Tips for Crafting the Perfect Out-of-Office Email

culled from:wired.com

• Keep it brief. The emailer may now have to send an email to someone else. Don’t make him or her read through a novel to find out who this person is. They won’t.
• Indicate how long you’ll be out. This should minimize repeat offenders from filling your inbox until they know you’re actually back.
• Don’t be condescending, and don’t instill jealousy. You’ll just undo all the goodwill you’ve established with that “thank you” at the beginning of your message. They might even send you additional emails out of revenge.
• That doesn’t mean you can’t be funny. Or creative. Show your personality! Let them know you’re sipping piña coladas on the beach or trapped in the car with shrieking child. Maybe even cultivate mystery: If you don’t want to share your plans with the world, go with something like “I’m on a top secret mission and unable to divulge my whereabouts.”
• Triple check for typos. The last thing you want is an inbox filled with face palms or LOLs at a grammar mistake or embarrassing typo.
• Make sure your autoreply only sends once per contact. So that if another coworker is also on vacation, your accounts don’t get into an out-of-office ping pong message war (which, while funny for about .8 seconds, is really just hell for everyone involved).

At the end of your message, be sure to list the contact information for the person running things in your stead. Include their name, phone number, and email address, if applicable. This way, follow-up emails aren’t sent to you, further crowding your inbox and increasing the likelihood that important messages will get lost in the deluge when you get back.