You really need to send a message to multiple customers — except you don’t want to expose everyone else’s names and numbers. Awkward, right? Or maybe you and your teammates are working on solving a client problem but don’t want customers to see their info in the “To” field.
That’s why some people rely on BCC texts to message a group without exposing contact info. BCCs also prevent everyone’s SMS inbox from getting cluttered since you’re the only one who receives replies (which could be a good thing or a bad thing).
This guide explains everything you should know about using BCC, including what it is, how it works, and how to send one from your iPhone or Android device. But as mentioned, BCC isn’t the most effective way to support fast-growing businesses, so we provide an alternative at the end of the guide.
What Is a BCC Text?
BCC text stands for ‘blind carbon copy,’ which is a text message sent to a group of people. Since it’s a blind group text, you don’t need to stress about people seeing each other’s contact details. You also don’t have to worry about their responses — since the sender is the only person who will receive BCC replies.
The biggest benefit of a BCC text is that the recipient doesn’t know it’s been sent to other people at the same time. From a business perspective, this means you can work together to answer questions and send quick context to team members while keeping personal contact details safe.
⚠️You’ll need to get verbal or written opt-in consent to send customers a BCC text. Even if a customer texts you first, you can only reply about the conversation at hand without SMS consent. Otherwise, you may run into issues such as fines or your account being suspended.
How to send a BCC text from an iOS and Android
The step-by-step process of sending a BCC message depends on the phone you’re using.
Let’s break it down:
How to send a BCC text from your iPhone
You can send a BCC text from your Apple phone in four steps:
1. Navigate to Settings and select Apps. Next, go to Messages.
2. Toggle off the slider for iMessage.
3. Open the Messages app and enter your message.
4. Tap the Plus icon on the top right corner of the screen and add your contacts.
5. Send your message and wait for replies. Remember: these show up as individual messages, so it might be difficult to wade through responses.
How to send a BCC text from your Android
Not all Android devices have built-in functionality for BCC texting. If you don’t already, you need to download Google Messages.
Once you make Google Messages your default SMS app, you’ll be ready to start sending blind carbon copies.
Here’s how to send a BCC text from your Android phone:
1. Open your Google Messages app and tap your profile picture.
2. Tap Settings and select Advanced.
3. Under Group messaging, enable the switch that says, “Send an SMS reply to all recipients and get individual replies (mass text).”
4. Open a group chat on your phone (or send a text from your computer), then add recipients like you normally would.
Your message will now be sent as a BCC text.
Drawbacks of sending BCC texts from your cell number
So, you can send BCC texts from a personal cell number. It’s just time-consuming and inefficient, especially if you’re a growing small business.
Here are some reasons why BCC texts don’t work for all businesses:
- You can’t read full conversation histories in one unified inbox, making it hard to catch up on customer issues. You’ll have to dig through different folders to get context for each interaction, especially since replies to BCC messages show up in separate threads. For teams, this could lead to dropped balls, doubled-up work, and awkward conversations. For customers, this could lead to slower service and researching other competitors.
- If you include your manager or colleague in a BCC text, they won’t be able to see the customer’s response. This means they don’t have clear oversight over key conversations, and you’ll have to forward them the responses yourself. In other words, you’re an unnecessary middleman, which costs time, money, and effort for everyone in this scenario.
- You won’t have access to business features that help you better serve customers. For example, text message templates and scheduled messages that take repetitive tasks off your plate or third-party integrations that prevent your team from having to manually log call and message details in your CRM. This may not be a problem if you rarely send BCC messages, but as your company grows, it will get harder to manage multiple conversations without integrations or automations.
- You might find it difficult to keep your personal number private if you’re using your cell phone to message customers. Remember: it’s not a question if you’ll get replies — it’s a question of when. Your customers won’t care (or won’t know) if it’s 4 AM in your time zone, if you’re out sick for the day, or if you’re on vacation.
- You can’t easily collaborate with teammates to share responsibility for fixing customer problems. For example, you can’t tag reps in SMS messages to get their attention. You also can’t easily forward texts to platforms like Slack, which makes it harder to quickly address tricky questions as a team.
If you’re looking for an easier way to share context with your team, BCC messages are a decent start. But as your team grows and you add more customers, it gets tougher to manage individual messages on your own.
That’s why OpenPhone offers shared inboxes: so you and your teammates can send text messages to customers from a single phone number. Shared phone numbers let you add team members to a single phone number so everyone can split responsibility for incoming texts and calls. They can see all the text messages sent to the number and who last responded, so nobody does the same work twice.
With shared phone numbers, your team can see entire conversation histories in a unified inbox for each contact on your list. This helps everyone stay in the loop and get caught up quickly on tasks.
Plus, you can access shared numbers from any device (think your computer, tablet, or mobile phone). OpenPhone is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service, which means all you need is a WiFi connection to answer messages from anywhere.
Here are a few other things that make shared numbers better than BCC groups:
- All your reps can use threads and mentions to collaborate on messages in-app. Customers can’t see these, preventing them from getting overwhelmed by too many messages. It also helps team members ask questions and delegate tasks without leaving the OpenPhone app.
- You can use shared inboxes to keep an eye on how your reps are serving your customers. If you see an opportunity for coaching, all you have to do is leave an internal comment. No need to tab between multiple platforms or spend time drafting another group message.
- OpenPhone also connects with a Zapier integration, which lets you automatically send repeat texts to customers. For example, if you want to send bulk messages about product updates, you just need to create a simple Zapier workflow with Google Sheets.
- Want to connect your business number to even more third-party tools? OpenPhone integrates with more than 7,000 apps, including CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce.
💡Related: Best Apps to Text from Your Computer
Ready to send your text messages with OpenPhone?
Can you BCC a text message? With the right phone apps, sure.
But is it the best way to keep your customers happy? If you’re a growing business, probably not.
With a small business phone system like OpenPhone by your side, you can send messages to multiple recipients without disclosing all the receivers. You can easily purchase a business phone number, send group texts from your phone, computer, or tablet, and set up shared phone numbers so everyone on your team can stay connected.Start making and receiving unlimited texts in the US and Canada by signing up for an OpenPhone account today.
You first need to get verbal or written opt-in consent from your customers (unless the customer texts you first and you only reply about the conversation at hand). You should also purchase a business phone number from a VoIP provider like OpenPhone. That way, replies go directly to your business inbox and don’t show up on your personal cell number.
It depends on the number you’re using to send texts. If you’re using your phone’s native messages app, the text will show your personal number. With OpenPhone, you can send BCC texts from a business phone number (a local or toll-free number), so you don’t have to worry about disclosing personal information.
Yes, you can send blind carbon copies of SMS and MMS messages. But keep in mind that iPhone users have reported problems receiving images.
Yes, only the sender receives replies to BCC messages. This may be helpful if you’re trying to keep notifications to a minimum, but not so helpful if you want to split responsibility for incoming texts. The better alternative is to use shared phone numbers to answer and receive messages with your team.
That largely depends on the types of messages you’re sending. Apart from getting consent, you may also need to include opt-in and opt-out disclaimers.
As a business owner, you may want to send BCC messages to team members, send product updates to specific customers, or gather feedback and reviews. You can also use BCC messages to create automated reminders. For example, if a large group of people signed up for your webinar, you could automatically send reminder texts 24 hours before the event.
Yes. To do this, you need to open Settings and scroll down to Apps. Then, select Messages and toggle off iMessage settings. That way, you can send mass messages to contacts on your phone without the recipients seeing everyone else’s names and numbers.
