You go on vacation, and the emails pile up at home: we feel your pain.
While 82% of us check email while on vacation (wow!), your first day back from vacation shouldn’t be spent sorting through a mountain of email and taming email chaos.
80% of us use automated OOO messages – even for one-day vacations! Let’s take a look at why that is...
At their core, OOO replies are a courtesy for those trying to reach you. These messages can be critical to winning and retaining business especially if you're in customer-facing roles (e.g., Sales or Customer Success), .
In theory, OOO emails also allow you to fully unplug from your email by telling people not to expect a response. You don’t want someone who is trying to reach you to think you’re simply being unresponsive when in reality you’re lying on a beach, caravanning in Yellowstone, or going to a family reunion (you also just know that your vacation email inbox is probably piling up while you're away).
Using a polite, out of office autoresponder can bring peace of mind; you know that people who need a reply will either reset expectations or reach one of your colleagues.
However, an OOO message shouldn’t be a crutch. If you are concerned that someone might need you urgently, then that might be an indicator of a bigger problem. We should all strive to build teams and processes that run like clockwork when we are away.
Here’s a dirty little secret: SDRs not-so-secretly love getting your OOO in response to an email. It gives them information such as:
When you send an OOO response that includes information about who's covering for you, a classic SDR play is to:
Heck, there are even well-documented tactics that say the best time to email prospects is Thanksgiving week!
These deceptive tactics give aboveboard and respectful sellers a bad name, so much so that we created a best practices guide for sending emails with top revenue leaders like Samantha McKenna and Kris Rudeegraap, and sales and marketing orgs like Sendoso, GTMfund, RevGenius, Sales Assembly, and #samsales.
Here’s my recommendation for returning from vacation to a clean, peaceful inbox:
Wouldn’t it be nice to return from vacation and retain all of those good vacation feelings?
Get Gated to manage your OOO messages next time you're on vacation!
Originally published: August 16, 2021