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The holiday season is coming, and the number one thing you would like to do before packing your bags or planning your trip is to write an out-of-office email. The vacation season falls at different times at different places across the globe, and you need to keep your auto-replies in place before you head towards a happy vacation. If you are thinking about writing an amazing out-of-office email for your auto respondent, I got your back. I am bringing up the list of top 10 amazingly creative out-of-office emails backed by marketers and email developers that you can use this holiday season. Read the article to get inspired:
#1 Ann Handley’s Auto Reply
Ann Handley is one of the renowned digital marketers who is also known for her sense of humor. In the below auto-response, she has sprinkled some clever creativity, personalization, and warmth instead of the two-line cold replies that we see almost everywhere. This can surely be an inspiration for anyone willing to catch the reader’s attention and make them smile even while away.
#2 Guess Where Amanda Is
Amanda works at HubSpot, and she came with a unique auto respondent that asked her contacts to guess where she is. To give background, she flew down to Boston to attend a Red Sox training game in the spring with her father. She chose to ask her contacts whether where they think she might be, and also this played some wonderful use of litotes here:
#3 Die Hard Out-Of-Office Email
Creativity is thinking outside the inbox when it comes to email marketing, and this email took it way too seriously, for good. Instead of assigning a task to the receiver, this auto-reply asks the sender to complete a survey on which is the best flick from the Die Hard franchise. Any Bruce Wills fan here? Let us know your choice in the comments!
#4 Troy McClure, Paul Sokol, And The Saga
The dialogue “You may remember me from..” by Troy McClure is uncannily iconic for all Simpsons fans. It has also evolved into an autoresponder saga. By the time the reader realizes that they are going to wait a while, they would have already had the fun of reading this hilarious convo. Have a look at this funny out of office reply and see if your associates would love to hear it:
#5 Gone Camping With Family: Curse Or Blessing
This email is humorous because anyone going on a family trip knows the ups and downs of having everyone together on the table. Harry’s both sarcastic and light-hearted same time giving us this amazing getaway auto-reply that most of us couldn’t agree more to:
#6 Gini Dietrich’s Ode To Field Of Dreams
When it comes to creativity, relatability is the biggest asset when it comes to appealing masses. Gini is a PR maestro, and his out of office reply strikes the right chords effortlessly. He refers to Field Of Dreams, and the overall message is strikingly convincing. It instils a sense of empathy for Gini, and one cannot fail to appreciate the creative value, thanks to the filmic reference. They are most likely to be happy about Gini’s OOO truce and won’t mind even if he stays out for some more time! Have a look at it:
#7 Unapologetically Real
This is something I recommend doing only after you understand the dynamics of your workplace and your clientele. If it falls under the “okay” category, this unapologetically real out of office email can be a talking point when you return to your cubicle. It’s a short, simple, and sweet yet savage email. You can tweak the wording to write a bit of a diplomatic message based on your organization.
#8 The Comfort OOO
Using email copy creatively can go miles when using an autoresponder. The mundane, repetitive language is the number one reason behind people sighing and not the unavailability of the concerned person. Getting creative with the email copy can de-escalate the frustration and even put a smile on their face. Everyone needs a break, and words can convey it beautifully like this example.
#9 Poetry @ OOO
If you are going out of office but still leave something interesting for your contacts like poetry, that’s something really out of the box. This is a truly amazing OOO message, and reverting with poetry will surely make the receiver read it twice as emails are the last place one imagines reading poetries. Especially closing with “If all else fails, clear your cache…” is one good way of telling people that they will need proper help and it will anyway take time before they’re all set. Have a look at it here:
#10 Empathetic And Savage
I saved this one for the last example. It’s exactly what anyone would like to say when an associate messages them regarding any work during the holiday season. It talks about the ‘me time’ and also shares empathy for the sender. Especially, asking the sender to order the Pepperoni Pizza after stating the date of return is a fab movie. One of the best ways to display empathy is being humorous as it doesn’t put the other person into pressure- it makes way for helping them take the situation lightly!
Wrap Up
Guiding them regarding who to talk to within your absence is surely a part of being responsible for your work, but it’s not necessary to make it boring. Auto replies are extremely common in today’s world with 306.4B daily emails, and taking your contacts by surprise will give them a reason to smile even if they don’t get your help personally. In this article, I have tried to include both out-of-the-box email copies and use of multimedia so that you can get inspired by what suits your workplace. I hope you find this post helpful for the upcoming holiday season.
About us
Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest growing full service email marketing agency that specializes in crafting professional email templates for business, PSD to HTML email conversion and HTML email templates design and coding. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.
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