If your auto reply messages give customers the ‘what next’ picture it will make customers feel that you as a brand can visualize their problem by putting in their shoes.
I’ll be back in front of my computer on [date] and will respond to your message then. If you require immediate assistance, please feel free to send an email to [Contact Name] at [contact email] so that they can help you out.
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Mary founded Instructional Solutions in 1998, and is an internationally recognized business writing trainer and executive writing coach with two decades of experience helping thousands of individuals and businesses master the strategic skill of business writing. She excels at designing customized business writing training programs to maximize productivity, advance business objectives, and convey complex information. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island, an M.A. in English Literature from Boston College, and a C.A.G.S. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of New Hampshire.
I personally like it. Of course, the emails that I’ve seen still say what to do if the matter is urgent and needs to be handled now — but as a person who gets 100+ emails a day, whether I tell you I’m deleting all of them when I get back or not — if it is in the thousands of emails that might accumulate in the time I am off, I’m not going to see it or respond. Better that I tell you now that you are going to have to resend the email after I return (or get my backup to handle it now) than you sit around waiting for a response that is never going to come. It is actually pretty common in my industry for any absence two weeks or more.
When was today? Did you leave the sign up or is it freshly posted? Etc. People, use dates!
That doesn’t mean you have to wait to start achieving your professional goals! Visit my website, www.MyAmazingWebsite.com to schedule your free career-transforming consultation with me today.
As you may have noticed, the holiday season is around the corner. We hope that you and your family are safe and in happy holiday spirits!
Just because it’s an automated message doesn’t mean you can’t seize the opportunity to collect leads. Provide the opportunity to collect an email or address within your text response. Thanks for reaching out to JT Morgan. We’ll get back to you shortly. In the meantime, have you subscribed to our weekly investor newsletter? https://txt.st/PQB
To set an automatic reply for contacts outside your company, select Outside My Organization > Auto-reply to people outside my organization, type in a message, and select OK.
I hate the overshare. It drives me nuts. I’ve seen a lot lately that say essentially “After this crazy year I’m spending some much needed quality family time with Jane and the kids doing abc.” yada yada yada. It seems like overkill and way too familiar. You’re spending time with your family-that’s not noteworthy. Just say I’m out this date though this date. Contact person if you have something urgent.
Setting up out of office messages removes the guesswork done by customers when a response doesn’t come back right away.
Hello ! Please note: (insert date) are company holidays for many of our employees. Because of this, there will likely be a delay in reply to your ticket, possibly until (insert return date) when most of our team returns. In the case where you do receive an initial reply from one of our employees, their subsequent replies may be delayed. We have received your email request and will process it soon. While we process your request, please make sure to check out our extensive list of documentation for WPForms by clicking on this link (Link). Thanks!
When crafting an out-of-office reply, keep in mind that you must provide sufficient detail so that recipients understand exactly when you’ll not be able to respond.
If your request is urgent, there’s no use sitting idly in my inbox. So, please send your request to [contact name] at [contact email].
Including even a passing reference stating that your customer’s email is important to you shows your appreciation for the message that you are currently unable to respond to.
If you need immediate assistance during my absence, please contact [contact’s name] at [contact’s email address]. Otherwise, I will respond to your emails as soon as possible when I return.
Because of this, typical out-of-office replies will often split the difference between our hopes and fears and say something like: “I’m out of the office and can be reached but if you need assistance right away, please contact x person.”