December 14: How Apple privacy policies are affecting email open rates
Pixel tracking is a method used by mass mail senders to measure audience engagement.
Source: Litmus
Published: September 2021
How Apple privacy policies are affecting email open rates
Pixel tracking is a method used by mass mail senders (e.g., marketers, salespeople, newsletter writers) to measure audience engagement.
Usually, a single-pixel image is inserted into an email and when the email is opened, your email client (e.g, Apple Mail, Gmail) downloads the image via a unique recipient link that subsequently notifies the sender. (Even this email uses pixel tracking!)
Mail Privacy Protection, a new feature on iOS 15 and macOS 15 will now automatically trigger the tracking pixel to show that the email was read, regardless of whether or not the recipient viewed it.
The outcome: email marketers may soon see inflated email open rates that could lead them to ditch the metric as a measure of success.
Bonus: curious to learn how Mail Privacy Protection actually works? Read about it here.