What specifically causes unusual clicks in SendGrid?

Unusual clicks are frequently caused by email security scanners and automated bots that interact with links in emails to check for malicious content or verify unsubscribe mechanisms. These are often from cloud providers or corporate networks. Unusual activity concentrated on a single link often suggests this.

Why are my own team members or high numbers of subscribers being automatically unsubscribed?

Automated unsubscribes often stem from security scanners clicking the List-Unsubscribe header or unsubscribe links to verify them. This also includes instances where non-subscribers receive marketing emails and opt out due to list hygiene issues.

How can I differentiate between legitimate user interaction and bot activity?

The most effective way is to set up SendGrid's event webhooks to capture detailed data on each click and unsubscribe event. This includes the IP address and user agent string, which can help you identify if the activity is originating from known bot networks or security vendors. This allows you to identify and handle spam bot clicks .

Does SendGrid automatically suppress bot activity, and if not, what can I do?

While SendGrid doesn't offer built-in bot suppression, you can implement your own by filtering your analytics based on the IP addresses or user agents identified from your event webhook data. For unsubscribes, you could also configure a manual unsubscribe group to review requests before processing them.

How do unusual clicks and unsubscribes impact email deliverability?

Monitor your deliverability closely using SendGrid's Deliverability Insights and Google Postmaster Tools . If you see a sustained drop in legitimate engagement or a rise in spam complaints, bot activity may be masking underlying problems that affect your domain reputation .

What could cause unusual clicks and unsubscribes in SendGrid, and how can I troubleshoot it? - Troubleshooting - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

Experiencing unusual clicks and unsubscribes in SendGrid can be a perplexing issue. It often points to underlying problems that, left unaddressed, can negatively impact your email deliverability and sender reputation. When metrics suddenly spike or plummet without a clear marketing campaign change, it's a strong indicator that something is amiss beyond regular user behavior.

High volumes of unexpected clicks or unsubscribes are rarely random occurrences. They are typically symptoms of either malicious activity, misconfigurations, or the unintended consequences of security measures implemented by mailbox providers or corporate networks. Understanding these root causes is the first step toward effective troubleshooting and safeguarding your email program.

Understanding unusual click activity

Unusual click activity in SendGrid can often be attributed to automated systems rather than human recipients. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as bot clicks, can significantly skew your engagement metrics.

Security scanners and anti-spam filters are a primary culprit. These systems automatically open emails and click links to scan for malicious content like phishing attempts or malware, before the email even reaches the recipient's inbox. This behavior is designed to protect users but can inflate your click rates dramatically. Similarly, some email providers may use aggressive filters that simulate clicks to expose harmful content, leading to what appear to be non-human clicks or open engagement recorded.SendGrid acknowledges this behavior. If you notice a sudden increase in click activity concentrated on a single link, particularly from data centers or cloud providers, it's likely bot-driven. You can find more information on how to identify and handle suspicious bot clicks.

Another cause of inflated click rates could be improper SendGrid tracking settings. SendGrid's click tracking works by rewriting your links to point to their servers or your branded domain before redirecting to the original URL. While standard, if there's a misconfiguration in this process or how your email content is generated, it could lead to unusual click patterns. Consider how to identify and mitigate the impact of bot clicks on your metrics.

Common causes of bot clicks

Email security scanners: Anti-malware and anti-phishing systems from providers like Barracuda or Microsoft Defender scan links before delivery, generating clicks.
Automated engagement bots: Some bots simulate user activity to test email deliverability or for other automated processes.
Testing environments: Internal quality assurance or testing tools might click all links in test emails.

Investigating unusual unsubscribe surges

A sudden surge in unsubscribes, especially if it includes your own team members, is a red flag. Similar to clicks, automated systems are often behind these unexpected opt-outs.

Many email security systems (including those used by

Google and other major providers) will click unsubscribe links to verify them. This helps ensure that the unsubscribe mechanism is legitimate and functional. If these scanners click your unsubscribe link, it's recorded as an unsubscribe by SendGrid, even though a human never initiated it. This can lead to a sudden click increase from Gmail addresses.

The List-Unsubscribe header, a common practice for email clients to offer an easy unsubscribe button, can also be a source of false positives. When a recipient clicks this button, the email client might trigger a POST request to your designated unsubscribe URL, which SendGrid then records as an opt-out. For more details on this, you can learn about how spam filters trigger email unsubscribes.

It's also worth investigating if you are sending marketing emails to non-subscribers. If your mailing list has outdated or incorrect email addresses, or if users were added without explicit consent, they might trigger unsubscribes or mark your emails as spam. This can significantly impact your domain reputation, potentially leading to your IP or domain being added to a blocklist (or blacklist). An increase in email blocks and bounces often correlates with these issues.

Troubleshooting and data analysis

When faced with unusual click and unsubscribe activity, a systematic troubleshooting approach is essential. Start by gathering as much data as possible.

SendGrid's event webhooks are invaluable here. By setting up webhooks to capture all event data (clicks, unsubscribes, opens, etc.), you can get granular details like user agents and IP addresses of the systems interacting with your emails. This level of detail allows you to identify patterns, such as multiple clicks or unsubscribes originating from the same IP range (e.g., cloud providers like Amazon EC2 or known security scanner IPs). Analyzing this data will help you differentiate between legitimate user engagement and automated bot activity. Without this, you might just be spinning your wheels on common SendGrid unsubscribe and tracking issues.

Review your SendGrid account configuration. Double-check your domain authentication, dedicated IP (if applicable), and tracking settings to ensure they haven't been inadvertently altered. If your own team members are being unsubscribed, confirm that your internal GSuite or corporate email settings aren't interacting with SendGrid's tracking in an unusual way, such as aggressive internal spam filters.

Sample webhook payload (simplified)

SendGrid Event Webhook Datajson

{
  "event": "click",
  "email": "recipient@example.com",
  "timestamp": 1678886400,
  "ip": "203.0.113.45",
  "useragent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/100.0.4896.88 Safari/537.36",
  "url": "http://sendgrid.com/track/cl/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjbGlja19pZCI6IjY3ZTU3Yzk2LWVkYjMtNDFlZS1hYmM3LWNjMDFjMzc0OWZkOCIsImlwIjoiMjAzLjAuMTEzLjQ1IiwibGlua19pZCI6NjgzNzMxNCwicmVjaXBpZW50IjoiZW1haWxhZGRyZXNzQGV4YW1wbGUuY29tIn0.somehash",
  "url_offset": {
    "index": 0,
    "type": "html"
  },
  "sg_event_id": "UaE4V7P_g0E5Fp4j8T4j8Q",
  "sg_message_id": "SG.AbCdEfGhIjK.LmNoPqRsTuVwXyZ0.12345"
}

Mitigation and prevention strategies

Mitigating unusual clicks and unsubscribes requires a multi-faceted approach. First, prioritize data analysis using event webhooks to identify the source of the anomalous activity. If you confirm bot activity, you can implement strategies to filter these out of your metrics.

While SendGrid doesn't automatically suppress obvious bot activity, you can build your own logic. This might involve identifying known IP ranges of security scanners or user agent strings associated with bots and then excluding those events from your reporting. For unsubscribes, consider creating a 'manual' unsubscribe group in SendGrid. This allows you to log all unsubscribe requests without automatically removing the recipient, giving you time to investigate if the unsubscribe was legitimate or bot-driven before processing it. This is particularly useful for mitigating the impact of bot unsubscribe clicks.

If you suspect an internal bug within SendGrid (though less likely for these specific issues, as they tend to be external factors), comprehensive event data can help you present a strong case to their support team. While direct phone support might not always be available, providing detailed logs and analysis can expedite their investigation. Meanwhile, ensure you're following best practices for increasing email click-through rates to ensure your legitimate engagement is strong.

Short-term actions

Isolate the issue: Identify specific campaigns or timeframes where unusual activity occurred.
Monitor real-time: Watch SendGrid's event feed closely for further anomalies.
Manual unsubscribe review: Temporarily use a manual unsubscribe group to vet requests.

Long-term solutions

Implement event webhooks: Capture detailed event data for in-depth analysis.
Filter bot activity: Develop logic to exclude known bot IPs and user agents from metrics.
Maintain list hygiene: Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or problematic addresses.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Always set up SendGrid event webhooks to capture detailed data. This data is critical for deep dives into unusual activity.

Regularly audit your email list for engagement and remove inactive subscribers to improve overall list hygiene and reduce risk.

Familiarize yourself with common IP ranges of cloud providers and security vendors, as these are frequent sources of bot activity.

Common pitfalls

Assuming platform bugs: It's rarely a core platform issue, usually an external factor like security scanners or a misconfiguration.

Ignoring inflated metrics: Dismissing unusual clicks/unsubscribes can mask real deliverability problems and impact reputation.

Lack of granular data: Relying only on dashboard summaries prevents you from identifying the specific sources of anomalous behavior.

Expert tips

Consider segmenting your audience and sending small test batches to monitor initial engagement, which can catch anomalies early.

Engage with your email service provider's support with precise data points rather than vague descriptions to get faster resolution.

For advanced analysis, explore tools that can cross-reference IPs with known bot or security scanner databases.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says they started experiencing unusual opens and clicks around late June, with the issue progressively worsening.

July 24, 2020 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says that bot activity following all links, including the unsubscribe link, is a common cause, often from over-zealous cloud security vendors like Barracuda.

July 24, 2020 - Email Geeks

Summary

Unusual click and unsubscribe activity in SendGrid, while alarming, is a solvable problem that usually points to automated interactions rather than human behavior. By methodically investigating your data, leveraging SendGrid's event webhooks, and understanding the role of security scanners and automated bots, you can accurately diagnose the root cause.

Implementing a robust data collection strategy and applying filters to your reporting can provide a clearer picture of your actual engagement metrics. This proactive approach not only helps in troubleshooting immediate issues but also strengthens your email deliverability practices in the long run. By staying informed and analytical, you can maintain the health and integrity of your email marketing campaigns.