I'm probably in the middle of a tree farm right now, getting covered in tree sap, so my hands would stick to my keyboard if I tried to respond to your email. I'll respond to your email once I am back at work on [date].
Whatever style you may adopt, it’s still useful to know that some of the general rules apply to all instances: Stay consistent with the preferred communication style, particularly if you go for more creative options Double check for grammar and typos, as your template will be sent to many addresses Do not overdo it in terms of using unconventional style, particularly if you are not sure that it will fall on right ears with some of your customers Wrap-up
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Not quite an OOO, but a former boss had an email signature that said she was doing field work so her email responses would be delayed.
Website: https://infinititelecommunications.com.au/updating-your-phone-system-greetings-voicemail/
I’m here to talk to you about someone you know. Catalina Wong is out of office until September 27. She wanted me to let you know that she’ll get back to you after her return.
Hi, I’m out of the office. Thank you for getting in touch. We’ll get back to you within 8 business hours.
7.) Welcome to the law office John Doe. Sorry, we're currently unable to answer your call personally, as you call during our annual holidays. Feel free to send us an email to [email protected] - We will contact as soon as possible at our return. In urgent cases, please contact our office representative. These can be found on our website www.lawoffice-johndoe.de. Many thanks for your call - Good bye.
I’ll be at a work off-site and will have limited availability by phone and email until ___, please contact ___ for immediate needs about ____ otherwise I will respond as soon as possible”
When you’re trying to contact someone on a matter of importance (or even urgency) on one side of the equation and you find out via an autoresponder that they are away for vacation, it can be incredibly frustrating unless they’ve done the front-end work beforehand. (I’m speaking from personal – and recent – experience here. And worse, there was no auto-responder set up. I had to use the – gasp! – telephone to find out what was going on.)
Think about your tone and mood - you don't know who'll be getting these out of office auto reply emails so be mindful of the impression you make. Think of the boss, the CEO, a colleague you like, family members, clients you like. That said, there are some bridge-burner examples below to tempt you!
I also do not have an OOO for external people – only internal. I always monitor my email enough to be able to forward important external emails to the right person to handle. IDK why, I just don’t like them having the burden of emailing someone else if I’m out. I’d rather my employee contact them and say “Hey, DataQueen let me know you were having an issue and asked me to connect with you.” My last CEO was out for a full year and almost none of our clients knew (we weren’t trying to hide it, it was just not pertinent to them).
A clear, thoughtful out of office message saves the caller from troubles and inconvenience caused by your unavailability as they know what they should do next. Such a system avoids the negative impact that could come from the inability to respond to calls and messages. Your clients would likely try and contact you again and again, getting frustrated and losing trust in your business.
Protocol for when you should use an out-of-office message will vary by job and industry, but generally, you should set an OOO message when you’ll be out for two or more days.
When you update your voicemail or turn on your email client’s out-of-office greeting, there are three basic things you must share in your message: When you’re leaving, when you plan on responding to your messages upon returning, and who they can contact if they need to talk to someone right away.
An out of office message lets you keep people informed and tells them how to proceed in your absence. You can also select options for urgent matters within your out of office message.
I’d probably say something like “I am unavailable until X date. Please contact [colleague] or [colleague] if you need assistance. Thanks!”
13. "Hello, you've reached [company]. If you're looking for information on [X], please check out our [Facebook page, company website, etc.] If you want to know more about [Y], take a look at [Z page on our site, our YouTube channel, etc.] Still have more questions, or just want to chat with our team? Leave your name and number, and we'll return your call straight away."