Rather than sounding like a boring email robot, you could add a funny tone to your letter. Use a GIF or a meme to joke about what you’re doing on vacation, but remember not to go overboard.
07-01-19secrets of the most productive peopleThese OOO messages will encourage people to leave you alone on vacation
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For those of you arguing that entrepreneurs and salespeople must always be available, I present to you Exhibit A. While this is specific to Yesware (and you should check out their other OOO examples), it's easy enough to tweak to fit your industry.
Whatever style you may ultimately decide to adopt, each of these emails should feature these essential elements: Precise reference to the period in which you will be away, as the receiver will want to know when they can reach you again. Inform your correspondent about the date by which they can expect to receive a response to the email they send you during the holiday season. Indication that your will reply to the email when they return. Check Out these examples:
I mean, this is what I pretty much did upon returning from my maternity leaves but I would never put it into an email! My maternity leave OOO was the vague “I am on extended leave and am not anticipated to return until X. Please contact Joe or Fergus in my absence.” X being a vague time-frame based on my due date and the length of my leave. No one is waiting 3+ months for an answer so I did get to delete most of the 500 emails I got during my most recent leave! I did once have someone internal tell me I should say maternity leave rather than leave, but really, what does it matter? I’m gone for a few months and no one outside of the company really NEEDS to know why.
I didn’t actually put that in my maternity leave out-of-office, but it is what I did when I got back.
Next, click Send automatic replies.Tick the “Only send during this time range” box. Set the dates you’ll be out of the office. You can skip this step if you want to manually turn off automatic replies when you get back to the office.Then set your automatic out of office reply under the Inside My Organization tab. This will be the automatic response sent to people from your company who email you while you’re away.
Note: For Outlook 2007, to turn off out-of-office replies, select Tools > Out of Office Assistant and uncheck the Send Out of Office auto-replies checkbox.
Dear [Customer name] Our store will be closed from [date] to [date] for Thanksgiving. We are assure you all of your emails will be answered once we are back on [date]. Kind regards, [Name/signature]
Hey there! I’m on holiday right now. I’ll try to reply to your message ASAP. Talk to you later!
That said, I do realize that I can’t just not use my phone at work. I’m surprised she has not been called on it by her coworkers yet!
Dear Customer, Please note that on [day], [date], is [holiday name]. The store will be closed all day and will open again at [time] on [Day]. Enjoy the holiday. Regards [Company name]
Thank you for your e-mail! I’m out of the office and will have limited access to my e-mail. I will respond to you upon my return.
I’ve used language like “I’m out of the office at a conference” before and that doesn’t mean I’m not checking email.
During this period I will have limited access to my email. For immediate assistance please contact me on my cell phone at (your cell phone number). Best Regards, [Your Name] Example 2: …
When I worked at Nightmare Small Business(tm), a coworker went on maternity leave with (privately shared among the staff, but not with the owner) the intent to give her notice at the end rather than return. She left a very professional, concise and informative out of office message. The owner proceeded to log in to her email and change the message to include saccharine references to both the pregnancy/baby and how much she “missed” being away from clients and how excited she was to return soon.
The science fiction writer John Scalzi says “The failure mode of clever is asshole,” which seems to apply here.