Non-human interaction (NHI) can make your email statistics look better than they really are. This article explains what NHI is, how Force24 deals with it, and where you can see it in the platform.

What is NHI?

NHI stands for non-human interaction. We use it to describe activity from a contact that is not considered genuine human activity. In the platform, this may show up as multiple clicks within the same second, or as activity coming from a bot IP.

Not all bots are bad, and bot activity does not always mean poor sending behaviour. For example, security software may click the links in an email to check for malware or phishing before the email reaches an inbox. However, bot activity can inflate vanity metrics such as opens and clicks. This can mislead your marketing and sales teams and give contacts an overly high lead score.

How is bot activity identified?

Bot activity is generally identified by inflated click and open metrics. In emails, it usually involves security software sitting in front of a recipient's inbox. This software opens the email and often interacts with some or all of the links inside, following them through any redirects. These actions mimic real engagement, so false opens and clicks can be recorded.

It is likely that most email marketers who have sent a campaign have been affected by bot activity. It can be a challenge because the false engagement is tracked alongside genuine activity, which can trigger automated campaigns based on events that never really happened.

What has Force24 done to combat NHI?

We have released a feature that marks any non-human interaction against your campaign statistics and Web Insights in the platform. This makes your statistics a more accurate picture of what recipients are really doing, including opens, clicks and unique metrics*.

Our approach has three steps:

  1. The front door: activity that is clearly non-human or bot activity is simply not let into the platform.
  2. AI analysis: our metrics are pulled into a cloud, where AI is used to look for further bots that may be hiding. These could appear as regular clicking, or as activity that is too fast for a human.
  3. You: we have added a voting system to the platform. You can visit a contact's profile and mark their activity as non-human by liking or disliking it.

Want to vote on activity?

If you want to find out how to vote and access this tool, learn more in our Non-Human Interaction: What is it and what's changing? article.

In several places in the platform, you can now see what percentage of your statistics came from non-human interaction:

*A note on unique metrics

Unique metrics are reflected on the report page. They are deducted from the metrics if all of a contact's behaviour for the campaign was marked as non-human. When you click a unique stat, it will still show all contacts, regardless of the NHI marking.

Is my lead score impacted by NHI?

Yes. As part of improving the accuracy of your statistics, we deduct the lead score value from any activity that is non-human. This means the contacts with a high lead score really are your highly engaged recipients.

How do I view NHI metrics?

You can view non-human interaction metrics in three areas of the platform:

  • The contact activity page
  • The report page (for SMS, Single Send and Automated Campaigns)
  • The report export

To see how to find and read these metrics, read our Non-Human Interaction: What is it and what's changing? article.

What is the benefit of using the NHI feature?

The focus of your campaigns should not be purely on vanity metrics such as opens and clicks. Even so, using the non-human interaction feature means the statistics in your account are as accurate as possible.

If you want to read more about improving your marketing effectiveness, take a look at our guide to KPIs.

How do I turn this filter on or off?

Non-human interaction filtering is turned on by default in your account. If you would like to opt out, email Force24 support at support@force24.co.uk which will open a support ticket for you, and the filter will be disabled.

You can turn it back on at any time. However, data from the period while it was turned off will not be shown, and it will only capture data from the point it is turned back on.

Why is my unique click rate higher than my unique open rate?

Sometimes your unique click rate may look higher than your unique open rate. This can happen for a couple of reasons:

  • The email was opened by a non-human scanner, such as security software, which triggers an open event without a genuine user action. Force24 filters these events out, so they are not counted as human opens.
  • The recipient's email client blocks the tracking pixels used to log opens, so the open is not recorded. If the recipient clicks a tracked link, their genuine click is still captured.

Clicks are a stronger signal of real engagement than opens, so it is not unusual to see more unique clicks than recorded opens in these cases.

Still need help?

Reach out to your account manager for a more in depth discussion on deliverability and how you can improve your strategy. Or speak to our support team if you have any further questions about the above.