For those new to the business world, your out-of-office message is the most common form of automation related to email. Once activated, it sends out a predetermined email message to anyone who emails you while you’re out, telling recipients exactly what they need to know.
Hi, I’m out of the office. Thank you for getting in touch. We’ll get back to you within 8 business hours.
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The only thing I add to that boilerplate is if I’m working but mostly unavailable.
21. "Hello, you've reached [your name, the office of X company]. The team is currently out of the office, but we'll be back on [date] stuffed with good food and eager to speak with you. Leave your name, number, and — if you're so inclined — your favorite [holiday dish, Thanksgiving tradition, etc.]"
If you need assistance during this time, one of my team members will be able to help. They can be contacted at [phone number] Monday-Friday from 8-5.
The information in your after hours greeting should remain concise and essential to the caller's needs. Example: Thank you for calling Cutlas IT Solutions. Our office is currently closed. Regular store hours are 9 am to 7 pm, Monday through Saturday. Please leave a voicemail with your name and phone number for our staff after the beep. 6.
Come Christmas time, there’s nothing quite like tidying up your desk, shamefully closing your 50 Chrome tabs, and switching on your out-of-office responder for the holidays.
Leaving an email without a responder can appear unprofessional, lose potential business and, worst of all, make you look like Scrooge!
The message will be automatically triggered in response to any incoming text received while the away message is turned on. Like this:
Well, if you become too sick to work for longer than that, what happens then? Surely there’s some backup. If not, you’re not always going to be able to keep that promise.
That’s the way ours is set up, so anyone who was emailing that guy at the time would have seen it.
If there is an emergency, please email [email protected] and someone will contact you as soon as possible.
Very true, if the options came in reverse order (or maybe emergency first followed by not-urgent followed by urgent) that would be a little better.
An out of office message is important because it let's you keep people informed and tells them how to proceed in your absence. The Out of Office message for Social Media is cool. I can really include this on my Chat Bot now. Thanks for sharing it Christin.
I’ll be back in the office on August 7th and if all of the stars are in alignment, I’ll respond to this email before Labor Day.
"[Auto-attendants] assist a business of any size in presenting a more organized, efficient, and, if necessary, more robust picture of itself,” points out Brandi Armstrong, Co-Founder of Telecentrex and blogger on evancarmichael.com. The right greeting can make the difference between a frustrated customer or a satisfied one.
My bank still does that, and it seems to serve a good purpose there–I appreciate knowing if I should call someone else to get things done that day.