How to make your out-of-office email work harder when you're away
There are a few essentials your out-of-office message needs to contain. Before you try anything fun with yours, make sure you have the essentials covered.
Check that your auto-response has:
- A title that lets your recipient know this is an out-of-office message (some email services will do this automatically)
- The dates you’re out of the office, and the date you’ll be back in action
- Whether you can be contacted, and the correct contact details. Be really clear about when you’d expect to be contacted. You’re on holiday, so it’s fine to reserve this option for emergency use only
- Who they can speak to in your absence, what they’re responsible for, and how they can get in touch
So, here are a few ideas:
- Share your favourite post from the company blog
- Add a sign up for your newsletter into the text
- Add a link to your Instagram account so that they can follow along with your holiday adventures
- Spice up your message with a gif or some well-chosen emojis
- If your company supports a charity, use this space to share some information about the work they do at this time of year
Or, if you’re ready to really take things to the next level, try a humorous message. Done properly, this is a great way to brighten the day of the person getting your bounce-back. Of course, you’ll need to consider all of the people who could be emailing you during this time, and how they might respond. If in doubt, play it straight.
Here’s some clever out-of-office message inspiration from Grammarly: