“Many people reveal details about their personal lives in an OOO — like where and when they’re traveling,” Tim Sadler, CEO of Tessian, explains in an email interview. “Whether done on social media or in an auto-reply message on email, this arms hackers with the information they need to either craft a convincing email targeted at the OOO employee or impersonate the person who is on vacation and target one of their colleagues.”
Unless you work in an industry well known for grownups being good at smart and bad at practical. Then, you do.
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I had a peer whose auto-reply included “I will respond at my earliest convenience.” Along with other personality traits, this grated on me like nothing else. It was oddly formal for our organization and always came across as “I’ll get back to you when I feel like it.” My advising team, especially during peak times, has auto replies that sets reply expectations. With each person doing about 300 students, it makes sense even though I don’t love it.
Going on a vacation, feeling under the weather, celebrating the holidays, or just playing hooky from work? If so, you need to let your colleagues, clients, and leads know that you’re not available. There’s nothing worse than waiting for an urgent request, or even a quick and simple response, only to find out the person you’re trying to reach is out of work and completely unable to respond to you.
My biggest pet peeve is the opposite – people who NEVER turn on their OOO! I’m not saying for a day but when they’re out for an extended period of time and I’m reaching out to get a deliverable.
We’ve certainly come a long way since the honeymoon days of You’ve Got Mail, the 1998 Meg Ryan romcom in which each new electronic missive set Tom Hanks’ heart fluttering (and vice versa). These days, in tech circles, you’ll hear tales of folk who’ve set their email servers up to automatically delete unread emails after a week – before going on holiday for a full fortnight. Others have reduced the OOO to a single word in the subject line: “Nope.”
“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.
Thanks for writing! You can expect a response to your note in 1-2 business days. While you’re waiting—surprise! Here’s something I made for you: [Include a worksheet, tool, video, blog post, checklist, resource list, or whatever you’d like!] I hope [name of thing] makes your day a little brighter and easier. Thanks for your patience, and talk to you soon!
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.
For non-urgent inquiries, I will return your message as soon as I get back in the office.
While I hypothetically could reach my email, while I hypothetically do have my phone on hand, and while I hypothetically do have access to WiFi, I’d rather enjoy time with my family. My kids are growing up at the speed of a supersonic jet, and if I blink one more time, they’ll be 35. And I’ll be 73. And I don’t want that.
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One of my favorite OOO messages I ever received was from a customer who was a barrister or soliciter (not sure the right term for an English lawyer). It said he would be unavailable because he is “on trial.”
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If you super, duper need to contact me, you can find me on Facebook or Twitter and use the hashtag #I’mGonnaRuinYourVacation