Email is a primary communication medium in the workplace, where a balance must be maintained between being too impersonal and too informal.
Though most marketers and business professionals are aware of common email etiquette, many are skeptical about addressing multiple people in a single email.
This guide explains the importance and etiquette of sending one email to multiple recipients.
Table of Contents
The instance of sending an email to multiple recipients occurs when a group of people collaborates on a single task.
The task can be of:
Some people think sending one email to multiple recipients would be unprofessional.
This is not the case and in fact, sending a single email to multiple recipients has many advantages:
How to Address Multiple People in an Email
To address multiple people in a single email, you must use individual names or group names in the salutation and gender-neutral language in the email body.
You can also use the ‘@’ followed by individual names to allocate specific tasks to each recipient.
Email Etiquette to Follow While Addressing Multiple People in an Email
There is email etiquette one should follow when addressing multiple people.
Let’s see what those etiquettes are.
Use Individual Names or Group Names in Salutation
While addressing two or three people in an email, you can mention their names in the salutation.
For example,
Hi Mike, Angela, and Max or
Good Morning Mike, Angela, and Max
In the above salutation, I have used ‘Hi’ and ‘Good Morning’ as salutations along with the names of three recipients.
The usage of ‘Hi’ and ‘Good Morning’ are a few best salutations that are not too informal and too impersonal.
Using ’Hi’ or ’Hey’ in the salutation can act as a powerful pattern interrupt, shifting the recipient’s mindset and immediately creating a connection with them.
The usage of dear in the salutation should be avoided in case of formal communication. While you address large numbers of people, you can simply use:
Use Gender-Neutral Language in Email Body
The email body is the important part that conveys the actual message to recipients after the subject line and salutation.
Since this mail is common to many recipients, you can use gender-neutral language in the email body.
The usage of gender-neutral language in the email body emits a sense of inclusivity and respect.
Here’s an example of gender-neutral emails:
A few rules to keep in mind when using gender-neutral language:
If you want to allocate special tasks at an individual level or special mentions, you can use the ‘@’ sign followed by their name.
For example,
@Angela please rework the design component of the automation part.
@Mike Deploy the new design component once Angela is done with it. You can take Max if you want additional resources.
@Max Please support Mike if he needs you.
Or
Angela, Please rework the design component of the automation part.
Mike, Deploy the new design component once Angela is done with it. You can take Max if you want additional resources.
Max, Please support Mike if he needs you.
Avoid the Usage of BCC
The final etiquette you should follow while sending a single email to multiple recipients is the usage of CC and BCC.
CC stands for Carbon Copy and BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy.
Use CC when you want to keep someone informed about an email conversation or include them in the discussion without making them the primary recipient. This is useful for keeping relevant parties in the loop.
An example of CC can be:
A marketing professional communicating with other website owners for guest posting. In this case, the marketing professional will include his team lead or team members in CC to let them know what is happening.
On the other hand, use BCC when you don’t want to reveal the recipient’s email addresses to fellow recipients.
BCC can be used to maintain privacy while still keeping everyone informed. The advantage of BCC is preventing recipients from using ”Reply All” unintentionally.
The best example of BCC email is marketing emails. I.e., sending newsletters to users.
The usage of BCC in this case of sending an email to multiple recipients is irrelevant. Therefore, avoid using it.
FAQs
1. How to hide recipients while sending an email to multiple recipients?
To hide recipients while sending an email to multiple recipients, you must use Blind Carbon Copy (BCC).
Instead of inserting your recipient email address in the “To” section of your email, you need to insert that address into the BCC section of the email. To access the BCC section, you can simply click “BCC” in the top right corner of your Gmail interface or use the “Ctrl+Shift+b” shortcut key.
BCC is commonly used in scenarios when you want to send an email to multiple recipients without revealing their email addresses to each other, you use BCC.
This is done in situations where the recipients may not know each other or when you want to protect their privacy.
