“The world is serious enough as it is - people need, and usually appreciate, an unexpected moment of levity in their day,” he says, when quizzed about how recipients might respond to such an OOO. He also confides that he himself has dispensed with auto responses altogether – though not for idealistic reasons. “The last time I tried to set one up, I botched it so badly that somehow it resent every single email in my outbox from the previous year - client emails, firing notices, literally thousands of emails.”
Does your company publish blogs or offer downloadable ebooks, reports, or case studies? If so, add a P.S. to the end of your vacation message linking your readers to some content they can learn from or engage with.
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Feel free to share some examples of auto-reply messages that you have used or such that you’ve received. Include those in the comments below, and we can have a chat.
There’s nothing awful or offensive about this message, but it’s also not very good. Yes, it provides the courtesy of letting the sender nominally know that you’re going to be slower than usual to respond. That’s nice. The problem is in this bit: “may be slow to respond to email.” Another popular variation: “might be slower than usual to respond.”
Thanks for your email. I will be away from the office until September 13th and will respond as soon as I can.
Just say you’re away from your desk! Or if you’re out for more than a day, just say you’re “away” until XYZ date.
Optionally, set a date range for your automatic replies. This will turn off automatic replies at the date and time you enter for the end time. Otherwise, you'll need to turn off automatic replies manually.
COMPLETELY agree. Every time I see an OOO for a two-hour doctor’s appointment I have to fight the urge to reply with “How much are you paid?” because I know there is no scenario in which I would have to explain myself if I don’t answer an email for a few hours and if you are that important you better make a LOT more than I do.
Just say you’re away from your desk! Or if you’re out for more than a day, just say you’re “away” until XYZ date.
Hey, Thanks for your email. I’m not in the office and am on a family vacation. I assure you that all your emails will be answered as soon as I return to the office on [date]. Kind regards.
Thank you for your email. I am out of the office for maternity leave until ( the date you expect to return from maternity leave).
Thanks for your email. I’m currently out of office until mm/dd/yyyy. If you need help, email my colleague at [email protected].
3. "Hey, this is [your name]. If you're calling for [X reason], please [contact so-and-so] or [go to our website, send me an email]. For all other inquiries, leave your name and a brief message and I'll call you back within [one, two, three] business day[s]."
Thank you for your note. I’m currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I’ll respond to your message then.
If you don't want the messages to go out right away, select Only send during this time range.
I feel like this is the only reason to do this, otherwise its just a big piss off.
Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately, I will not be able to answer your e-mail before 01.02.2021.