How to send an email to multiple recipients (Updated 2022)

If you’re working day in and out with emails, you know the struggle of sending an email to multiple people.

Sending each email one by one is time-consuming, and marking everyone in the same email (where the recipient can see others on the list) looks unprofessional. 

So, is there a way to send one email to multiple addresses that is not time-consuming and where the recipient can’t see others on the list? If you have reached here, there are a few ways that we’ve explained in this blog.

We have covered two methods that give you a quick step-by-step direction on how to send emails to multiple recipients.

Here are the two popular ways to send an email to multiple recipients.

1. Mail merge method – Personalized method
2. The BCC method – Native method 

1. Mail merge method

Mail merge adds a touch of personalization to your emails. Using mail merge, you can personalize the emails you want to send multiple recipients. In this blog, we are using Saleshandy to create a personalized mail merge campaign (sequence).

The mail merge of Saleshandy comes with a follow-up (step) feature, which enables you to set up 49 follow-ups (steps) for your email campaign (sequence).  

Without further ado, let’s show you how to send emails to multiple recipients from Gmail using mail merge.

How to use mail merge feature of Saleshandy

Step 1: Sign up with Saleshandy
Step 2: Create a new sequence
Step 3: Send a test email
Step 4: Send or schedule your email

Step 1: Sign up with Saleshandy

Sign up with Saleshandy and create an account using your Gmail account. You can sign up for free here.

Step 2: Create a new sequence

Once you have signed up, you will land in the Saleshandy dashboard. Click on the “Sequences” and head to “Create Sequence” to get started.  

• Compose your email- Start composing the message you want to deliver to your recipients. Don’t forget to personalize your subject line and email body with mail merges tags. After you’re done, hit save.

• Upload a CSV- Create a CSV file and upload CSV in the “Add Prospects”. If you want you can add manually as well. Saleshandy verifies and cleans the email list to ensure a lower bounce rate.

Step 3: Send a test email

After writing the perfect email and setting up the sequence in the Saleshandy, it is time to send a quick test email to check for any corrections.

Step 4: Send or schedule the email

It is time to send your email. All you need to do is activate your sequence, and  Saleshandy will start sending your emails depending upon the schedule you have set. Click on the Pause button from your sequence to activate.

For maintaining a good sender reputation score and better email deliverability, we keep a time interval between two consecutive emails of a few seconds/minutes. It will make your ESP believe it is a human-like sending.

Following the steps mentioned above, you can successfully send your emails to multiple recipients without showing the address. 

Video guide to send emails to multiple people at once

We are done with the “How to” part. Let’s move ahead to learn how the mail merge feature helps overcome the flaws of the BCC method.

Benefits of using mail merge feature

• Personalized emails: With the mail merge feature, you can customize every single email for multiple recipients using mail merge fields. This gives a personal touch. Sending a personalized email increases the email open, read and reply rate. It will definitely boost the performance of your outgoing mail.

• Automated follow-ups (steps): When you send emails, there are some goals; it’s not just—  send it and forget it. Being consistent with communication has always closed more deals. Sending automated personalized follow-up (steps) emails to multiple receipts with increase the reply rate of your campaign (sequence).

• Sequence Analysis: The email automation tool comes with the greatest advantage and that is analyzing the performance of your campaigns (sequence). You get a report of each sequence. This enables you to examine the performance of each sequence closely.

• Privacy: This tool covers the loopholes of the BCC feature. It protects the information of the multiple recipients and sends your message across strongly.

2. The BCC Method

The BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) method is the most common approach to send emails to multiple recipients at the same time. Emailing to multiple recipients using the BCC feature hides other recipients from the recipient, making it look like he is the sole recipient of the email.

The only plus point of the method is that it is easy to understand and simple to operate.

Let’s show you how to send emails to multiple recipients in Gmail and Outlook using its BCC feature.

How to use the BCC method for Gmail

Below are the 5 easy steps to use the BCC method in Gmail.

Step 1: Open your Gmail account
Step 2: Click on Compose box
Step 3: Click on BCC
Step 4: Fill the BCC field
Step 5: Hit send

Step 1: Open your Gmail account.

Step 2: Click on the Compose box to type the email you would like to send to multiple recipients from your Gmail address.

Step 3: After writing the email, click on the BCC option besides the CC option.

Step 4: Now fill the BCC fields, type in the email addresses of the people you want to email or select one of the Gmail groups.

Pro tip- Keep at least one person in the “To” field. And it is advisable not to use this method for over 10 recipients.

Step 5: After adding the recipients, hit the send button.

As we mentioned in the introduction part, this is not the most efficient way to send email to multiple recipients in Gmail. So, let’s talk about the limitations of using BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) in Gmail to send multiple recipients.

The BCC method is an easier method but not particularly an efficient one. There are certain flaws and problems, which are further solved in the mail merge method.

For instance, sending an email to multiple recipients using the BCC method make the mass emailing behavior evident to the recipient as the “To” field and the body of the email is not personalized, making the sender look unprofessional.

How to use the BCC method for Outlook

We have covered almost everything about how to send email to multiple recipients from Gmail, but we know that the same question about Outlook is just around the corner. Here is how you can use the BCC method for Outlook.

Below are the 3 easy steps to use the BCC method in Outlook.

Step 1: Log in to Outlook & open new message
Step 2: Add BCC recipients
Step 3: Hit send

Step 1: Open your Outlook account and click on new message

Step 2: Click on Cc and Bcc to add recipients

Step 3: Add the main email in the To selection and the rest in the Bcc. You can leave the Cc empty. And hit send when you’re done.

Limitations of the BCC method

• The recipients in the BCC will see that they were added to the BCC field which makes it unprofessional. This BCC feature is workable only for informal emails.
• If a recipient, instead of selecting “Reply,” selects “Reply to all,” then all the recipients will get the reply.
• One of the major limitations of BCC feature is the lack of personalization. The BCC method is a big no-go for sending out pitches and marketing emails. Why personalization is a must when pitching your future prospect? Find out here!
• Adding too many recipients in the BCC field can alert Gmail of spam activity and your Gmail account might end up blocked.

Conclusion

While sending your email to multiple recipients, you want to ensure that your email is personalized, it lands in the Primary tab and hides the other email addresses.

If you opt for the traditional (BCC and CC) method, you won’t make the most out of your email efforts. So, pick the smarter way of sending an email to multiple recipients.