Best Practices for Email Messages to Large Groups

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Here’s a friendly guide to emailing large groups at work—so you can keep things simple, smart, and considerate of everyone’s inbox.

Why BCC Is Your Best Friend

Ever notice those giant lists of emails in the “To” field? They clog up your replies and make threads hard to read! If you put everyone in BCC (Blind Carbon Copy), it keeps everything organized and also prevents a potential avalanche of “reply all” messages.

Lake-Sumter State College asks that you utilize the BCC field when sending to large distribution groups, including groups that include all employees.

Enabling the BCC Field

  • On the Outlook desktop app
    • Open a new email, click the Options tab, Click BCC to display the field
  • On Outlook for the Web and New Outlook
    • Open a new email, Click BCC on the right side of the message window
  • If you need help enabling the BCC field, please submit a ticket in Support Hub.

Appropriate Uses for All Employee Communications include:

  • Official announcements relevant to all faculty and staff
  • College-wide events
  • College-wide policy and procedural updates
  • Facilities concerns

Alternatives to All Employee Communications:

  • Targeted emails:  Consider the relevant audience and send the message to a smaller audience
  • The Catch newsletter:  Submit employee and student achievements and/or recognition to Communications for inclusion in The Catch, the College’s newsletter
  • Employee Intranet/HawkNet:  Departments that have a presence on the Employee Intranet can utilize the News function to post updates via Sharepoint and Teams

Tips Before You Hit Send

  • Double-check your lists:  Does everyone need to get this message? Make sure you’re sending it only to those who need it.
  • Think Twice:  Could a smaller group or another form of communication work better?
  • Keep it clear:  Short and sweet wins. Use plain language and get to the point.  Clarity and brevity help when people are skimming their inboxes.
  • Respect Privacy:  Don’t share sensitive information. When in doubt, check with someone first!
  • Test it first:  Send a trial run to yourself or a colleague.  A last look can help catch typos or formatting issues.
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