be tracked.

So what should you do?

What it really boils down to is building trust and rapport with your customers and prospects. When you’re sending emails that resonate with the audience, you gain their respect, attention and loyalty - which means they want to open and read your emails. Take the time to deliver high value messaging for a unique audience.

Start by assuring your customers and leads that you will not share their personal data.
Absolutely a no brainer. We all feel better about plugging our email address in when we see a message confirming that it’s ‘safe’ to do so.

Audience quality should come before quantity.
Take the time to understand who your ideal customer/prospect is and do your best to find contacts who fit that mold. Some people approach email marketing as an opportunity to blast their product/service to every single email address they can get their hands on. That’s called spamming. You should be using whatever data you have to curate the right audience for your message.

Your email messages better look good.
Remember - you can’t get the conversion without the click. That doesn’t mean you need to hire a graphic designer. Modern ESPs (email service providers) have novice-friendly editors and pre-formatted templates that make it easy to put together an organized and professional message. Keep it simple. Make sure your message is clean and easily scanned. Incorporate plenty of white space and ensure like content is clearly grouped together. (Need some feedback on your email designs? Got a package for that too!)

Gather as much data as you can. (Ethically, of course!)
Any information you can gather from your customers or leads is like gold. If contacts have profiles on your website, encourage them to complete their profile or answer a few questions. Or consider offering them a benefit (whitepaper, coupon code, etc.) in exchange for some additional information (title, company, education, age, etc.).