Odd Reporting issue

[CorpsDesign]

HI All - 

I sent an email campaign on Friday, and a re-send to non-openers this morning.

In both campaigns, I had 200+ clicks in the 1st few minutes, on all 8 links in the email, all at exactly the same time.

Is this a reporting bug, or is some type of email filter on the receiving end that is testing all of the links the second the email is opened?  Heat map shows all links with equal heat.  Seems unlikely.

If so, can CC filter these so that I can get actual reporting?

[William_A]

Hello @CorpsDesign ,

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. You can try switching your account's email authentication to self-authentication, which can 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. However it's unfortunately not a guarantee as some security programs are simply built to function like this regardless of source. As such, this is an industry-wide problem for email marketing, similar to how bots on every social media platform can potentially skew engagement numbers if not constantly weeded out.

You could also try identifying and isolating the contacts using these security bot clicks, and add them to lists denoting they're using such programs. Then you could send copies of your email to the bot versions of your lists, so you're still getting the message sent, but they're not skewing the data of your main sendout. Or, if you feel the contacts aren't actually worthwhile, then your other option is to delete them. 

Beyond that, there's not much else you can do from your end. 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, after setting your account up for self-auth, 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.

[CorpsDesign]

Thank you!

No sooner had I posted my original request than I found the information I needed.  Thank you for the quick reply!