That advice Reynolds jokily shared in fact goes directly against a recent article in the Harvard Business Review. Short, sure, and sweet, why not? But ruling out the personal and the emotional? Think again, because those are the very ingredients that can help your correspondents feel more connected to you. Colour your OOO with a dash of personal information – how about saying where you’re off to and why – and you’ve a ready-made conversation starter for the next time your paths cross.
Also known as "autoresponder emails," out-of-office messages run the gamut. From funny, to clever, to snarky, this message can both show your personality and let senders know that, well, you’re out of office.
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Witty and funny out of office messages are great, but check out how New York Times' VP of Operations, Erin Grau, uses her out of office response for parental leave as a teachable moment. That's a powerful message about something she feels passionate and connected to.
I have been out the office working from home for more than a year now. After a few weeks of remotely checking VM (and sometimes forgetting for days) I simply changed my phone setting so you cannot leave a message. I have not regretted since. On very few occasions people have clicked 0 and gone to reception. Reception can IM me and ill call or email the person back if I want or they can give them my email. Everyone else either emails me or if they already have it call my cell. Internal people never call my phone they use IM or video chat. No one internally has had an issue with this and this eliminates the whole hey call me back to spend 30 minutes talking about something that I could have answered in 2 minutes in an email.
If you’re taking a vacation and staying home, your clients or coworkers may still expect you to pop into the office and answer their email. Use this autoresponder to let them know you’re really not available — even if you’re bumming around on the couch.
Thanks so much for reaching out. I’m currently attending the [conference/event name] from [date] to [date] and will have limited access to email during this time.
Please note that all our branches will be closed from [date] to [date]. We will reopen on [date]. We wish you all the best holiday!
The question last week about “thanks in advance” had me wondering about your thoughts on this person’s manager’s out-of-office reply in this video. I found it to be super condescending and way too much. What do you think? Would be interested in readers’ out-of-office messages.
I guess it’s relatively minor, but I once emailed a local government official with a question about building permits (just as a citizen, not work-related) at about 10am on a Monday and got an out-of-office reply stating she’d be back “Monday” with no date. So I had no idea whether she was already back and hadn’t turned off the message yet, in which case, not urgent, I’ll wait, or was out for a week, in which case, I’d like to ask someone else. Not a big inconvenience, but it was so illogical not to give a date that it really drove me crazy
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Amanda works at HubSpot, and she came with a unique auto respondent that asked her contacts to guess where she is. To give background, she flew down to Boston to attend a Red Sox training game in the spring with her father. She chose to ask her contacts whether where they think she might be, and also this played some wonderful use of litotes here:
The start of the holiday season does not mean letting your inbox enjoy the same degree of leisure and festivities as you do. Despite being busy with all the buzz and planning, you can hardly lock your business’ door before taking care of what happens with your inbox.
Now make your email unique when you are out for traveling for work and be a standard part of the job. If you are traveling to a conference you can set up your email.
If it’s not that infinite loop of autoreply hell, you get the “I will not be reading or responding to any email sent during this time. Please resend your request after August 1st.” dismissal.
I had a manager who did exactly that for his paternity leave. I was floored, because I never thought it was an option. His attitude was that if it was important enough, the person would send it again.
The exact dates you will be away.The reason for your absence. This is not obligatory, but bear it in mind. The thing is, people might still attempt to get in touch with you if you’re on a business trip or at a conference. They are less likely to try to contact you if they know you’re on vacation.The people who can assist a client while you’re away. Provide names, phone numbers, and email addresses so that colleagues and clients can keep in touch in case they need urgent help. It makes you look trustworthy in the eyes of the recipient and strengthens your working relationship with them.
I love this and want to start using it. I am assuming it’s pronounced “hood-a-lay” and that said hodilay has already begun when the OOO message was written!