Is it sneaky to use BCc: in business email?

In a recent conversation, one of my clients mentioned that using the BCc field is not polite and that those who use it are “downright sneaky.”

This client referred to an email in which he was copied in the BCc field. It was not a mass email, and he didn’t understand why the fact that he received a copy had to be hidden.

This left him wondering who else may have been BCc’d. Commenting that they wouldn’t know, he received a copy. The email was not on a personal or proprietary topic, and it would not warrant “hiding” who was involved or aware of the conversation unless…

BCc Can be Used Improperly

Here’s where the not polite, sneaky part may be inferred.

He asked me, “Why wouldn’t you let everyone involved know who you copied if you did not have nefarious motives?” That question prompted me to ask another.

“Was there anything confidential or sensitive in the email? ” He answered with a resounding no and added that everyone who would need to know knew each other.

Then, why was BCc used?

The best approach to determining the motive behind the sender’s use of BCc is to run through the following…

The latter could be good or bad depending on motives, while the former is the right thing to do.

However, involving outside parties in conversations they are not part of or don’t need to be in can certainly be construed as questionable. Why else would they do so?

The Primary Use of BCc

BCc is best used when emailing a group of folks, and you do not want to expose their email addresses. It is also a way of hiding an extremely long list of email addresses for blast emails, where it isn’t necessary to know who the email was sent to.

If the others who were BCc’d do not know each other, putting their email addresses in the BCc field to protect their privacy is the proper thing to do. In business, however, outside of the stated reasons, it is rare that including others in a conversation is something to hide.

Except for one primary reason. The list of recipients in the email is so long that there is no reason to list them all. There is nothing sneaky there.

How to Add Others to the Conversation

Most people in business emails know each other or work together. Or, at the very least, they are going to work together. Hence, they are being brought into the conversation to be informed. In that case, do an intro in your email:

Hey, everyone!

I’m bringing Jane into the conversation because she will be heading up the the meeting next week…

There is no need to put Jane or anyone else in the BCc.

The question then remains: What was the sender’s motive? We may never know, but that could undermine trust if you make contacts wonder why you are shielding those who are in the conversation.

Always think about why you want to BCc before doing so. The last thing you want to be known for is being sneaky or an “e-Tattler”!