ESP Matching: Match your Recipient's Provider
Inbox providers love mail from their own kind. Gmail trusts Gmail, and Microsoft trusts Microsoft. ESP matching puts that to work: each first email goes out from a mailbox on the same provider as your recipient, so more of your outreach lands where it belongs. Same templates, same volume, better odds. 📬
What you need to get going
Just two things:
- The Advanced plan. ESP matching comes with Advanced. Not sure what you're on? Head to your Billing Page.
- At least one Google account and one Microsoft account in the campaign's rotation. Matching needs both teams on the field to pick the right player.
Here's who plays for which team:
| Team | Sending accounts that count |
|---|---|
| Gmail and Google Workspace mailboxes, connected with Google sign-in or Gmail IMAP | |
| Microsoft | Outlook and Microsoft 365 mailboxes, connected with Microsoft sign-in, Exchange, or Office 365 IMAP |
| Everyone else | Any other provider. These accounts sit out the matching and keep sending as normal. |
Switch it on in four clicks 🚀
- Open your campaign and head to Campaign Settings.
- Jump into the Templates & Email Sequence tab.
- Scroll to the bottom of the sending accounts panel, just below your account list and + Email Account.
- Flip on ESP matching. That's it!
ESP matching works campaign by campaign, so switch it on wherever you want the boost.
Switch greyed out? Here's the fix
| What you see | What's going on | Quick fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Add a Microsoft account to use this." (or Google, or both) | Your rotation is missing a provider | Add a sending account from the missing provider to this campaign |
| "Your plan does not include ESP matching." | ESP matching isn't on your plan yet | Click the question mark, then Compare plans |
Hover over the greyed-out switch any time for a reminder of what it needs. And heads up: if you remove the last Google or Microsoft account from a campaign, ESP matching switches off right away, and the caption tells you what to add back.
What happens behind the scenes ✨
- We read the recipient's domain, not just the address. A company domain running on Google Workspace counts as Google, even without @gmail.com.
- The first email gets matched. Follow-ups stick with the account that sent it, so every conversation stays in one tidy thread.
- Your rotation still calls the shots. Matching just picks the best fit among accounts that are next in line. Your sending limits and pacing stay exactly as they are.
- No match free? No problem. Pitchbox sends from any available account so your campaign keeps rolling.
- New domain we haven't seen? Pitchbox may hold that first email for a moment while it checks. If it can't tell the provider, the email goes out as normal.
- Yahoo, self-hosted and friends get sent as normal from any account in the rotation.
Quick questions, quick answers
Will it change emails I've already sent? Nope. It kicks in for first emails sent after you switch it on. Existing threads keep their current account.
Do I need equal numbers of Google and Microsoft accounts? Not at all. One of each unlocks it. A more even mix means more recipients get a perfect match.
What if all my accounts are Gmail? Then every email already comes from Google, so there's nothing to match. Add a Microsoft account to unlock it.