Are you experiencing inconsistent clicks on your emails? This is often caused by email security servers registering multiple clicks on the same link. While spam bot scanners are essential for preventing phishing scams, they can make it difficult for marketers to accurately track genuine engagement with their emails. Here, we will explore this issue and discuss effective strategies to address it.
Identifying the problem
Most Marketing Automation Platforms (MAPs) will show an email ‘delivered and clicked’ at the same timestamp in your log. Additionally, you will experience bots clicking on unusual links in your email, sometimes every single one of them. The challenge lies in the lack of available tools to differentiate between clicks from real people and those from bots.
5-Step Solution for False Click Links in Emails
Minimize Click Link Scoring
Implementing this practice will help you prevent a majority of spambots from being falsely classified as marketing-qualified leads. While not foolproof, it will pave the way for other solutions.
The Stealth Bait Link
Marketo places a stealth bait at the bottom of every email. This process involves placing a fake link in your email, which would otherwise be hidden but visible only to a bot. If an email address clicks on this link, it indicates bot activity. However, we don’t recommend using these links in a text-only email as it will give an uncanny appearance to your email. Also, if you are linking an external landing page to your stealth bait link, make sure a prefilled form isn’t being used in such a case. Some bots are capable of filling out prefilled forms, compromising the effectiveness of this tactic.
Smart List Exclusions
Although there aren’t many tools available for this procedure, you can go through the following options to achieve the desired exclusion:
- Remove email IDs that click on your stealth baits.
- Exclude addresses that click on your legal and social links.
- Only consider Click + Open actions as genuine link engagement.
- Remove instances where an email is marked as Delivered + Clicked simultaneously.
An External Data Tool
Identifying real clicks is not easy with a smart list. However, external data extraction tools can help you achieve this effectively. These tools will identify erratic engagement with your email links and pass that data to Marketo. Once you receive this data, you can use it to remove bot addresses from your reports.
Reporting
The lack of tools has made it hard for marketers to build accurate email performance reports. Although it isn’t 100 percent effective, you can leverage smart lists to filter out your click-through rates. You may also ask people to reply to your emails. Although not many people would want to reply, those who do would be real people. Many tools such as Siftrock will manage your replies automatically and send content according to various triggers you set for each condition.
Navigating the Landscape: Enhancing Email Insights
The challenge of false click links underscores the need for innovative strategies in the realm of email analytics. By methodically applying the aforementioned techniques, you can mitigate the impact of bot interactions on your engagement metrics. While attaining a 100% solution might remain elusive, the combination of vigilant monitoring, strategic adjustments, and judicious use of tools can significantly enhance the accuracy and authenticity of your email engagement insights.
If you need expert assistance to kickstart your Email Marketing Campaign, rely on Sootra Consulting for guidance. Simply reach out or provide us with your business details or email needs at support@sootraconsulting.com. Let’s start a conversation!
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