Email is an integral tool for work and personal communication with others. I encourage my clients to manage their inbox with the thoughtful use of CC, BCC and Reply All.
1.) Carbon Copy or CC address box should be used when you want to be transparent and make all recipients aware of the email you are sending. And/ or you anticipate or request a reply from all that should be shared by all.
2.) Blind Carbon Copy or BCC address box should be used to send mass emails while protecting the privacy of recipients especially when they do not know each other. In other words, the email addresses will not be visible to others.
The BCC box is also used to discreetly include a recipient. If your address is in the BCC box, you do not reply; you are included as a courtesy to keep you in the communication loop.
3.) Reply All should be used when it is relevant for all recipients, in the CC box, to be aware of your response. Oftentimes, your response only needs to be sent to the sender rather than everyone in the CC box. We’ve all been there….it starts with one person hitting Reply All and others usually follow. Please stop! Let’s all try to be advocates for less email distribution and use ‘Reply All’ with care.
See you on the Road to Productivity!
