Skipping Email Security Gateways

title: Skipping Email Security Gateways
description: Skip leads protected by Email Security Gateways (ESGs) to improve deliverability and reduce bounces.

Overview

Many companies route their incoming email through an Email Security Gateway (ESG) — services like Barracuda, Mimecast, Proofpoint, and Cisco Secure Email that aggressively filter, quarantine, or bounce cold outreach emails.

Emails sent to ESG-protected domains and companies will often simply bounce. Since every email sender has a limited daily sending capacity, it's not a good idea to exhaust that capacity on domains that will bounce anyway — and every bounce also degrades your email sender's reputation.

SalesBlink can automatically detect and skip leads whose domains are protected by an ESG, so those emails are never sent in the first place.

How ESG Detection Works

When a lead's email is verified in SalesBlink, the system checks the MX records of the lead's domain. If the mail servers point to a known Email Security Gateway, the lead is tagged with that gateway:

Configure ESG Settings (Account Level)

Choose which gateways you want to skip across your outreach:

1. Go to Account → Settings (/account/settings).
2. Find the Email Security Gateway (ESG) Settings card.
3. Check the gateways you want to skip: Barracuda, Mimecast, Proofpoint, and/or Cisco.
4. Click Save.

Enable Skipping in a Sequence

ESG skipping is controlled per sequence:

1. Open your sequence settings.
2. Enable Send to only verified emails.
3. Check Skip leads using Email Security Gateways.
4. (Optional) Click the Configure ESG settings link shown below the checkbox to jump to /account/settings and adjust which gateways are skipped.

Note: ESG skipping requires email verification to be enabled, since the gateway is detected during the verification step.

What Happens to Skipped Leads

When a sequence runs, any lead whose detected gateway matches your ESG settings is not emailed. The skip is recorded in the sequence logs with the message:

"Lead was skipped due to ESG configuration"

Why It's Important

• Fewer bounces — ESG-protected inboxes are a common source of hard bounces in cold outreach; skipping them keeps your bounce rate low.
• Saves sending capacity — each email sender has a limited daily sending bandwidth. Skipping domains that would bounce anyway frees up that capacity for leads who can actually receive your emails.
• Protects sender reputation — bounces degrade your sender reputation, and repeatedly hitting gateway filters hurts your domain and IP reputation.
• Better engagement metrics — emails to ESG-protected leads are rarely opened, so skipping them keeps your open/reply rates more accurate.

Updated on: 18/08/2026