No matter what you’re using your SMS autoresponder for, there are a few pieces of best practice you should keep in mind when crafting an automated text message.
Wherever you go on holiday, you’ll probably have access to the internet at some point. You might want to acknowledge this in your O.O.O. – but it’s also worth forcing the sender to question if it’s really worth interrupting your holiday by setting up a very blunt alternative inbox... I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return, but that’s not true. My iPhone will be with me and I can respond if I need to. And I recognise that I’ll probably need to interrupt my vacation from time to time to deal with something urgent. That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands: • If your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please resend it to [email protected] and I’ll try to respond to it promptly. • If you think someone else at First Round Capital might be able to help you, feel free to email my assistant, Fiona, and she’ll try to point you in the right direction.
.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Related Articles Get it now Get it now Download for Later Popular Features Free Meeting Scheduler App Social Media Tools Email Tracking Software Sales Email Automation Ads Software Email Marketing Software Lead Management Software Pipeline Management Tools Sales Email Templates Help Desk Software Free Online Form Builder Free Chatbot Builder Free Live Chat Software Marketing Analytics Free Landing Page Builder Free Tools Website Grader Make My Persona Email Signature Generator Blog Ideas Generator Invoice Template Generator Marketing Plan Generator Free Business Templates Industry Benchmark Data Software Comparisons Library Company About Us Careers Management Team Board of Directors Investor Relations Blog Contact Us Customers Customer Support Join a Local User Group Partners All Partner Programs Solutions Partner Program App Partner Program HubSpot for Startups Affiliate Program Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter Linkedin Medium Be the first to rate this company Not rated ${ company.score } stars • ${ company.industry} • ${ company.headquarters} Career Resources Topics Community Writers Companies Best-Rated for... Paid time off Salary satisfaction The people you work with Flexible work hours Equal opportunities for women and men Learning opportunities Management opportunities Ability to telecommute Wellness initiatives Employer responsiveness More categories... More Best Places to Work By InHerSight score By review category By industry By city By company size Career Resources Job Search Applying Interviewing Negotiating Networking Career change Unemployment Career Management Career development Advancement Management Negotiating Culture & professionalism Mentorship Retirement Students Benefits & Policies Paid time off Salary Flexibility Work from home Diversity Workplace rights Working Mom Work-life balance Pregnancy Return to work Parenting Inspiration Women to know Quizzes Reading Playlist Equality Guides to discrimination Equal opportunities Allyship Microaggressions Wellness Work-life balance Mental health More Ask a recruiter Research Working during coronavirus Employer resources
Click the Out Of Office tab, and in the Date & Time Conditions - One-off section, click + Add date range. Set a date range by clicking the date fields and then selecting a start and end date from the calendars. Set a start/finish time for the dates by clicking the time fields and then dragging the sliders horizontally to select the Hour and Minute. If you want your autoresponse to look like a human response, you can tell eDesk to delay sending this template for x minutes. Pro-tip: You can use this to prevent Amazon from detecting your message as an auto-response. Set Frequency if you want to prevent eDesk from auto-responding with the same template to every message about the same ticket. For OOO templates, it is common practice to select Autoreply every single incoming message but you can also select a frequency, for example, once every 6 hours. If you want to tell eDesk NOT to auto-respond with this template to messages from certain email addresses, enter them into the Exclude field, for example, [email protected], [email protected]. You can also exclude all email addresses from a certain domain by entering *@domain.com, for example, *@xsellco.com Tick this if you want to include the signature for the channel in the template.
If your matter is urgent you can contact (contact person with contact details) for assistance.
Full of helpful email management tips and tricks, client success, new features, savings, and more. Clean up your inbox today! User Stories Productivity Giants Entrepreneurship Business Health Inspiration Email Reinvented Clean your inbox How it works Pricing Email Resources Inbox Zero Academy Inbox Zero Webinar Research Clean Your Inbox Menu Open a search form in a modal window
Out-of-office messages are critical to keeping things moving smoothly during times when employees are absent. They also serve as reminders to others of what day you won’t be available.
Give complete details of the person they can contact if there is an urgency. If you are in charge of multiple departments, you can add more people along with their expertise area so that customers know who they should reach.
Same. I also have a version that is customer facing/external and one that is internal. My coworkers get a little more info.
I actually stopped changing my VM and out of office right before I left, bc I just did’nt care anymore lol. This was only one of a number of things that this company did that was bonkers.
Try our updated holiday-themed Out of Office Email Generator to help you write the perfect out of office message. And whether you're a Tiger King diehard or more of a Great British Baking Show fan, you'll get a 2020-appropriate custom auto-reply.
Are you fully inspired by the creative out-of-office messages above? It's time to write your own — your upcoming vacation depends on it. Try HubSpot's OOO Email Generator if you’re feeling stuck, and remember, an out-of-office email doesn’t need to be boring. On the contrary, it should inform and entertain. You don’t want people hating on you because you took a much-needed break.
“No matter what your best intentions, you're going to get bogged down the minute you return to the office,” Sullivan says. “Don't set exact timeframes for responding to messages in your OOO. Instead, set general expectations for‘I'll respond as quickly as possible upon my return,’ giving you some leeway.”
It is absolutely no one’s business why you are out! “Extended leave” is more than sufficient.
I like funny OOO – but I am a bad offender regarding these and may slightly overshare. I recently had to be in and out for eye surgery and this was mine:
Yes! I once went through a chain of 4 people’s OOO and was finally directed back to the first person. It was our benefits broker and you can bet that was the year we decided maybe we should entertain other options before renewing our contract.
I’ve never had a funny / pithy OOO. Clearly I’m missing out! It’s literally, “Hi, I’m OOO from x to x, and will be returning x. Please contact Fergus if you need immediate assistance.” Maybe I should live a little!