The Importance of Using the Bcc Field when Sending Mass Emails

The Importance of Using the Bcc Field when Sending Mass Emails

The below is intended as a reminder of how important (and necessary) it is to utilize different email settings before you select to SEND and should be utilized for professional AND personal emails.

What is Bcc:
Blind Carbon Copy- refers to the practice of sending a message to multiple recipients in such a way that conceals individual email addresses from the complete list of recipients. It provides a way of addressing messages to more than one person so that everyone's address is not displayed for all to see.

Availability:
ALL email programs, even your free web-based email services (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail , HotMail, and others) allow you to address messages using Bcc: field although some may require that you place at least one recipient address in the To: field before sending- (which could also include your email address).

Why should the Bcc filed be used?
#1- Protects recipients' email addresses from being spread to others (just because they are on your contact list does not mean they want you to distribute their email to others on your list- be considerate of others). Also- keep in mind that your original email may not just be shared with your email group as some of these people will pass along to even more by simply selecting FORWARD while still including all of the original email addresses!

#2-The messages contains less text, (including all of emails in the To: and/or Cc: fields can become very long and overwhelm the intended viewer as they must continue to scroll down the page to find the real message text.

#3- Less text space can also assist in accessing the message as they require less bandwidth and will easier/faster to download.

Best Use of Bcc:
Mass emails such as Newsletters, Action Alerts, Flyers, General Announcements, Save-the-Dates, Events, etc.

In utilizing the Bcc: field for the above samples- when your email is received the only email address visible to others would be the ones you listed in the To: field. If a recipient decided to Reply or even Reply to All- the reply email will only go back to the To: field addresses- not to any email supplied in the original Bcc: field.
Using Bcc: filed in this manner also provides for the appearance that the original email was sent specifically to each individual recipient as compared to being one of a long list of others.

When Not to use Bcc:
Not all emails should be addressed to Bcc: field receipts and even when sending to a larger group it may be important/necessary for others to be notified of the included email members (sending the minutes to the board of directors, including all the sales managers on a new product email, etc). Although some may also argue that rather than including all of the above email addresses- you could/should utilize Distribution Lists (rather than each of the board member's email- send to a group created that is titled Board Members). Another approach as some web-based email services may not allow for the creation of such lists is to send out via Bcc: filed but include in the email wording similar to: Bcc Board Members, Sales Managers, etc.

Misuse and Caution of Bcc:
The use of the Bcc: filed is not intended for you to send emails about others in secrecy... or behind their backs. In fact, this approach may backfire - consider the following example:
You send an email and include person A and B in the To: field and decide to secretly involve person C but place in the Bcc: field.
Nothing prevents person C from jumping-in the conversation as they have access to any email addresses provided in the To: and Cc: fields. If this occurs, person A and B will become aware that you were originally tyring to conceal the involvement of person C.

Final Thoughts:
Another thing to remember about any email- once you select SEND they can easily be distributed, misinterpreted (words don't capture tone and inflection and sometimes miss the "real" meaning), saved and stored on servers (even if you delete- especially so in business as emails are kept for long periods of time).
Today's technology makes the dissemination of our information very ease, don't send emails containing information that you would never want displayed along with your name and picture on the evening news...

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