Filtering bot activity from SFDC sync campaign

[trevlarrr]

Hi, seen a few threads around bot activity filters but couldn't find an answer to the issue we're having (apologies if I missed something) but we have smart campaigns set up to sync contacts to Salesforce campaigns based on clicking certain links in an email but we were getting a lot of bot (server check) clicks that were syncing them before they'd even opened the email.

We've set up the bot proximity pattern to check when there are multiple clicks within seconds of each other and have set a filter on the smart campaign to "bot proximity pattern = false" but the problem is the proximity pattern only gets assigned to the second click onwards, so if the first link their server checks is the trigger link then they're still getting sent over in to the Salesforce campaign.

There doesn't seem to be an option to check for bot activity in the flow, only in the smart list so I can't see a way to add a delay and check for that. Guessing this is an issue lots of people have had so what workarounds have others found to solve this? Is it as simple as a filter to not trigger if email hasn't been opened or something else?

[Christiane_Rode · Accepted solution]

Is there a reason that you would need for these contacts to be added to the SFDC campaign instantaneously? Just thinking a scheduled batch campaign might achieve a similar result while giving the time for some things to make their way to the activity filter.

However, given the uncertainty that surrounds link clicks, I caution using this as your sole trigger to add someone to a campaign unless you have a specific reason for doing so. Proximity clicks don't always necessarily mean bots (it could be that someone forwarded your message and multiple people are clicking at the same time). And a lack of a proximity click -- or bot tag for that matter -- doesn't always mean that it's a person. 

[Zoe_Forman]

@trevlarrr  as @Christiane_Rode says do you need an instant sync based email clicks?

Could you prioritise your batch sync say every 15 minutes or 1 hour or daily depending on the content.

Also do you Marketo BOT activity feature switched on in your instance?