Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#1

Post by dsirijus » Wed, May 09, 2012, 7:53 AM UTC

I ran a little statistics experiment over my Gmail inbox and here are the results:

Mails that I haven't gotten replies to and mails I did have, are in ratio ~1/13. In those mails not replied to, mails WITH someone in Cc and mails WITHOUT anyone in Cc are in ratio of ~2/11.

Now, this sounded all obvious - the more recipients you address your e-mail, the higher are the chances you will get a reply, right? Right, but not quite. :)

For the last 2 months, I've created a imaginary CEO assistant e-mail account named Alex. I've Cc-ed Alex to all my mails and Alex has not directed any mails to anyone, nor received any as To recepient. Select few contacts were exempt from the experiment, but that's taken into statistical account. So, Alex has basically been completely non-interactive in all this, besides being in Cc.

After two months, mails that I haven't gotten replies to and mails I did have, are now in ratio ~1/22.

I have my own explanation of the phenomena, but I'd like to hear yours.

:{-

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#2

Post by Sword_Monkey » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:36 AM UTC

If someone else is cc'ed in then people feel pressure to reply as they aren't just ignoring one person, there's a whole other person expecting a reply. Even if that person is someone they've never met, or know of.

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#3

Post by krmmalik » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:38 AM UTC

I haven't fully understood what you're trying to say, although i am convinced you might be onto something.

Are you saying that emails that you send to other recipients have a higher chance they'll be replied to if you CC Alex on the outgoing email?

can you tell me what the increase in replies is as a percentage?

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#4

Post by dsirijus » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:39 AM UTC

Sword_Monkey wrote: post #2

If someone else is cc'ed in then people feel pressure to reply as they aren't just ignoring one person, there's a whole other person expecting a reply. Even if that person is someone they've never met, or know of.

I don't think that alone can account for doubling the response rate.

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#5

Post by dsirijus » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:40 AM UTC

krmmalik wrote: post #3

I haven't fully understood what you're trying to say, although i am convinced you might be onto something. Are you saying that emails that you send to other recipients have a higher chance they'll be replied to if you CC Alex on the outgoing email? can you tell me what the increase in replies is as a percentage?

x2. I couldn't believe it.

I ran the statistics just by plain labeling things consistently, but they're pretty solid.

EDIT: almost x2

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#6

Post by Michiel » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:48 AM UTC

dsirijus wrote: post #4

Sword_Monkey wrote: post #2

If someone else is cc'ed in then people feel pressure to reply as they aren't just ignoring one person, there's a whole other person expecting a reply. Even if that person is someone they've never met, or know of.

I don't think that alone can account for doubling the response rate.

Why not?

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#7

Post by philbarr » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:49 AM UTC

Perhaps, over the last two months you've been running the experiment, you've been thinking about actually wanting a response and have automatically been constructing better emails that people feel they can reply to. Unlike the "brain-dump" ones I sometimes get that just don't deserve a response.

To be perfectly honest, if there's more than one person on the email, I'm more likely to hope it's not my problem...

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#8

Post by dsirijus » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:52 AM UTC

philbarr wrote: post #7

Perhaps, over the last two months you've been running the experiment, you've been thinking about actually wanting a response and have automatically been constructing better emails that people feel they can reply to. Unlike the "brain-dump" ones I sometimes get that just don't deserve a response. To be perfectly honest, if there's more than one person on the email, I'm more likely to hope it's not my problem...

Well, I've always tried to construct my e-mails to the best of my ability. I didn't noticed any change in my content - it has all been pretty standard.

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#9

Post by dsirijus » Wed, May 09, 2012, 8:54 AM UTC

Michiel wrote: post #6

dsirijus wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that alone can account for doubling the response rate.

Why not?

Because in most of those mails it was mission critical that I receive the response. The process grinds to a halt if I don't receive response, irregardless of anyone and anything else. Both Alex and I were tied to the same process and action. The priority of it is unchanged.

Re: Why you should ALWAYS CC someone

#10

Post by csallen » Wed, May 09, 2012, 9:00 AM UTC

dsirijus wrote: post #9

Michiel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not?

Because in most of those mails it was mission critical that I receive the response. The process grinds to a halt if I don't receive response, irregardless of anyone and anything else. Both Alex and I were tied to the same process and action. The priority of it is unchanged.

This doesn't mean that recipients can't feel additional pressure to respond due to the presence of another party.