Getting in touch with coworkers can be difficult if you are out of the office. They may be busy or may not respond quickly to your email. It is important to request permission before sharing your contact information. Here are some tips that will help you craft a professional out-of-office message.
Professionalism
When you’re out of the office, courtesy and professionalism are key. Even if you’re not at the office, you should still leave a message for potential clients. Professionalism is essential when leaving a message, whether it’s an automatic reply or a personalized message. It shows respect for others, and it demonstrates consideration for direct reports.
If you’re taking a vacation or a long weekend, it is important to let clients and colleagues know you’re unavailable. If you’re unable to respond in a timely fashion, you could get yourself into trouble. One way to do this is by sending an out-of-office email. This will automatically give clients and colleagues an automatic response and let them know where you’ll be.
Humor
Humor is great for building rapport and showing personality, but it’s best to stay professional and not try to sound too amusing when it comes to out-of-office messages. While humor is perfectly acceptable, it can be easily misinterpreted and fall flat with the wrong audience. Instead, use humor to inform your network while also entertaining them.
For example, a coworker once sent a humorous out-of-office email that took the recipient on an imaginary scavenger hunt to the top of the tallest mountain. While not as amusing as a literal scavenger hunt, it did make a point.
Information
When you’re taking a vacation, it’s a good idea to let colleagues and partners know that you’ll be out of the office. Not only will they want to know when you’ll be back, but they might also need time to catch up on emails. Giving them a vague idea of when you’ll be back will only give them false hope. To avoid this, consider leaving a brief, professional message detailing your dates and mentioning that you’ll be available to answer questions when you return.
An out-of-office email, sometimes called an OOO message, is an automated email sent to your customers and clients to let them know you’re out of the office. These emails can be customized to include additional details about your absence.
Setting up an auto-response message
When out of the office, you can set up an automatic reply to emails sent to your account. You can set the auto-response message to be sent to everyone or a specific group of contacts. You can also set it to send during a specific time of day or week.
To set an automatic reply, go to the Outlook settings and click “Out of office.” In the next window, please type in the body of the message and set the date you want it to send a reply. You can then choose when to turn off the message when you’re back in the office.
