Multiple "click email" results - appears automated?

[Anonymous]

I've been receiving a lot of "click email" results from a campaign, which is good, except that the people claim they never saw the email.  The results only happen for select companies, and Marketo registers clicks for all links in the email within a few minutes (which seems impossible).  Is there some sort of automated email reader that would register clicks on the links in the email?

[Anonymous]

You or one of your co-workers may have a cookie on your system that points to specific lead records at those companies.  This can happen if you click a link in a copy of the email that was sent to a lead.  You can tell if this is the case by going to a form and seeing whose lead info is pre-populated into the form.  if it is not yours or your colleagues, you need to delete your domain's "_mkto_trk" cookie to stop this erroneous tracking.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean? Shouldn't any of the links populate tracking cookies independently?  All forms have my information on them when I go to them.

The links themselves do not include any tracking information before being sent, emails never get forwarded to anyone inside our company after being sent out, and no one in my company is clicking links in the emails.

It only happens for certain companies, but seems to happen for every person at that company.  My impression is that those companies must have some sort of email filter that reads the links and registers a click.  If there was a tracking cookie issue, it should happen at random, and not isolate to everyone at one or two specific companies.

[Anonymous]

From the additional info that you shared, this is definitely the cause in your case considering that it affects every person at a select few companies. 

What do you mean by "The links themselves do not include any tracking information before being sent..."?  In order to register clicks, the links would need to be decorated with Marketo tracking code. 

There are automated tools which will click every link in emails received, which some people use to verify a submission from a link directory or acknowledge orders received.  It's possible that your emails are erroneously triggering the bot on their end (possibly based on a keyword in the subject).  You may have to speak with their email administrator to discover what is causing this. 

[Anonymous]

I see.

I meant that I am not erroneously placing marketo tracking code into the links in the emails, but rather marketo is applying it automatically as they go out (as normal).  If I had been using a tracking code on the link before sending out, it could potentially create errors in registering clicks, as additional code would be applied as they go out.  Anyway, that's not the case.

I figured there must be some sort of automated tool, but I can't find any evidence of anyone else running into the same issue, so I thought I'd check the community to see if I could find someone.

It makes it a little difficult to accurately track who at these companies is actually clicking on emails, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it unless they talk to me.  I have notified sales that these people are likely oblivious to the fact that they've registered clicks, so that will have to do for now.  Something to keep an eye out for, anyway.

[Anonymous]

I have a slightly different issue but I'm not sure if it's caused by the same condition.

When I look at the email campaign results, I see that a couple of people have clicked mulitple links in an email in literally the same minute. Sometimes up to 10. Who would click on 10 links in a minute? Some are different links, and some are the same. At the same time, the person has also clicked again. Are there some weird email gateways/plugins that might register all links clicked just to mess with Marketo?

Or is Marketo's reporting on click activity somewhat innacurate in terms of time?

[Anonymous]

This is basically the same issue that I'm having.  I have had to create filters that register clicks separately (1/min) rather than rely on the native Marketo metrics to track clicks.

[Anonymous]

Hi Daniel.

According to one of the Marketo support reps, they've seen this before. It's likely that the receiver has an anti-phishing feature on their gateway which automatically clicks through links to determine whether an email is suspicous.

That said, if you're basing any followup activity on clicks, you might be knocking on the wrong house.

I'm modifying any smart campaigns to rely on page landings rather than actual clickthru. It's not as accurate either (due to javascripting/cookie allowances), but at least you're not bothering someone who had not intent in the first place. Of course, it doesn't help if you're making determinations to clicks happening off-site.

[Juliet_Forte2]

Yikes, I'm dealing with the same issue at the moment.  And I have activities being created in my CRM based on the email clicks...which means my Sales team thinks every contact at these organizations are engaging with the email, when the reality is that probably none of them are.  Going to have to change my programs to no longer trigger CRM activities based on email clicks. 

[Anonymous]

Juliet - I have worked around that issue by creating flows that only respond to one click per hour.  Seems to have done the trick for alerts, at least.

- that is, for the companies I have identified as having this issue.