I’m four weeks away from going on maternity leave for six months, so I’m in the process of divvying up my clients between colleagues, or finishing off work and closing cases. I will need an OOO for anyone who pops up again having been closed in the past, so this thread has been useful to get me thinking about it!
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.
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Note: For Outlook 2007, to turn off out-of-office replies, select Tools > Out of Office Assistant and uncheck the Send Out of Office auto-replies checkbox.
Each time McClure makes an appearance in these out-of-office messages, he “speaks” on behalf of my colleague and alludes to the previous auto-responses in which he starred. It’s a mild form of self-deprecating humor — as if to say, “I know, I’m out of the office again” — made only funnier by the made-up teaser title included in the last line.
An out of office message is a compact text that conveys the most important facts: How long you’ll be unreachable, when your contacts can expect an answer, (optionally) the reason for the absence, and, if necessary, a personal note. A referral to another email address, e.g. to one of your colleagues, is often helpful or even necessary.
Please include their names, phone numbers, and email addresses. If you handle multiple areas, let colleagues and clients know what each person specializes in so they can contact the right person for help.
If your query is urgent you can contact my colleague, Rachael Farley, on [email protected] or call our office on 01325 778 786.
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.
Get out of the office early.Make sure you inform your managers and co-workers that you will be leaving early. Do something fun since you are out early from work. Go for a movie or the happy hour at your favorite restaurant or bar with your co-workers.
While this may not prove so fortunate for us, we can use the poor weather for comedic relief. You can even include a screenshot of the weather forecast for a sense of realism. Not only will it give senders a chuckle, but it’ll also generate a certain amount of empathy — which is often the key to good content.
Yeah, it’s very strange. I understood changing voicemails to explain that the line can’t actually be answered, but someone is checking the messages and will respond (though that was also only an issue for the first few months), but they had no reason to even mention it for email. I started my job 3 months into lockdown, and by that point, procedures were in place to pretty much allow us to operate normally, albeit with a lot more done electronically than before.
It’s also expected that if you’re in Wales you put the effort in to at least try and read Welsh, but tbh I can barely read English before 10am.
She retired shortly thereafter, and I was left with so many questions. Brain hiccup? Or did she actually think our email and phone systems were integrated somehow?
In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as nothing can stop me from sharing some good marketing tips and advice – not even a holiday.
Many professional out of office messages are aimed towards providing a direct line of communication by notifying your absence and providing an alternative i am currently out of the office, with limited no access to email.
If an equally epic OOO message is the only thing missing from your upcoming epic adventure, check out this quirky one: Hello there, It’s that time of the year. The time where I save up all my annual leaves and spend it on one epic adventure. Where am I? Tibet, the roof of the world. I will be halfway up Mount Everest. And I too wondered if I will get any wifi up there 🤔 I think they do. If you have any questions about your account, you may get in touch with my very capable and friendly colleagues at [email]. As with all journeys, however magical, my trip will have to end. I will be back to the grind on [date]. Tujay-chay,
“I will be out of the office between date and date. If your email requires urgent attention please contact Insert Name Here.” Imo that’s enough