Best practices for email tracking post-privacy changes

Google and Yahoo have rolled out new email requirements, and if you're sending email, you are quite surely sending a lot of mail their way. So, it's crucial to get yourself compliant with their rules and monitor your email performance to ensure you *stay* compliant. Here's what to focus on: 1️⃣ Bounces: Enforcement is being rolled out in a phased approach, starting with non-compliant emails facing delays in delivery. Eventually, these will result in rejections, so ensure compliance to avoid disruptions in delivery. 2️⃣ Opens: Track open rates, especially at the provider level, to gauge performance accurately. A drop post-compliance could signal reputation issues. 3️⃣ Unsubscribes: While a spike post-implementation is expected, monitor for sustained trends, indicating potential recipient fatigue or list hygiene issues. 4️⃣ Spam Complaints: Maintain spam rates below 0.1%, aiming even lower for consistent inbox placement. Monitor closely, as complaints can adversely affect deliverability. 5️⃣ Overall Reputation: Evaluate your sender reputation using metrics like StreamScore. Consistent positive engagement indicates compliance and enhances deliverability. Additional Tips: ➡️ Leverage tools like #Google Postmaster Tools and #Yahoo Sender Hub for deeper insights into sender reputation, complaint rates, etc. ➡️ Conduct seed testing to assess inbox placement, focusing on Google and Yahoo addresses. Although use this directionally, as false positives are common. ➡️ Ensure you're compliant with authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) using tools like the Google Postmaster Tools compliance dashboard and About My Email, built by Steve Atkins from Word to the Wise. Late to Comply? Well, get movin'... like, today! Then keep a close eye on delivery, bounces, and engagement metrics. Address your compliance gaps promptly — focusing on your most important mail streams like transactional mail first — to mitigate potential damage to recipient trust (and your sender reputation!) Ultimately, compliance, best practices, and performance monitoring are key to a successful email program...not only because these are required by Google and Yahoo, but also because they're the right thing to do for the sake of your email recipients! Remember they are who we are really here to please, not the mailbox providers. I'm sure I'm missing some great tips, so please back me up by adding them in the comments, you nerd. 😉 Also, reach out for support whenever needed! I've been living and breathing this topic for months, and more importantly — I'll be chatting directly with representatives from Google and Yahoo in a webinar on April 10th! I'd be happy to ask them questions on your behalf. 💌 #emailmarketing #deliverability #compliance

Hey email marketers, guess what? Apple has made a few changes (again) 🤨 Want to find out how the new iOS 17 impacts your email links? It's not all doom and gloom for email links yet, so that's a start! 😅 But you still need to note these changes. Why should you care? Allow this statistic to percolate: Almost three out of every five emails are opened on Apple Mail (58%). That’s more than twice of Gmail (28%), and over seven times that of Outlook (4.2%)... Do you see why keeping an eye on Apple's changes needs to be done? 👀 Midway through September this year, Apple released their new operating system update for iPhone - iOS 17. Many email marketers panicked, expecting some spectacular changes like those impacted by the release of Apple's Mail Privacy Protection which impacted the tracking of open rates in a big way on Apple devices. You may have heard of iOS 17's Link Tracking Protection (LTP), which is one of the privacy enhancements that Apple has released with this update. This enhancement is the main cause for concern amongst email marketers. Allow me to explain and allay your concern, and give a a pointer or two on how this update could impact your email efforts: → 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: Apple's LTP essentially strips some variables and parameters from shared URLs 🔗 This means removing certain tracking information from links that users share in Messages and Mail, as well as removing the same tracking information from links when these are accessed in Safari in Private Browsing mode. The good news is that UTM parameters aren't being impacted (for now). That doesn't, however, mean that this is good news for conversion tracking... → 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: If you're using custom tracking parameters, you may have a problem getting an accurate depiction of your conversions 📉 Sometimes these tracking parameters in URLs are used to understand who clicked on links and to measure campaign success. Because these are now removed, it becomes tough to attribute website visits or conversions back to specific campaigns. This is your major concern, however, if you use UTM parameters, you can mitigate some of the impact this has on your conversion tracking. With Apple, no email marketer is ever really out of the woods. What do you need to do? ☝️ Monitor any future changes or updates ✌️ Test and adapt your emails as a constant practice 👌 Find smart ways to obtain data directly from your audience You'll make things far easier for yourself by keeping a close eye on this. There are links to great resources by Litmus and Bloomreach in the comments for deep dives into iOS 17 and how this impacts marketers. And there's the (Apple) tea ☕ Have you seen any impact of iOS 17 on your email strategy yet? Happy November 💌

I'm sure you've heard the news about Google flagging emails and hiding images based on them being potentially suspicious or spam. But this just applies to tracking pixels, right? WRONG!!! Sure, open tracking has become less reliable, and cold emails are more likely to be flagged. However, ANY IMAGES in your emails can trigger this warning, and many factors at play that can determine whether your message is perceived as risky/spammy. (It’s not specific to tracking pixels) The situations that are most likely to prompt the Gmail notice are: > When your content seems spammy.  > If you’ve had a history of sending spammy emails. (Which has hurt your sender reputation). > When you attach images to emails from domains where you've not had responses or engagement from recipients. > If you utilize a sending IP that is deemed to be less trustworthy by email providers. The best practices to avoid issues following this update: 1. Limit the usage of images in emails to where it’s absolutely necessary. (Avoid using images on outbound). 2. Use other metrics to track email success beyond open rates. (Positive replies, Spam rate, Domain reputation, Clicks, and Website visits). 3. Spam test your content. 4. Ensure authentication is running correctly on all your domains. 5. Throttle your email sending to stay within safe levels and avoid spikes.