People really just need to know that I’m either definitely not going to reply (annual leave) or might but delayed (all day meetings) plus when I’m back and who to contact if it is urgent.
Not an out of office, but I had a sign I used to put on my closed door whenever I was head down on something and didn’t want to be disturbed:
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We have one key administrative assistant who works part time and I always forget — I appreciate that she sets an OOO every day because her department is very deadline driven and it helps me to remember that if I need something from them, I need to connect with her in the morning. We also have some staff who work the school year calendar and others who are year round; the OOO is so helpful in the summers!
Once I got an auto reply from a stakeholder on a project that said something to the effect of “Thanks for contacting me. Due to the large volume of email I receive, I don’t read them all. If I haven’t responded within 3 business days, please try again.”
COMPLETELY agree. Every time I see an OOO for a two-hour doctor’s appointment I have to fight the urge to reply with “How much are you paid?” because I know there is no scenario in which I would have to explain myself if I don’t answer an email for a few hours and if you are that important you better make a LOT more than I do.
Use your absence as an opportunity to show off to customers and peak their interest in your content. Sending an out-of-office email is a good way to provide clients with more details about your business. Offer a link to an interesting online resource that your company has developed, like a blog post. This way, recipients are made aware of which lines of business your company are actively engaged in.
My OOO auto reply is fairly detailed. I have links to information for products I work with, an alternate point of contact for people to approach, etc. It’s really a CYA thing. What irks me about some OOO auto replies is when the person who is out has an alternate point of contact who is also out. Both are obvious planned absences, and both people are on the same team. Don’t they talk to one another about vacation??
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.
Hi, I’m out of the office until [MM/DD] with limited access to email. But don’t worry! I’ve left you with some helpful article to read and share in the meantime. I look forward to connecting with you when I return.
It makes a positive difference when you create auto reply messages that adhere to the basic elements of personalized messages followed with greetings.
Other than that, I keep it simple like most folks here, but back in my younger days I had one that started something like “I am out of the office on vacation until (date). I will not be checking emails, voicemails, (work queue system), or generally thinking about this place at all…”
I usually go with “Hickory, dickory, dock, I’m off the clock. When the clock strikes Tuesday, I’ll be back.”
I ALWAYS forget to leave a voicemail response with the same info above! Don't be like me.
The subject line. This is the very first thing your customer will see, before they even open your email. The opener. The first line is what greets the customer as soon as they open your email. The “thank you” The body. The email signature.
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Click the cog and select ‘Settings’Scroll down to ‘Out of Office AutoReply’Specify a time periodWrite your out of office emailConfirm other details and press ‘Save Changes’
Are you always entertaining your colleagues with useless facts? That doesn’t need to stop just because you’re going on holidays.