Why does including plaintext versions of emails increase bot activity?

Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that plaintext email versions might trigger bot detection systems more often due to the lack of advanced tracking mechanisms available in HTML. Without tracking pixels and sophisticated link tracking, systems might rely on simpler metrics that bots are more likely to trigger, leading to inflated bot activity reports.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that some spam filters and security systems are designed to analyze plaintext versions of emails more aggressively. They hypothesize that a higher incidence of malicious links or content found in plaintext emails over time could lead to increased scrutiny by these systems, resulting in bot-like behavior such as link crawling.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares their experience that some older email security systems are more likely to flag emails without HTML formatting as potentially suspicious. While not directly causing increased bot activity, this flagging might trigger additional security checks performed by bots.

Email marketer from EmailVendorSelection.com explains that plaintext versions offer a simpler structure for bots to crawl and extract information, especially links. Since plaintext lacks the complex formatting of HTML, bots can easily identify and follow URLs, potentially inflating click-through rates.

Email marketer from Litmus responds that plaintext emails lack the advanced tracking capabilities present in HTML emails. Therefore, bot interactions might be harder to differentiate from genuine user engagement, leading to an apparent increase in bot activity metrics because fewer bot-filtering techniques can be implemented.

Email marketer from HubSpot explains that using both HTML and plaintext allows sophisticated tracking mechanisms, such as tracking pixels, in HTML while ensuring that the message renders for people who use text-only email clients. Not directly related but this may increase click engagement as it is easier to read.

Email marketer from Mailjet.com shares that bots often target plaintext versions due to their simplicity. Plaintext lacks complex code, making it easier for bots to parse links and content. This can lead to skewed engagement metrics as bots register clicks and opens.

Email marketer from EmailOnAcid responds that while they don't specifically address bot activity increases related to plain text, they do state that the absence of HTML's more complex coding may lead to simple bots interpreting the email in unintended ways. This potentially results in skewed engagement data due to non-human interaction.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that plaintext emails are easier for bots to scan for links due to their lack of formatting. This simplicity makes extracting links a straightforward process, potentially causing more bot traffic.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that some users prefer or require plaintext emails. However, this does not directly address the question of increased bot activity. Some bot developers may only review plain text for quick access to links to allow for faster data collection.

Expert from Email Geeks responds that corporate malware filters will follow links if they feel dubious. If there are links in both plain and rich text, there are twice the number of links, so they're more likely to be followed. He recommends digging into the data to see what's going on and identify which MXes are being used.

Expert from Email Geeks recommends looking at the recipient domains and lookup the MX records for those domains. Adds that with luck you’ll figure out it’s one appliance in the first 3 or 4 DNS lookups and can work with that

Documentation from Apache James Project notes that email parsing libraries are sometimes more vulnerable when handling plaintext emails due to simpler structure and the absence of error-correcting HTML tags. This might lead to bots exploiting these vulnerabilities when interacting with the email server.

Documentation from SANS Institute explains that plaintext emails do not support digital signatures in the same way as HTML emails using S/MIME. This makes it easier for bots to impersonate senders or inject malicious content without detection, which might be interpreted as increased bot activity.

Documentation from Cybersecurity Report shares that a vulnerability assessment found that plaintext emails are more susceptible to bot-driven attacks due to the lack of obfuscation. HTML emails can use code to hide malicious links or scripts, whereas plaintext offers no such protection, making it easier for bots to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.

Documentation from RFC Editor explains that plaintext emails, adhering to RFC 5322, present a simpler structure for automated parsing. The defined syntax makes it easier for bots to identify and extract links or specific content, potentially leading to increased bot activity.

Documentation from Google Webmaster Guidelines explains that search engine crawlers and other bots prioritize easily accessible content. Plaintext, by its nature, is readily indexable, which could lead to more frequent bot visits compared to HTML versions that require rendering.