Are you in or out?
Automatic "Out of office" messages are a great way of letting your clients know that their email has reach you but there will a delay in your response as you are out of the office. They take a few minutes to set up and can be a simple "I'm out of the office until X date" or they can have more details and give the contact details of someone else in your business who may be able help them in your absence.
It's a little touch that let's your clients know that you do care about them and that their email hasn't got lost in cyberspace.
But here's the important thing about them - you need to rememember to turn them off once you get back from your course/trade show/holiday/
Ask yourself this - if an out of office message says that the person you are trying to contact is away and will be back on Day X and then you look at the calendar and see that today (or even worse a few days ago!) was Day X, then what does that tell you? That they got the date wrong, that they've been abducted by aliens or that they just forgot.
Reasons 1 and 3 would make me wonder about their attention to detail and reason 2 - well that's a fair excuse!
Until next time
Clare Lauwerys
16 November 2009
PS See my guide on how to set your out of office message
It's written for my hosting customers but may be of use in other environments
