8 Examples of Professional Out of Office Email Messages

“Communication is the key for any global business” – Anita Roddick

Technological advancements of our era have enabled people all over the world to communicate without any boundaries. For example, you can write an email message to anyone on the planet Earth and get a reply within several minutes or even seconds.

However, there are certain times when you simply do not have access to your email’s mailbox.

But nowadays, it does not matter what your profession is, your career success will hugely depend on the effectiveness and efficiency of your communication.

Therefore, when you are unavailable to timely respond to the emails you receive, you should do your best to let your colleagues and clients know of this, as well as when will you be able to respond to their messages.

Luckily, doing this in the age of the Internet is a very simple thing. In our digitalized world, people came up with so many solutions to the problems we did not even know existed.

With the help of software programs, now people can set up everything however, they wish. For example, a software such as Microsoft Outlook will assist you in creating your out-of-office auto responding emails.

It is easy to use and YouTube is full of useful tutorials on these subjects. You should definitely check it out! I will attach links down below.

After you decide you need to set one of these auto-reply emails, you will find yourself thinking what to include in them.

If it is your first time setting up an out-of-office email message, it might be a daunting task, so that is here is this article to help you in this situation.

WHEN PEOPLE USE OUT-OF-OFFICE EMAIL MESSAGES?

Firstly, let us find out what are the cases and situations you will use auto responding out-of-office emails.

For example, you can use them when you are out of town for business or training purposes, you are on a vacation with your family or on a sick leave.

In addition, you might have to use them when you take a bereavement leave; when you are too busy or have urgent work commitments to do at that moment.

On the other hand, you might simply not want to be bothered by emails for a certain period so you can focus on something else.

So now, let us dive in into why people should definitely use the auto responding emails for out-of-office situations.

WHY SHOULD YOU USE OUT-OF-OFFICE EMAIL MESSAGES?

You should consider setting up an auto-reply message for any of the following reasons:

Makes your job easier

Leaving your email inbox for a long time unattended is a very irresponsible thing to do.

Does not matter if you are the head of the department or a part of the team, being responsive to the people who connect with you is essential in every working environment.

That is why, to make you look professional at any time, auto-responding emails were created. You get a new mail in your mailbox, but you are unable to respond to it? Then, the out-of-office mail responder will do it instead of you. Amazing, huh?

This tool will save you a lot of nerves and time thinking about your unanswered emails. You will not even think that you will lose your contact with the colleagues and partners.

You will simply postpone your communication in a very polite manner.

Convenient

Imagine you are on a vacation and you need to relax fully. However, you are worried that your clients and associates would not know that you are unavailable.

So, you will be obliged to check your mailbox frequently during your vacation. That would not be much of a vacation, right? On the other hand, if you were attending a very important training for a couple of days and you are not available to check your mail – then you would not be focusing much on learning new things if you were constantly considered with your unanswered emails.

Out-of-office auto-responding emails are the synonym for the word ‘convenience’ in these situations. Just set up everything right and you are good to go.

The senders will be notified very quickly and they will be able to undertake other measures or contact other people if they have urgent issues.

We will also discuss what to do in cases of emergency down below.

Let’s people know why you are not available

It is indeed important to let your colleagues and partners know about your absences and about when you are going to be available again.

Some of them may have a vague understanding why you are missing from your work post; some may not have any idea of your whereabouts.

Sharing this information in your out-of-office reply, without any inconvenience to you, is the best solution.

In this case, your professional image will not be harmed by looking like you are absent from work without a reason. Therefore, if you are someone who values his/her work reputation, you should definitely consider setting up auto responding for the next time you are absent.

Won’t make you look unprofessional

Sometimes, you will be in a very difficult situation of not being able to answer to your colleagues, clients or partners in a timely manner. In their eyes, you will start to seem very unprofessional and arrogant, like someone who just ignores emails and considers them not important.

Therefore, to prevent this type of thing from happening, you should start considering setting auto-replying emails even for short absences from work.

So now that we have thoroughly discussed why these emails are important and why you should use them, let us discuss what you should include in your professional out-of-office emails.

8 EXAMPLES OF PROFESSIONAL OUT OF OFFICE EMAILS

All of the types of the emails discussed below are appropriate to use in any working environment. They are both informative and professional, as they give the essential information about your absence and when you will be back to work. This information can be shared with the emails senders in a creative way as well, while still keeping up with the professional standards.

Creative out-of-office emails are also appreciated and welcome in almost every working environment. Give freedom to your imagination and creative thinking; use the opportunity to write a memorable email to the person communicating with you.

Let us review few examples of the emails you should consider setting as auto responding emails before leaving your office.

The simplest one

The first and the shortest one is an email just containing vital information. What does the sender need to know? The most essential thing – for how long will you be unavailable.

When will they be able to reach you finally?

It can be clearly seen that the email above gives the most important details about your absence. This information should be enough for most of the people who will send you an email while you are away from work.

However, some of the senders may be willing to discuss with you some professional matters with certain deadlines.

What will you do in this situation?

Let us look at the next example.

A little more detailed but still a simple one

If you worry that the information in the previous example is not enough, you may also add an emergency contact. This will ensure that the person contacting you will be able to communicate their issues, offers, orders, etc., with whoever can cover for you while you are away.

In this case, you should provide names, work phone numbers or emails addresses to be able to help the email sender. Who knows what type of emergency this can be?

Let us see the example of such an email.

This is the example of the email you see the most when getting automatic reply emails and the most concisely written out-of-office email that provides everything the receiver needs to know.

An email that leads to a subscription

Aside from telling the sender the general information about your departure or unavailability, you may use this opportunity to lead the sender to a place you want them to be.

It may be a subscription offer to a newsletter, a link to a video or a website, etc. In other words, you can benefit in other ways from this communication moment – such as gaining a new client or a new mailing list subscriber.

So go ahead, insert a valid link or an invitation!

Definitely, after getting this email, the sender will be interested in the link and/or offer you provide.

Seize the opportunity and benefit from it later.

Who knows what clicking this link will result in?

An email that leads to social media

You may not have any hints, but the person who emails you while you are away from work can have a serious business opportunity for you.

In the automated out-of-office reply, you can add links to your social media professional pages or to your company’s webpage.

This bit of information will give more information to your sender about you/your company to keep them interested in pursuing the business matter when you return to work.

Alternatively, if the matter cannot wait until your return, they can try to reach you on the social media profiles you check while you are away.

This type of email is great for further relationship building and future cooperation between your company and the sender’s company or you and the sender himself/herself.

It will establish closer and friendlier relations between the two sides.

An information email

Besides the types of emails that lead to subscription and social media, let us discuss the last one that includes an information link or/and an attachment.

If you are waiting for someone to email you asking for any information clarification (or if people usually email you/your work position so you can give them some piece of information), then you can include this information in your out-of-office email message, as well as add links to useful sources about the subject matter.

In other words, this type of email will provide a link to materials that may be used by the sender of the email.

This way you will definitely give answers to the sender’s questions without answering personally.

Let us see it in the example.

Like this, you can still provide useful materials to those who may need your assistance while you are drinking cocktails on a beach.

A creative one

You will be taking a break from work soon, so you may as well use this opportunity to write a funny or creative email. A joke or a funny story will definitely be appreciated.

This type of out-of-office email will give you the chance to use your creativity to its fullest potential and you will nicely surprise your sender when they receive an email like this one:

Let your imagination run wild and write whatever you want (still appropriate in professional settings, of course).

You may use references from movies, TV shows or books, you may also tell a funny or interesting story.

I am sure that if you try you will definitely compile an out-of-office email more creative than the one above.

Add cute images to your mail

Who does not like cute puppies? In addition to the essential information, you can add an image to show you care about the sender or the planet. Adorable puppies, kittens or any other little animals that will give smile to everyone can be added to your out-of-office auto-reply email.

You can just find a free photo on the Internet to use for this kind of email, but your company culture will dictate the right type of photo you should select for this purpose.

This example is truly adorable and cute. However, not everyone will be willing to use it in his or her official communication. Some may even find it unprofessional or inappropriate to set such auto-responding email, so if in doubt – check with your supervisor.

Unleash the poet in you 

As we have already discussed out-of-office email examples with funny and cute content, it is now the time to exploring an example with a poem. Yes, you read it right – a poem.

Here again, you are free to use your creativity and writing talent.

Not that difficult, right? In a very short email here, you showed your awesomeness and at the same time, you gave the needed information to the sender. You should aim to be short and informative here. Here I also believe that you could write a better poem than I did, so work your writing magic.

Mix it all

In this article, I have managed to come up with several ideas on how to write both creative and formal out-of-office auto-reply emails – you are free to use any of those. In addition, you can use a mix of the above emails; just create a perfect one for you.

You may like the combination of a lead generator and add a funny story to it. You can also add images of cute puppies or kittens then write a poem and set it as your auto-responding email.

Depending on your company correspondence guidelines, you might be free to use your imagination, and express your own personality in the auto-reply emails your associates will get while you are away from work. Everyone has certain unique characteristics and there is no such thing as ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to writing out-of-office auto-reply emails.

CONCLUSION

In the digitalized world of ours, even one missed call or message may have drastic consequences for you, your career and your employer. Communicating your problems, absences and other important issues are vital to position you for success at your workplace. Quick responsiveness is a quality that people working with you will always appreciate.

Auto-responding emails are really a lifesaver nowadays and we should thank the people who created them. They are an easy way to notify people who get in touch with you about your absence from work, while your professional image in the eyes of your colleagues and partners will stay intact.