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.
I could see the benefit if someone needed to ask something before they left. It seems courteous?
.
So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, “Splinter” is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)
6. Suggest Contacting Your Colleague. Rather than providing alternative contact details, you can encourage your users to reach out a colleague. Hey (specify the Name field id)
I suppose I’d rather know that and be able to factor it in to my schedule, irritating as it is, than not know and get caught by the month-long delay.
Check out how easy it is to set up this essential process with your email account in this video I’ve posted to my YouTube channel.
17) I cannot handle your emails until I return on mm/dd/yyyy. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
Readers, what do you like and hate in out-of-offices replies? Any stories of particularly off-key ones?
Again, this will depend HUGELY on what sort of role it is (an external-facing vendor, for example, should probably not use something like this). But for many internal requests, it is not power-tripping to ask someone to either redirect their email or wait until a later date to send it.
The idea for this one is to pick your favourite Christmas carol and repurpose it for your out-of-office response. It’s festive and sure to get a laugh! (Whatever you do, just don’t pick Baby It’s Cold Outside).
People really just need to know that I’m either definitely not going to reply (annual leave) or might but delayed (all day meetings) plus when I’m back and who to contact if it is urgent.
1. Out of office annual leave/vacation templates. The most common example of an out of office message, this is often the last thing many do before going on holiday.
Thank you for calling [Company Name]. Our offices are currently closed for the day. Standard office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time. Did you know that you can check your account status with us 24 hours a day / 7 days a week by visiting [account login webpage]? Here you can view information about your account, as well as answers to general questions you may have. Otherwise, please call back during standard office hours, and we will be happy to assist you. To repeat this message, press the # key. Holiday Greetings
Not exactly a neutral audience, though. A number of people following the account, if not most, will be following because they share the same sense of humor. Likewise people @ed by friends.
4. You snooze, you lose! The [holiday name] sale will end soon. Even though holiday sales last for quite long, some of us still have trouble finding something special for themselves or their loved ones.
Hi there, Thanks for your email. I am out of the office right now and will not return until [MM/DD]. Fortunately for you, our resources never take time off and we’ve got this awesome ebook / whitepaper / infographic on [TITLE] that I think you would enjoy. I’ll get back to you as soon as I get back into the office. Best.
And while we all have grace for friends and family who seem to take forever to get back to our messages, customers generally expect this degree of promptness when they text a business.