When one of my colleagues went on vacation, he sent an out-of-office message that was both clever and smart. First, he sent the recipient on an imaginary scavenger hunt to "the highest peak of the tallest mountain." He used humorous absurdity to make it clear that he would not be checking email while he was away.
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I wonder if anyone ever calculated how much time was wasted producing those messages.
So what do good out-of-office messages look like? Here are a handful of examples that will help you craft the perfect out-of-office message:
This is the standard reply I’m my org. Occasionally there is something about not being able to check emails while away (or being able to) but that’s about it.
Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately, I will not be able to answer your e-mail before 01.02.2021.
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office from *date* to *date* and will have limited access to email / will not have access to email. If you require immediate assistance, please contact *Name* at *email*. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email upon my return.
The big issue I have with the example in the post is that not only is it unnecessarily long-winded, but you have to listen through all the chattiness to get to the “here’s who to contact in a real emergency” part. The tone does rub me wrong, but I’m willing to roll with that as a personality/company culture thing.
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.
At my current workplace, I got an OOO about someone being on sabbatical and off driving a vintage VW bus. Loved that one. But also got one about someone bringing a tiny human into the world – that was a weird overshare.
Yup, that’s what I meant. Hearing or reading”Happy Halloween!!” in June is annoying.
2.( مرحبا بكم في .John Doe نظرا لكون شركتنا في عطلة، فإن خدمة عملائنا ستكون متاحة لكم مرة أخرى ابتداءا من يوم الاثنين 2016/07/04. سيبدأ شحن الطلبات من جديد يوم 2016/11/01. وخلال هذا الوقت انتم مدعوون لإرسال طلباتكم إلى [email protected] عبر البريد الإلكتروني أو من خلال استمارة الاتصال. شكرا لكم!
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Of course, every message sends a message, even a barebones OOO that seems to say nothing more than that you’re away until next week, so why not try to inject a little personality? You could get quirky by giving your auto-responder robot a personality. You could dispense with words altogether and substitute a gif or emojis. Or how about a little retro concrete poetry – you know, where you arrange your words on the screen to form an image of a palm tree or a pina colada? It might be worth noting here that the amount of personality you inject depends on your trade. What earns you cachet in the creative industries might backfire in the financial sector, for instance.
Use your auto-reply to promote your expertise—you're going to a well-known industry conference, after all. You multitask and use your out of office to connect with colleagues/clients who are also attending the conference or event.
Hey, there! I’m out of the office this week, but my Twitter signal is always on. Seriously, I’ve got robotic wonder thumbs! (No, not really.) I never fail to tweet fascinating stories about how people can win big with their marketing efforts. So, until I’m back at my desk, won’t you follow me [LINK]? Whether you follow me or not, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can upon returning to my desk on [DATE].
Once I got an auto reply from a stakeholder on a project that said something to the effect of “Thanks for contacting me. Due to the large volume of email I receive, I don’t read them all. If I haven’t responded within 3 business days, please try again.”