Email Efficiency: To, Cc, Bcc

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Our second installment of the Email Efficiency series will discuss how to use to, cc, and bcc fields. This isn't Serial so you do not need to read this blog post series in order but, if you are interested, the first post in the series is about email subject lines. 

I will not belabor the point about adding email addresses to an email. I recognize that every email address you list will receive the email so this is not the most critical piece of sending an email. However, I personally place an importance on professionalism in all aspects of email. If you are going to do something anyway, you might as well do it right.

Below are some rules of thumb for using the to, cc, and bcc fields. 

To:

  • These are the primary recipients of the content of the email you are sending
  • Add or move emails to the "To:" field when you need a response from them or it is critical that they receive the information and all replies

Cc:

  • These are the secondary recipients of the email you are sending (think of it as a public FYI)
  • You should not expect a response from anyone in your cc list
  • Note that if someone responds to your email by selecting "reply" instead of "reply all", the cc email addresses listed will not receive the response so, again, they should not be critical to the information in the email you sent and any replies

Bcc:

  • Anyone you bcc on an email will not appear on the recipient list of the email that is sent and they will also not automatically be included in any replies (consider this a private FYI that you will likely need to discuss separately later)
  • For etiquette sake, make sure either verbally or through a separate email, that anyone in the bcc field KNOWS they are being bcc'ed (they can still reply all and then it gets weird)
  • It is great to move someone to the bcc field when they no longer need to be a part of the thread but should be made aware a response has been sent (best practice is to call out that they have been moved to bcc within the content of the email)
  • I also use bcc when sending an email to a large group of people and do not want to publicly share any email addresses and no recipients need to know about another 
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A public service announcement about why to label your email addresses in your address book professionally. Some email clients will display the name that you have labeled in your address book. For example, if you add an email address and give the first name "John" and last name "FIND OUT LAST NAME", some email clients will display "John FIND OUT LAST NAME <john@company.com>" in the recipient list. Once an email thread gets going, it is possible for your label to appear in a reply. It looks bad. Be careful.

Any other tips/tricks/rules you use? Let me know in the comment section below.