With the holidays approaching, there’s going to be a flurry of Out-Of-Office (aka OOO) auto-reply emails, not unlike the snow squalls we experience in Toronto. These cardboard cutout messages typically look like this:
“Thanks for your email. I’ll be out of office from Dec — to Jan —.
If it’s urgent, please contact —.”
I don’t know about y’all, but that’s as dry as the toast you forgot in the toaster this morning. As mentioned in my podcast with Koyoti Inc., your brand identity is a part of every touch point. And that includes your emails.
Also, is it just me, but every time I see OOO, I’m tempted to say out loud, “OOOOooooOOOOoooOOO!”
Take a vacation…
and tell everyone about it
When I left for a Rockies roadtrip in October, I took two weeks off to unwind and ground myself. But I couldn’t leave y’all stranded without knowledge of my whereabouts – that’s hella rude.
But being a writer, I had to put some craft into it like Muhammed Ali. Sure, I could have done the easy copy-paste, but I’m coming for the knockout.
Ali didn’t just go to press conferences and simply answer questions. He responded with character and poetry – something that would make him memorable. Aside from being a great boxer, he’s immortalized in our collective consciousness because of his charm, lingual athleticism, and activism.
And I want all my comms to be an extension of the message I’ve been touting around.
Here’s my Out-of-Office auto-reply email from October. What makes it effective? It gets to the point (I’m gone!); tells you what I’m doing for relatability (OMG I went through the Rockies too!); and there’s an unexpected twist.
Check it out below! And feel free to reach out – let’s chat email marketing!
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