Zoho has just rolled out its most anticipated update of the year—Bot Filtering in Zoho Campaigns is now live! This powerful feature enhances your email marketing strategy by eliminating bot-generated interactions, leading to more accurate analytics and more effective automation.
What Is Bot Filtering in Zoho Campaigns?
Bot filtering is designed to detect and exclude non-human interactions, like automated email scanners and security software, from your email campaign analytics. This means your open and click rates now reflect real human engagement, giving you more reliable data to work with.
How to Enable Bot Filtering in Zoho Campaigns
The feature is automatically enabled by default, but here’s how you can double-check:
- Go to Settings by clicking the cog icon in Zoho Campaigns.
- Navigate to the General Settings section.
- Ensure the Bot Filtering option is toggled ON.
Two critical settings should be enabled:
- Exclude bot activities from entering segments: Prevents bots from skewing your segment-based automations.
- Exclude bots from entering workflows: Stops bots from triggering scoring or automation rules inaccurately.
These safeguards ensure only genuine user actions are processed through your workflows and segments.
How Bot Filtering Impacts Workflows
Before this update, bots could trigger:
- Entry into lead scoring systems
- Movement through email engagement-based workflows
- CRM actions like hot-lead alerts
Now, bot actions no longer trigger these events. You’ll see improvements in:
- Lead scoring accuracy
- Workflow logic integrity
- Targeted nurturing sequences
For example, in custom workflows where actions like “clicked email” or “opened email” were used as triggers, bots would falsely advance contacts. With bot filtering, only authentic engagement prompts actions, ensuring cleaner marketing logic and better lead qualification.
More Accurate Campaign Analytics
In testing, the update drastically improved reporting accuracy. Previously inflated click and open rates (due to bots) have now stabilized:
- Click-through rates are more realistic (2.5–5% range recommended)
- Open rates better reflect actual user behavior (25–30% ideal)
These realistic metrics empower marketers to:
- A/B test subject lines effectively
- Adjust call-to-action placement
- Improve email content based on real user behavior
For instance, a campaign that used to report 45% open rates now shows closer to 12%—offering a more truthful baseline to iterate from.
Reporting Glitch Workaround
Some users may briefly see a message saying “bot filtering disabled” even when it’s enabled. If you encounter this:
- Proceed with sending the campaign.
- The system corrects itself upon sending and reflects the correct filtering status in reports.
Why This Update Matters
This update removes false positives from your data, allowing you to:
- Make smarter marketing decisions
- Reduce workflow clutter
- Accurately assess your campaign performance
