Introducing Bot Filtering for Accurate Email Campaign Analytics

Introducing Bot Filtering for Accurate Email Campaign Analytics


Alert
Update : This feature has been revamped. For the most current information and improved functionalities, please visit the updated version here.


Dear Marketers,

 

We're excited to announce a new feature designed to enhance the accuracy of your email campaign analytics: bot filtering. This feature helps you filter out bot-generated opens and clicks, ensuring your campaign reports reflect genuine recipient engagement.

 

What are bot clicks? 

Bot clicks are actions performed by automated software, not humans. These programs often scan emails for security threats like viruses or malicious links. As a result, they can inflate your engagement metrics by showing multiple clicks from a single contact, even if no one actually interacted with the email.

 

Why bot filtering matters 

Bot-generated activity can distort your campaign performance metrics. Our bot filtering feature helps you eliminate this noise, providing a more accurate picture of your audience's engagement.

 

Key features of bot filtering

  • Easy toggle: Enable or disable bot filtering with a simple switch in Settings > General Settings.

  • Accurate reporting: When enabled, bot filtering automatically excludes bot activity from your campaign reports, offering clearer insights.

  • Transparency: A visual indicator in your reports shows whether bot filtering is active, ensuring full transparency in your data analysis.


How it works

Default setting: Bot filtering is initially turned off to include all opens and clicks in your reports.

By leveraging bot filtering, you can gain a more accurate understanding of your email campaign performance and make data-driven decisions with confidence. 


NotesNote: To provide more granular insights, we're incorporating detailed bot data into our email campaign reporting. This will empower users to monitor performance closely and take informed actions.Due to the simultaneous development of report handling improvements, we have revised the anticipated release date. You can expect this release to go live by Jan 2025.


Here's how to enable the bot filtering option in Zoho Marketing Automation.

Step 1: Bot filtering option

Locate the Bot Filter link under Settings > General settings.



Step 2: Toggle the bot filtering option

In the Bot Filter setting, click the bot filtering toggle to enable the feature.



When you enable this option, a pop-up will appear to confirm your decision. Click enable to activate this feature, which will be applicable to all upcoming campaigns.

Step 3: Enable/disable the option

Filter enabled: If the bot filter setting is enabled, all bot opens/clicks will be excluded from email campaign reports and overall reports.

Filter disabled: If the bot filter setting is disabled, all bot opens/clicks will be included in email campaign reports and overall reports.


Here's how you can see it in the campaign reports, When the bot filter setting is disabled 




When the bot filter setting is enabled




Info
Note

  • Open rates may decrease when the bot filter is enabled.

  • Follow-up actions, such as journeys and response action components, will not be triggered by bot interactions.

  • Campaigns that have already been sent or are in progress will not be affected by new changes. We'll roll this update out in two weeks, and after that, users might notice an increase in opens and clicks, as the bot filter will be disabled by default.

  • We'll examine the bot settings when sending the campaign.

  • Please note that Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) opens are not currently filtered in this update.  We are working on a solution to handle Apple MPP opens and will provide another update soon.

For example, if a user disables bot filtering before sending a campaign but re-enables it afterward, the email campaign report will still reflect bot-related activities. This occurs because the settings were disabled at the time the campaign was sent

Bot filter option when campaign was sent

Bot filter option after the campaign was sent

Bot-related activities in campaign reports

Enabled

Disabled

Excluded

Disabled

Enabled

Included


Step 5: Pop-up confirmation to disable bot filtering

You'll see a pop-up while disabling bot filtering.


We're here to help

As always, our support team is ready to assist you with any questions you may have about bot filtering or any other feature in Zoho Marketing Automation.

We're confident that bot filtering will provide you with more reliable insights and enable better decision-making and more optimal marketing strategies.

Happy marketing!

Best regards
Zoho Marketing Automation Team

    • Sticky Posts

    • Marketer’s Space - Automating CRM Actions with Journeys – Part 2

      Hello marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer’s Space. In our previous post, we explored how CRM actions in Journeys help marketing and sales teams work together by nurturing CRM leads and pushing only engaged prospects back to sales. If you

    • Introducing automation and utility conversations in WhatsApp marketing

      We’re excited to announce the addition of two new features to our WhatsApp integration: Automation and Utility conversations. These enhancements will allow you to streamline your marketing efforts and engage with your customers more effectively by automating

    • Tip of the week 02 - The art of 'seeing' your leads

      What's the last page that your lead visited before signing up for your brand? What was the page that first convinced your lead to explore more about you? Where are your leads coming in from? Well, these are some perennial questions today's marketers live upon. And, knowing the answers to these questions is crucial, considering the vitality of leads in every business. In the journey of finding lead opportunities, it's important to understand that every detail about a lead is useful. While the channels

    • Zoho Marketing Automation Update: Topics, Contacts, and List Management

      At Zoho Marketing Automation, our highest priority is making it easier for you to use our product to accomplish your business goals. With that in mind, we are updating three of our pivotal features: Topic, Contacts, and List Management.   These existing

    • Important: Zoho MarketingHub is now Zoho Marketing Automation

      Hello Everyone,   We hope you all are doing well. We'd like to notify you that we have rebranded Zoho MarketingHub to Zoho Marketing Automation. We'll discontinue using the term "MarketingHub" from May 26, 2021. However, there will be no changes in the

      • Recent Topics

      • Canva Integration

        Hello! As many marketing departments are streamlining their teams, many have begun utilizing Canva for all design mockups and approvals prior to its integration into Marketing automation software. While Zoho Social has this integration already accomplished,

      • Editing Draft Fixed assets

        I have a few Fixed Assets still currently in Draft Status that I need to edit. I need to edit the Fixed Asset Type, the Fixed Asset Account, the Accumulated Depreciation account and the Depreciation account. Once I have done it and attempt to "Save as

      • Zoho Status Pages: Our Domain Has Changed — Here's What You Need to Know

        We're making a change to how you access Zoho Status Pages. Our status page domains have been updated to provide a more consistent and region-specific experience across all locations. If you have the old domain bookmarked or referenced anywhere — emails,

      • The Social Wall: May 2026

        Hello everyone, This month, we're excited to introduce two powerful features designed to help you create more engaging content and streamline your team's communication workflow. Adding audio via Zoho Social Audio is one of the biggest drivers of engagement

      • SalesIQ : How to disable "Idle chat handling" ?

        Hello SalesIQ Team. SalesIQ, How to disable "Idle chat handling" ? I would like to disable the option “Automatically close chats that have been idle for a specified amount of time.”

      • Zoho Webinar - Sharing System Audio (NOT AVAILABLE)

        Hi, We are having a serious problem with Zoho Webinar. In the webinars we run, we very often share the audio from a video we are streaming directly from YouTube or other applications. Until recently we were using Zoom, but as we use other Zoho applications

      • Customising Outcome drop down

        Is it possible to customize the drop down list for appointment outcomes?

      • Automate Backups

        This is a feature request. Consider adding an auto backup feature. Where when you turn it on, it will auto backup on the 15-day schedule. For additional consideration, allow for the export of module data via API calls. Thank you for your consideration.

      • Mirror Component in Zoho CRM: Access real-time related data without leaving your record

        Hi everyone, This feature is now available for the JP, CA, SA, UAE, and AU DCs. We're excited to bring to you Zoho CRM's mirror component, which presents relevant data on a record's details page and keeps everything users need in one place without having

      • Partial payments for retainer invoices

        When a customer does not pay the entire retainer invoice there is no way to apply a partial payment. PLEASE add this function.

      • Custom Display Field for Lookup Dropdowns in Zoho CRM

        Could Zoho CRM support changing the display field in lookup dropdowns, like Zoho Creator does? This would make it much easier to select the right record by showing a more useful field instead of only the default one. It would improve speed, clarity, and

      • Create custom field in multiple modules

        I am trying to create some custom fields that will be in both leads and contacts module without having to create them separately and then mapping them. How is that performed? it is too time-consuming to create 20+ fields and then do the same thing in a different module when they carry the same info. The idea is that when we get a lead from web site, there are items that we capture and once that lead is a client and moved to Contacts, that info should come over. So trying to find an easy way to create

      • Add Specific Identification as an Inventory Costing Method

        --- Business Context We are a security systems distributor handling high-value, serialized products such as IP cameras, NVRs, and RAID storage systems. Each unit is uniquely identified by a serial number and arrives in separate shipments at varying purchase

      • Creator Portal Page Customization Issues

        I have been using Creator to make Portals recently. Yesterday, I created a new portal and noticed that the page customization editor ("Open Builder") was different. Using the new page builder, I was able to customize and add an image to the various sign

      • Zoho Books - Budget Creation and Reporting Tags

        Is there a way to create one budget for multiple reporting tags. For example, if my company has 4 different divisions I would like to be able to enter in what the budgeted revenue for each division is and view that information in 1 budget. I would then

      • Razorpay + Zoho Billing + Zoho Books Integration

        Please help us set up this integration.

      • Why is Approval Hierarchy Not Available for the Expenses Module in Zoho Books?

        Hello, I noticed that Zoho Books allows us to configure approval workflows and approval hierarchies for modules such as Bills, Vendor Credits, and Invoices. However, the same approval hierarchy option does not seem to be available for the Expenses module.

      • Zoho Mail Android app update - Traditional Chinese language and contact nickname support

        Hello everyone! The Zoho Mail Android app now includes support for the Traditional Chinese language. You can change the language to Chinese (Traditional) from the Settings module of the Zoho Mail app. You can also view the nickname of the contacts within

      • Get Cliq Meetings in my O365 calendar

        Hi, we are currently evaluating to replace the Teams Messaging and Meetings with Cliq. We currently still have all our email and calendars in O365. What i want to achieve is, to create a (ZOHO) meeting from Cliq and have this meeting added to my Outlook/O365

      • Latest update in Zoho Meeting | On-demand webinars

        Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce our new on-demand webinar feature, you can now provide pre-recorded sessions that your audience can access immediately, no need to wait for scheduled sessions. Benefits of On-demand webinars : Scheduling flexibility

      • Replicating Zoho Books "Accounts" and "Accrual Transactions" in Analytics via API: Best Endpoint Strategy?

        Hi everyone, I am working on a custom integration where I need to programmatically replicate two specific tables in Zoho Analytics via API on an hourly schedule: Accounts and Accrual Transactions. Those two tables sync from Zoho Books. (Note: I am aware

      • Terms & Conditions

        I have defined Terms & Conditions in the invoice setting and have set %TermsAndCondition% where I want it to appear but nothing shows up in that area. Is this something we have to define per invoice or can we have a global variable?

      • Subform edits don't appear in parent record timeline?

        Is it possible to have subform edits (like add row/delete row) appear in the Timeline for parent records? A user can edit a record, only edit the subform, and it doesn't appear in the timeline. Is there a workaround or way that we can show when a user

      • From Zoho CRM to Paper : Design & Print Data Directly using Canvas Print View

        Hello Everyone, We are excited to announce a new addition to your Canvas in Zoho CRM - Print View. Canvas print view helps you transform your custom CRM layouts into print-ready documents, so you can bring your digital data to the physical world with

      • On-prem version of Zoho Desk

        Is there an on-prem version of Zoho Desk available for enterprise customers if we have additional aspects of security that aren't covered with current legal and data security terms?

      • SPAM Filter cleanup

        I was under the impression that the SPAM filter would automatically clear itself, however re-reading the message it says: What does this mean? How often does this get emptied automatically?

      • Hyphen in domain names

        I am facing problems while hard-coding an email address with a - in the domain name. I get the error Lexical error at line 4, column 24. Encountered: "@" (64), after : "" I recall that Zoho Domains also had an issue with hyphens and I think the issue with the sendmail api is the same. Could this be fixed?

      • Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | Breakout rooms and End to end encryption

        Hello everyone, We’re excited to share a few updates for Zoho Meeting. Here's what we've been working on lately: Introducing Breakout Rooms for enhanced collaboration in your online meetings and End-to-end encryption to ensure that the data is encrypted

      • Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | New End of session notification to remind everyone about the session end time

        Hello everyone, We’re excited to share a new feature for Zoho Meeting ; End of session notification. With this new setting, you can choose to remind all participants or only the host about the scheduled end time of a meeting. You can also choose when

      • #9 Win the Job First

        For many businesses, the first document that goes out isn't an invoice. It's a document that creates ample space to negotiate, discuss requirements, align expectations, and ultimately win the deal. The whole of the business world calls it a Quote or,

      • Add Video link to interview record

        Hi Team, we are having team members consistently go to the interview record to find the link for their upcoming meeting and have been confused that they have not been able to find them. When the interview is created can you please upload the link to the

      • How Can AI Agents Improve E-commerce Operations Efficiency?

        I’ve been thinking about this question recently: as e-commerce operations become more complex, can we use AI Agents to improve daily efficiency? Many e-commerce teams need to handle product management, order follow-up, inventory checks, customer replies,

      • Is it possible to create a meeting in Zoho Crm which automatically creates a Google Meet link?

        We are using Google's own "Zoho CRM for Google" integration and also Zoho's "Google Apps Sync" tools, but none of them provide us with the ability to create a meeting in Zoho CRM that then adds a Google Meet link into the meeting. Is this something that

      • Export Zoho Books Invoice - PDF API

        How to Download Zoho Books PDF Files Using Zoho Books API -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone! If you are looking for a way to download Zoho Books PDF files using the Zoho Books API, you've

      • OAuth integration issues

        I'm experiencing persistent OAuth errors when trying to connect Make with Zoho API. I've tried multiple approaches but keep encountering the following issues: First error: 'Invalid Redirect Uri - Redirect URI passed does not match with the one configured'

      • Marketing Automation/Campaigns confusion questions and integrations

        ​I am pulling my hair out yet AGAIN due to the lack of true integration between zoho apps - Why can't we use Campaigns and Marketing Automation at the same time? if they are truely seperate apps, then we should be able to use both for what they were intended,

      • Tip #75- Exploring Technician Console: Power Options- 'Insider Insights'

        Hello Zoho Assist Community! Welcome to the very first community post of June, and we are kicking things off with a feature that gives technicians complete control over a remote machine without ever leaving their session: Power Options. What are Power

      • Windows agent 2026_M07 release notes

        Agent Version: 2026.4.15.0 Release date: 1 June, 2026 Issue fix: Streamlined overall process flow and fixed bugs that delayed or prevented proper functioning of Task Scheduler feature. Enhancements to Multi Monitor view under varying network load scenarios.

      • Show Categories Directly When Clicking the Knowledge Base Button in SalesIQ Chat Widget

        Hi Zoho SalesIQ Team, I would like to submit a feature request regarding the behavior of the Knowledge Base button in the SalesIQ chat widget. Current Behavior: When a visitor clicks the Knowledge Base (KB) button in the chat widget, they are first taken

      • What is MCP and How Does It Connect to Zoho Invoice?

        If you've ever wished you could just tell your invoicing software what to do, without clicking through menus, pulling up reports manually, or switching tabs every five minutes, that's exactly what the Zoho MCP server is built for. MCP stands for Model

      • Next Page