What makes this a decent example of an OOO message is that it’s candid, (hopefully) honest, and blunt. There’s no guessing whether or not this dude is going to respond to your email this week. Also, it gives us a bit of an insight into his life right now, which helps communication in the moment and in the future. He’s burned out. Even if you did manage to reach him, it’s likely he’d be resentful, even if he didn’t say so. There’s a good chance the sender of the original email will identify with this and respect his time.
Eh, my team’s instruction to put them up if they’re going to be away from email/voicemail for more than an hour (standard lunch break). I have a ton of staff, and we’re in a business where a high degree of responsiveness, especially during the business day, is expected and few of my staff have mobile email. We’re also a larger organization with mixed project teams, and not everyone knows who’s PT/FT or on nonstandard hours.
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11) Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
Automated reply messages are predefined responses used to communicate with customers across specific scenarios and keep information transparent. It helps customers to understand what is actually happening – whether your agents are busy, out of the office, or on holidays.
I know a lot of people who never vacation for more than a few days because the email backlog becomes incredibly stressful upon their return; this is one way to meaningfully combat that which is somewhat in the employee’s control.
Hi, I am out of the office for my annual year-end vacation and will not be able to check my mail until after the New Year. Have a Happy New Year!
This one’s for all the marketing/sales buffs. Turn your vacation responder into a lead generation tool and collect leads even while you’re away! Hi there, Thanks for your email. I’m currently out-of-office until [date] with limited access to email. If your request is urgent, please contact [name] at [email] or [phone]. In the meantime, did you know that we have a weekly newsletter? Step right up for a weekly dose of all your favorite content from us, delivered right to your inbox. Don’t miss out on the good stuff! Sign up for our newsletter here: [link] I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as I’m back on [date]. Appreciate your patience! Thanks,
Hello, I will be out of the office [DATE] through [DATE] returning [DATE]. If you need immediate assistance during my absence, please contact [CONTACT NAME] at [EMAIL]. Otherwise, I will respond to your emails as soon as possible upon my return. Warm regards.
List the full name, phone number and email of an assistant or a coworker who can respond to messages and meet deadlines in your absence. If more than one person is handling your duties, list each one and the reason for contacting them. In some cases, you may consider providing a way to reach you in case of an emergency.
Have you ever considered how your office design could be having a negative impact on the way your employees work?
Too little info is frankly worse, IMO. All you need for an OOO is date you are coming back, and who to contact in your absence if it can’t wait for your return. If it doesn’t have that, why bother having one at all?
Hello, I’m away for the weekend. Back on Wednesday. I’m in [COUNTRY] drinking coffee. Eating lots of food. Should have internet on the evenings to answer the important emails. Please send photos of penguins to Twitter @[HANDLE] to alert me that you’ve sent an email. This is most important.
They happen when you have at least two auto-reply systems set to respond to every single email that somehow start messaging each other.
There were a lot of bilingual staff at my last job, and they always did their out of office messages in both languages. But who knows, maybe the Welsh translator was in a rush and forgot. An agency that handles government translations like road signs might be expected have such rules. On the other hand, never underestimate the boneheadedness of the monolinguals. Especially English ones.
The science fiction writer John Scalzi says “The failure mode of clever is asshole,” which seems to apply here.
What’s the beef against part time staff? I am part time and I think it’s a courtesy to let correspondents know when I am at my desk. I also appreciate getting it from other people as I can either escalate or make s mental note of when I expect to hear back.
End your out-of-office response with a way your callers and emailers can stay connected on social media, if you use it for work. This is especially helpful if you keep active social media accounts (like Facebook or Snapchat) and expect calls from leads who may need some nurturing.