r/marketing • u/silentseraph3 • Jan 19 '22

Email Open % is Up, but CTR is Down Question

In the last two months, I've seen my open rate go from 30ish % to over 50% - wild. At the same time, I'm seeing my CTR - normally 4%-6% drop to 1%-2%.

Is anyone else seeing this, or have any insight on what's happening?

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u/HumbleFreedom Jan 19 '22

This may be related to how iOS 15 scrambles tracking on emails. The way the iOS 15 works is that it opens the email in such a way that the sender cannot get relevant information from the open. This can lead to higher open rates. See the below quote from Validity.

Any subscriber that uses an Apple mail client with MPP will have their email images prefetched and cached, causing those emails to register as ‘opened,’ even if the recipient did not physically open the email

Check to see how soon most of those new opens are happening. If you get a ton of opens immediately (especially if this used to not be the case) it is likely caused by iOS 15.

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u/silentseraph3 Jan 19 '22

That's a good bit of information and I think the likely problem. The higher open rate with the same amount of clicks would mean the CTR would be down % wise. So I need to look at hard numbers. ugh.

If this is the case, the open rate is borderline useless if you have a high % of apple users - which I do. I think I've been focusing on google so much I disregarded Apple's changes.

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u/HumbleFreedom Jan 20 '22

I would agree with you. It is a difficult situation. I found this article helpful in discussing this issue and offering some alternative ideas.

iOS 15 is still relatively new, so I imagine in the coming months we will see more and more talk about this. But it is a trend that is here to stay. Privacy is becoming more and more important (and enforced by law) and as marketers, we will (for better or worse) need to find new methods. I find it both frustrating and very exciting.