Eek! Are rogue clicks messing up your list and stats?

MailChimp just posted a warning that spam filters may be "clicking" on the links in your emails. They spotted the problem because it meant some folk getting unsubscribed as a result of the filter clicking a one-step unsubscribe link.

I filed this under "mildly concerning" and forgot about it until Laura pointed out that they might equally click on the links in those emails asking folk to confirm their email subscription. Which would throw doubts on the usefulness of double opt-in.

And that led me to wonder about your campaign stats. Are some of those clicks that fail to take any action when they reach your website just spam filters in action?

Email marketing metrics are contentious enough without throwing another measurement issue in there.

And what about the impact on those who advertise in emails, if the reported clicks are overestimating the true results?

What if you're paying on an (albeit rare) per-click basis for those ads?

A lot of this is speculation for now. A look at my own campaign reports finds no individuals seemingly clicking on every link in the email (as you'd expect from a spam filter gone crazy.)

Any email or anti-spam tech gurus out there like to shed light on this issue?

Tags: email marketing, spam filters, email marketing metrics, anti-spam

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