These last 2 days I have been receiving lots of email subscribers - from 213 I have now 259.
I have checked and most of them have subscribed on the same day at the same time. It looks so suspicious to me.
For email subscription, I have the google recaptcha enabled.
I have checked some of the email addresses on google and most of these “subscribers” are from USA while in the customer page they are registered as living in HK (my main selling market).
Is there a way to know if these email addresses are legit or not?
A sudden rise in email subscribers, especially when many arrive at the exact same time and the locations do not match your usual audience, is often caused by bots. Even with Google reCAPTCHA enabled, automated signups can still slip through.
A good first step is to look at the addresses themselves. Random looking emails with long strings of numbers or strange words usually point to bot activity. Location patterns also help. Many fake signups show unusual countries or identical IP information.
To reduce this issue in the future, stronger protection can be added to the signup form. Apps such as Shop Protector or Human Presence offer additional security that blocks most automated submissions. These tools install easily and work in the background.
Suspicious addresses can also be removed from the Customers area under Email Subscribers.
This type of activity is common across many stores, and the steps above usually help clear it up and prevent it from returning.
Okay, so what is the value in bots subscribing? For them, I mean? Or rather, what harm does it do me?
I mean, I hate those Capcha things. If one of those shows up, I might complete it. If a second one appears I’m gone. A total pain in the ass. On the basis that I won’t subscribe to something if I have to complete capchas, I feel like I’d rather just go in & manually delete unwanted subscribers than make it difficult for genuine subscribers.
I guess if there are thousands, I might be forced to, but I suspect that for me it’ll only ever be a handful.