When we set an out-of-office, we don’t immediately think of lead generation. However, it is a good opportunity to this end. For instance, you could encourage attendance for a webinar or future event, suggest sign-ups for online courses, give links to book downloads, or point recipients in the direction of any other product or service you are pushing. As well as informing the recipient of your unavailability, you are encouraging them to act.
Otherwise, all hands will be back on deck upon my return on Thursday 5th September and I will reply to your email at the earliest convenience. The single biggest day of the year for calling in sick tends to fall during the festive period; more people were too ill to work on Monday 10 December than any other day last year. (Whosoff.com, 2019) December is the most popular month of the year for authorised absences, as many employees are using up their remaining holiday entitlement. (Whosoff.com, 2019)
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Remember that it’s important to choose the tone of your message based on the final recipient.
Yes, this, and when people use OOO message as a “do not disturb” but then email you back right away. That’s not how OOO or email works!
Let’s be honest, you worked so hard and now it’s time to have the well-deserved vacation. There is nothing bad in wanting to show off where you are going or what you are doing.
If you can’t wait for a response, my colleague will be happy to take care of you. Just email them at [email protected]. 8. "I am currently out of the office and probably chilling on the beach. Enjoy your work week."
I actually stopped changing my VM and out of office right before I left, bc I just did’nt care anymore lol. This was only one of a number of things that this company did that was bonkers.
Here are some examples of effective text for out of office messages you can use to keep your clients notified of your absence and unavailability during a holiday.
I typically say “thanks for your message, I’m out until blah date, with periodic access to email” or no access depending. I list contacts who are willing to pitch in if necessary, and list the day AFTER my return that I’ll be able to address messages.
Agreed. I think some people don’t analyze the individual words when they hear the phrase. It’s fine to say “please let me know at YOUR earliest convenience” but it’s weird to say “I’ll get back to you at MY earliest convenience.”
Ha – I didn’t watch the video but still definitely get the condescension! It’s a LOT of extra explaining and direction when something like, “if you need immediate assistance, please contact Fergus at…” will do. In my opinion, cutesy stuff like this is mildly entertaining at the beginning but gets dumb/annoying shortly thereafter. Not just with OOO messages, but other instances where companies try to make being “cool/funny/laid back” parts of their brand in really obvious ways.
When crafting an out-of-office reply, keep in mind that you must provide sufficient detail so that recipients understand exactly when you’ll not be able to respond.
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office from *date* to *date* and will have limited access to email / will not have access to email. If you require immediate assistance, please contact *Name* at *email*. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email upon my return.
“For example, if a hacker knows that the chief financial officer of a company is OOO, thanks to the information in the auto-reply message, an attacker could impersonate the CFO on email and target another individual in the company’s finance team asking them to make a payment or update bank details for them while they are offline,” says Sadler.
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I had coworkers (and people up my chain of command) that did/do this. The thing all those people had/have in common is that they came from the military. So I always took it as a military thing. Curious if that particular coworker had a military background.
However, I will be taking periodic breaks from binge-watching everything I’ve missed to check my email [once per day/every evening/occasionally] while I’m away.