Common Problems During Campaigns
When a campaign misbehaves, the cause is almost always mail security, link/URL protection, or audience data. Jump to your symptom, then work the checklist.
Quick reference
| Symptom | Most likely cause | Section |
|---|---|---|
| No emails arriving | Whitelisting incomplete / IP blocked | 1 |
| Emails slow / trickling in | Throttling, greylisting, rate limits | 2 |
| Emails in Spam/Junk/Promotions | SCL not bypassed, domain not approved | 3 |
| Everyone shows "clicked" instantly | Security scanner pre-fetching links | 4 |
| Clicks not recording | Link rewriting / tracking blocked | 4 |
| "Viewed"/open not tracked | Image proxy / blocked pixels | 5 |
| Attachment stripped/blocked | Attachment sandboxing | 6 |
| Landing page won't load | URL protection / DNS / cert | 7 |
| Targets missing / bounces | Bad addresses, sync gaps | 8 |
| SMS/vishing not delivered | Carrier/number issues | 9 |
| Numbers look wrong | Results contaminated by tools | 10 |
1. Emails not received
The #1 cause is incomplete whitelisting. Confirm every current value from Settings → IP & Domains is allowed — domains and IPs — in every gateway in the mail path (perimeter SEG and mailbox provider). Then check the domain/sender isn't blocklisted, mail isn't quarantined, and the firewall isn't blocking the sending IPs. See the Whitelisting Guide and Emails Not Being Received.
2. Emails slow or delayed
Delivery trickling in over minutes/hours usually means throttling, not a PhishGrid delay:
- Greylisting — first delivery deferred then retried. Disable greylisting for your sending IPs.
- Rate limits / connection throttling — gateways cap messages from a new source; whitelisting by IP usually lifts this. For very large lists, stagger sends.
- Large recipient lists — big campaigns are paced by design; use Campaign Scheduling Strategies.
- SEG sandbox / time-of-click holding mail for analysis — bypass scanning for simulation senders.
3. Emails in Spam/Junk
Delivered but filed as junk means the spam verdict isn't bypassed:
- Spam Confidence Level not bypassed (e.g. SCL -1 in Microsoft 365) — check your allow rule matches.
- Sending domain not in the Approved/Safe senders list.
- Landing in Promotions (Gmail) — use a content-compliance rule to bypass.
- Missing SPF/DKIM/DMARC alignment for the simulation domain.
4. Click tracking issues
Everyone shows clicked instantly / bot clicks: a security tool is pre-fetching or detonating links (Safe Links, URL Protection, time-of-click scanners). Disable URL rewriting for your simulation domains; Bot Detection filters known scanner clicks, but the real fix is the exclusion. Clicks not recording: the tracking link is rewritten, blocked, or stripped. Confirm link rewriting is disabled and the simulation domain resolves; test the link from a whitelisted mailbox.
5. "Viewed"/open tracking
Opens are counted via a tracking pixel. Under-counting is normal — many clients block remote images, and proxies (e.g. Gmail image cache) distort counts. Treat click and report rates as the reliable signals. See How Are Emails Detected as "Viewed"?.
6. Attachments blocked
Attachment-based simulations can be stripped or detonated by attachment sandboxing (Safe Attachments, ATP, SEG sandbox). Exclude your simulation senders from attachment scanning, or use link-based scenarios.
7. Landing page issues
Landing/credential pages not loading or flagged:
- URL protection blocking/warning on the simulation domain → add to exclusions.
- DNS/TLS for the simulation domain not resolving → verify domain setup.
- Corporate web proxy/SWG category-blocking the domain → allow it.
8. Targets missing or bouncing
- Invalid/old addresses → clean the list; check bounces in the report.
- Sync gaps → re-import or re-sync; see Import Users via XLSX and Synchronizing Targets via XLSX.
- Group membership → confirm targets are in the campaign's group.
9. SMS / vishing delivery
- SMS (smishing) — carrier filtering, unregistered sender IDs, or country restrictions can block messages. Confirm the sender/number is provisioned for the target region.
- Vishing — call delivery depends on the voice provider and number reputation; verify the number and script setup.
10. Results look wrong
Implausible numbers (100% "clicked" in seconds, zero opens, huge outliers):
- Security tooling is interacting with the mail (see 4) — re-check exclusions.
- SOC/IT blocked mid-campaign — coordinate the window in advance.
- Filter/segment the report — see Interpreting Your Results and Filtering and Downloading Campaign Reports.
Still stuck?
Run a 5–10 user test, re-check Settings → IP & Domains for newly added values, and confirm exclusions in every gateway. If it persists, contact PhishGrid support with your mail-provider configuration and a sample affected recipient.