When one of my colleagues is out of the office, he doesn’t mess around. In fact, he’s turned his auto-responses into a running series of commentary from fictional cartoon character Troy McClure.
Set a minimum delay for auto-responses. For example, if you set a minimum delay of 1, the eDesk will send the OOO template 1 minute after receiving the customer’s message. If you don’t set a minimum delay, eDesk will auto-respond immediately upon receipt of a message.
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Or, in the case of Samarah Miel, owner of Amarillo Travel Network, her out of office message is a fabulous mix of sales/bonding with others in the industry/promoting her expertise to clients. Bonus points for including a video!
The tone of your out-of-office auto-reply may vary depending on the intended recipient of your email.
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Setting a proper out-of-office email also puts pressure off you when you have limited time to respond to emails outside the office. We will look at a few examples together here:
To spend time with our families this holiday season, our offices will be closed on Friday, December 23rd through Monday, December 26th, 2016. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, December 27th.
If you’re experiencing a higher text volume than normal, be sure to have a volume auto-text on hand to help buffer the traffic. Thanks for your message! We’re experiencing a higher volume of texts than usual. You can expect a reply within 12 hours.
I will be out of the office until *date*. My colleague *Name* will be happy to assist you.
I hate when senders ignore the instructions in my OOO message. Usually, my message is something simple like: “I am out [Dates], returning to the office [Date]. Please contact Jane (jane’s email address) in my absence. General [department] questions may be sent to [general dept email address].” To me that says if you are sending me anything then I won’t see it until I return. If you have something you need to be resolved right away, you can contact Jane or send it to our department inbox (where it should be going anyway).
If one were concerned about the message rubbing people the wrong way, it’s certainly something that can work with a bit of rephrasing: “I’m out on leave from X to Y. All messages received during that time will be deleted. Please resend your request after Y, or else contact Z for urgent assistance.”
Creating an email signature banner can be somewhat difficult as you will need to get familiar with how to use photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop.. Whether you’re creating a promotional banner or a Christmas banner, the process is exactly the same. We won’t go into the full details on how to create a banner from scratch, as we have already covered …
Automated text messages can not only serve as response placeholders until you’re back in the office, but they can also be: A first line of contact for customer service inquiries A lead generation toolA promotional channel for your contentAnd so much more!
Whether your go for professional or funny, the most important task of this email is to clarify communication. A well-prepared auto-responder email will allow you to better enjoy your holiday break.
Obviously, not every out-of-office is set for a vacation. You also need an out-of-office if you go on an extended business trip or to a conference. But instead of simply telling people you’re at a business event, why not use this opportunity to encourage networking of new business connections?
Out of office messages can also make your workload easier when you return to the office. Colleagues and clients who know you are on vacation or at a conference might be less likely to fill your inbox with messages. If someone does need immediate help on a project, they can know who to contact in your absence to make sure it gets handled on time.
Happy Holidays and thank you for your email! I’m currently out of the office and will return on [insert date].