How to address multiple people in an email: Best practices

Email is all about building connections. The more people you email successfully, the more connections you build. Here’s how to do it properly.

Why addressing multiple people in an email correctly matters

A group email is the same as any email. Your main focus should be professionalism and email etiquette. Email is primarily a professional medium, which means what you’re sending counts. It counts towards future relationships and future results.

It’s also about making people feel seen, but that’s more difficult when you’re sending group emails.

How do you address multiple people in an email?

Your main focus should be the size of the group and who’s included. For smaller groups, like if you address two people in an email, you should greet people by name to make it more personal.

For larger groups, a general greeting like “Hi team” or “Dear colleagues” is usually more practical. Make sure you respect any formal titles such as Professor, Dr., or Mr., and think carefully about the order of names. You might want to order based on seniority, clients before internal team members, or simply alphabetical order to keep things simple.

If they’re on the email, name them

Listing people by name is the most personal way to start your email. It builds respect and makes everyone feel included. We’d recommend listing people by name only for groups of 2 to 4 people. If you’re listing more than that, it can start to look a little ridiculous.

Keep in mind that in some cultures and countries, using first names isn’t always appropriate in the first few emails, so make sure you’re respecting your own local context. Perhaps you need to switch to surnames plus Mr. or Mrs. for the first few emails before you’ve built up a connection.

The right way to greet by name:

• Hi John, Maria, and Sam,

• Good morning Alex, Jamie, and Taylor,

• Hi Chris and Morgan,

Group greetings done right

It’s often easier to make sure everyone feels respected when emailing one or two people. But when addressing a group in an email, this becomes more difficult. The larger the group, the more context comes into the equation.

When we talk about context, we mean the purpose of the email. If you’re updating a close-knit team on the Christmas party arrangements, the tone will be very different than when communicating with senior leaders or in a more structured corporate setting.

When emailing across departments, to managers, clients, or external partners, it’s safer to lean slightly more formal, especially if you’re introducing yourself for the first time. Between friends or close colleagues, you can be slightly more casual.

The right way to greet a group:

Informal greetings:

• Hi team!

• Hello everyone,

Formal group greetings:

• Dear colleagues,

• Good morning!

• Good morning everyone,

• Dear leadership team,

The best way to use formal titles

Becoming a doctor in any subject is not easy, and after all their hard work, most will expect you to use their formal title. Here, we aren’t just talking about doctors in a medical sense — they could also be university professors, have a doctorate in business, and the list goes on. But, whatever the title, it’s important that you respect it in your email communication.

When sending an email to a Dr., Professor, Mr., Ms, etc, your recipient is most likely to expect a professional tone. That means avoiding overly casual greetings and ensuring consistency between everyone in the email. That means don’t use a title for one person and not another in the same email.

Hierarchy is also important. If you have multiple recipients with titles, then try to list recipients in order. That means Professor before Doctor and Doctor before Mr., etc.

The right way to use titles:

• Dear Dr. Lee, Ms. Carter, and Mr. Brown,

• Dear Dr. Smith and Team,

• Dear Directors and Department Heads.

• Dear Leadership Team,

How to include everyone respectfully

In professional settings, seniority is always respected. CEOs deliver the most important speech, have the best office in the building, and usually get the best seat at the table. Emails are no different.

When addressing multiple people in an email, how you order names and use punctuation can subtly communicate respect. The order in which you list recipients should be intentional. That means mentioning those with the most seniority first and those with the least seniority last.

You might also need to consider those working outside your company and internal colleagues. Here, listing external employees first might communicate respect, especially if you’re looking for a long-term partnership. Once you’ve covered seniority and internal vs. external, it could make sense to organise the rest alphabetically.

How to include everyone respectfully:

• Hierarchy or seniority – In formal or corporate settings, list the most senior person first. E.g., Dear Dr. Evans, Ms. Khan, and Mr. Patel,

• External before internal –When emailing clients alongside your internal team, list the client first. E.g., Dear Ms. Roberts and Team.

• Alphabetical order – When everyone’s equal, alphabetical order is your safest bet. E.g.,Hi Angela, Brian, and Carlos,

How to use CC and BCC when emailing multiple people

Next, you’ll need to add the email addresses of multiple recipients. At this stage, it helps to understand the difference between CC and BCC.

CC means carbon copy. BCC means blind carbon copy. The word "blind" will be your biggest clue when working out how to use these two options.

• Use CC when recipients should see each other and may reply.

• Use BCC when recipients should not see each other (blind), and privacy is required. Typically this is the best option for mass emails.

The right time to use CC

The idea for CC comes from the old typewriter days. You’d slide in a sheet of carbon paper and get two copies at once. Email took this same idea, using CC to send a copy of the message to someone else.

When you add someone to the CC field, you’re not addressing them directly, just sending them a copy. For example, you’re speaking to an external client, and you want to keep your boss in the loop. You would put the external client in the To field, and your boss’s email would go in the CC field. That way, the client can see that your boss is up to date on the situation.

The right time to use CC:

• Project update with oversight – You email a teammate about a task. Your manager needs visibility but not action. CC your manager to keep them in the loop.

• Cross-team collab– You’re coordinating with another department and want both teams aligned. CC the other team when emailing your designer to keep them updated.

• Status reporting– You send a weekly update to your supervisor and copy stakeholders. You can CC your supervisor so they can keep tabs on your progress.

The right time to use BCC

Other recipients cannot see the BCC field, but they can see recipients in the CC and To fields. This is useful if you want to send someone a copy of the email without other recipients knowing.

Use BCC for large mailing lists or public announcements or other  situations where recipients do not know each other and should not see each other’s details. You can also use BCC to quietly include someone in a conversation.

The right time to use BCC:

• Newsletter– You send a company update to 300 subscribers. Add yourself to the To field and BCC all your subscribers.

• Guest list – You invite 100 external guests who don’t know each other. Add them to the BCC field so one of them doesn’t accidentally ‘reply all.’

• Discreet oversight– A director wants to observe a conversation without participating. Add them to the BCC field so they can observe.

Group email mistakes to watch out for

Emailing multiple people is about muscle memory; it gets easier every time you do it. Remembering the tips below will get you started.

• Overloading the greeting – Your email shouldn’t feel like a teacher checking attendance at the start of class. If you have more than 3-4 recipients, then use a collective greeting such as “Hi team.”

• Inconsistent tone – Decide whether you want to be informal or formal. “Dear Dr. Lee and John”, creates an imbalance. Match your level of formality across recipients and make sure it aligns with the company culture.

• Using the wrong field– Overusing CC makes it harder to see who actually needs to take action, while using BCC in a collaborative conversation can come across as secretive and damage trust.

• Ignoring hierarchy or cultural norms – Listing names in a random order, skipping titles, or using overly casual greetings with senior leadership will make people feel disrespected.

• Leaving out key participants in greeting– Everybody wants to feel appreciated. If you’re emailing a few people, then remember to mention them all so everyone feels respected.