Why are email click rates inflated and how to solve the issue?

Summary

Inflated email click rates are a multifaceted problem arising from bot activity (including Microsoft's link-following bots and security software), Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), internal tracking errors, faulty campaign setups, mobile device interactions, and email client preview panes. Bot detection is complex and requires constant adaptation. Solutions involve analyzing metadata, IP addresses, user agents, click patterns, and request patterns to identify and filter bot clicks. Implementing bot management solutions, segmenting email lists based on engagement, auditing tracking parameters, cleaning email lists regularly, optimizing email design for mobile devices, and utilizing reverse DNS lookups can help. Focusing on engagement metrics beyond opens and clicks, such as reply rates, forward rates, and conversions, offers a more accurate performance assessment.

Key findings

  • Bot Activity: Bots from various sources, including Microsoft and security software, inflate click rates.
  • Apple MPP: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection can inflate open rates, affecting click-through rates.
  • Tracking Errors: Internal tracking errors and faulty campaign setups contribute to inflated click rates.
  • Mobile Interactions: Accidental clicks on mobile devices due to smaller screens can inflate click rates.
  • Preview Panes: Email client preview panes loading images/links lead to inflated open and click rates.
  • Complex Bot Detection: Identifying and adapting to evolving bot behaviors is complex.

Key considerations

  • Metadata Analysis: Analyze metadata, IP addresses, user agents, and click patterns to identify bot clicks.
  • Bot Management: Implement bot management solutions to identify and mitigate bot traffic.
  • Segmentation: Segment email lists based on engagement to reduce the impact of bot clicks.
  • Tracking Audit: Audit tracking parameters and campaign setups for errors.
  • List Hygiene: Regularly clean email lists to remove inactive subscribers and spam traps.
  • Mobile Optimization: Optimize email design for mobile devices to reduce accidental clicks.
  • Reverse DNS Analysis: Use reverse DNS lookups to identify bot hostname patterns.
  • Holistic Metrics: Focus on a broader range of engagement metrics, including replies, forwards, and conversions.
  • Adaptive bot detection: Continuously update bot detection methods to adapt to evolving bot technologies.

What email marketers say
11Marketer opinions

Inflated email click rates are a common issue stemming from various sources, primarily bot activity, Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), internal tracking errors, and mobile device interactions. Bots, including security software, automatically click links, inflating metrics. MPP inflates open rates, affecting click-through rates. Faulty tracking links, incorrect setups, small mobile screens, and email client preview panes also contribute. Solutions include analyzing metadata, IP addresses, and user agents to identify bot clicks, utilizing bot detection features, segmenting email lists based on engagement, auditing tracking parameters, cleaning email lists regularly, and optimizing email design for mobile devices. Focusing on engagement metrics beyond just opens and clicks also provides a more accurate picture.

Key opinions

  • Bot Activity: Bots, including security software, automatically clicking links artificially inflate click rates.
  • Apple MPP: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates, indirectly impacting click-through rates.
  • Tracking Errors: Faulty tracking links and incorrect campaign setups contribute to inflated click rates.
  • Mobile Interactions: Accidental clicks on mobile devices due to smaller screens can inflate click rates.
  • Email Client Preview Panes: Email clients' preview panes loading images/links inflate open and click rates.

Key considerations

  • Metadata Analysis: Analyze metadata, IP addresses, and user agents to identify and filter bot clicks.
  • Bot Detection Features: Utilize bot detection features offered by ESPs or third-party tools.
  • Segmentation: Segment email lists based on engagement to isolate and reduce the impact of bot clicks.
  • Tracking Audit: Audit tracking parameters and campaign setups for errors.
  • List Cleaning: Regularly clean email lists to remove inactive subscribers and potential spam traps.
  • Mobile Optimization: Optimize email design for mobile devices to reduce accidental clicks.
  • Engagement Metrics: Focus on engagement metrics beyond opens and clicks, such as reply rates and conversions.
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot explains the importance of regularly cleaning email lists to remove inactive subscribers and potential spam traps. Maintaining a clean list helps to reduce the impact of inflated email metrics.

September 2022 - HubSpot
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Uplers shares that excessively high click-through rates can stem from several sources, including internal link tracking errors, bot clicks, and incorrect campaign setups. They suggest auditing tracking parameters and segmenting bot traffic.

May 2023 - Email Uplers

What the experts say
3Expert opinions

Inflated email click rates are influenced by several factors, including Microsoft's increased link-following behavior, the complexity of bot detection, and the need for comprehensive engagement metrics. Microsoft's bots target senders, artificially inflating clicks. Bot detection requires constant adaptation due to evolving bot technologies, emphasizing the importance of analyzing click patterns and user behavior. To mitigate the impact of inflated rates, it's recommended to focus on engagement metrics beyond just opens and clicks, such as reply, forward, and conversion rates, to gain a more accurate performance assessment.

Key opinions

  • Microsoft Bot Activity: Microsoft's increased link-following behavior inflates click rates for targeted senders.
  • Complex Bot Detection: Bot detection is a complex and evolving process requiring continuous adaptation and analysis of user and click behavior.
  • Limited Metrics: Relying solely on opens and clicks provides an incomplete picture of email campaign performance.

Key considerations

  • Bot Traffic Analysis: Implement strategies to identify and filter traffic from Microsoft's link-following bots.
  • Adaptive Bot Detection: Continuously update bot detection methods to adapt to evolving bot technologies.
  • Holistic Engagement: Focus on a broader range of engagement metrics, including replies, forwards, and conversions, to get a more accurate view of email performance.
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource responds that focusing on engagement metrics beyond just opens and clicks can help mitigate the impact of inflated click rates. They recommend analyzing reply rates, forward rates, and conversion rates to get a more accurate picture of campaign performance.

January 2025 - Spam Resource
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that bot detection is complex, requiring constant adaptation as bots evolve. They emphasize the importance of analyzing click patterns and user behavior to identify non-human interactions.

September 2022 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Email click rates are often inflated due to bot traffic. Solutions involve identifying and filtering non-human clicks by analyzing IP addresses, user agents, click patterns, and request patterns. Bot management solutions, such as those offered by Cloudflare, can be employed. Google Analytics provides bot filtering features to exclude known bot IPs and user agents from website analytics. Additionally, reverse DNS lookups can identify bots by examining hostname patterns associated with their IP addresses.

Key findings

  • Bot Identification: Analyzing IP addresses, user agents, and click patterns helps identify bot clicks.
  • Bot Management: Bot management solutions can mitigate bot traffic through pattern analysis and challenges.
  • Analytics Filtering: Google Analytics allows filtering of known bot IPs and user agents from website analytics.
  • Reverse DNS: Reverse DNS lookups can identify bots based on hostname patterns.

Key considerations

  • Implement Filtering: Implement filtering mechanisms based on IP addresses, user agents, and click patterns.
  • Use Bot Management Tools: Consider using bot management solutions for advanced bot detection and mitigation.
  • Analytics Configuration: Configure Google Analytics to filter out known bot traffic.
  • Reverse DNS Analysis: Incorporate reverse DNS lookups to identify bot-like hostname patterns.
Technical article

Documentation from RFC explains identifying bots by looking up the hostname from the IP address (reverse DNS). Many bots use servers with names that don't resemble real users (e.g., crawl-66-249-66-1.googlebot.com), so you can often flag them based on these patterns.

October 2021 - RFC-Editor
Technical article

Documentation from Validity explains methods to identify and filter pre-click activity (bot clicks) from email reports. This involves analyzing IP addresses, user agents, and click patterns to distinguish between human and non-human clicks.

June 2023 - Validity