Gone but not forgotten

Your out of office message is a really good opportunity to engage with your clients or customers and show a bit of personality. But it’s so often wasted.

Phrases like ‘annual leave’ and ‘I’ll respond to your message upon my return’ are boring, sterile and overused. Why not say you’re on holiday and you’ll give them a call when you get back? It’s much friendlier.

As well as all the nuts and bolts info, like who to call while you’re away, why not tell your readers a bit about where you’re off to?

Our Neil and Anelia like to include interesting facts about the places they’re visiting. The other day Anelia spent the morning at a meeting in the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell*. And Neil spent a few days looking out of his window at the tallest building in the world**.

Or you could tell them what you’re up to. Last week our Emma was doing one of the five most stressful things in the world ever – moving house. And Natasha was testing her rusty Spanish skills to the limit in Mallorca.

So give it a try next time you need to write an out of office message. Think of it like writing a postcard before you’ve even left.

*Cambridge.

**The Burj Khalifa in Dubai.