Out-of-office replies that actually help: what to write, who covers and when to switch it on

A customer writes on Monday morning with a question that needs an answer today. The reply they receive says: "I am out of the office and will respond on my return." There is no date, no name and no number. The customer does not know whether to wait a day or a month, so they write to a competitor.

Most small companies have an out-of-office reply, but few have a good one. It takes ten minutes to fix, and it is one of the cheapest ways to protect the customer experience during holidays and sick days.

What a useful reply contains

Keep it short enough to read on a phone. Five things are enough:

1. That you are away, in one plain sentence.
2. The return date. If you are not sure, give the earliest day you will answer, not the day you hope to be fully caught up.
3. Who covers, with a name, an email address and, if possible, a phone number.
4. What the covering person can do, for example "for orders and delivery questions". People contact the right person when they know what that person is for.
5. What happens to this message. Say whether it is forwarded, or whether you will read it on return.

An example:

Thank you for your message. I am away until Monday 3 November and will answer on my return. For orders and delivery questions please write to Anna at anna@example.com or call 000 000 000. If your question is about an invoice, write to billing@example.com. Your message is not forwarded, so please include the order number in your email to Anna.

Decide who covers before you write the reply

A reply that names a person who does not know about it is worse than no reply. Before the absence, agree three things with the covering person: which questions they handle, which they pass back to you and how fast they should respond. The same list belongs in your handover notes, as described in covering holidays and absence in a small team.

For a shared address such as info@ or sales@, the problem is different, because nobody is "away". Decide who watches it on each day, and put the schedule where everyone can see it. Our article on company email and shared calendar rules covers naming and ownership.

When to switch it on

Switch it on the evening before your last working day, or on the morning of the day you leave at the latest. Do not wait for the first message to arrive while you are away. Many email programs allow a start and an end date. Use them, so the reply stops by itself and nobody has to remember to turn it off.

For a sick day, the reply is usually written in a hurry. Keep a saved short version ready, with the covering person already filled in, so that anyone in the team can switch it on for a colleague when needed.

Two versions are better than one

Customers and colleagues need different information. Most programs let you set a reply for people inside the company and another for outsiders.

• Customers and suppliers get the version above: a return date, a covering person, and a way to reach them.
• Colleagues need less polish and more detail: where the open work is, what can wait and how to reach you in a real emergency.

Do not give customers your private phone number unless you have decided that you want to be reached on holiday. If an emergency route is needed, make it a company number that someone on duty answers.

What to avoid

• A reply with no return date.
• A covering person who has not been told.
• "I have limited access to email", when in fact you will not check it at all. Customers will wait for an answer that never comes.
• A long apology or a description of where you are going.
• Leaving the reply on for weeks after you return.
• Replies in one language only, if a large part of your customers write in another.

Check that it works

Once or twice a year, and always before the summer and winter breaks, send a message to your own address from an outside account, for example a private mailbox. Look at three things:

• Does the reply arrive, and does it arrive once rather than for every message in a long thread?
• Are the names, addresses and dates correct?
• Does the covering person actually see the messages they are meant to handle?

It is also worth reading the reply as a customer would. If you cannot tell from it what to do next, rewrite it.

When the reply is not enough

An out-of-office reply is a notice, not a substitute for coverage. If your company depends on fast email answers, for instance in sales or support, someone must read the inbox during the absence. A reply that promises an answer in two weeks to a customer who expects one in two hours will lose the customer however well it is written.

If the same questions arrive in every absence, a short automatic reply with answers to the three most common ones can reduce the load. This is the sort of small email setup that marketing systems can build once and keep up to date.

A simple start

1. Write one reply for customers and one for colleagues, using the five points above.
2. Agree with the covering person what they handle and tell them the dates.
3. Set the start and end date in your email program, so the reply stops by itself.
4. Save a ready short version for sick days.
5. Send a test message from an outside address before every longer absence.

Sources

• This article describes a working routine and makes no statistical claims. The related WVI articles linked above cover absence cover and shared email rules.