Email is, by far, one of the most preferred methods of communication. However, considering the vast number of internet data breaches, email security is becoming a hot topic and making consumers wary of passing out their email address.
In the months of April, May, and June 2018 alone, there were 765 million people affected by data breaches and cyber-attacks.
With the total number of email users worldwide totaling around 3.8 billion users, it’s no surprise that people are being more careful with sharing their address.
Source: Statista
One way to earn the trust of your subscribers is to prove that you’re not going to share their personal email addresses willingly, and one way you can do that is by hiding the email addresses in a distribution list.
What is the process of hiding multiple email addresses in a distribution list?
When sending out large numbers of the same email to multiple users, it’s easy to simply copy and paste your email list into the “To” section in the email information header. It’s one thing if you’re sending to personal friends. But when you enter names into the “To” section, those emails will be viewable by all those who are receiving the email.
However, this doesn’t sit well with someone that subscribers to a brand.
The thought of so many unknown individuals also having access to your personal information is unsettling. Any trust that may have been built between you and that brand is gone.
Hiding email addresses in a distribution list is one of the best ways to help protect the personal information of your subscribers, and it’s not difficult to do.
How to hide email addresses in a distribution list
While hiding email addresses using popular email clients, such as Outlook, Gmail, and Yahoo isn’t difficult, it’s still not preferred over an email marketing platform. These providers don’t give you ability to segment, report, or automate, which will prove to be a detriment to your brand down the road.
With that said, here are some quick ways to hide emails addresses in a distribution list.
Outlook
When you open a new blank email in Outlook, click on the “Options” tab. From there, you’ll want to select the Bcc field in the message header. This is your “blind carbon copy” option, meaning that your email recipients will not see other names on the list.
Once you click on the Bcc button, you’ll be able to select names from your contact list. Once you’ve selected all your desired contacts, click OK and they’ll be added to the Bcc field.
Source: Extend Office
Gmail
The Gmail process for hiding email addresses in a distribution list follows a very similar format as Outlook.
The primary difference is that once you’ve opened a new email message, you’ll look for the Bcc field to the upper-right corner of your email header.
From there, you’ll follow the same steps of selecting and verifying the email addresses you want to include.
Source: Gmail
Yahoo
Much like Gmail, you’ll follow the same steps to open a new email and look for the Bcc field in the upper-right corner of your email’s header.
Select your desired contacts and confirm.
Source: Yahoo Mail
Does it really matter?
Yes, in order to protect your email subscribers and customers, you want to take every precaution to keep their personal information safe.
And the best way to do this is with a legitimate email service provider. Here’s why:
- You can save time by having a saved list so you don’t have to copy and paste for every send.
- An email platform let’s you create html emails that look beautiful and draw more attention.
- You can gauge engagement metrics (like opens and clicks) over time for an audience.
- You can legally comply to data privacy and email laws like CAN-SPAM by providing an unsubscribe option within your campaign.
If you’re still sending customer or prospect communications out with a platform like Gmail, it’s time to make your program legitimate. Try out Campaign Monitor for free and see how it makes sending—including sending to hidden email addresses—easy with every campaign.
What now?
Once you’ve taken the necessary precautions to protect your email subscribers, make sure you follow up with other email best practices. Check out our article if you need a little help with ensuring email marketing success for your campaigns.