How to Detect Bot-Inflated Behavior Scores in Adobe Marketo

Have you ever encountered leads with suspiciously high behavior scores, like 2000 and above, that end up not being interested in a deal? This could be due to bots or email systems automatically clicking all links in emails, inflating their behavior scoring. If you’re utilizing Sales Insight to get a deeper understanding of buyer behavior, that inaccurate information can skew your overall picture and cause your sales team to waste valuable time sorting through it.

To prevent this from happening and to ensure the accuracy of your lead scoring system, there are several strategies that can be implemented.

  1. Using the standard tools in the Marketo Admin section click the Bot Activity tab. Choose to Match with IAB List, Match with Proximity Pattern, or both. On choosing “Filter Bot Activity”, all email opens and email link clicks that match with their respective identification methods will not be logged in your subscription.
  1. Limit the number of trigger activations for link clicks in emails in behavior scoring to once per day in the qualification rules. This will prevent bots from manipulating the system by clicking all links in an email, leading to an inflated score.
  1. There are programs that are capable of clicking links within emails without leaving any traces of email opening. To avoid bot scoring for that you may want to add a “Click link in email” trigger in conjunction with a “Opened an email’ filter with about an hour constraint.
  1. Backscoring is recommended to normalize scores for accurate reflection of lead engagement. This campaign should be run only once to avoid skewing the data. Mark your calendars for next Wednesday! We will be publishing a dedicated post on the topic of correct backscoring. Learn how this valuable technique can assist in providing a precise representation of lead engagement. 

By implementing these strategies, you can maintain the integrity of your lead scoring system and ensure it accurately reflects the engagement of real prospects.

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