The Freakonomics website recently asked its readers How to Solve the “Reply-All” Problem? Now, I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to using ‘Reply to All’, but I agree that it is one of the most over (and inappropriately) used feature in email clients. Not only does it clog our mailboxes with unnecessary emails, but ‘Reply to All’ can also introduce privacy and data leakage issues. (Have you ever replied to all recipients without looking to see if anyone outside of your company was included in the message?) On the flip side, ‘Reply to All’ makes it easier to keep multiple stakeholders in the loop without having to remember who received what messages.
Ultimately, our use of ‘Reply to All’ is up to our personal preference and the preference of our email recipients. I challenge you to think a little bit the next time you click that ‘Reply to All’ button… Does every one of the recipients need to be included on your message?
Comments are closed.