Bots effecting our click results

SOLVED
Go to solution
user41581
Campaign Expert
0 Votes

Hello - I've been diving into our direct email campaign click reports and noticed some unusual click activity lately.

 

I'm curious if anyone has tips or strategies for effectively filtering out bot-generated clicks from these reports? It's important for us to ensure the accuracy of our campaign analytics.

 

Any insights or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
William_A
Administrator
0 Votes

Hello @user41581 ,

 

If their network or email program uses some kind of security tool that "opens" emails and "clicks" their links to check for malware, it can result in that kind of data. This will be indicated by those contacts clicking all the poll options at the same time, typically within 1-2 minutes of you sending the email.

 

In all honesty, the only suggestion I'd normally have is to swap your authentication to self-authentication since you have your own domain, however your account is already set up as such. Ideally, this would show the security algorithms that emails being sent through us by you are effectively coming directly from you, and avoid triggering the clicks/opens from bots

 

Beyond that, there's not much else you can do from your end to prevent these. Our devs are constantly trying to identify the various programs that utilize this functionality, so they can set our system to ignore the behavior and triggers from these particular programs. If the click rates continue to be inflated or worsen, then it may be worth calling in. That way our general support or higher level technical team can see if there's any further info that can be gleamed from the content of the emails with you live on the phone, or to see if the domains of the contacts that are seeming to bot-click them show any other particular consistencies we can track.

 

If you're finding a significant amount of your contacts are utilizing these programs, then the other advice I have would come down to one of two options:

  • Delete the bot-click contacts from your account entirely - only do this if you feel they are not worthwhile clientele/customers, and aren't actually interested in what you're sending them.
  • Make "Bot-Click" versions of all of your lists, and move these contacts out of the normal lists and into those bot-click versions. Then you'd need to have two copies of each email, one for the regular contacts and the other for the bot-clicks, and send the email to the corresponding list. This way your reporting for the normal contacts is more accurate, and the bot-clickers are isolated but still available to send to. This won't help your account's overall averages for reporting, but it will make the specified email campaigns, and the Reporting page if specifically comparing those, much more accurate for your needs. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William A
Community & Social Media Support

View solution in original post

Top Answer
William_A
Administrator

Hello @user41581 ,

 

If their network or email program uses some kind of security tool that "opens" emails and "clicks" their links to check for malware, it can result in that kind of data. This will be indicated by those contacts clicking all the poll options at the same time, typically within 1-2 minutes of you sending the email.

 

In all honesty, the only suggestion I'd normally have is to swap your authentication to self-authentication since you have your own domain, however your account is already set up as such. Ideally, this would show the security algorithms that emails being sent through us by you are effectively coming directly from you, and avoid triggering the clicks/opens from bots

 

Beyond that, there's not much else you can do from your end to prevent these. Our devs are constantly trying to identify the various programs that utilize this functionality, so they can set our system to ignore the behavior and triggers from these particular programs. If the click rates continue to be inflated or worsen, then it may be worth calling in. That way our general support or higher level technical team can see if there's any further info that can be gleamed from the content of the emails with you live on the phone, or to see if the domains of the contacts that are seeming to bot-click them show any other particular consistencies we can track.

 

If you're finding a significant amount of your contacts are utilizing these programs, then the other advice I have would come down to one of two options:

  • Delete the bot-click contacts from your account entirely - only do this if you feel they are not worthwhile clientele/customers, and aren't actually interested in what you're sending them.
  • Make "Bot-Click" versions of all of your lists, and move these contacts out of the normal lists and into those bot-click versions. Then you'd need to have two copies of each email, one for the regular contacts and the other for the bot-clicks, and send the email to the corresponding list. This way your reporting for the normal contacts is more accurate, and the bot-clickers are isolated but still available to send to. This won't help your account's overall averages for reporting, but it will make the specified email campaigns, and the Reporting page if specifically comparing those, much more accurate for your needs. 

4 REPLIES 4
William_A
Administrator
0 Votes

Hello @user41581 ,

 

If their network or email program uses some kind of security tool that "opens" emails and "clicks" their links to check for malware, it can result in that kind of data. This will be indicated by those contacts clicking all the poll options at the same time, typically within 1-2 minutes of you sending the email.

 

In all honesty, the only suggestion I'd normally have is to swap your authentication to self-authentication since you have your own domain, however your account is already set up as such. Ideally, this would show the security algorithms that emails being sent through us by you are effectively coming directly from you, and avoid triggering the clicks/opens from bots

 

Beyond that, there's not much else you can do from your end to prevent these. Our devs are constantly trying to identify the various programs that utilize this functionality, so they can set our system to ignore the behavior and triggers from these particular programs. If the click rates continue to be inflated or worsen, then it may be worth calling in. That way our general support or higher level technical team can see if there's any further info that can be gleamed from the content of the emails with you live on the phone, or to see if the domains of the contacts that are seeming to bot-click them show any other particular consistencies we can track.

 

If you're finding a significant amount of your contacts are utilizing these programs, then the other advice I have would come down to one of two options:

  • Delete the bot-click contacts from your account entirely - only do this if you feel they are not worthwhile clientele/customers, and aren't actually interested in what you're sending them.
  • Make "Bot-Click" versions of all of your lists, and move these contacts out of the normal lists and into those bot-click versions. Then you'd need to have two copies of each email, one for the regular contacts and the other for the bot-clicks, and send the email to the corresponding list. This way your reporting for the normal contacts is more accurate, and the bot-clickers are isolated but still available to send to. This won't help your account's overall averages for reporting, but it will make the specified email campaigns, and the Reporting page if specifically comparing those, much more accurate for your needs. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William A
Community & Social Media Support
BeccaE
Campaign Expert
0 Votes

I also have noticed the effects of bot-clicks or server-clicks in click reports. The sign is 10 clicks attributed to one email address.

Will bots click fewer links? For example, one email address clicks only the first four links.
I've observed this pattern at a different company.

CIFMarketing0296
Campaign Expert
0 Votes

Sometimes there are 10 clicks and other times there are fewer. You can export the list to Excel and then put the open dates and times in the first column. Look across to see if you have multiple clicks at the same exact time and date from the same user. Be careful as there can be 2-4 clicks by the same user but at different times. My educated guess is that these are legit. Also, there might be single clicks sandwiched in between multiple bot click lists. Don't delete those.

CIFMarketing0296
Campaign Expert
0 Votes

Sorry, delete the multiples with matching times and dates.

  • Avatar

    Featured Article

    Use Sections to Build Email Campaigns Faster and Improve Engagement Rates

    Using Sections while designing your marketing email not only increases your own efficiency but helps you to deliver a more friendly, organized message. Check out some of the key benefits of using sections in email.

    See Article
  • Avatar

    Featured Thread

    Casual Conversations: What's your go-to playlist?

    If you listen to music while you work, share your playlist below so we can be inspired and maybe find some new music!

    View thread
  • Avatar

    Featured Thread

    Ready, Set, Send Reflections

    The Ready, Set, Send Challenge has finished! Let's reflect on the wins and accomplishments over the last six weeks.

    Join challenge
Updates
Just Getting Started?

We’re here to help you grow. With how-to tutorials, courses, getting-started guides, videos and step-by-step instructions to start and succeed with Constant Contact.

Start Here

73% of SMBs express doubt that their marketing strategy is effective. Does this sound familiar? Read our Small Business Now Report to learn how you can tweak your strategy to see better results.

Go read our article
Upcoming Webinars
NOV 14
'Tis the Season for Last-Minute Holiday Marketing
2PM - 3PM EST