Available on the Essentials/Unlimited and Premier monthly plans as a feature add-on
The non-human click filter inspects click traffic and – if determined to be of non-human or machine origin – removes it from reporting and engagement data. This is a very useful tool for users whose email campaign results are affected by noise from virus scanners or other non-human interference.
What are non-human clicks and why filter them?
Many campaign recipients are reading your emails on devices or corporate networks protected by anti-malware software, enterprise security and monitoring software, browser extensions, or antivirus firewalls. When these subscribers download an email or interact by clicking on a link, these protective systems will investigate the email and at times click on some - or all, in extreme cases - the links in your email.
Not all customers nor all campaigns are impacted, but more extreme cases can result in inflating your total clicks number by up to 10 times.
Protecting people from malware and bad actors is an important job, but email senders can find that their email reporting data is significantly affected by these systems, compromising their ability to interpret results and make business decisions.
How we identify and classify non-human clicks
The systems responsible for non-human clicks are varied and by design difficult to identify. However, we have managed to observe a number of patterns that help us detect what appears to be a non-human click on your campaign. Using the power of our network, combined with the data we can obtain from the agent clicking, our proprietary algorithm allows us to identify, manage, and classify clicks that are likely to have come from software (i.e. not a human).
It is impossible to guarantee that the filter will identify all non-human traffic. Sources of non-human traffic are constantly evolving, and so our algorithm is constantly learning and getting more accurate, but the improved accuracy only applies for new traffic. As the system gets smarter it doesn’t go back and re-classify traffic which today might be recognised as non-human but wasn’t at the time.
Impact of the filter on campaign reports
When the filter is active, non-human clicks will be detected and removed from all campaign reporting. This includes the ‘Snapshot’ report, as well as ‘Recipient activity’, and any other click reporting from within your campaign reporting view.
The campaign snapshot will also provide a summary of the number of clicks removed from each campaign by the filter, so you can see at a glance that the filter is active and doing its job.
Using the filter with a custom domain
The accuracy of the filter depends on receiving the true IP address of subscribers when they click on campaign links. If your account uses a custom domain, please note that a non-standard setup may adversely affect the filter. Your custom domain CNAME record should point to cname.createsend.com as shown in the example below.
Other features protected by the filter
In addition to campaign reporting, we will exclude non-human clicks from impacting on:
Enabling and disabling the filter
The non-human click filter is an advanced feature which can be separately added by customers to the Essentials/Unlimited or Premier plans.
Learn more about enabling features and add-ons.
Once added to their plan, some customers may find it necessary to temporarily enable or disable the filter. To do so:
- Click your profile image at the top right, then select Billing.
- Click Manage features.
- Find the Non-human click filter and toggle the filter status to Filter on or Filter off.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to previously sent campaigns if I turn the filter on?
It’s important to note that only clicks that occur after the filter is enabled are able to be classified as non-human and thus removed from your reporting.
This means that past campaigns will not be properly analyzed for non-human activity.
What can you tell me about the non-human clicks that have been removed from my campaigns?
We will provide you with a topline summary of the number of clicks that were filtered from your campaigns. We will not be able to tell you who was responsible for the inflated clicks or what links were clicked.
Can I still export my filtered and non-filtered PDF snapshot reports?
We have previously provided some customers with the ability to export PDFs with filtered and non-filtered data. By enabling this feature, you will be removing this functionality from future campaigns. You will still be able to access the PDFs from previously sent campaigns.
Why is this feature an advanced add-on?
Current running costs to detect and classify non-human clicks are non-trivial, so we are not able to offer this service as a plan inclusion or to customers on pay per campaign billing or the Basic/Lite plans. This decision is subject to review in the future.
