Start with a friendly greeting. Skip the "Greetings," "Salutations," "Dear sir/madam." These are far too stuffy and robotic. Instead, start off your response with a simple "Hi" or Hello.
Automated email messages generate a 70.5% higher open rate and a 152% higher click-through rate than standard marketing messages. Briefing what would be the next step of action gives customers transparent information.
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I had a coworker for the first 6 months or so of the pandemic set an out of office status on Teams that he was working from home and could be contacted at x number. Dude. We’re all working from home, and those stupid status messages are distracting!
I’ll be at a work off-site and will have limited availability by phone and email until ___, please contact ___ for immediate needs about ____ otherwise I will respond as soon as possible”
Some people keep theirs quite corporate and formal, adopting a to-the-point notification, i.e.:
I can’t wait to connect when I return [date]. Until then, please contact [Contact Name] at [contact email] for all urgent matters.
Agreed! A bit of warmth is fine, sure, but it’s not the place for chattiness — that’s for talking to an actual person. I want an OOO message to tell me that the person is out, when they’ll be back, and who I should contact in the meantime if need be. No objections to multiple options there, whether it’s “X for llama grooming issues and Y for llama tea parties” or “X for routine questions, Y if it’s urgent, Z if it’s an emergency,” but I want to be able to absorb the useful info quickly and move on.
I am currently out of the office and will be back to work on (insert date). If something urgent comes up, you can let me know by emailing me with the word “URGENT” in your email title and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Here's a million-dollar question: how do you get people to do what you want them to? That's where Calls-to-Action (CTAs) come in.
That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands:
Also, avoid those huge signatures or advertising banners. Normally, your business email closing should be in this order: Best wishes, James Walton Editor-in-Chief Woculus Inc. 234-805-392-8068 ext. 12 [email protected] www.woculus.com. After your consideration, jump a line and write your full name followed by your contact details.
Open Outlook and click File in the menu bar. You can find this in the top left corner of your window.Then click Automatic Replies (Out of Office). The Automatic Replies window will then appear.
If you can, include the sender's original message in the automatic reply, to help them 'unsubscribe' you of any list or to remind them about their enquiry, which can be forwarded to someone more suitable.
Dear Customer, Our office is closed and you can expect to hear back from me by [date]. Have a great holiday! Regards [Name/signature]
I do that for most cases. Occasionally I’ll change it to “I’m out of the country and will not have phone or email access.”
Don’t leave messages that come in outside of business hours hanging. Instead, let them know when they can expect a response. You’ve reached Maggie at HealthCorps. Our business hours are 8-5 EST and I am currently OOO. I will get back to you within the next business day, thanks!
Live support will be unavailable during our closure. Emergency support requests should be submitted via our contact form or via Basecamp if your project is currently active. We wish all of our clients a very happy and safe 4th of July holiday. We look forward to working with you when we get back from a well deserved long weekend. See you next week!