Does Constant Contact separate Apple MPP 'machine' opens?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 22 Jul 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
6 min read
Email marketing has faced a significant shift with the introduction of Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). This feature fundamentally changed how open rates are tracked, leading to an increase in what are often referred to as 'machine opens.' These are instances where Apple's proxy servers pre-load email content, including tracking pixels, making it appear as if an email has been opened, regardless of whether the recipient actually viewed it.
Many email marketers using various platforms, including Constant Contact, are grappling with how these automated opens impact their campaign analytics and segmentation strategies. A key question that often arises is whether email service providers (ESPs) distinguish between these machine-generated opens and genuine user interactions.
Understanding how your specific ESP handles these opens is crucial for maintaining accurate reporting and effective marketing efforts. Without clear differentiation, marketers might misinterpret engagement levels, leading to suboptimal decisions regarding content, send times, and audience targeting. The challenge lies in adapting traditional metrics to this new privacy-first landscape.
The impact of MPP on Constant Contact reporting
Constant Contact, like many other ESPs, does not explicitly separate Apple MPP 'machine' opens from regular, genuine opens in its standard reporting. From what I've observed and gathered from community discussions, these MPP-triggered events are generally counted as legitimate opens within their analytics dashboard. This approach can lead to artificially inflated open rates, making it difficult to gauge true subscriber engagement.
The rationale behind this often stems from the technical difficulty in distinguishing between a machine pre-fetch and an actual user opening the email, especially given how Apple's Mail Privacy Protection operates. Essentially, Apple's servers download all email content, including tracking pixels, as a privacy measure, effectively triggering an open event for every email delivered to an Apple Mail user who has enabled the feature. This is further supported by their own knowledge base, which states that open rates will be impacted and features like resend to non-openers may be affected.
For marketers using Constant Contact, this means that your reported open rates might look higher than before MPP, but these numbers do not necessarily reflect genuine user engagement. It becomes critical to look beyond the raw open rate and focus on other metrics that provide a clearer picture of your audience's interaction with your emails. This is a common challenge across the industry, not specific to Constant Contact.
Before MPP
Open rates: Directly indicated recipient engagement. Higher rates suggested good subject lines and sender reputation.
Segmentation: Possible to segment based on who truly opened emails.
Resends: Campaigns to non-openers were effective for re-engagement.
The broader challenge of machine opens
The primary challenge with Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) is that it obfuscates true open engagement. Since all images are pre-loaded via proxy, an open event is recorded whether a user sees the email or not. This artificial inflation can lead to misinterpretations of campaign success and audience behavior. It's a fundamental shift in how we understand audience reach, impacting everyone from small businesses to large enterprises.
For platforms like Constant Contact, which serve a wide range of users, the decision to count all opens, including MPP-triggered ones, as legitimate simplifies reporting but complicates analysis for the end-user. Marketers who rely heavily on open rates for A/B testing subject lines, segmenting engaged users, or cleaning their lists now need to adjust their strategies. This adjustment means shifting focus to other engagement signals to truly understand subscriber activity.
Additionally, the impact extends to automation workflows that are triggered by opens. If an automation relies on an open to move a subscriber to the next stage, MPP might cause users to progress through workflows without ever having actually engaged with the email content. This can lead to irrelevant follow-ups and a diminished user experience. Understanding how ESPs handle Apple MPP open rate tracking is key.
Traditional open rate focus
Primary metric: Open rates were a core indicator of email performance.
Content optimization: Subject lines and pre-headers were optimized mainly for opens.
Engagement strategy: Engagement primarily measured by opens, clicks, and replies.
Post-MPP metric focus
Primary metrics: Shift to click-through rates, conversions, and direct replies.
Content optimization: Focus on calls to action (CTAs) and compelling body content.
Engagement strategy: Engagement redefined by actual user interaction within the email.
Adapting your strategy to MPP
Given that open rates are no longer a fully reliable metric for true engagement due to MPP and other machine opens, marketers should pivot their focus to other indicators. This involves a strategic shift in how campaign performance is measured and optimized.
Concentrate on metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and reply rates. These actions require explicit user interaction beyond merely receiving an email, providing more accurate insights into subscriber interest and intent. For example, a high CTR combined with strong conversions indicates that your content is resonating with your audience, regardless of whether a machine opened it first. Understanding how Apple Mail Privacy impacts strategy is essential.
Additionally, refine your audience segmentation. Instead of relying on open history, segment based on click behavior, website activity, purchase history, or other direct interactions. This allows you to target truly engaged subscribers with relevant content, improving overall campaign effectiveness and list hygiene. Regularly cleaning your list by removing inactive subscribers (those who don't click or convert) will also improve deliverability, as it signals to ISPs that you are sending to an engaged audience, reducing the risk of being placed on a blocklist or blacklist.
While Constant Contact's current reporting may not differentiate MPP opens, adapting your measurement strategy ensures you continue to make data-driven decisions that foster real connections with your audience. This proactive approach helps navigate the evolving email privacy landscape successfully.
Metric
Traditional Focus (Pre-MPP)
New Focus (Post-MPP)
Open rate
Key indicator of subject line effectiveness and list health.
Less reliable due to MPP. Still useful for trending but not precise engagement.
Click-through rate (CTR)
Important for content engagement.
Primary metric for engagement, indicating interest in content and offers.
Conversion rate
Ultimate goal for sales/leads.
Most reliable indicator of ROI and campaign success.
List segmentation
Often based on open history.
Based on clicks, website activity, purchases, and other explicit actions.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Focus on click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates as primary engagement metrics.
Segment your audience based on explicit actions like clicks or website visits, not just opens.
Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers who show no engagement.
Optimize calls to action (CTAs) within your emails to encourage direct interaction.
Utilize A/B testing on elements like CTAs and content, as open rates are less reliable for subject line tests.
Common pitfalls
Over-relying on inflated open rates for performance evaluation and reporting.
Continuing to segment audiences based solely on open behavior, leading to inaccurate targeting.
Not adjusting automation workflows that are triggered by 'open' events, causing irrelevant follow-ups.
Neglecting to educate stakeholders about the changes in email metrics due to Apple MPP.
Failing to adapt campaign goals and success definitions to the new privacy landscape.
Expert tips
Implement multi-channel engagement tracking to get a holistic view of customer interaction.
Consider using zero-party data collection methods to gather explicit customer preferences.
Experiment with interactive email elements to drive more measurable engagement.
Monitor deliverability closely, as inflated engagement metrics can mask underlying issues.
Continuously analyze your audience composition, particularly the percentage of Apple Mail users.
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks asked if Constant Contact distinguishes Apple MPP 'machine' opens from regular opens.
2023-05-11 - Email Geeks
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks says that Constant Contact does not filter out Apple MPP opens, counting them as legitimate opens, based on their knowledge and checks within the community.
2023-05-11 - Email Geeks
Final thoughts on MPP and Constant Contact
In summary, Constant Contact generally includes Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) triggered machine opens within its reported open rates, without explicitly separating them. This means marketers need to be aware that their open rate data may be artificially inflated.
The key takeaway is to shift your focus from solely relying on open rates to more reliable engagement metrics like click-through rates and conversions. By adapting your measurement and segmentation strategies, you can continue to gain meaningful insights into your audience's behavior and optimize your email campaigns effectively in the privacy-first era.
Embracing this change, rather than resisting it, allows for more accurate campaign assessment and fosters stronger, more genuine relationships with your subscribers. The future of email marketing lies in understanding true interaction, not just delivery and perceived opens.
Constant Contact, are grappling with how these automated opens impact their campaign analytics and segmentation strategies. A key question that often arises is whether email service providers (ESPs) distinguish between these machine-generated opens and genuine user interactions.
Apple Mail user who has enabled the feature. This is further supported by their own knowledge base, which states that open rates will be impacted and features like resend to non-openers may be affected.
