Out of office messages can be as concise or detailed as you need but should follow a standard structure. Here are two templates you can use to create your own message.
I don’t do them for meetings. I do have one that I turn on every Tuesday afternoon since I don’t work Wednesdays. In our culture it’s not uncommon for people to check EMail when they’re off. I don’t do that so I need to let people know. I also put a status message up on Teams. I work with a team of 40 people and I can’t expect them all to remember when I’m there and when I’m not!
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Both your customers and your employees need to know how long your business will be shut down for the holidays. Provide notice well in advance. Depending on the types of services you offer, you may need to start notifying customers as early as a month out. It would be best if you were to provide these important notifications at least two weeks before the holiday shutdown. Employees should also be reminded regularly that the company will not be open during those important days.
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Yes! I HATE the voicemails that are like “can you give me a call back?” Like… give me some context so you can end up on my to-do list in the right place. People who leave these voicemails automatically go on the bottom.
I run a summer camp and i can’t convince IT to forward the phone off season (and I forget to check those voicemails when they aren’t flashing in front of me), so the voicemail there says “You’ve reached camp, we are closed for the season, and voicemails on this machine are not checked. you can contact me at our head office at X or email me at [email protected], repeat info, thanks!
Every customer interaction is important to showcase your brand personality, and auto-reply messages are no exclusion. That’s why you must make the right use of every opportunity and convert it into a good experience. Automated reply messages help you provide a great customer experience and also sets the right expectation.
Whether you're taking a personal or business trip, keep in mind that information contained in your OOO message could be used against you maliciously. Be sure to follow out-of-office message best practices to keep your company data secure. Create different out-of-office replies based on whether the message is going to someone inside or outside your company Avoid personal details Don't share your travel destination Don't provide direct insight into the chain of command Avoid listing your exact length of vacation
You’ve been busy planning out your tasks, tying up loose ends, and working ahead to ensure you can disconnect, recharge, and relax over your holiday break.
Before we further discuss some of the examples of a good out of office message, decide for yourself what you want to get from it and what tone are you going to use.
When Outlook is set up to send automatic replies, you’ll see a message under the ribbon with this information. Select Turn off to disable automatic out-of-office replies. If you want to modify the dates for your automatic reply or the message sent, use the steps above to modify your settings.
I might sound nitpicky but the language is important. “Might” or “may be” or “slower than usual” are vague and don’t offer the sender all that much information about when you’re really going to respond to them. Worse, they do a horrible job of protecting the time of the email receiver who, as the responder notes, is not in the office! Such a responder implies that, not only will the vacationer reply to the email, but they may not even miss a beat. They may be slow to respond, but they also might not.
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This would go over like a lead balloon at my company, and, were that person on my team, I’d tell them to change it. It does have a connotation of “when I feel like it” about it, and most of my team is not high enough up the food chain to take that sort of stance (and the ones who are high enough up are client-facing and have the good sense not to do so).
This is also good. I have two group emails for standard tasks. The SOP is that if someone uses those, one of the people on that list will indicate they have it and reply all when the task is complete. That way we all have status without anyone having to remember who is OOO that day/week.
A well-deserved holiday deserves a substantial out-of-office message that really hammers home the fact that they’re still working, while you’re off on your travels – nice and descriptive to really paint the picture!
Hello, Please note: [date] through [date] are company holidays for many of our employees. Because of this, there will likely be a delay to request, possibly until [date] when most of our team returns. In the case where you do not receive an initial reply from one of our employees, their subsequent replies may be delayed. We have received your email request and will process it soon. While we process your request, please make sure to check out our extensive list of documentation by clicking on this link: [link]. Thank you for choosing [company name], and we look forward to providing a smooth and seamless support experience for you. Thanks!