What causes sudden spikes in email clicks from .edu addresses?

Spikes in clicks, especially from .edu addresses, are often due to automated security scanners at the receiving domain. These systems click all links in an email to check for malicious content before delivery to the recipient. This is a sign of robust security, not necessarily a deliverability issue.

What does "robot": false mean if clicks are still automated?

The "robot": false flag usually indicates that your email service provider's initial assessment did not classify the click as originating from a known bot. However, sophisticated security scanners can mimic human browsing behavior, making them appear as legitimate users in your tracking data. This doesn't mean it wasn't an automated click.

Can automated email clicks affect my website's performance?

Yes, while emails typically get delivered, the high volume of automated clicks can overload your website, leading to downtime or slow performance. This means your site needs to be robust enough to handle these traffic surges, separate from your email deliverability strategy.

How can I filter out these false clicks from my reporting?

Focus on improving your website's scalability and capacity (e.g., using a CDN, better hosting). Analyze click data for patterns like simultaneous clicks on all links, generic user agents (e.g., WebKit without a specific browser), and consistent IP ranges. Some ESPs offer filtering options for known bot activity.

Should I stop sending emails to .edu addresses to prevent this?

Suppressing .edu addresses might reduce bot traffic to your site, but it means you'll miss out on reaching legitimate subscribers. A better approach is to address your website's capacity and refine your analytics to distinguish between real and automated engagement. Consider reviewing your general email deliverability for issues with spam rates and blocklists .

Why did a recent email campaign see an out-of-the-blue spike of triple clicks from .edu addresses? - Troubleshooting - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

Recently, I encountered a peculiar situation with an email campaign for a B2C client. We observed an unprecedented surge in what we called "triple clickers," primarily originating from .edu addresses. These clicks occurred in rapid succession, often three times per recipient, almost immediately upon email receipt. What was particularly unusual was that these clicks didn't initially register an open event, and they happened across dozens of different educational institutions, leading to a significant traffic spike that briefly brought the client's website down.

This client's email program has been stable for two years, with consistent mailings to an engaged audience, regular validation checks, and no prior anomalies in Google Postmaster Tools. All emails consistently pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. The affected .edu addresses were active subscribers, receiving up to three emails per week from us. My initial thought was that this might be related to academic calendar changes, like college graduation, leading to stricter security configurations for alumni email addresses. However, digging deeper revealed the true nature of this phenomenon.

Understanding robot clicks

The most common explanation for unexpected spikes in email clicks, especially those occurring rapidly without clear user intent, is automated security scanning. Many organizations, particularly educational institutions and government bodies, employ robust email security systems that automatically scan inbound emails for malicious content, including links. This process often involves "clicking" every link within an email to check for malware or phishing attempts before the message even reaches the recipient's inbox. This is a prevalent issue that can skew campaign metrics.

These security measures are designed to protect end-users from threats. Educational institutions, in particular, face unique challenges. Unlike corporate environments where user machines are centrally managed and regularly patched, academic networks often deal with a wide variety of devices, many of which may not be consistently updated. As a result, .edu network administrators implement comprehensive security protocols, especially at the inbound mail server level, to compensate for potential vulnerabilities on user machines. This proactive scanning is a critical defense mechanism.

While these clicks originate from automated systems, they are often indistinguishable from genuine user clicks in standard email tracking. This can lead to inflated click rates and misinterpretation of engagement data, as highlighted by Cyberimpact's discussion on robot clicks. My client's situation, with multiple clicks per link and an associated open event, is a classic sign of such automated probing. The good news is that this typically indicates successful delivery, even if the engagement metrics are distorted.

It's important to differentiate between a deliverability problem and a reporting anomaly. In this case, emails were delivered, but the metrics were skewed. Understanding the root cause helps avoid overreactions, such as suppressing entire segments of valid subscribers, which can hinder legitimate outreach. For more on this, you can refer to insights on why bots click on newsletters.

Characteristics of bot clicks

Timing: Occur within seconds of email receipt, often before any human could realistically open and click.
Volume: High number of clicks from a single or a few IP addresses, or across many recipients from a specific domain (e.g., .edu).
Pattern: Often click all links in an email, or multiple times on the same link, irrespective of content.
User agent: May show generic or unusual user agent strings (e.g., "WebKit" without specific browser details).

Characteristics of real clicks

Timing: Varies, occurring at different times after receipt, often aligning with recipient's active hours.
Volume: Clicks are distributed across a wide range of unique users and IP addresses.
Pattern: Users typically click on specific links of interest, not necessarily all links, and rarely multiple times in quick succession.
User agent: Reflects common browsers and operating systems (e.g., Chrome on Windows, Safari on macOS).

The role of security filters and .edu domains

Automated security scanners, also known as email security gateways or advanced threat protection systems, are commonplace in corporate and institutional environments. These systems are designed to detect and neutralize threats like malware, phishing, and spam before they reach the end-user. When an email arrives, the gateway often performs a simulated click on all embedded links to analyze the destination and content for any malicious activity.

This pre-delivery scanning can result in a high volume of recorded clicks from a single IP address or a range of IP addresses associated with the security gateway, even if the actual recipient never opened the email. While it may seem like a reporting nuisance, this behavior is a sign that the receiving domain's security infrastructure is working. It confirms that your email is being processed by their systems, rather than being immediately rejected or sent to a spam folder.

The increase in such activity could stem from several factors, including: new or updated security software deployments at the .edu domains, changes in their email routing configurations, or even a heightened threat landscape that prompts more aggressive scanning. Many of these domains, particularly those like Kent.edu or UCDavis.edu, likely use enterprise-grade solutions like

Microsoft 365 or Proofpoint, which are known for their thorough scanning.

While it's not a deliverability problem in the traditional sense, the surge in traffic on the client's website posed a significant operational issue. It highlights the importance of having a website infrastructure capable of handling unexpected loads. This is not necessarily a reflection on your email sending practices, but rather on the receiving end's security posture and your web server's capacity.

Actionable steps for managing bot clicks

If you experience similar spikes in clicks, it is crucial to analyze the data provided by your email service provider. Look for commonalities in user agents, IP addresses, or timestamps. For instance, if you see a high number of clicks attributed to "WebKit" and occurring immediately after sending, it's a strong indicator of automated scanning rather than genuine engagement. You may also notice unusual click activity concentrated on a single link within the email.

Collaborate with your ESP to understand if their tracking systems allow for filtering out known bot activity from your reported metrics. Some providers offer advanced analytics that can distinguish between human and automated clicks. While filtering might clean up your reporting, the underlying issue of traffic spikes still needs to be addressed from a website infrastructure perspective.

Distinguishing bot activity from real engagement

To mitigate future traffic spikes, the primary focus should be on your website's ability to handle sudden influxes of visitors. While it's tempting to suppress segments of your audience, like .edu addresses, this can hinder your marketing efforts and limit your reach to valuable subscribers. Instead, consider optimizing your website's performance and scalability. This might involve implementing a content delivery network (CDN), improving server capacity, or configuring caching mechanisms to reduce the load during peak periods.

Analyzing the raw click data, including IP addresses and user agents (if available), can provide deeper insights. While my client's ESP didn't provide IP data in the given payload, it's a crucial piece of information. Knowing if the clicks originate from a specific range of IPs, often associated with security vendors or a large university network, can help confirm the presence of a security scanner. This data helps to identify if you are seeing a sudden increase in bot activity.

For ongoing monitoring, pay attention to any sudden changes in engagement patterns, especially from highly secure domains. While not all bot activity impacts deliverability or sender reputation, unusual spikes should always prompt investigation. Ensure your email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is correctly configured, as this builds trust with receiving servers and can indirectly influence how your emails are handled by security scanners. Incorrect configurations can lead to issues, such as emails being marked as spam in environments like Office 365.

The provided JSON payload, even with masked PII, gives a glimpse into the data. The "robot": false flag is interesting, as it indicates the ESP's initial assessment. However, it's often a generic flag and might not distinguish between legitimate human users and automated security scans, especially if the scanner mimics a standard browser. Always cross-reference multiple data points to form a complete picture of your email performance and any anomalous activity.

Sample click event payloadJSON

{
    "ats": "2023-05-15T18:46:53+0000",
    "a": "click",
    "mcID": "1303:****:ot:****:1",
    "d": {
        "robot": false,
        "browser": "Chrome",
        "type": "computer",
        "device": "WebKit",
        "platform": "Windows"
    },
    "g": {
        "country": "United States",
        "countryISO": "US",
        "tz": "America/Chicago",
        "postalCode": null,
        "geoLoc": {
            "lon": -97.822,
            "lat": 37.751
        },
        "state": null
    },
    "tzo": -4,
    "type": "contactactivity",
    "chnl": "email",
    "parent_child_relations": {
        "parent": "****",
        "name": "contactactivity"
    },
    "msID": "1303:****:ot",
    "mtlID": "****",
    "rl": "0",
    "ID": "****",
    "sp": {
        "lKey": "{",
        "rl": "https://****",
        "ed": "crimson.ua.edu"
    },
    "chnl-type": "email",
    "first": true,
    "cID": "****",
    "ts": "2023-05-15T18:46:53+0000",
    "baseAggregate": "ot",
    "_id": "****",
    "email": "****@crimson.ua.edu",
    "contact.cID": "****",
    "contact.channels.email.address": "****@crimson.ua.edu",
    "message_name": "2023_05_15_****",
    "message_sent": "May 15, 2023 2:44 pm",
    "link": "{",
    "system_properties.link": "{"
}

Navigating security scans and website resilience

The situation I faced underscores a common challenge in email marketing. It's easy to misinterpret data anomalies as deliverability issues when they are, in fact, symptoms of robust security measures on the receiving end, coupled with insufficient website capacity. While the emails were successfully delivered and passed authentication checks, the ensuing traffic spike created an operational problem for the client.

Moving forward, the focus shifts from email deliverability to website resilience. Understanding that domains like .edu and .gov employ advanced security scanning is key. Rather than avoiding these valuable segments, the goal should be to ensure that your website can handle the validation traffic without disruption, while also refining your analytics to accurately reflect genuine user engagement. This comprehensive approach ensures both successful email delivery and a stable user experience.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Actively monitor traffic spikes from specific domains or IP ranges in web analytics, especially those correlating with email send times.

Segment your audience by domain type (e.g., .edu, .gov, corporate) to better understand expected security behaviors from each.

Implement advanced server-side caching and consider a CDN to absorb initial traffic surges from security scanners.

Regularly review your website's capacity and scalability to ensure it can handle unexpected traffic loads.

Common pitfalls

Automatically suppressing .edu or corporate domains due to inflated click rates, leading to lost legitimate engagement.

Misinterpreting automated security clicks as human engagement, leading to inaccurate campaign performance analysis.

Failing to optimize website infrastructure, causing site outages during legitimate email security scans.

Not communicating with your ESP to understand how they filter or report bot-generated clicks.

Expert tips

Use tools that distinguish between human and bot activity in email click reporting to get a clearer picture of engagement.

Leverage advanced web analytics to identify and filter out automated traffic from security gateways for accurate website performance metrics.

Consider adjusting your email sending schedule for large lists to high-security domains to periods of lower website traffic.

Ensure strong email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to build trust with receiving servers, potentially influencing how security scans are performed.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says some domains check emails before they reach the recipient's mailbox by following links, which can register as clicks. If the domain is .edu, it's likely related to government or public services, indicating high security.

2023-05-25 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says if every link is being clicked, it's most likely an anti-spam or anti-malware system probing the mail. You might be able to set rules to not register a click occurring before an email open to correct your reporting.

2023-05-25 - Email Geeks