Don’t “Cc:” Me- The Etiquette of Response

My inboxes are filled.

Between work email and several personal email accounts I’m completely overloaded.  Why, you ask?  It’s the dreaded “Cc:”.  For some reason, the whole world has gone crazy with the need to copy multiple people on every email.  Then, people who are copied don’t realize what it means and they weigh in.  Then, THEY Cc: the entire list when they hit “Reply To All”.  It’s a never-ending cycle of email chains.

I’ll keep the advice simple and direct today and hope that if you’re like me, there are people you can share the etiquette with so that they stop the viscous cycle.

Cc: Etiquette

• When you “Cc:” someone or if someone copies you, the intent is for the message to be FYI.  It does not mean that a response is needed.
• If you do have information to share, reply only back to the person who sent the email, not everyone on the list.
• If you are copied on a message that is personal in nature, definitely do not start a dialogue between you and the sender and keep copying the entire list of people the message originally went to.
• Only copy people who are absolutely in the “need-to-know” category.
• If you want to respond back to the sender and you’re just saying thank you, DO NOT copy everyone else on the email.

Simple etiquette in how we communicate professionally and personally is something we need to focus on ourselves and to push the people we interact with to understand how to do better as well.  Don’t agree?  Just email someone and Cc: me.

What do you think?  Are you fed up too?