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June 19, 2024

Email Click Bots Causing a Click Surge? How to Find Out

WHEN YOU FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE YOU’LL KNOW: 

  1. How email click bots can inflate your email marketing metrics and skew your understanding of campaign performance.
  2. The reasons behind the recent surge in clicks from Hotmail and Outlook.
  3. Several ways to identify email click bot activity, including user-agent strings, click timeframe, click patterns, geographic location, and engagement with content.
  4. Steps you can take to minimize the impact of email click bots on your metrics, such as dedicated click tracking, double opt-in, honeypot links, and Klaviyo segment filtering.
  5. Best practices for maintaining a healthy email list and email infrastructure to improve deliverability and reduce bot activity. 

If you’re one of the many marketers who’s recently logged into your Klaviyo account to find alarmingly high click rates, you’ve probably been a victim of email click bots. These robots are part of some email service providers’ security measures, and they can give you false clicks and opens that skew your metrics and make it hard to get accurate data. 

Let’s dive into email click bots so you know how to spot them and what to do about them. Implement these strategies and you’ll be able to get the most out of your metrics. 

What Are Email Click Bots? 

Email click bots are automated tools that are used by Security Systems, Anti-Spam Filters and Email Service Providers (ESPs) like Klaviyo, and Inbox Providers like Gmail. They’re designed to scan emails for spam and phishing content and to block malicious links and attachments within emails.

This scanning process can involve downloading images or triggering links within the email to check for malicious content. This can cause the email to be recorded as “opened” by tracking systems even though it still appears unread in the mailbox.

Unfortunately for email campaigns, these email click bots can inflate key performance metrics like open rates and click-through rates. This creates a misleading picture of how recipients are engaging with email campaigns, as the interactions recorded are not from actual human users. 

Why Is There a Sudden Spike in Open and Click Rates for Hotmail and Outlook? 

A sudden spike in open and click rates for Hotmail and Outlook could be linked to the latest Microsoft updates to its email security. Hotmail is part of Outlook.com, which is a web-based suite of email services included under the broader Microsoft 365 services. 

The security enhancements and new features implemented by Microsoft in May 2024 would apply to all users of Outlook.com, including those with Hotmail addresses. Some of the updates were rolled out to improve email security across different platforms and services. These included:

  • Enhanced Security Features: The updates include displaying full sender email addresses in the Junk Mail folder and introducing warnings before visiting links in the Junk folder. These features help users identify and avoid phishing attempts and other malicious emails more effectively​​.
  • Updates to Exchange Online: Although primarily aimed at business users, enhancements to Exchange Online’s security, such as the introduction of Inbound SMTP DANE with DNSSEC, indirectly improve the overall security environment for all Microsoft email services, including Hotmail​.
  • General Security Updates: The cumulative and security updates released for various Microsoft services and applications contribute to a more secure infrastructure, indirectly benefiting Hotmail users by enhancing the overall security posture of Microsoft’s email ecosystem​.

Google’s Recent Update and Its Impact

Google’s recent update for “Bulk Senders”, effective from June 2024, introduces tighter sending restrictions that could have a significant impact on email marketing campaigns. Here are the main points:

New Regulations and Requirements

Spam Rate Thresholds

Marketers must maintain a spam rate below 0.1%. Reaching a 0.3% spam rate will result in immediate restrictions, where you’ll be prevented from sending emails for seven days. Even a 0.1% spam rate can negatively impact deliverability.

Authentication Protocols

Emails must be authenticated using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Proper configuration of these protocols is important to ensure that emails are not flagged as spam and to maintain a good sending reputation.

Easy Unsubscribe Option

All marketing emails must include a simple and clear unsubscribe option. This allows recipients to easily opt-out of receiving further emails, which helps reduce spam complaints.

Common Types of Email Click Bots 

  • Spam Filters (SpamAssassin): These click bots analyze email content for spam-like characteristics, like excessive punctuation, suspicious keywords, or known spammer patterns. They can block or quarantine emails flagged as spam. 
  • Antivirus Software Bots: Email click bots that scan email attachments and links for viruses, malware, and other harmful software. They can block or remove infected attachments. 
  • Email Security Gateways (Barracuda): These comprehensive solutions combine multiple security techniques, including spam filtering, virus scanning, and content analysis, to protect organizations from email threats. 
  • Webmail Providers’ Security Bots: (Gmail or Outlooks spam filter): These click bots analyze incoming emails, using various techniques to identify spam and phishing attempts. 

How Do Email Click Bots Interact With Emails?

  • Analyze Email Content

Click bots thoroughly examine the email’s subject line, body, headers, and HTML code. They look for suspicious keywords, phrases, patterns, or code that are often associated with spam, phishing attempts, or malware.

  • Link Verification

They automatically click on links embedded within emails to assess their safety. This helps determine if the links lead to legitimate websites or potentially harmful destinations, like phishing pages or sites hosting malware.

  • Attachment Scanning

If an email contains attachments, security bots analyze them for viruses, malware, or other malicious content. They may also check if the file types are commonly used to deliver cyber threats.

  • Sender Reputation Check

Email bots assess the reputation of the sender’s domain and IP address. If the sender has a history of sending spam or engaging in suspicious activities, the email is more likely to be flagged as spam. 

How Email Click Bots Can Skew Metrics 

Impact on Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Bots are designed to click on links in emails to check for malicious content. This behavior can inflate click-through rates (CTR), making it appear that a campaign is performing better than it actually is. 

If your email marketing campaign has a surprisingly high CTR of 20% but the conversion rate remains unusually low, this could indicate that a large number of clicks are generated by security email bots rather than genuine user interest.

Effect on Open Rates

Some security bots, particularly those used by email security gateways, open every email to scan for threats. This action triggers an “open” event, even if the recipient never actually views the email, leading to inflated open rates and creating a false impression of campaign success. 

Inaccurate Results for Email Campaign Analytics

The inflated CTR and open rates caused by click bots can make it difficult to accurately measure the true engagement and effectiveness of email campaigns.

This can lead to:

  • Misguided Optimization: Marketers might focus on strategies that appear to be working based on inflated metrics, while neglecting areas that actually need improvement. 
  • Wasted Resources: Resources may be allocated to campaigns or segments that are not genuinely performing well, resulting in inefficient spending. 
  • Missed Opportunities: Genuine user engagement might be overlooked due to the focus on inflated numbers, leading to missed opportunities for optimization and growth. 

Email Bot Clicks vs Human Clicks: How to Tell the Difference? 

User-Agent Strings 

Bot Clicks

User-agent strings are identifiers that browsers and other applications use to identify themselves to servers. Email click bots often have distinct user-agent strings that indicate they are automated scripts or programs. 

You might see user-agent strings like “Barracuda/6.6.5 (cp-office; build 100; transport: https)”, “SpamAssassin 3.4.5 (2023-06-17)”, “Googlebot,” “MailChecker,” or “Mozilla/5.0”. If you encounter these in your email click data, it’s a strong indication that the clicks are coming from automated scans rather than real human engagement. 

Human Clicks

When a human clicks and interacts with your email, the records will show a wider variety of user-agent strings, reflecting different operating systems (Windows, macOS), browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox), and devices (mobile, desktop). 

Click Timeframe 

Bot Clicks 

Automated email bots may click on links within seconds or milliseconds of the email being delivered, which isn’t typical for human behavior. This is because email click bots are programmed to scan and click links quickly. 

Human Clicks

People will look at emails when it’s convenient for them. This means that the open rate and click-throughs can happen within minutes of receiving the email. But it could also happen a few hours or even days after the email has been sent.  

Click Patterns

Bot Clicks Patterns 

Bots often follow predictable patterns when clicking on links. For example, they may click on every link in an email in a specific order or with consistent timing between clicks.

Human Click Patterns

When a human reads an email, they’ll have an unpredictable click pattern as they may be more selective. They may only click on links that are relevant to their interests or they could skip links entirely. The way in which they interact with the email will reflect genuine engagement. 

Geographic Location

Bot Clicks 

Some click bots originate from data centers or IP addresses associated with non-human activity. This can sometimes be identified by unusual geographic locations that don’t correspond to typical human traffic patterns. 

Human Clicks

Human clicks generally come from a variety of geographic locations that align with normal human behavior. For example, clicks may come from locations where the recipient is known to reside or work. 

Engagement with Content 

Bot Clicks 

When email click bots interact with emails, they typically don’t do much beyond clicking on links. Their actions are automated, so they won’t spend time reading the email, scrolling through its content, or filling out forms. Click bots just follow a set of programmed instructions, often clicking on specific links or performing actions that are part of their script.

Human Clicks

Real people engage with email content in more meaningful ways. They take the time to read the email, click on links that interest them, and may scroll through to learn more. Humans might also interact with forms, respond to calls-to-action, or even reply to the email. Their actions show real interest in what the email offers and a willingness to engage further.

Conversion Rates 

Bot Clicks 

Bots click on links as part of their automated processes, but they don’t take further actions like signing up for newsletters, making purchases, or filling out forms. So if you notice high click-through rates but low conversion rates, it could be a sign of email click bot activity. 

Human Clicks

Conversion rates from human engagement reflect real interest and interaction with your content. When people find your email compelling, they’re more likely to convert by taking actions such as signing up for newsletters, buying something, or responding to calls-to-action. 

Can Email Bot Clicks Be Prevented? 

Unfortunately, there isn’t any way that you can prevent email bot clicks, but their impact can be minimized. Here are some steps you can take to keep your metrics as accurate as possible. 

Dedicated Click Tracking 

Dedicated Click Tracking in Klaviyo allows you to use your own domain for click tracking links instead of Klaviyo’s default encoding.  

This makes your links recognizable and trustworthy to your customers, which can increase the likelihood of real clicks. Also, using your domain helps align your brand’s reputation across email providers, potentially reducing filtering and improving deliverability. 

To Set Up Dedicated Click Tracking In Klaviyo, Follow These Steps:

Access Your DNS Settings 

Log into your domain registrar or hosting provider where your DNS settings are managed. 

Add CNAME Records 

You need to add two CNAME records to your DNS settings. Here are the specific records you need to add: 

  • Record 1:
    • Type: CNAME
    • Hostname: trk
    • Value: sendgrid.net
  • Record 2:
    • Type: CNAME
    • Hostname: 161779
    • Value: sendgrid.net

The “trk” subdomain is a placeholder and can be replaced with any subdomain not currently in use. The 161779 subdomain must be used exactly as specified. 

Proxy Settings

If your DNS provider supports proxying (e.g., Cloudflare), you must disable this feature for the CNAME records to resolve correctly. 

Validate DNS Records

After updating your DNS settings, contact Klaviyo support with the host names you used for the CNAME records. Inform them whether you intend to set up SSL for your dedicated click tracking. 

SSL For Dedicated Click Tracking 

Obtain SSL Certificates

Acquire SSL certificates for your tracking subdomain (e.g. trk.yourdomain.com) from your hosting provider or a CDN. 

Install SSL Certificates

Follow your hosting provider’s or CDN’s instructions to install the SSL certificates on your domain. 

Confirm with Klaviyo

Once the SSL is set up, notify Klaviyo support to update their system for using HTTPS links. 

Double Opt-In

Double opt-in allows subscribers to confirm their email addresses by clicking a link sent to them after their initial sign up.  

This extra step helps verify the legitimacy of the subscriber, reducing the chances of bots entering your email list. It also prevents issues like unwanted unsubscriptions or premature confirmations caused by click bots. 

Use Honeypot Links 

Embedding invisible “honeypot” links in emails can help identify bot activity. These links are not visible to human users but can be detected and activated by email click bots. Any interaction with these links can be used to identify and disregard bot activity from your metrics. 

Switch to G4 for Attribution and Reporting 

Switching to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for attribution and reporting can significantly enhance your ability to track and analyze customer interactions across multiple channels, including Klaviyo email campaigns. Here’s how to integrate GA4 with your Klaviyo setup: 

1. Use UTM Parameters 

Add UTM parameters to your Klaviyo email links to track campaign performance in GA4. This makes sure that traffic from your emails is correctly attributed in GA4 reports. For example, you can use parameters like utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign to label your email traffic. 

To Set Up
  • Go to Account > Settings > UTM Tracking in your Klaviyo account.
  • Enable UTM tracking and set parameters (Source: Klaviyo, Medium: email, Campaign: dynamic values). 

2. Leverage Multi-Channel Attribution 

GA4 uses advanced attribution models, including data-driven attribution, which assesses all touchpoints in the customer journey. By integrating Klaviyo with GA4, you can see how your email campaigns contribute to conversions alongside other channels, providing a comprehensive view of your marketing effectiveness. 

Create Segments to Filter Out Bot Activity 

To ease the impact of email click bots on your metrics, create a separate segment including the inbox providers with inflated clicks (Hotmail and Outlook). Exclude this segment from your main segment so that their data doesn’t skew the metrics. 

Continue to include the “click bot” segment in your campaigns, as there’s still a human behind each account. So every campaign will go to both segments. When viewing your metrics, use Klaviyo’s “audience breakdown” feature to see the data of only your main segment, excluding the accounts with bot activity. 

This will give you the most accurate overview of your metrics without excluding users who may still be actively engaging and even buying. 

email click bots activity in Klaviyo

Maintain a Clean List 

Maintaining a clean email list means regularly removing inactive subscribers, using email verification tools, and putting a double opt-in process in place. These practices encourage higher engagement rates and reduce the chances of emails being marked as spam, leading to better deliverability and overall campaign performance

Optimizing Email Infrastructure

Optimizing your email infrastructure improves deliverability and performance. This includes implementing DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records for authentication, using a dedicated IP address, and continuously monitoring email metrics to identify and resolve issues quickly. 

CAPTCHA on Signup Forms 

Adding CAPTCHA to your signup forms helps prevent click bots from subscribing to your email list. Integrate CAPTCHA solutions like Google reCAPTCHA so that only genuine users can sign up, maintaining the integrity and quality of your email list.

Data Analysis and Monitoring

Continuous data analysis and monitoring are a must for accurate email metrics. Regularly review your email performance, set up alerts for significant changes, and use dashboards for a comprehensive view. This helps you identify trends, detect anomalies, and make informed decisions based on real-time data.

 

Unlock Peak Email Performance with YOCTO’s Klaviyo Audit Services 

Fine-tune your email strategy, escape email click bot panic, and watch your results soar with an expert Klaviyo audit. We go beyond the surface, providing a comprehensive analysis of every corner of your Klaviyo account to make sure every aspect is optimized for success. 

Our audits cover all the key areas: 

  • Data-Driven Insights: We’ll analyze your historical data to identify trends and uncover hidden growth opportunities for your brand 
  • Deliverability Optimization: We’ll assess your deliverability numbers and make recommendations to get your emails into the inbox, not the spam folder. 
  • Streamlined Lead Capture: The YOCTO team will review your sign-up paths and suggest improvements to help you simplify your lead capture process and build a high-quality email list. 
  • Automated Lead Generation: We’ll analyze your email flows to make sure they’re effectively bringing in and converting leads. 
  • Targeted Audience Segmentation: We’ll check your lists and segments to ensure they’re clean, well-organized, and precisely targeted. 
  • Campaign Performance Deep Dive: We’ll do a deep dive into your campaigns and assess engagement, design, and content effectiveness, bringing you actionable insights for improvement. 

YOCTO, Your Klaviyo Master Platinum Partner 

By partnering with YOCTO, you gain access to a team of seasoned professionals dedicated to your success. Here’s what makes us stand out: 

  • Industry-Recognized Expertise: We’re independently recognized by Klaviyo as a top agency in both the USA and Europe, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to your audit.
  • Proven Results Guarantee: Our proven methods consistently deliver results. We eliminate guesswork and provide a clear roadmap to achieve your revenue and retention goals.
  • Experience You Can Trust: We’ve partnered with leading global brands like Tesonet and innovative startups like Miracare. Our diverse experience across industries and business sizes allows us to tailor solutions that truly work for you.

Our Thorough and Insightful Klaviyo Audit Process 

We take a meticulous approach to Klaviyo audits, providing detailed feedback and actionable recommendations for improvement. 

  • Free Discovery Call: We start with a free consultation to understand your brand and specific needs.
  • In-Depth Account Audit: We conduct a comprehensive review of your Klaviyo account, examining data performance, deliverability, sign-up paths, flow automation, lists and segments, campaigns, and experimentation practices.
  • Actionable Reporting: You’ll receive a detailed report outlining areas for improvement, along with customized recommendations to maximize your email marketing strategy.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your email marketing? Book your free discovery call today and see how we can help you achieve superior email deliverability and a significant increase in your ROI. 

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