Enhancing Data Accuracy: Bot Filtering & Apple Mail Privacy Protection Compliance

Dear Marketers,

 

The wait is over! We’re thrilled to share that the enhanced bot filtering feature is now live in Zoho Marketing Automation. Thank you for your patience as we refined this tool to deliver deeper insights into your campaign performance.

 

Here's a quick overview of what bot filtering means:

 

What are bot opens/clicks? 

Bot opens/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 opens/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

Based on your feedback and our technical improvements, here’s how the feature has evolved:

• Easy toggle: Enable or disable bot filtering with a simple switch in Settings > Marketing Channels> Email. Bot filtering will be enabled by default to ensure your reports prioritize reliable, human-generated engagement from the start.

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

• Reporting: Whether you enable or disable the filter, your dashboard will display two distinct metrics:

• Reliable opens/clicks (verified engagement by individuals)

• Bot opens/clicks (automated activity)
  This dual view offers a clearer picture of your campaign’s true performance and highlights potential discrepancies.

• Apple MPP tracking: We’ve added visibility into Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) activity. Reports now include a dedicated metric for Apple MPP opens, allowing you to analyze how privacy-focused auto-opens impact your data.

  

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP)

Apple Mail offers users the option to enable Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), a feature designed to enhance privacy by preventing email senders from accurately tracking email opens. This feature is not enabled by default, but once activated, Apple Mail pre-loads tracking pixels—regardless of whether the recipient actually opens the email.

As a result, all emails received in Apple Mail appear as opened, leading to inflated and unreliable open rates. Since tracking pixels are triggered automatically, distinguishing between genuine user engagement and automated activity becomes challenging.

How Does Zoho Marketing Automation Address This?  

To counteract the impact of MPP, Zoho Marketing Automation provides dedicated metrics (MPP Opens) to show open rate. Using intelligent data modeling, our system delivers reliable engagement metrics, helping you assess the effectiveness of your campaigns despite Apple’s privacy changes.

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 > Marketing Channels.

Step 2: Toggle the bot filtering option

In the Bot Filter setting, you can see that bot filtering capability has been enabled for you by default.
 

Step 3: Enable/disable the option

• Filter enabled: Your primary reports will focus on human engagement, while bot activity is shown separately along with primary reports.

• Filter disabled: Similar to the option above, all opens/clicks (human + bot) will be shown in main reports, with bot metrics still visible for comparison.

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

Step 4: Pop-up confirmation to disable bot filtering

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



 

Notes:

• While disabling bot filter, users will be prompted whether to allow bots to enter segments or workflows based on which follow-up actions will be triggered.

 

1. The Apple MPP opens will be part of segments and workflows by default.

2. Campaigns executed from 6th Feb 2025 will be shown the new reports along with reliable opens, Unreliable opens, and bot opens. Existing campaign reports won't be impacted by this change.

3. We have introduced new filters within the contacts section in the campaigns report to analyze both reliable opens and bot opens.
   

4. Bot engagement metrics will be available now while exporting campaign reports.
   

5. Users can track when the bot filter was enabled or disabled by accessing Audit Logs.
   
   

We're here to help

We’re confident this balanced approach will help you optimize campaigns with greater precision. Give it a try, and let us know how it works for you!

 

Happy marketing!

Best regards,
Zoho Marketing Automation

• Topic Participants

• Moncy Samuel

  

• Rich Brandwein

  

• Nagaraj S

  

• Ron Kulik

• Jeshua Edward

  

• 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

• Partially receive PO without partial Bill?

  Most of our inventory is pre-paid. Let's say we purchase 30 pieces of 3 different items for a total of 90 pieces. It is common for our supplier to send us the items as they are ready. So we will receive 30 pieces at a time. How can I partially receive

• 2 users editing the same record - loose changes

  Hello, I'm very new to Zoho so apology if this has been addressed somewhere i can't find. I have noticed the following: If we have 2 users put an inventory item in edit mode at the same time: say user1 click on edit and user2 while user1 is still in edit,

• How to get the Dashboard page to be the first page when you open the app

  So when it opens on a tablet or phone it opens on the welcome page, thanks.

• How I set default email addresses for Sales Orders and Invoices

  I have customers that have different departments that handle Sales Orders and Invoices. How can i set a default email for Sales Orders that's different than the default email for Invoices? Is there a way I can automate this using the Contact Persons Departments

• Notes Attachments

  Two things it would be nice to have the attachment size the same as the attachments sections and it would be nice to be able to attach links like you can in the attachments section. Thank you

• Formula fields not refreshing until page is reloaded

  I need help/advice about the formula fields and how I can refresh the information in real-time. We have two formula fields on our deals page which show calculated prices: One formula is in a subform which calculates the subform total + 1 other field amount

• How can I setup Zoho MCP with Chat GPT

  I can set up custom connections with Chat GPT but I cat an error when I try to set it up. The error is: "This MCP server can't be used by ChatGPT to search information because it doesn't implement our specification: search action not found" Thoughts?

• Export Invoices to XML file

  Namaste! ZOHO suite of Apps is awesome and we as Partner, would like to use and implement the app´s from the Financial suite like ZOHO Invoice, but, in Portugal, we can only use certified Invoice Software and for this reason, we need to develop/customize on top of ZOHO Invoice to create an XML file with specific information and after this, go to the government and certified the software. As soon as we have for example, ZOHO CRM integrated with ZOHO Invoice up and running, our business opportunities

• API ZOHO CRM Picket list with wrong values

  I am using Zoho API v.8. with python to create records in a custom module named "Veranstaltung" in this custom module I've got a picket list called "Email_Template" with 28 Values. I've added 8 new values yesterday, but if I try to use on of those values

• Group Emails

  I have synced Zoho CRM to Campaigns but there are certain email not synced. showing it is Group Emails, but this email ids belongs to different individuals. please provide a solution as i nedd to sync the same.

• Enable Password Import option in ulaa browser

  Dear Ulaa Team, I noticed that the Ulaa Password Manager currently offers an option to export passwords, but not to import them. This limitation poses a challenge for users like me who have stored numerous credentials in browsers like Chrome. Manually

• "Is Zoho CRM customer" vs "Is linked with Zoho CRM"

  Recently while building a Flow, I was setting up a Decision action following a Zoho Invoice Fetch record action. There were 2 choices that I had not seen as something I could manually action in Zoho Invoice: "Is Zoho CRM customer" and "Is linked with

• Client Script | Update - Introducing ZRC: Simplified HTTP request library

  Hello Developers! Are you tired of juggling different methods to make API calls? Are you confused with multiple syntaxes and version restrictions? Have you ever wished for one simple way to make all API calls in CRM? We heard you :) Here comes ZRC (Zoho

• Selection Filed for Data Export section

  Hi FSM Team, I hope you are all doing well. I would like to share an idea for future development based on my experience. Currently, in FSM, we can only download up to 5,000 records at a time. If the development team could add a selection option to choose

• Text wrap column headers in reports?

  Is it possible to auto wrap column headers so that a longer multi-word header displays as two lines when the column is narrower than the width of the header title?

• What if I dont see contacts on the left side list

  My CRM does not show the contacts tab. In order to create list this is needed and I cant find it.

• Comments Vs. Replies

  I'm curious as to the difference between a "Reply" and a "Comment" on a ticket. It appears that "Replies" are what's used to determine response time SLA's and there are also used to automatically re-open tickets. I'm just trying to understand the key differences so I can educate both our clientele and our back-end users on which function/feature to use to better improve the ticket lifecycle. If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated. Thanks!

• Transitioning to API Credits in Zoho Desk

  At Zoho Desk, we’re always looking for ways to help keep your business operations running smoothly. This includes empowering teams that rely on APIs for essential integrations, functions and extensions. We’ve reimagined how API usage is measured to give

• Add Custom Reports To Dashboard or Home Tab

  Hi there, I think it would be great to be able to add our custom reports to the Home Tab or Dashboards. Thanks! Chad

• Resetting auto-number on new year

  Hi everyone! We have an auto-number with prefix "D{YYYY}-", it generates numbers like D2025-1, D2025-2, etc... How can we have it auto-reset at the beginning of the next year, so that it goes to D2026-1? Thanks!

• Can you prevent closing Ulaa window when the last tab is closed (inadvertently)?

  Most browsers have started to bring this feature in to prevent closing their windows when the last tab is closed (inadvertently). I hope Ulaa should get this in too.

• Microsoft Phone Link

  Does anyone know if you can use Microsoft Phone Link to make calls through Zoho?

• Voip Phone system that integrates with Zoho

  Just checking to see if anyone could tell me what phone system they are using with Zoho that is on the list of systems that integrate with Zoho.  I use Vonage and have been with them for quite a few years but their service has really gone down hill and

• Removing Related Modules Lookup Fields Assignment / Relationship

  Issue: When creating a related list, I accidently selected module itself creating a circle reference. See attached. Situation: I wish to relating a custom module called "Phone Calls" to Leads and Contacts. Outcome: 1) I either want to remove the this

• [Product Update] TimeSheets module is now renamed as Time Logs in Zoho Projects.

  Dear Zoho Analytics customers, As part of the ongoing enhancements in Zoho Projects, the Timesheets module has been renamed to Time Logs. However, the module name will continue to be displayed as Timesheets in Zoho Analytics until the relevant APIs are

• Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

  Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the

• Seriously - Create multiple contacts for leads, (With Company as lead) Zoho CRM

  In Zoho CRM, considering a comapny as a lead, you need us to allow addition of more than one contact. Currently the Lead Section is missing "Add contact" feature which is available in "Accounts". When you know that a particular lead can have multiple

• can I link a contacts to multiple accounts

  can I link a contacts to multiple accounts

• Rotate an Image in Workdrive Image Editor

  I don't know if I'm just missing something, but my team needs a way to rotate images in Workdrive and save them at that new orientation. For example one of our ground crew members will take photos of job sites vertically (9:16) on his phone and upload

• Free webinar! Digitize recruitment and onboarding with Zoho Sign and Zoho Recruit

  Hello, Tired of being buried in onboarding paperwork? With the integration between Zoho Sign and Zoho Recruit, a powerful applicant tracking system, you can digitize and streamline the entire recruitment and onboarding process, all from one platform.

• is it possible to add more than one Whatsapp Phone Number to be integrated to Zoho CRM?

  so I have successfully added one Whatsapp number like this from this User Interface it seems I can't add a new Whatsapp Number. I need to add a new Whatsapp Number so I can control the lead assignment if a chat sent to Whatsapp Phone Number 1 then assign

• Open Activities view.

  I really like the new views for the open and closed activities inside the deals. But when you are in the tab view instead of the column view you can only complete and edit the open activity there isn't the 3 dot option to be able to delete the activ

• Potentially Outdated and Vulnerable Chromium Engine Installed by Ulaa Browser Installer

  I just installed Ulaa Browser a few minutes ago. Whats My Browser page shows I am using an outdated Chromium engine meaning I might be vulnerable for security exploits that might have got fixed in the new version.

• Potentially hardcoded list of Browsers to import from (after Ulaa Setup)

  I have just installed Ulaa Browser and found that the list of browser to import data is potentially hardcoded ones rather than looking at the system. I do not have FF, IE and Edge is not my default itself. I would appreciated if Ulaa detected my browsers

• From Layout to Code: Finding Custom Field IDs in Zoho Projects.

  Hello everyone! Ever found yourself wondering how to get the API names and IDs of custom fields in Zoho Projects while working on custom functions? Here’s a simple and effective way to do it! This method makes it super easy to locate the right field details

• Zoho Mail Desktop App Not Loading + Can’t Manage Multiple Accounts

  Hi everyone, I’ve been having ongoing issues with the Zoho Mail desktop app for the past few weeks. The app starts to load but gives up midway and never actually opens — there’s no error message, it just stops loading. The main reason I use the desktop

• How can I transfer data from Production to Development environment?

  Hi, I am using Creator V6 and would like to bring all the data in production to the Development and Testing environments? Is there an easy way of doing that or I have to export and import each table?

• Billing frequency is not displayed correctly.

  Hello There is an issue while displaying the billing frequency on a subscription quote. I am able to activate the subscription details and get this lovely overview: If I am adding a Plan which I charge quarterly, first of all it should be possible to

• Calling Function via REST API with API Key gives 401 using Zoho Developer

  Hi, I created a couple of functions using the one month trial of Enterprise edition, which I was able to call using the API Key method from Postman and from an external site. Now that my trial has expired, I have created the same functions in the Developer

• Session Expired

  I constantly get "Session Expired" and need to relogin or close and open the application again. This gets really frustrating during the day. Is this something that can be solved? This really makes me want to leave the app as it is no go to need to reopen

• Next Page