Why did a large number of people click a link in my email immediately after sending?

Key findings

• Automated scanning: Many email providers and security solutions automatically click links to verify their safety, identify spam, or detect malware before emails are delivered to recipients. This is a primary cause of immediate, high click rates.
• Security bots: These bots simulate a user's click to check the destination of a link, looking for suspicious redirects or harmful content. They operate rapidly, leading to spikes immediately following send time.
• Data distortion: While these clicks inflate your overall click-through rate, they do not represent actual user engagement. This can lead to misleading analytics if not properly understood.
• ISP and corporate filters: Both large ISPs like Gmail and corporate email systems (e.g., Office 365) employ such security measures, often originating from cloud provider IPs, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Key considerations

• Analyze source IPs: Examine the IP addresses associated with these clicks. Often, they originate from known data centers or cloud providers, indicating bot activity rather than individual users. Refer to our guide on unusual click activity from Amazon EC2 IPs.
• Focus on unique clicks: While total clicks may be high, focus on unique clicks that occur over a longer period, as these are more likely to represent genuine subscriber engagement. Also consider the click-through rate from human engagement.
• Consider email content: Certain types of links, like tracking links, or content that mimics transactional emails, might trigger more aggressive scanning by security systems.
• Adjust expectations: Factor in bot clicks when evaluating campaign performance. They are a sign that your emails are being processed by security systems, which can be a positive indicator for deliverability, but don't confuse them with human interaction.

Key opinions

• Bot interference: A common sentiment among marketers is that such immediate and widespread clicks are almost certainly bot-driven, especially when they occur right after an email is sent.
• Security checks: Marketers frequently attribute these clicks to email client or ISP security mechanisms that pre-scan links for spam or malicious content.
• Misleading data: The consensus is that these automated clicks can significantly skew campaign performance data, making it difficult to assess genuine subscriber engagement.
• Content influence: Some marketers hypothesize that certain email content, such as shipping information or transactional elements, might trigger specific automated checks by email clients, leading to link clicks.

Key considerations

• Link type analysis: Marketers often recommend investigating if the affected links are unusual, such as shortened URLs, which might be more prone to automated scanning.
• IP and browser data review: Checking the source IP addresses and browser types associated with the clicks can help confirm bot activity, especially if IPs are repeated or from known data centers. This is similar to how you would investigate sudden increases in bot click activity.
• Unique click focus: Understanding that these are often unique clicks per email address, rather than multiple clicks from one user, is crucial for accurate analysis.
• ESP tracking: Some email service providers have built-in mechanisms to filter out or identify bot clicks, which can provide clearer data for marketers. This is important for understanding automatic opens and clicks on Office 365.

Key opinions

• Security scanning: Experts consistently point to email security filters and anti-spam systems as the primary culprits behind rapid, mass link clicks, as these systems pre-scan URLs for threats.
• False positives: These automated interactions create false positives in click metrics, which can complicate accurate campaign evaluation for email deliverability issues.
• ISP behavior: Many ISPs and corporate mail servers utilize sophisticated systems that automatically interact with email content, including clicking links, for various security or analytical purposes.
• Reputation implications: While bot clicks themselves aren't inherently negative for reputation, an understanding of them is vital for interpreting metrics, particularly when assessing spam rates or blocklist entries.

Key considerations

• Data analysis granularity: Experts advise digging deeper into click data, beyond simple totals, to identify patterns such as identical timestamps, repeating IPs, or unusual user agents, which signify bot activity. Our email deliverability test checklist can help.
• Impact on metrics: Recognize that these clicks inflate click-through rates and can sometimes artificially lower perceived bounce rates if not properly accounted for.
• Sender behavior: While not malicious, excessive bot clicks can sometimes indicate that your emails are triggering aggressive spam filters, which might warrant a review of content or sending practices. This helps avoid emails going to spam.
• Monitor deliverability: Maintain a holistic view of your deliverability, using tools like deliverability dashboards, to correlate bot activity with actual inbox placement and engagement trends.

Key findings

• Purpose of bots: Documentation confirms that click bots are programs designed to automatically click links within emails to determine their safety and prevent spam from reaching user inboxes.
• Pre-delivery scanning: Many systems perform these automated clicks as part of a pre-delivery scanning process, which occurs before the email is fully delivered to the recipient.
• Impact on metrics: Automated clicks are a recognized factor that can lead to artificially inflated click rates and should be considered when analyzing campaign performance.
• Security measure: These automated systems are an essential layer of defense against phishing, malware, and other email-borne threats.

Key considerations

• Recognize benign activity: It is important for senders to understand that these clicks are usually a standard security procedure and not necessarily a negative indicator of deliverability. Ensuring proper email authentication with DMARC, SPF, and DKIM can help.
• Adjust reporting: Email documentation often implicitly or explicitly advises that marketers account for automated clicks when reporting on campaign success, focusing on more reliable engagement metrics.
• Impact on open tracking: The automatic clicking by spam filters can also affect open rates, as noted by Mailchimp's documentation on open tracking, where aggressive filters may open emails to check links.
• Email deliverability health: While bot clicks are a factor, a comprehensive view of email deliverability issues requires looking at multiple metrics, including spam complaints, bounce rates, and domain reputation.