how to create group in gmail

Growing up, my mom only knew how to do one thing on the internet that I could never figure out – create an email group.

Even more surprising is that I sent email blasts to my friends all the time, but I never asked my mom how to create an email group. I would just manually enter my friends’ email addresses into the recipients box. God, I was such a rebel.

If you’ve gotten over your teen temper and don’t want to manually enter the email addresses of your family, friends, or coworkers every time you want to send them an email, we’ve got you covered.

Check out our quick guide to creating groups in Gmail. Continue reading, or skip to the section you’re looking for:

1. Go to Google Contacts.

You can find google contacts In the middle of the bottom row of your Google Apps tab.

2. Under “Labels”, click “Create Label”.

3. Name your label.

4. Click “Contacts”, “Frequent Contacts”, or “Directory”.

It’s possible that you won’t have contacts saved in Google Contacts, but you can still access the email addresses of people you interact with regularly by clicking on “Frequently Contacts” or everyone who is currently in contact with you. Works in your company by clicking on “Directory” on the left sidebar.

5. Select the contacts you want to include, then click the label icon at the top to add them to your new group.

6. Click “Apply”.

7. Go to your Gmail account.

8. To send email to your group, type the name of your group in the To box.

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1. Open Gmail.

2. Click “Compose” in the top left corner of your Gmail window to compose a new email.

3. In the “To,” “CC,” or “BCC” section at the top of the “New Message” window, begin typing the name of your group.

4. Select your group name from the pop-up list that appears below.

5. Write a message to your group.

6. Proofread and click “Send” when your group email is complete.

How to create a group for email

You know the steps for creating groups in Gmail, but what makes email groups useful?

At work it is common to use email groups to communicate with internal teams or to contact groups of sales contacts. But there are other ways to create groups for email.

First, you can segment your contacts by their interests, such as news updates, or location. This can help you organize your email outreach for specific users. It also prevents you from sending your contact information that is misleading or unnecessary.

Another approach is to create project-specific email groups. As the project comes together, you can add contacts to the group. This can help streamline communication as the project builds momentum. It also keeps team members who aren’t involved in a project from getting overwhelmed with project-specific emails.

As soon as you start relying on group email for your communication, remember to add new contacts to your groups quickly. That way, they don’t miss any important emails that the rest of the group is looking at.

Gmail Group Email Quick Tips

1. Update your groups constantly.

Apart from keeping up with new contacts, regular updates and cleaning list are necessary. To start, use Merge & Fix to clean up any duplicate contacts.

Next, delete any old contacts. Then, clean up your contact names to remove typos, misspellings, and outdated names. Finally, add supporting details to your contact record. This can include department names, phone numbers, or time zones to make it easier for the group to connect.

Depending on the nature of your Gmail group, you can also create some guidelines for group communication. Google Groups have options for creating collaborative inboxes, posting policies, auto-replies, and member moderation.

2. Connect your group with a specific subject line.

Use a snappy subject line to engage and inspire your group. Because group emails can escalate quickly, short, specific subject lines are best. If you’re looking for help, insight or action, adding a time frame or open-ended question to your subject line can help you get results.

Check out these resources for more subject line tips:

3. Write a great salutation to set expectations.

Greetings in a group setting can be challenging. Some feel too formal, while others may come off as too casual or disrespectful members of the group. So, what’s the right greeting for your group?

To write the right salutation, start with your relationship to the group. If you’re close to everyone, a greeting like “Hi everyone” or “Hey team” works fine.

If your group is five or fewer people, you may want to add the names of the group members to make it more personal. For example, “Hey Bonnie, Ed, Jamie, and Alana.”

For groups you’re not that close to, a greeting like “Greetings Team” or “Hello (group name)” is a good option.

The right salutation also depends on the personality of your team. For example, fun greetings with cultural references or jokes relevant to the group can loop in new group members and create a sense of comfort and belonging. But if you’re addressing a group of professionals who don’t know each other well, a salutation like “Dear Team” might be better.

more resources:

4. Personalize for the group, not the individual.

It’s super easy to personalize an email for someone you’re close to. But it may take more effort to make a group email feel personal.

Group personalization begins with a quick outline of what connects people in a group. If you’re starting with a large group, you can refine it with segmentation. Other properties that can help you personalize include a list of shared properties:

• behavior, such as showing up early
• interests, such as music, sports, or pop culture trends
• habits, such as keeping a to-do list

Use these details to draft conversational copy, add jokes, or highlight different group members. These extra touches help make your group email feel like it’s for everyone in the group.

more resources:

5. Create group email sequences with workflows.

Being the new person in a group is tough. When you’re new, you’re not sure what you’re missing or what the other group members expect you to know. This can affect your feelings about staying in and joining the group.

To prevent anyone from feeling left out in your Gmail group, try add workflow, Workflows can automatically add each new member of your group to a series of actions or emails. You can decide how much, what and when to send these communications.

For example, you can send an email with important links to the group or a reminder about meeting times or locations to new group members.

hubspot customer: can make Group email sequence in Gmail with workflow,

6. Use BCC to cut down on extra email.

A top frustration of group mail recipients is the dreaded “reply all”. This function can be convenient. It can also fill up email inboxes with too many distracting emails.

One way to avoid this problem in your email groups is to use a BCC field for your group emails. It makes each group email feel like a personal email, so it can reduce replies to all messages. It also protects the privacy of your group members.

Another option is to use the CC field. This practice lets each email recipient know who else is in the email group and who is receiving the email if they reply.

Use your knowledge of your email group preferences as you decide which option is best.

7. Add clear labels to keep your groups organized.

Careful label naming is important, especially for groups that stay together for years. Label names should be short, but also specific and useful. Every label name should set an expectation and deliver on that promise.

When you write your labels, think about the different ways users might interpret a label. For example, a label that reads ‘Updates – Blog’ might include:

• Company blog updates
• Updates to the Blog Team
• Updates to Blog Policies

If you’re not sure which is which, you may need to take a closer look at the group members. This confusion means extra time and effort and makes email groups less useful to everyone.

Labels like “Blog Team Update,” “Blog Policies,” or “Blog Post Update” are quick to read, specific, and useful.

Some more ways to make sure you have great blog labels include:

• check your spelling
• check correct punctuation
• Write from the perspective of the new user
• Use color-coding to highlight important groups

Use Gmail Groups to Save Time and Connect

Creating email groups keeps your favorite people from missing out on important information. It saves time and energy. And it helps you keep your contacts organized.

With this quick guide, you have everything you need to create great group vibes in Gmail and beyond. So, create your first group today. Start connecting.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.