Sometimes a credential email shows as opened or clicked, but the recipient says they never saw it. This is almost always caused by the recipient's email security, not by the recipient.
Why it happens
Many organisations, especially large employers, universities and public bodies, use security tools that check every incoming email before it reaches the inbox. To check for harmful content, these tools open the email and follow every link in it automatically. To Certify, that looks exactly like a person opening the email and clicking the link.
Some email apps do something similar. Apple Mail, for example, can download emails and their images in the background to protect the user's privacy, which also registers as an open.
So an email can show as opened and clicked even if the recipient never saw it, or if it was held in quarantine or sent to spam after it was scanned.
How to spot an automated open
Timing. An open or click within seconds of sending, before a person could realistically have read the email, is usually a security scan.
Groups. If many recipients at the same organisation all show as opened at almost the same moment, their email security is probably scanning them.
No follow-up. An email that shows as opened and clicked, but where the recipient has never logged in or shared their credential, has often only been scanned.
What to trust instead
Treat email opens and clicks as a rough guide, not proof. The most reliable signs that a real person has seen their credential are actions a security tool can't take, such as logging in, adding the credential to LinkedIn or sharing it.
What to do if a recipient says they haven't received it
Ask them to search their spam, junk and quarantine folders for your organisation's name and for "Certify".
Check the email address you issued to is the one they use. See I have digital credentials missing or not showing.
If they're at a large organisation, ask their IT team to allow emails from Certify, then resend the credential. Contact us through the chat in your account if their IT team needs our sending details.
Point them to I haven't received my credential, which explains how to find a credential by logging in, even without the email.
Preventing it next time
Before issuing to people at a large organisation, ask a contact there to make sure emails from Certify won't be held. See Before you issue: a quick checklist.
Tell recipients their credential is coming, so they know to look for it.
On the Premium plan, you can send credential emails from your own mail server, which some organisations' email security trusts more readily.
For more on getting credentials opened and shared, see Why do badges go unclaimed, and how do we fix it?