When Amy Spurling, cofounder of the company perks software company Compt, went on vacation, she ended her message with a clear direction about who to contact: “If you need immediate help, please contact [name and email address]. I will be responding to all emails on my return.”
But what should you do to keep the message informative, engaged and maybe a little festive?
.
This message is automated because I won’t be in the office until [DATE]. I will get back to you as soon as possible when I’m back at the office.
Will this work if the phone is in airplane mode? I am hiking in the Sierras with no cell service.
I am traveling for work August 3–7 and will be slow to respond to email. If you need immediate attention, you may contact me at 910.555.7652. Troubleshooting requests should be sent to Adalis Rossman at [email protected].
To make sure your email doesn’t get lost in a sea of messages please resend it on September 20th. If your message is urgent you can contact [contact’s name] on [contact’s email].
I do this when I’m on personal vacations. When I’m doing field work for research, I do tend to add a statement that I won’t have access to email/phone because I’m doing field work in X location.
Website: https://www.onsip.com/voip-resources/smb-tips/after-hours-voicemail-and-auto-attendant-greetings
Of course, I had one POTENTIAL cient who got the “I’m in court and can’t call you back” repeatedly calling and demanding to know why I wasn’t calling him back. Like “I;m IN COURT DUDE. The JUDGE takes precedence over you.” He really expected me to tell the judge to take a recesss so I could call him back. I eventually got back to him with an email “I think you might be better off with another attorney.”
That’s all for now. Watch for me in the upcoming out-of-office message, It’s Not a Hangover, It’s Food Poisoning — I Swear! And be safe out there. 7. “The bad news is that I’m out of office. The good news is that I’m out of office.”
Plus, he incorporated a delightful technique to let people know that if they really wanted him to read their emails, they should probably send them again after his return. Not only does that keep the sender accountable by saying, “If this is really important, you know when to reach me,” but it also helps him truly vacate his work while he’s away. And that’s hard to do. First, travel to my homeland of Florida. Climb to the highest peak of the tallest mountain. Find a rare flower (no specifics, of course… It’d be cheating). Put the flower back, because as the old hiking rule goes, “Leave everything as you found it.”
Oh, this reminds me of the best out of office I ever received. It was three years ago, but it was so funny I saved it. All of it was gold but the sign-off was “Hoping that you are at least a little bit jealous (why else should I go on vacations to begin with?), I remain truly Yours, etc”.
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I do this too! Depending on how busy my inbox is that day, I’ll also set it to start around 4:30 pm my last day in the office before going on vacation. I have a lot of people that email me at 4:56 expecting to be #1 on my list the next morning so I try to catch them that way.
Hi Steve, thanks for your article. My issue is same as Pam Lamkin, above. In order to use your phone you must turn off “Driving” mode, and then any messages that come in will not get the auto reply as long as you are on your phone, and until you reinstate the driving mode. Any thoughts?
i am 100 percent in favor of using email signatures and out of office messages to be more blunt about how you want other people to use/respect your time. from this: politico.com/newsletters/we…
I’ll be sure to reply to your message when I wade through my inbox upon my return. If your message is time-sensitive, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email].