How does Opensense handle vanity clicks from email security tools?

Overview

Email security gateways, such as Proofpoint, Mimecast, and Barracuda, scan inbound email for threats, including links in banners and signatures. These tools often “click” tracked links during their scans, which inflates your engagement numbers. Opensense records these clicks, and no email campaign provider can fully prevent them. To get accurate numbers, export your click data and filter it.

What are vanity clicks?

Vanity clicks are clicks from automated email security software, not from real users. Security tools interact with tracked links during their scans, so Opensense and other email engagement platforms can record them as real recipient interactions.

Is this issue unique to Opensense?

No. Vanity clicks are common to every platform that tracks email engagement with embedded links. Security tools behave the same way whether you use Opensense or another vendor.

What is Opensense doing about it?

The Opensense engineering team is aware of this reporting challenge and keeps monitoring how email security tools affect engagement data. Vanity clicks come from the recipient’s security infrastructure, so no email campaign provider can fully prevent them.

How can I make my numbers more accurate?

1. Export your campaign’s raw click data. See Exporting click data.
2. Filter out duplicate clicks that likely come from automated security scans.
3. Look for unusual spikes in click activity, or repeated clicks from the same recipient within a short time.

Monitoring and cleaning your engagement data regularly gives you a more accurate picture of genuine recipient interactions.

What’s next

• Why does my campaign show an unusually high number of clicks from a single contact?: forwarding and other causes of click spikes.
• Banner campaigns and marketing FAQ: answers to other campaign reporting questions.