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How to identify artificial email opens and clicks generated by spam filters?

Summary

Artificial email opens and clicks, often generated by spam filters or security solutions, can significantly skew your engagement metrics, making it challenging to assess true subscriber interaction. These automated actions are a byproduct of email security protocols designed to pre-scan emails for malicious content before they reach the recipient's inbox. Identifying these non-human interactions is crucial for accurate reporting and effective campaign optimization. Understanding the characteristics of these artificial engagements can help marketers refine their analytical approaches and focus on genuine subscriber behavior. Learn more about how to accurately measure email open rates and avoid being misled by inflated data.

What email marketers say

Email marketers frequently encounter the issue of artificial opens and clicks, expressing frustration over the distortion of their campaign metrics. This phenomenon makes it challenging to accurately assess subscriber engagement and optimize future email strategies. Many marketers have observed these automated interactions firsthand, particularly from security solutions like Barracuda, which can show opens and clicks even before an email is officially accepted by the recipient's server. This leads to a common struggle in differentiating between genuine human interaction and automated bot activity, impacting reporting and strategic decisions.

Marketer view

A marketer from Email Geeks confirms observing excessive opens and clicks and attributes them to spam filters. While there is no direct documentation, this behavior is a known issue among deliverability professionals.

03 Oct 2018 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

An email marketing expert from Iterable emphasizes that non-human interactions, such as opens and clicks, are caused by privacy tools or spam filters, not actual people. This is a common occurrence in email marketing.

01 Apr 2025 - Iterable

What the experts say

Email deliverability experts consistently acknowledge the prevalence of automated opens and clicks, providing deeper insights into the mechanisms behind them. They confirm that security appliances and spam filters proactively scan emails, often mimicking user behavior to detect threats. This includes pre-clicking links and sometimes even interacting with headers like the List-Unsubscribe, which can affect metrics. Experts highlight that while some providers are more sophisticated in their bot behavior (e.g., Google avoiding List-Unsubscribe clicks), others, like Microsoft, may not be. This expert perspective underscores the need for senders to understand these behaviors to accurately interpret their email engagement data and avoid misjudging their sender reputation scores.

Expert view

An expert from Email Geeks indicates that it's challenging to find official documentation about spam filters generating opens and clicks, suggesting it's more of an industry-known issue than a formally documented one.

03 Oct 2018 - Email Geeks

Expert view

An expert from Word to the Wise confirms that Barracuda filters are known to click all links in emails, a behavior reported by numerous senders. This is part of their security scanning process.

01 Jul 2013 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says

While specific, detailed documentation from email service providers or security vendors on their exact bot behavior is rare, industry insights and observed phenomena fill this gap. General documentation often explains that email gateways and security solutions employ techniques like link pre-fetching and sandbox analysis to protect users from malicious content. These processes inherently involve automated 'opens' and 'clicks' as part of their threat detection. Understanding these security-driven behaviors is essential for interpreting email analytics accurately and for recognizing why emails might be going to spam. This broader understanding helps clarify the rationale behind what appears to be artificial engagement.

Technical article

Documentation from Iterable indicates that a non-human interaction refers to an email event, such as an open or click, caused by privacy tools or spam filters rather than an actual person, clarifying the source of artificial engagement.

01 Apr 2025 - Iterable

Technical article

The documentation from Badsender suggests creating links or buttons that are invisible to human users but detectable by bots. These 'robot-dedicated links' can be used as a strategy to identify automated interactions and distinguish them from genuine user clicks.

22 Feb 2024 - Badsender

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