Understanding bot clicks and their impact on your email campaigns

Why you might see instant opens or clicks right after sending an email and what it actually means.

If you’ve ever sent an email and thought, “Wow, that was fast!” only to realize those clicks didn’t lead to real engagement… you’re not imagining things. That’s likely the result of bot clicks.

Bot clicks play an important role in keeping inboxes safe, but they can make your email stats look confusing. Let’s break it down in simple terms.

When you send an email, Flodesk automatically converts your links into tracking links so clicks and activity can be measured.

Before your subscribers ever see those links, mailbox providers and security systems often check them first.

They do this using automated programs—commonly called bots—that:

• Scan links for malware or phishing

• Confirm where a link actually leads

• Protect recipients from harmful content

These bots may open the email or click links automatically, without a real human ever touching it.

Bot activity usually happens:

• Immediately after your email is delivered

• Before a subscriber even opens their inbox

• Without any visible interaction from the reader

That’s why you may notice:

• Opens seconds after sending

• Clicks with no replies or follow-up actions

• Higher engagement than expected

While security bots are helpful, they can create some side effects for marketers.

You may notice:

• Inflated open or click rates

• Link actions triggering unexpectedly

• Engagement based Yes/No steps in workflows starting too early

• Testing results that don’t match real behavior

• Difficulty telling what’s human vs automated

In short: bot clicks can make your metrics less reliable for measuring real engagement.

Bot clicks are common with:

• Work or organizational email addresses
  (like .edu, .gov, .org)

• Companies with strict security software

• Mail apps with built-in antivirus scanning

But this isn’t limited to work emails.

Bot clicks can also happen with:

• Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook addresses

• Third-party email apps

• Devices running extra security software

So yes, even personal emails can trigger bot activity.

While there’s no perfect way to identify every bot click, you can run a simple test to help flag likely automated activity.

Step 1: Create a segment

• Name it something like “Bot clicks”

Step 2: Add a hidden link to a punctuation mark in your email

• Create your email as usual

• Near the bottom of the email, hyperlink a single punctuation mark (for example: . or ,)

• Link it to your homepage or another safe URL

Step 3: Set a link action

• Add a link action so anyone who clicks that punctuation link is added to the “Bot clicks” segment

Make sure that the hyperlinked punctuation mark remains the same color as your email body text. This makes it:

• (Almost) invisible to human readers

• Easy for security bots to detect and click

Important: This method isn’t foolproof and won’t catch all automated activity. However, security bots typically click links immediately upon delivery, making this a useful way to identify patterns of automated clicks.

Not completely and that’s okay.

Bot clicks are controlled by mailbox providers and security systems, not Flodesk. However, you can reduce their impact.

• Send from an authenticated custom domain

• Maintain a strong sender reputation

• Keep your subscriber list clean

• Avoid typing out full URLs as plain text

• Use HTTPS links

• Encourage subscribers to use personal email addresses when possible

You can also:

• Exclude your “bot clicks” segment from click-based workflows

• Treat click data as directional, not absolute

In most cases—no.

Bot clicks:

• Do not harm deliverability

• Do not count as spam behavior

• Are a normal part of modern email security

They’re simply something to be aware of when reviewing your stats or building automation.

Bot clicks are automated link checks performed by security systems—not real people.

They:

• Help protect your subscribers

• Can inflate opens and clicks

• May affect automation based on engagement

By understanding how bot clicks work, you can interpret your metrics more accurately and build smarter workflows that focus on real subscriber behavior.

No. Bot clicks happen across all email marketing platforms. They’re caused by mailbox providers and security software, not your ESP.

No. Bot clicks are routine safety checks and don’t mean anything is wrong with your email.

Yes, they can. That’s why it’s best to avoid relying solely on clicks or opens for critical automation.

No. Bot clicks do not negatively impact your sender reputation or inbox placement.

No. At this time, bot clicks cannot be removed, excluded, or filtered out from Flodesk analytics. Because bot clicks come from mailbox provider security systems (not Flodesk itself), they are recorded the same way as other opens and clicks. While you can identify patterns that suggest automated activity, the analytics will still include those events. For this reason, we recommend using click and open data as directional insights, not exact measurements of human engagement, especially when building automation or workflows.