How not to get blacklisted using BCC

Question

We have a legitimate need to send out emails to groups of our users (it's system info, not marketing email), and we want to just add the list of people to the BCC field rather than the TO field. However, we're worried that we could get blacklisted as spammers for these periodic emails to small groups.

Is it true that if you have the FROM email address listed in the TO field, and BCC everyone else, you won't be seen as spam? Should we just use BCC without worrying about the TO field, and try to set up something like Sender Policy Framework?

Answer 1

Protecting the privacy of those you are emailing is definitely a good practice. However, getting blacklisted from sending too many BCC emails is a matter of degree. The option is there for a good reason and a perfectly legit thing to use. If you are sending dozens of BCC’s a day, that probably isn’t a problem, but if you start to get into the hundreds and certainly into the thousands, you will catch the attention of many mail servers, and I mean the kind of attention that you don’t want to get.

I don’t think including your email address in the “To line” will make much of a difference though.

There are better ways to send emails to large groups while maintaining their privacy. These methods involve either setting up an email group or better yet, using a service that sends out an individual email to each person on the list. If this is a completely automated email, then you will want to work this into the workflow of whatever software you are using.

If you are sending the emails manually you could use something like Mailchimp, which is free for up to 500 emails on your list. Or you could try something like Google Groups or Yahoo Groups, but I’m not sure how private those are. PHPList.com is a free open source solution, if you have someone that can set it up for you.

If you want something you can use on your desktop, try Googling some of these names: Bigg Mass Mailer, e-Campaign, Sendblaster, GroupMail, MailList Controller. I have never used any of these desktop tools though so I can’t actually recommend them.

Also, having a Sender Policy Framework is a must, but it won’t save you from getting blacklisted if mail servers think you are abusing BCC.

I hope this helps.