Before you launch a new marketing campaign, there are a few things you should ask yourself:
- What are your goals?
- How much of your revenue are you going to spend on marketing?
- How much of your marketing spend are you willing to lose to bots?
Let’s take a look at that last one. Marketing can be a great way to grow your business and build a larger, more dedicated customer base. But marketing also can be disappointingly fruitless if you fall prey to marketing scams and bot-driven fraud. Stopping bots before they hurt your campaign and cost you profits should always be a priority. Keep reading to learn how to protect your website and your marketing campaigns by stopping fraudulent bots.
What is marketing fraud?
Marketing fraud uses unethical means and false promotional material, often with the promise of financial gain or return on investment, to profit from fake actions. As the money spent on marketing each year has gone up, so has marketing fraud. Anyone implementing a marketing strategy today needs to be aware of the threat of marketing fraud before and during each ad campaign.
Some of the most commonly-seen types of marketing fraud involve bots. When a publisher or brand turns to an online marketer to improve their conversion rates, increase their website traffic, and get more people spending more time on their sites, the marketer may implement several strategies. Many marketers use honest methods and aren’t simply looking for a quick buck. But running into a marketer who uses fraudulent tactics, including malicious bots, can seriously deplete an advertising budget and even harm a website and its operability.
What do marketing fraud bots do?
It’s the job of a marketer to get more people to visit a site, become interested in a brand, leave their email or phone number, sign up or download, make a purchase, and spread the word. These people should be actual people. Not bots. That should go without saying, but – if they can — marketing fraudsters will make use of bots at every opportunity. A website may see:
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Increased page views
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More conversions
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New traffic flow
But if this action is coming from bots, those views, conversions, and clicks won’t lead to anything since:
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A person doesn’t view the pages
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The conversions bounce back
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The traffic is coming from somewhere strange
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The comments are all spam messages
In other words, bots are performing these transactions. While these bot-driven actions may temporarily boost numbers, they aren’t doing anything to grow your audience or increase sales. They can slow down your website and compromise your customer data.
How to Stop Fraudulent Bots
If you have signs of bad bot activity on your website, you’ll want to get rid of them – and keep them from coming back. And if you can block the bots before they make it onto your site in the first place, that’s even better. Is it possible?
It can be when you use bot-blocking solutions that can:
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Tell the difference between a human visitor and a blot
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Maintain a block list to keep repeat offending bots away
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Identify bot traffic from known hubs of fraudulent activity
And more. At Fraudlogix, we can help you keep bots off your website and out of your marketing traffic. Our team is here for you — contact us today to get the bot fraud protection solution you need.
