We are closed today for the [public holiday name]. Our office will re-open tomorrow at am.
This is typically what I do. People don’t need to know where you are or what you’re doing. It’s really none of their business. They just need to know how long you’ll be out, that you won’t be checking email or vm while you’re gone, and who to contact instead.
.
I do enjoy the transcribing of voicemails, so a lot of times I read that (and try to translate the weird interpretation from Siri). I rarely need to actually listen to the voicemail.
Because I used to get phone calls that defaulted to, “I need the director”, I had my out of office mail set to:
When we set an out-of-office, we don’t immediately think of lead generation. However, it is a good opportunity to this end. For instance, you could encourage attendance for a webinar or future event, suggest sign-ups for online courses, give links to book downloads, or point recipients in the direction of any other product or service you are pushing. As well as informing the recipient of your unavailability, you are encouraging them to act.
I am out of the office from January 14 to 20, with only limited access to my emails and voicemail. Please be informed that this mail hasn’t been forwarded. I’ll come back to you as soon as possible.
Point out trends you’ve seen in your friend over and months and years, such as improvements in how he or she relates to others. If you know it’s a struggle for your friend to keep her cool under deadlines at work, you could tell her, “I’ve noticed how patient you are with your office coworkers lately.”
7. No Specific Dates Out of Office Reply. [Your Greeting] Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and not able to respond to your email personally.
Job SeekersConfidential SearchFind Your Next JobSubmit Your ResumeHow to get a jobPeople We RecruitCareers at Apollo
Let me clarify that the names of holidays are capitalized — Christmas, Easter, Independence Day and the like. The word “holiday” itself, however, is usually not. The third Thursday of November can be called Thanksgiving or the Thanksgiving holiday, but it is not the Thanksgiving Holiday. How do I put an out of office message? Select File > Automatic Replies. In the Automatic Replies box, select Send automatic replies. On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send to teammates or colleagues while you are out of the office. Select OK to save your settings. Does Gmail have an auto reply option? Turn on Canned Responses by opening Gmail's Settings (the gear icon) and enabling the Canned Responses option in the Advanced tab. Create the template you wish to use for auto-replying to messages. Select the Show Search Options triangle in the search field at the top of Gmail.
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.
Company President doesn’t want sales to use ‘out-of-office’; they’d prefer that the customer feel we were always available for them – 24/7. They also say that vacation are just nicer places to read emails….
Job SeekersConfidential SearchFind Your Next JobSubmit Your ResumeHow to get a jobPeople We RecruitCareers at Apollo
Seriously, literally, anything but a voicemail. I’d take “sharpie on a dirty napkin delivered by carrier pigeon to my island vacation” over voicemails. I can’t flag voicemails for later. And also, we have this cool new feature where you can see missed calls. I do not need a voicemail just saying “Hey its Bob, call me back.”
No one should be calling during the holidays, and yet some people do. When you’re out for the holidays, create a voicemail greeting that communicates the cheerfulness of the season while still staying professional.
Amanda works at HubSpot, and she came with a unique auto respondent that asked her contacts to guess where she is. To give background, she flew down to Boston to attend a Red Sox training game in the spring with her father. She chose to ask her contacts whether where they think she might be, and also this played some wonderful use of litotes here:
I once worked with a guy whose out of office reply stated that he was out at an interview, and whether or not he returned depended on how the interview went. He returned, so I guess it didn’t go THAT well.