If you’ve ever found yourself typing a dozen or more different email addresses to send a message to a group of people in Gmail, you’ve probably wished for a more efficient way to send a group email.
Fortunately, there are a few approaches that can help you manage group emails more efficiently in gmail.
In this article, we’ll cover how to send a group email in gmail!
what is a group email in gmail?
For our purposes, a “group email” in gmail is any conversation thread that includes multiple participants. By default, if you include multiple recipients in the “to” or “cc” field in gmail, it will immediately start a group email (also known as a thread).
However, you may also hear of “group emails” in the context of gmail groups. gmail groups are predefined sets of contacts that are assigned a similar label in your google contacts. For example, you might have an accounting department made up of Abby, Brady, and Coraline. if you create a gmail group for these people called “accounting”, you can send a group email to “accounting” and start a conversation with those three people.
Ultimately, group emails are useful for:
- mass communication of information. if you need to make a broad statement or make an announcement to a specific group, a group email is the best approach.
- start a discussion. you can also use email group emails to gather responses from multiple people at once, or manage a discussion (although most dialogue is best handled in a chat or phone call).
- make presentations. introducing someone to multiple people at once is best handled with a group email.
- after an ongoing project or task. you can also use a thread group in gmail to keep everyone informed. up to date on the latest developments for an ongoing project or task.
how to create a gmail group
Although you can technically create a group conversation without a gmail group, creating gmail groups will make it easier for you, especially if you’re dealing with large groups of people or sending emails to the same groups of people. and more.
The process of creating a gmail group is simple:
1. open google contacts.
first, open google contacts. you can find an icon for this in the top right corner of gmail, or you can visit it directly.
2. select the contacts you want to add to the group.
You should have a list of all your gmail contacts here. check the ones you want to add to your new gmail group.
3. create a label for these contacts.
click the tags icon at the top of the page and create a tag for these contacts (something you’ll remember, like “accounting” or “d&d nerds”). save when done.
Note that you can also edit your groups in the future, if you need to add or remove contacts. just select the group you want to edit in the tags section and make any changes you see fit.
Here’s a full step-by-step guide on how to create a gmail group, only briefly summarized above, so be sure to check it out if you run into any issues.
how to send an email to a group in gmail
once you have created a gmail group, you will be able to call that group in gmail.
4. compose a new email
Compose a new message and start typing the group name in the field of your choice (to, cc, or bcc). if you click on it, the names of the individual members of that group should appear.
make sure to double check addresses and message before clicking send if you want to be sure.
Of course, you can also send a group email as you normally would, although this requires manual entry of each individual address. if you prefer, you can learn how to export contacts from gmail and manually enter them into your email.
how to send a group email in gmail without displaying addresses
If you want to send a group email in gmail without displaying recipient addresses, you’ll need to use the bcc line. people on the bcc line will not see your address displayed to other recipients of the message. consequently, they won’t receive replies sent via reply all, so you can’t count on this option as a precursor to the conversation.
You can fill in any address in the to field, including your own.
how to send a group email in gmail on iphone
good news; Once you’ve created a gmail group, you can call it using any iteration of gmail, including the gmail app on iphone.
Simply start typing your group name when composing a message and you’ll be able to access the same contact list that would appear on the desktop version.
issues to be aware of when sending a group email in gmail
Group emails are great for coordinating email discussion, but they’re not a perfect means of communication and come with a handful of problems. anticipate and mitigate these issues if you want to increase your potential for success.
- manual effort. No matter what, some manual effort is required to send and coordinate group emails. even if you take advantage of gmail’s groups functionality, you’ll need to type it in and check your work.
- lack of personalization. sending a message to a group prohibits you from personalizing the message. mass emails tend to be impersonal, which could be a problem in certain situations.
- risk of error. if you are dealing with large mailing lists in your groups from gmail, or if you’re adding people manually, you’ll be dealing with a risk of error. there is always the possibility that you include someone who should not be included, or that you exclude someone who should be aware of this situation. Double-checking email drafts before sending is the only real way to avoid this.
- group management. Ongoing gmail group management can also get cumbersome. this is especially problematic for department-related mailing lists, which may be constantly hiring and losing people. you’ll need to constantly edit your contact tags if you want to avoid unfortunate omissions.
alternative options to send a group email in gmail
This guide illustrates how to send a group email in Gmail using the default features available in Gmail, along with the group mechanics of Google Contacts. however, you should be aware that there are other group email options available that might better suit your needs.
For starters, you can use a third-party gmail tool to coordinate the creation of new groups or the sending of more advanced group messages. we have a list of 61 gmail tools worth exploring if you want to expand the functionality of gmail, and many of them offer some variation of contact management and email coordination.
Also, if you’re interested in sending bulk messages as part of a marketing or sales campaign, it’s best to use an email marketing tool designed for the job, rather than gmail on its own. this is especially important if it is a mailing list of hundreds or more.
One of the biggest drawbacks of group emails is that they quickly become unwieldy, especially if multiple people send replies or if the conversation lasts longer than originally intended. Fortunately, with the right analytics tool, you can better understand how your organization handles group conversations.
enter email analytics. Once installed, EmailAnalytics can help you visualize and analyze your group’s Gmail thread activity, as well as dozens of other email metrics, including the number of emails you send and receive and their average response time. sign up for a free trial today to learn more.