How To Make Money From Your Out-Of-Office Email

Did you know you could use your out-of-office emails to make more sales of your products and services, increase awareness of the kinds of things you sell, and increase the respect that your potential customers and clients have for you?

I'm going to guess no. If so, you're in good company because I never thought of an out-of-office email as being a business-growing tool until I received this little gem from IttyBiz customer Alli Worthington.

So I'm going to show you her out-of-office email, tell you all the little ways it sets her up for potential growth, and then you can use that as a template for building an out-of-office email that can help your business grow, too.

Let's take a look at Alli's out-of-office email:

Ok, now let's break it down.

There are three scenarios that this out-of-office email covers:

Anyone with a time-sensitive message
Members of her coaching community program
Anyone looking to consider her for a speaking / event request

We have an opening and a closing in this email, but we'll ignore that for the moment to look at the part that leads to money. :)

Here's “what is said” vs. “what is communicated” or “what these sentences lead people to think”. (Note: I'm not implying Alli is intentionally trying to communicate these things with her 3 points, but these sentences do have positive side effects.)

#1 – Anyone with a time-sensitive message.

What is said: “If the message is time sensitive – connect with my assistant at [email protected].”

What is communicated: “You will be taken care of while I am gone + By the way, I have assistants, which indicates I have more of an established business and I have my stuff together.”

If you don't have a lot of familiarity with a person (or even if you do), this can easily make a person feel like they're dealing with a professional. That may lead to you deciding to look into their business more closely to see if they have anything that you want, and can increase your trust in them even before you do so. There's money at the end of that journey.

#2 – Members of her coaching community program.

What is said: “Called Creatives questions? Email [email protected].”

What is communicated: “You will be taken care of while I am gone + By the way, I have this program”.

People in Alli's program who receive this message can think “Ahh. Now I know who to email, thanks.” People NOT in Alli's program can see that and think “Umm, what is this? I think I'm going to check it out.”

Now, Alli could have directly linked the initial “Called Creatives” to her website, but she hasn't, I'm guessing because she truly is speaking to people who are already in. But, if it were linked, she has additional potential to get new eyes on her program. There's money at the end of that journey, too, whether it's through a direct link, or from people seeing the contact email address and typing in the domain name manually.

#3 – Anyone looking to consider her for a speaking / event request.

What is said: “Speaking and event requests? [email protected]”

What is communicated: “If you have these requests here's who to contact + By the way, I speak at events for money.”

People who were getting in touch for speaking requests now have an alternate contact address to use while Alli's out of the office. People who were getting in touch for other reasons can see this and think, “Maybe I want to look into her for a future event” or “Wow, she's in-demand enough that she's fielding speaking requests. She's a bigger deal than I realized.” There's money at the end of these journeys, too.

With an out-of-office email like this, there's a solid chance Alli might find requests for speaking and joining her coaching community waiting in her inbox when she returns. Or, while she's gone, people might go to her website and buy her products and books.

Kind of takes the edge off of returning to work, doesn't it? :)

You can use this out-of-office email as a template to get your business growing, too.

Remember that the overall message here is that you're not trying to use your out-of-office email as a direct sales tool, you're using the information that you were going to say anyway as an opportunity to increase exposure for the things you sell.

But! Maybe you weren't going to say any of these things in the first place – you were just going to say “I'm out, I'll be back later”. Or perhaps you were just going to tell people to get in touch with your assistant.

Now you can say so much more.

My current out-of-office email is like that – it just says I'm out and tells people to get in touch with the IttyBiz ninjas in the meantime for time-sensitive issues.

But now I could add things like:

“If you're a current copywriting client, contact [email protected] and they'll answer your questions.”

“If you're writing in to suggest a topic for the Naomi Explains Marketing podcast, contact the ninjas and they'll confirm receipt of your suggestion.”

“If you've bought a product from the Karma Store and need assistance, contact the ninjas and they'll take good care of you.”

“If you're requesting to be featured on the blog in a customer profile, no need to do anything – I'll get back to you when I return.”

Now, I'll put links into all these things because I actively want people to check out my services, the podcast, the Karma Store, etc.. But they're not necessary. I just like increasing the odds. :)

And if you want to get REALLY funky, you can add a tricked-out email signature to provide even more links to things that will make you money. If you haven't read How To Make Money From Your Email Signature, take a look.

Can I interest you in a high-five?

If you decide to rewrite your out-of-office email with these things in mind, and you'd like some validation for a job well-done, feel free to email me and show me your handiwork. I'll give you a virtual high-five for being the rockstar you are.

In the meantime, if you're looking for other useful things to read, you'll find plenty of them right over here.

Take care,