You send out a text campaign, the link tracker lights up, and bam! Clicks show up before anyone could have possibly opened the message. Sounds like a dream, until you realize your metrics may be haunted by ghost clicks. [Cue spooky music]
Ghost clicks are false positives that inflate your SMS click-through rates. These clicks don’t come from actual people tapping your links, but from software fetching or scanning them in the background.
In short: ghost clicks make your click-through rate look better than reality and can misfire automations that rely on “clicked” triggers. Let’s unmask what’s happening and how to keep your metrics honest.
What are ghost clicks in SMS?
In SMS marketing, ghost clicks usually happen because:
- Link previews on mobile devices: iPhones and Androids often auto-fetch the metadata for any link you text. This helps display the preview (image, headline, or snippet), but your tracking system may mistake it for a real click.
- Carrier-level or security scans: Some mobile carriers and security tools scan links for malware before delivering them, triggering your tracking URL.
- Over-simplified link tracking: If your SMS platform counts any server request as a click, background previews and scans can bloat your click metrics.
In email, ghost clicks are often caused by security scanners like Microsoft SafeLinks or Mimecast, but in SMS, the main culprit is link previews. This is especially common with shortened links, which are more likely to be “probed” by apps and carriers.
Why Ghost Clicks Matter for SMS Marketing
If ghost clicks only made your reports look prettier, we might let them slide. But in SMS campaigns, they can cause bigger headaches:
- Inflated CTR: You might think your campaign is crushing it, when in reality, fewer people are actually engaging.
- Bad A/B testing calls: Choosing a CTA or link placement based on fake data can derail optimization.
- Broken automations: If your flows depend on “clicked vs. not clicked” logic, ghost clicks can throw subscribers into the wrong path.
For SMS, where every character and every metric counts, accuracy matters more than ever.
How to Spot Ghost Clicks in SMS
You might be dealing with ghost clicks if you see:
- Instant clicks: engagement within seconds of the send (before a person could realistically read and tap).
- Click rates with no conversions: CTR is high, but downstream actions (sign-ups, purchases) don’t match.
- Clustered timestamps: multiple clicks logged at the exact same second.
How to Handle Ghost Clicks in SMS Campaigns
Here’s how SMS marketers can keep their metrics grounded in reality:
- Use smarter link tracking. Some platforms (including Mobiniti) can differentiate between a preview fetch and an actual user click. Make sure your SMS provider supports this level of detail.
- Look at downstream events. Track not just clicks, but what happens after. Landing page visits, form fills, or purchases are better proof of real engagement than click data alone.
- Avoid trigger-happy automations. If you’re branching campaign flows, don’t rely on “clicked vs. didn’t click” as your only logic. Pair clicks with conversion events, or add time delays to filter out phantom clicks.
- Educate your team (and clients). Let stakeholders know ghost clicks exist, so inflated CTRs don’t get misinterpreted as performance spikes.
- Test your links. Send yourself a message and watch the logs. If your click tracking fires before you’ve tapped anything, previews are to blame.
Final Word
Ghost clicks are part of today’s SMS landscape. Mobile devices and carriers are trying to keep users safe and deliver rich link previews, but in doing so, they sometimes trip your analytics.
For SMS marketers, the best defense isn’t to fight them, it’s to measure smarter:
- Track downstream conversions, not just clicks.
- Use click filters where possible.
- Build automations that assume a little ghostly interference.
That way, your SMS metrics stop looking haunted and start giving you the clarity you need to run campaigns that actually drive results.
We help SMS marketers track real engagement with confidence to bust those pesky ghost clicks. Who you gonna call?
Mobiniti!
