I definitely hate the overshares. And I have one coworker whose rigidly precise & formal language comes off as pretentious and condescending. She sets up an out of office every time she leaves slightly early, so I get them A LOT.
Pro tip: The first works well for both voicemail greetings and email responders, while the next two are most appropriate for emails.
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You’ve worked to make your email clear, and you’ve carefully edited to streamline your writing.The body of your email might well be perfect, but it can all go awry if you use the wrong sign-off. It’s just a word or a short phrase, followed by your signature, and yet finding the right tone to close your email often requires a surprising amount of thought and finesse.
About the “overshares”: You linked to a previous column that mentioned this point, “Sometimes the over-sharing of plans can even come across as suspect — similar to how when someone’s calling in sick with genuine illness, they usually just say, ‘I’m going to be out sick,’ but fakers will generally give you a long list of overly specific symptoms, like they feel they have to convince you.”
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
At my old job we had a short script for our voice mail messages including whether we were in the office or out of the office. We were specifically told not to say why we were out of the office for personal privacy and protection reasons. However, an exception was soon made–for jury duty. Callers were getting freaked out when they got the message “I’m out of the office and don’t know when I will return.” They would be worried about the person they were calling and worried about whether or not they would be able to get the info they needed. So if on jury duty we would say, “I’m out of the office on jury duty and don’t know when I will return.”
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!
My grandboss used to put in his OOO: ‘I’m out of the office. If you need x or y, contact Andy or Jane. They know stuff.
Hi there, Thank you for reaching out! We are currently in the middle of our busy season so our reply may be delayed up to three days. We appreciate your patience while we look into this for you! Thank you.
Again, be as specific as possible and provide as much detail as possible on how they can get their questions answered or problems resolved. This will ensure you come back to fewer fires and headaches.
I am currently on my annual leave and will return to the office on *date*. If your request is urgent, please contact my colleague *name* at *email* or *phone*.
When I was in university I set my voicemail to, “Hi, you’ve reached Krabby. I’m unable to come to the phone right now, but please DON’T leave me a message. They cost me like, 50 cents each. Mom, this is mostly for you because everyone else knows to text me instead like a normal human being.”
No need to go into great detail that you're traveling to seven different European countries. Simply state whether you're on vacation, at a conference, or on a business trip. This will give the sender a general idea of whether you're be checking your email while you're out. "I'm currently on vacation/at a conference/on a business trip."
When you’ve finally powered your way through that seemingly endless to-do list and are ready to check out of work-mode once and for all, there’s one final thing you need to take care of: Setting your out-of-office response.
Yup, it’s that time of the year again where everyone’s slipping into the holiday mood 🎄🎁
Education Details: I will be checking my voicemail messages periodically, so please leave me a message and I will return your call as soon as possible. If you need immediate assistance, please contact my assistant, Suzy Jones at 1-800-555-1212 extension 6336. Hi, this is Jim Smith. I will be out of the office and returning Monday, April 21.
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