Why am I seeing inflated clicks in my ESP reporting due to bot activity?

Key findings

• Primary source: The majority of inflated clicks are often attributed to spam filters and security scanners checking email content and links for malicious activity. These are not malicious bots but rather protective mechanisms.
• Microsoft impact: There's anecdotal evidence suggesting a recent uptick in bot activity originating from Microsoft and Outlook domains, potentially due to updated security protocols. This means you might be seeing bot clicks from Microsoft/Outlook domains.
• Timing: Bot clicks typically occur within seconds of email delivery, making them distinguishable from human interaction which usually takes longer.
• Data distortion: These artificial clicks inflate reported click-through rates (CTR), making it difficult for marketers to accurately assess true recipient engagement and the effectiveness of their campaigns.
• ESPs filtering: Some ESPs are implementing or improving features to filter out these bot clicks from reporting, providing more accurate performance metrics.

Key considerations

• Data accuracy: Focus on filtering bot clicks to achieve a more accurate understanding of your campaign performance and genuine user engagement.
• Infrastructure readiness: Ensure your email infrastructure can handle higher query rates from security scanners without issues, as this traffic is generally beneficial.
• Behavioral analysis: Look beyond raw click numbers and analyze engagement patterns, such as conversion rates and time spent on landing pages, to understand actual human behavior.
• Collaboration with ESPs: Work with your ESP to understand their methods for identifying and excluding bot clicks, and advocate for more robust filtering capabilities if needed. You can also learn how ESPs distinguish human vs. bot clicks.
• Long-term strategy: Recognize that bot activity is a permanent aspect of the email ecosystem and continuously adapt your reporting and analysis methods.

Key opinions

• Widespread issue: Many marketers are observing inflated click rates in their ESP reporting due to bot activity, indicating it's a common industry challenge.
• Microsoft's role: There's a strong sentiment that a significant portion of this recent bot click surge, especially between May and June of last year, originated from Microsoft domains or security systems. This could be why you're seeing a large uptick in Outlook clicks that appear to be bots.
• Impact on metrics: Marketers find it challenging to distinguish between bot clicks and genuine engagement, leading to distorted click-through rates and making accurate analysis difficult, as highlighted by Inbox Collective.
• ESP efforts: Some ESPs, like Klaviyo, are actively working on features to filter out these artificial clicks, acknowledging the need for more reliable data.
• Ongoing challenge: Bot activity is expected to be a persistent factor in email marketing, requiring continuous adaptation from ESPs and marketers.

Key considerations

• Filtering solutions: Investigate whether your ESP offers tools or settings to filter bot clicks from your reports. This can help identify and filter out email bot clicks.
• Identifying patterns: Analyze click data for unusual patterns, such as rapid successive clicks from the same IP or very quick clicks after delivery, which may indicate bot activity.
• Focus on conversions: Shift focus from raw click rates to downstream metrics like conversions, sales, and actual website engagement to get a truer picture of campaign success.
• Industry collaboration: Share insights and collaborate with other marketers and ESPs to understand emerging bot trends and best practices for mitigation.

Key opinions

• Beneficial traffic: The majority of bot traffic is considered good, as it comprises spam filters and security systems checking email content, a process that is desirable for deliverability.
• Distinguishing clicks: It is generally not difficult to differentiate bot clicks from human clicks, primarily because bot clicks occur within seconds of email delivery.
• Avoid throttling: Throttling bot traffic or using web application firewalls to restrict clicks is counterproductive, as it can deny content to spam filters and provide bad data. Experts at SpamResource also advise against this.
• Infrastructure capacity: If an ESP's infrastructure cannot handle query rates from security scanners, the solution is to upgrade the infrastructure, not to restrict traffic.
• Accurate reporting: The goal should be to provide accurate reporting that distinguishes human clicks from bot clicks, rather than preventing bot clicks entirely. This helps to understand how anti-spam click bots affect metrics.

Key considerations

• Accept bot activity: Understand that bot clicks are a normal and often necessary part of the email landscape. Attempting to block them completely can have unintended negative consequences.
• Refine reporting: Develop internal reporting mechanisms that intelligently filter out bot clicks to provide a cleaner view of human engagement. This involves understanding click patterns and timing. This will help prevent bot clicks from hurting your email reputation.
• Infrastructure scaling: If bot traffic volume is causing performance issues, prioritize scaling your infrastructure rather than blocking legitimate security scans.
• Educate clients: Communicate clearly with clients and stakeholders about the nature of bot clicks and how they are accounted for in reporting to manage expectations and ensure understanding of actual campaign performance.

Key findings

• Security purpose: Bot clicks are primarily driven by ISP privacy settings and security filters that preload or scan email links to check for malicious content or phishing attempts.
• Automated behavior: These are automated clicks or server clicks, where bots or automated systems interact with links, mimicking human behavior. Learn how to mitigate the impact of bot clicks.
• Data skewing: Bot clicks distort email marketing data, rendering open and click-through rates unreliable for true engagement measurement. You might even find artificial opens and clicks.
• Indicators: Metrics like unusually high open or click rates that don't correlate with conversion metrics are strong indicators of bot activity.
• Legitimate behavior: Bot clicks appear as legitimate recipient behavior in logs, inadvertently inflating metrics, but they can also provide valuable deliverability signals.

Key considerations

• Detection methods: Implement advanced detection techniques, including behavioral analysis and tracking, to accurately identify bot clicks.
• Filtering strategies: Utilize robust filtering mechanisms within your ESP or analytics tools to exclude bot data from your reports for cleaner insights.
• Balanced approach: While filtering is necessary for reporting, acknowledge the underlying security function of these bots. Aggressive blocking might hinder legitimate security checks and negatively affect deliverability.
• Holistic analysis: Combine click data with other engagement metrics, such as conversions and website traffic, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of campaign performance.