First, and most importantly, let the people trying to get in touch with you know when you’ll be gone and when you’ll be returning. There’s one more date to add — when they can expect for you to return their message.
Not sure how to embed an animated gif in your signature? Here's how to spice up your next out of office reply and add an animated gif.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it was funny and not annoying! I’m with Alison that it’s probably just a little wordy, but there’s no problem with the humor.
I guess my first instinct might be thinking it’s rude but having seen it a few times I do get it. It really makes sense for people who get dozens or hundreds of emails a day and are gone for extended periods of time. It’s more courteous to be up front about it than silently delete like some people said they do (though I get they maybe just didn’t realize they’d need to do that).
That’s what I always reasoned… better to annoy with too much information that saves hassle on the backend then be brief upfront and sentence people to OoO purgatory.
Given free rein, I’d absolutely love to tell people that needing me to show them how to do X in Excel is actually not a vacation-interrupting emergency and there are tons of free videos that would explain that, if they did not want to contact the actual departments who handle tech support and training. Or that this project they’ve known about for a month but decided to keep under their hat until it became an emergency is something they’ll need to resolve themselves. But that would not fly at all.
Dear Customer, Thank you for your email Inquiry, Our office closed is closed celebrating [HOLIDAY]. We will not be able to respond to your email until [date]. Apologize for the delay. We wish you a wonderful holiday season. Best regards.
A retired small town newspaper guy once told me about the first time the publisher went on vacation and left him in charge (this would have been in the 80s). The publisher told him “Don’t call me unless the building burns down, and even then, don’t call me until the fire is out.” Good example of management setting vacation expectations.
Hollywood star turned gin distiller Ryan Reynolds showed last summer how the OOO can become a marketing tool. “Thank you for your email and interest in Aviation American Gin! I’m away from my desk at the moment but will respond the moment they give me a desk,” began his first attempt. A few months later, along came another: “This is only my 2nd OUT OF OFFICE REPLY. From what I’m told, it should be short, sweet and NEVER overly personal or emotional.” After TV host Jimmy Fallon asked him to read one out on The Tonight Show, the resulting influx – around 20,000 emails in a single day – to [email protected] melted the small brand’s servers. Fortunately, it also reportedly piqued the interest of retailers and restaurants, keen to start carrying the tipple.
A Christmas closure email is an email sent to the staff stating that the office, institution, etc. will be closed for the Christmas holidays. It can be one that a store will send to customers as well.
Sorry I missed you. I’ll be out of the office and slow to respond until after the break.
I’ll be back in front of my computer on [date] and will respond to your message at that time. If you need immediate assistance, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email]. For Those Who Intend to Chill in a Galaxy Far Far Away (Where There Is No Internet)
I say I’m off-duty, or in non-working status, but I come from a DOD background. I no longer like to say out of the office. Unavailable is good too.
Much appreciated and I followed these instructions to the detail…still need more help with this as it is designed only for “while driving” mode. If I’m not driving, do I have auto-reply to text options?
Every holiday, we customize our voicemail for relevance to the theme and season. This Thanksgiving, the message is this: “Thank you for calling. We are currently closed in observance of Thanksgiving. We’re unable to attend your call today, but we promise to get back to you if you would kindly leave your name and contact details on record.
Having a professional automated message when you are busy enough to answer customer queries right away can set the right tone for your business and inform customers when they can expect to receive the response.
Please contact (Contact Person with email and phone) if you need immediate assistance.