What causes increased bot clicks and spam rates in email marketing, and how can they be identified and mitigated?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 24 Apr 2025
Updated 17 Aug 2025
9 min read
Seeing an unexpected surge in email clicks or a sudden spike in spam rates can be a bewildering experience for any email marketer. We work hard to cultivate genuine engagement, so when our metrics suddenly look inflated, it raises questions about data accuracy and campaign effectiveness. It can be particularly confusing when these anomalies appear for highly engaged audiences or specific domains, leading us to wonder if our efforts are truly reaching human eyes.
These irregular patterns often point to automated interactions, commonly known as bot clicks, or a shift in how mailbox providers assess incoming mail. Bots, which are automated software programs, can interact with email links for various reasons, making it challenging to differentiate genuine human engagement from artificial activity. This phenomenon can significantly skew our email marketing metrics and even impact the effectiveness of automated campaigns that rely on click-through data.
Understanding what causes these increased bot clicks and spam rates is crucial for maintaining accurate reporting and optimal email deliverability. Without proper identification and mitigation strategies, you might be making critical marketing decisions based on misleading data. Let's delve into the common causes, identification methods, and effective strategies to keep your email performance on track.
The origins of bot clicks
One of the primary drivers behind increased bot clicks is the rise of security software and anti-spam filters. Many organizations, especially larger enterprises and educational institutions (.edu domains), employ advanced systems to scan incoming emails for malicious content, phishing attempts, and viruses. These systems often simulate clicks on all links within an email to ensure their safety before delivery to the recipient's inbox. This protective measure, while beneficial for security, inflates click rates and can lead to what appears to be a high engagement. This type of automated interaction is also known as a robot click or automated click.
Beyond security scanners, some mailbox providers and email service providers (ESPs) also pre-scan links for deliverability and integrity. This can result in automated interactions before the email even reaches the subscriber's inbox. For instance, recent observations indicate a significant increase in bot activity originating from Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 accounts, sometimes linked to specific update cycles within their systems. Similarly, iCloud.com has implemented privacy measures that can lead to these pre-clicks, making it harder to track genuine user engagement. You can learn more about how to handle bot clicks from Microsoft and Outlook domains.
Less commonly, malicious bots may also contribute to inflated clicks. These bots might be designed to exploit systems, test for vulnerabilities on linked websites, or engage in click fraud. While security-driven bot clicks are often a sign of a robust protective environment, distinguishing between legitimate security scans and potentially harmful bot activity is crucial for accurate data analysis and email program optimization. We explain more in our guide on how to combat spam filter and bot clicks.
Understanding bot origins
Automated security software, commonly used by organizations and ESPs, scans emails for malicious content by clicking on links. These bot clicks are a security feature, not malicious intent from the recipient.
While beneficial for security, these automated interactions can skew marketing metrics, making it difficult to gauge actual human engagement and campaign performance accurately.
The impact of bot activity
The most immediate effect of bot clicks is the inflation of key email metrics. Your click-through rates (CTR) and sometimes even open rates can appear artificially high, giving a misleading impression of campaign success. This can lead to misinformed decisions about content effectiveness, audience segmentation, and overall email strategy. If your automated campaigns are triggered by clicks, inflated numbers can lead to unintended follow-up sequences, annoying subscribers and potentially increasing unsubscribe rates.
Beyond distorted metrics, a less obvious but significant impact is on your sender reputation. While security bots are generally benign, consistent, unidentifiable high click activity might sometimes be misinterpreted by mailbox providers as suspicious behavior, potentially leading to increased spam rates. It's a tricky balance, as legitimate security measures can inadvertently trigger unwanted attention. This is especially important for enterprise-level campaigns where a single bot click could trigger a false positive across the entire system. You can explore more about how to prevent bot clicks from hurting your email reputation.
Spam rates, on the other hand, can surge due to factors like changes in Google and Yahoo's email sender requirements, which emphasize strict authentication and low complaint rates. Even if your campaigns haven't changed, a sudden increase in spam complaints could indicate that your emails are hitting more spam traps, or that mailbox providers are simply becoming more aggressive in their filtering. This can directly lead to your emails being directed to the junk folder, hindering your overall email deliverability. Read our expert guide on why emails go to spam.
Skewed metrics
Bot clicks artificially inflate open and click-through rates, making campaigns appear more successful than they are. This distorts your understanding of actual subscriber engagement.
Automated sequences triggered by clicks may send unintended follow-ups to bots, leading to wasted resources and potential annoyance for real subscribers.
Reputation & deliverability
While security bots are not inherently harmful, their activity can sometimes be misinterpreted by mailbox providers, potentially affecting your sender reputation.
Increased spam complaints, even sporadic ones, can degrade your domain reputation and lead to more emails landing in the spam folder.
Strategies for identification
Identifying bot clicks requires a multi-faceted approach, as they often mimic human behavior. One common technique is to look for click patterns that are unnaturally fast or occur immediately after an email is sent. Bots tend to click all links instantly, unlike human users who browse at a slower pace. You can detect and segment bot clicks to analyze genuine engagement more accurately.
Another effective method involves embedding an invisible link, often referred to as a honeypot link, within your emails. This link is typically hidden by matching its text color to the background or by being extremely small, making it nearly impossible for a human to click. If this link receives clicks, it's a strong indicator of bot activity. You can then tag these contacts in your CRM or ESP as potential bots and exclude them from future reporting or automated sequences. This can help you minimize bot clicks and filter them out effectively.
Analyzing IP addresses and user agent strings associated with clicks can also provide clues. Bot clicks often originate from corporate IP ranges or data centers, or they might use unusual or generic user agents. While this requires more technical analysis, it can help pinpoint the source of automated traffic. Furthermore, checking for patterns like every link in an email being clicked by the same user is a clear sign of bot activity rather than human interaction.
Bot activity indicator
Description
Actionable insight
Rapid, simultaneous clicks
Multiple links clicked within milliseconds of email send or open.
Likely security scanner or bot. Exclude from engagement metrics.
Honeypot link clicks
Clicks on deliberately hidden links (e.g., matching text/background color).
Definitive bot activity. Tag or segment these contacts for suppression.
Unusual IP addresses/user agents
Clicks from data centers, unknown regions, or generic user agents.
Indicates bot or server-side interaction. Investigate further if persistent.
Spam rate spikes post-campaign
Sudden increases in spam complaints days after a campaign send.
May indicate hitting spam traps or increased ISP filtering. Review list hygiene.
Mitigation tactics
Once identified, mitigating the impact of bot clicks and high spam rates involves several key strategies. Firstly, maintaining a clean and engaged email list is paramount. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who consistently show bot-like behavior. This helps ensure your email campaigns reach real people, improving overall engagement metrics and reducing the likelihood of hitting spam traps. You can also monitor your domain’s blocklist status to proactively identify issues.
Implement strong email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These protocols verify that your emails are legitimately from your domain and help mailbox providers trust your sending practices. A properly configured DMARC policy, especially at quarantine or reject policy levels, can significantly reduce spoofing and improve your sender reputation. This becomes increasingly important with new requirements from major providers like Google and Yahoo.
For bot clicks, one practical solution is to filter out suspected bot activity from your analytics. Many ESPs offer basic filtering, but for more granular control, you might need to adjust your reporting tools or implement custom segments. By separating human clicks from bot clicks, you gain a clearer picture of your campaign's true performance and can make more informed marketing decisions. This granular data helps you identify and mitigate the impact of bot clicks on your metrics.
Regularly clean your email lists by removing inactive subscribers to minimize the chances of hitting spam traps and to improve engagement metrics.
Implement email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to build trust with mailbox providers and prevent spoofing or email abuse.
Segment your audience based on engagement and filter out suspicious clicks from your analytics for accurate reporting.
Consider using hidden honeypot links in your emails to identify and flag bot activity, then exclude these from your active list.
Common pitfalls
Ignoring inflated click rates can lead to misinformed campaign decisions and wasted marketing resources.
Failing to implement or properly configure DMARC, SPF, and DKIM leaves your domain vulnerable and can negatively impact deliverability.
Assuming all high click activity is genuine human engagement without investigating the source.
Not segmenting or removing bot-identified contacts, which continues to skew your data and potentially trigger unwanted automated sequences.
Expert tips
Focus on domain reputation metrics beyond just opens and clicks, such as spam complaint rates and bounce rates, which provide a more holistic view.
Stay informed about new privacy features and security updates from major mailbox providers, as these often influence bot activity.
Utilize tools that offer advanced analytics to differentiate between human and bot interactions for more precise campaign optimization.
Proactively monitor your IP and domain for blacklisting (or blocklisting) as this can be an early indicator of deliverability issues.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that non-human interaction (NHI) on .edu accounts is expected because many educational institutions use custom anti-spam systems. The patterns with NHI can be very inconsistent when sending to such recipients.
2024-04-18 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they noticed random spam spikes in the past couple of months since the new Google and Yahoo enforcement, usually 2-4 days after a campaign and not on actual send days.
2024-04-18 - Email Geeks
Keeping your email metrics clean
Dealing with increased bot clicks and spam rates is an ongoing challenge in email marketing. These issues can obscure valuable insights into your audience's true engagement and potentially harm your sender reputation. By understanding the common causes, such as security scanners and evolving mailbox provider policies, we can better anticipate and respond to these challenges.
Proactive strategies, including diligent list hygiene, robust email authentication, and sophisticated click analysis, are essential. By implementing these measures, you can ensure that your email marketing data remains accurate, your campaigns effectively reach their intended audience, and your deliverability rates stay high. This vigilance helps you maintain a healthy email program and drive meaningful results.
iCloud.com has implemented privacy measures that can lead to these pre-clicks, making it harder to track genuine user engagement. You can learn more about how to handle bot clicks from Microsoft and Outlook domains.
