Don’t beat around the bush! This is an expression that means you should get to the point. That is, you should make your message direct and brief. This will let the recipient quickly know that you’re not available and who they can contact instead. You can start with a simple greeting and then proceed to the message like in the following examples:
A well-deserved holiday deserves a substantial out-of-office message that really hammers home the fact that they’re still working, while you’re off on your travels – nice and descriptive to really paint the picture!
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Completely agree. I have also recently have seen multiple out of office messages that say something along the lines of, “Please be aware that I may be slow to respond to emails today.” If it’s that time-sensitive, why is it an email? Asynchronous communication tools shouldn’t be smashed into the roles of real-time ones, and vice versa.
Before we further discuss some of the examples of a good out of office message, decide for yourself what you want to get from it and what tone are you going to use.
I came across a woman’s Maternity Leave OOO message which said “All emails will be deleted upon my return. If it still urgent after (return date), send another message.”
Not a big fan of this overly wordy version, but at least the OOM-writer gives you contact info for the people who might be able to help. My pet peeve is “I am out of the office until the 12th of never” with no indication of who might be able to help. But… we also have people who turn on their out of office while teleworking. WHAT?! You’re working. No one cares from where.
Whether you’re off sick, away on training or somewhere blissfully sunny, you’ll need to set-up your ‘Out of Office’ auto-reply. Most people tend to go with the boring and basic formula of apologies and redirection to someone else who might be able to help. We’ve scoured the internet and gathered 10 of our favourite responses. After reading these, you might rethink your own!
iOS is offering a feature to set an autoreply for all incoming calls. Instead of merely rejecting the calls, you can send back pre-set messages while you reject it. You have an option to set three quick response message to send back while rejecting the incoming calls.
We were playing a family game once everyone was vaccinated, and a thing came up about “people who reply to a text message with a phone call” and my daughter and niece turned and glared at me…
I have a colleague who directs people to email an alternative email alias when she’s on leave. This alternative email alias? Yup goes to her. Don’t know why she does it. She’s also set a rule in her team that they have to answer each others’ phones of someone is away from their desk. Inevitably, the person answering the phone can’t help and tells the caller to send an email. It drives me up the wall.
I had to explain to her that the email was still there, just like a voicemail, they’d get it on their return.
Thanks for your email. Please expect a delay in response due to a medical emergency. In case of urgent queries, please reach out to me on my cell or to my colleague at [email protected].
I’ll be sure to reply to your message when I wade through my inbox upon my return. If your message is urgent and requires immediate attention, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email].
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:
Under “General,” scroll down to the “Vacation responder” section. Fill in your message and subject line and select the dates you’d like it to appear, then select “Vacation responder on” and then “Save Changes” to finish.
7. Only for you. Exclusivity is a powerful thing, and marketers have known this for a long time. The holiday sales season is a perfect moment to remind your contacts that being on your list has its perks.
Use a voicemail with the capability to record several different messages. Excellent customer service takes a little extra work. The good news is, once you get your messages recorded, they are set. You may need to change your holiday greeting message to fit the season, but all of the others will be okay. Write your scripts before you record!