I have a message saying I don’t listen to voice mail, because I only see that a message has been left after several days. No idea why the lag, it’s been the same despite going through two phones and two operators. There are always other ways to contact me. Last time I got voicemail it was the police, the officer was calling from a landline so he couldn’t text. Luckily it wasn’t urgent (he needed a witness statement, but I hadn’t witnessed anything of interest to the court).
As a matter of courtesy – and to give you the peace of mind needed to be present wherever you are going (either away from the office or on vacation) – you should send each of your clients a simple email to let them know you’ll be away. Below I’ve offered some sample text for to you use as a template. Feel free to make it a TextExpander snippet, Gmail canned response, or whatever. Just use it (or something like it). Please.
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Thank you for your correspondence. I am currently away from my computer and may be delayed in my response.
B037 Wasserstein Hall (WCC)1585 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA02138Phone: 617-495-0722Hours: 8:00am - 5:30pm M-FHLS Services Hub Using OWA: Login to your mailbox by going to outlook.office365.com On the menu bar on the right-hand side, click on the gear icon and then click Automatic Replies (Note: The window can appear two different ways depending on the browser and if the screen is done loading) Select “Send automatic replies” Enter in your desired automatic reply message. You can also select “Send replies only during this time period” and set the start and end times if you’d like to set a specific time frame Optionally, if you would also like your automatic replies to be sent to people outside your organization, select “Send automatic reply messages to senders outside my organization” and then type the response you want to send while you are out of the office. Click OK at the top of the screen when you are finished Outlook for Windows: Open Outlook Click on the File tab in the upper left-hand corner, then select Automatic Replies (Out of Office) on the next screen. Select “Send automatic replies” Enter in your desired automatic reply message. You can also select “Only send during this time range:” and set your start and end times if you’d like to set a specific time frame. Optionally, if you’d like your automatic replies to be sent to people outside your organization, select the Outside My Organization (On) tab and then type the response you want to send while you are out of the office. Check “Send automatic replies for account
Whenever you need to step away from the office and won't be able to respond to emails as quickly as you usually do, it is good practice to create an out-of-office email autoresponder to guide your email correspondents on how to reach you, who else to contact, and/or what to do next.
Thank you for your message. I am currently out of the office, with no email access. I will be returning on (Date of Return).
The people who never change their holiday OOO message or only include half the information, if you’re lucky. I had one sent to me once that was along the lines of “I’m on holiday until August 12th and then again from August 24th.”
Click the Active Template checkbox to make the template active and therefore available for use. Inactive Out Of Office templates are not sent to customers by eDesk.
I worked for a federal contractor back during the Great Recession when government offices were shut down/working with a skeleton crew. I still remember getting OOOs from almost every email address in the agency we worked at explaining they were on furlough & to contact one specific person if the issue was urgent. We all assumed this poor person was hiding under her desk, rocking back & forth, with her head in her hands.
The worst Out if Office I’ve seen wasn’t about the wording, it was how it looked. For some reason, some lawyer decided to write their OOO in lime green font against a deep blue background. SO GARISH. I could not read anything. Highlighting the text didn’t help either. Had to copy & paste it somewhere.
My team had a standard Christmas OOO, because we had international clients who needed reminding that basically the entire country is OOO 25th-1st. The message itself was fairly boring, but the template had “xxxx” as a placeholder for your signoff, and every single year someone would say “I’m not sure I’m comfortable giving our clients that many kisses”
If you set up a vacation reply but people say they are not getting the reply, it could be one of the following:
There’s no shame in using Christmas to indulge in your childhood movie tastes, but there is shame in not sharing that adorable side of yourself when people are trying to reach you during the holidays.
Holiday wishes to the offices are sent for wishing them a good holiday season. The offices regularly have holiday breaks to the employees to go on recreational holidays with their friends and family. During this period, the holiday wishes are sent to the offices to make the employees and the staff of the office feels good. The holiday wishes can be sent through cards or office mails to the offices. Sending the holiday wishes to the office through fax and text messages to the office numbers as well as to the employees is also a good gifting option. One can also send them through holiday wishes video clips on a DVD sent to the offices marked to the office staff. Following are some of the holiday wishes to office examples sent in different ways:
Hi, 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/brochure/infographic/etc] that I think you would enjoy. I’ll reply to you as soon as I get back into the office.
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Thank you so much for your email. I love it already. It’s wrapped so nicely in its charming subject line that I just knew this message was going to be something special. Gifts like these just don’t come around every day.