Need for Privacy
People have become hypersensitive about their privacy during the last few years. They now expect that their details will be used only for the purposes for which they have been provided and not shared by original trustees. This is especially true of email addresses because of the huge volume of unsolicited commercial email (spam) circulating the web.
In Australia and elsewhere, there are statutes requiring privacy when collecting and using personal information. (In Australia the Privacy Act (Commonwealth) was recently amended to include private sector use of personal information eg, medical records retained by private practices).
In an increasingly litigious society, there are not only sound business reasons, but legal reasons why you should ensure the strictest standards of privacy are applied to personal information of which you are custodian. Despite this, numbers of people using email unwittingly reveal the email addresses of other people to whom they are sending email.
This article tells you how to maintain client confidentiality when sending email to multiple addressees by using Blind Carbon Copy or BCC.
Blind Carbon Copy
The term Blind Carbon Copy is a hangover from the dim, dark ages before word processors when we used typewriters (some of you have probably never seen a typewriter). To produce multiple copies of a document, one had to place a sheet of carbon paper between sheets of plain paper so that the type key impact on the top sheet would be copied to the second sheet (and any subsequent sheets).
It was a somewhat messy, but proficient process. When one wanted to send an original letter to one person and copies to several other people without showing each recipient who the other recipients were, a BCC annotation was made on the original. Each copy displayed only the name and address of the individual recipient, but the BCC notation on the original showed to whom the copies had been mailed. A BCC looked like this: Bcc: Mr Tom Jones, 14 Weaving Court, East Melbourne VIC 3000
Some email programs allow you to enter email addresses into the BCC field and send them. When you do that each recipient receives your message, but the names of other recipients are not displayed.
That is why they are called 'blind' ? they are not seen.
By using the BCC feature you preserve the identities of those who are on your mailing list and ensure that anyone receiving your email cannot email your list or harvest their email addresses and sell them.
Your Email Program
When you obtain an email program, make sure it has a 'Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)' feature. Programs such as Outlook Express and Outlook 200? have BCC capability. Although I have never used it, I'd be surprised if Eudora and other common email programs didn't have it too.
If when you click to send a new email your email client displays only the To ? and Cc ? boxes it may be that the Bcc feature IS available, but is simply not displayed. Try the View menu or Help menu to see if you can find a Bcc option.
If your email program has a BCC option that you can select as a permanently visible option, select it. If it doesn't, you may need to think about getting a new program.
How to Use BCC
When you send email messages to multiple addressees and you do not want each addressee to know who else has received a copy, use the Blind Carbon Copy field.
Simply enter all the addresses in the BCC field separated by a semi-colon, comma, or whatever your program uses. When you click the send button, your email will go to each individual with only his or her name in the To field. None of the recipients knows to who else the email has been sent.
Outlook 200? will allow you to send BCC addressed email without an address in the To field. Other email clients require at least one address in the To field before they allow multiple recipient addresses in the BCC field. Test the program you use to see if it needs to have an addressee in the To field. If so, address it to yourself. (Surprisingly, email programs usually allow us to email ourselves ... that's why I receive so many emails from Jennifer Lopez (just joking).
If you need to make an entry in the To field, place your own email address in that field and everyone else's address in the BCC field.
Disadvantages
What you need to know about BCC is that some spam filters automatically delete email addressed in the BCC field so it never reaches its destination. This means that while sending BCC is okay for privacy, your email might not always reach the intended recipients.
A problem I had with Outlook Express 2002 was that if I sent my email using BCC I couldn't print a hard copy of the sent message with the addresses on it. I had to write address details on my file copies for record keeping purposes.
If sending BCC email is likely to be impractical for you, then you need to consider upgrading your email client from the standard run-of-the-mill version to a professional version. That's what I did.
Email Management Programs
If, like me, you distribute large quantities of email regularly to newsletter subscribers, clients, club members, colleagues or anyone else, you will be better off getting a program designed for high volume mailings.
I use and sell a heavy duty bulk email program that lets me do simply, many tasks not easy to achieve with standard email clients like Outlook 2002. For example, the program I use will allow me to:
By having a separate program for bulk emailing, I overcome the problems involved with privacy and reduce the likelihood that my messages will be eliminated by overzealous spam engines.
If you rely on email to carry out business activities (and who doesn't?), it may be time to consider how well your email strategy meets the needs of your business in today's security conscious society.
Copyright Robin Henry 2005
Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet marketer whose firm, Desert Wave Enterprises, helps individuals and businesses improve their performance by using smart processes, smart technology and personal development. He lives at Alice Springs In Central Australia. Visit Desert Wave Enterprises to read more about this topic.
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
In a fast moving global economy, e-mail offers you the... Read More
Over 40% of all emails within your marketing campaign are... Read More
A wonderfully easy and free concept that many people seem... Read More
Out of all the possible approaches to affiliate marketing, lead... Read More
What is an Opt-in List and what is its significance... Read More
Adestra provide email marketing services to a host of UK... Read More
Let's start at the beginning - why do you need... Read More
What? You are not using a Follow up Autoresponder? Then... Read More
One of the biggest concerns for Realtors who publish their... Read More
Is your email getting to your list members? If so,... Read More
Creating a newsletter is an ideal way to drive repeat... Read More
The #1 Thing You *MUST* Have Before Even Thinking About... Read More
You've done the hardest part; you've captured your prospect's email... Read More
Newsletters are often thought of as easy, do-it-yourself communications projects.... Read More
The importance of building an opt-in list over spamming (a.k.a.,... Read More
If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don`t... Read More
The best way to make money on the Internet is... Read More
The goal of all marketing is to attract interest in,... Read More
1. E-mail courses are generally quick and easy to create.... Read More
Let's give a definition to autoresponder first. So, what is... Read More
Congratulations, you just made a sale!Congratulations, you just made a... Read More
"Repetition is the key to advertising (marketing)". Those words were... Read More
I bet you want to know what that one great... Read More
Just in case you don't know, your 'LIST' ? is... Read More
An autoresponder is a software program that automatically sends a... Read More
Ever wondered what it would be like to have a... Read More
Accusations of spam can be so harmful to your business... Read More
The word "blog" seems to be everywhere, and what an... Read More
Do you know how to feed it, so that it... Read More
A chained auto-responder is a sequence of emails that gets... Read More
You may remember a time before there was email?a time... Read More
Keeping your email lists fresh is critical to the success... Read More
Successful online business can't be led without email marketing. Many... Read More
"Repetition is the key to advertising (marketing)". Those words were... Read More
Wednesday, December 15 2004 at 16:00 EET... Read More
A lady emailed me yesterday very upset over the fact... Read More
Just about every successful Internet Marketer will tell you that,... Read More
Did you know that one of the major purposes of... Read More
Too often, people forget they're anonymous in the internet world.... Read More
Email is a vital part of doing business online, but... Read More
Even though many people have been writing e-mails for a... Read More
Getting other people to promote your web site is one... Read More
What if you could send out all the information that... Read More
In this digital day and age, communicating through email is... Read More
An autoresponder is useful for, well, responding to people who... Read More
I think first of all, everybody deserves to have a... Read More
If you are active on the web promoting your products,... Read More
This little parody, and the comments that follow, were... Read More
One of the greatest challenges facing business owners and managers... Read More
Now that we've explored the importance of sending permission-based email,... Read More
Your e-commerce website relies on its customers to become returning... Read More
=> Wise Way #1 - OFFER A FREEBIEYou have to... Read More
The topic of sending attachments by e-mail is not one... Read More
After endless hours of writing, designing and programming your brand... Read More
WHY BUILD YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS DATABASE? Gaining your customers' email... Read More
There is currently a huge demand online for newsletter templates.... Read More
Things just got a lot hotter in the hyper-competitive world... Read More
This is a little "beauty" of an idea if you... Read More
Just because you can communicate with hundreds of people virtually... Read More
Writing ads for either your own products or affiliate products... Read More
Need for PrivacyPeople have become hypersensitive about their privacy during... Read More
Before the advent of email most of us, other than... Read More
Whether you've got 100 or 100,000 people on your email... Read More
Let's start at the beginning - why do you need... Read More
Gartner estimates that half of the 5.5 trillion emails sent... Read More
If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep... Read More
Email Marketing |