The holidays are coming closer and closer, which means it’s time for a VACATION!! Who doesn´t love a good break by the beach, a romantic getaway, or spending quality time with your family?
As you begin to pack up your bags and prepare to leave work for a few days, don’t forget to set up your Out of Office Reply on your email so people know you’re unreachable! These can get VERY boring, fast. We´ve come up with some good ideas to help put a little pep in your step.
Basic Information
This is the boring stuff and what usually these auto-responses dull, but it is necessary. You will need to include the basic information such as the beginning of your vacation until the end, so people know when they will be able to get ahold of you. Additionally, you will need to list a contact person in case of an urgent issue.
Now that that´s covered, let´s get creative …
Lead Generation
If you´d like to be productive while you’re away, and even try to maintain your sales speed, you could use your email responder as an opportunity to help with your lead generation. Some possible ideas:
- Include a link to an e-book, email course, or any marketing materials you have readily available
- Provide a link to your calendar to book a demo straight away, with your availability clearly marked when you return
- Link to your company´s most popular blog posts to get your leads to start visualizing how they can use your solution
Add a Quotation
Do you prefer for your leads to think of you as the scholarly type? Why not include a quotation from a famous author, poet or philosopher at the end? People will think you’re away reading Proust or writing a novel! Some ideas to get you going:
- “Leisure is the mother of philosophy” – Thomas Hobbes
- “The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone” – John Locke
- “Happiness is the highest good” – Aristotle
The “Don’t Bother Me”
If you really don’t want to be bothered, try a variation on Josh Kopelman´s auto-responder:
I am currently out of the office on vacation.
I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return – but that’s not true. My blackberry will be with me and I can respond if I need to. And I recognize that I’ll probably need to interrupt my vacation from time to time to deal with something urgent.
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:
- If your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please resend it to interruptyourvacation@firstround.com and I’ll try to respond to it promptly.
- If you think someone else at First Round Capital might be able to help you, feel free to email my assistant, Fiona (fiona@firstround.com) and she’ll try to point you in the right direction.
Otherwise, I’ll respond when I return…
Warm regards,
Josh
Go Crazy
Next up, why not get a little crazy? You are on vacation after all, no? And besides, humor is a great way for your future customers to remember you. We´ve got some fun ideas…
- Add a gif related to what you will be doing.
“Hey dudes! I’m out at surf school with my dog and couldn´t bring my laptop with, so I won´t be able to respond to your email until XX/XX date. If you need anything, ask my dog´s babysitter “xxxx@findthatlead.com” who can help you with anything you need. Sayonara!”
- Add some fun facts. Whoever is emailing you is probably sitting in the office, meanwhile you’re out enjoying yourself. Why not brighten their day and share some interesting facts? Google Facts is a great place to find ideas. Here´s a few…
“Pink “albino” dolphins are extremely rare but do exist in the wild.”
“Twitter has enough money in the bank to run for 412 years with current losses.”
“Steve Jobs was infamous for parking his Mercedes in handicap parking spots. He also didn’t use license plates.”
The sky is truly your limit! Don’t let your creativity hold you back – thinking of your auto-responder is the first step to your vacation.
Do you have any other great out of office replies? Let us know in the comments!
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