An out-of-office auto-responder is a great tool to let customers know that you are unavailable. These types of auto-responders are handy for personal and shared inboxes to let people know you won't be able to respond quickly.
In this article, you will learn:
- When to use Email Auto-Responders
- How to setup Email Auto-Responders using Inbox Rules
When to Use Email Auto-Responders
Auto-responders are excellent tools to provide your customers with a line of communication. See some common scenarios below when an auto-responder comes in handy.
Common Auto-Responder Scenarios
- Vacation - One of the more common reasons for setting up an auto-responder would be when you plan to go on vacation and want to set the expectation when you will get back to them. Best practices would be to include the following:
- The timeframe you will be out
- Someone on your team who they can reach in your absence
- Extended Medical Leave - Set an auto-responder when you will be out of the office for an extended amount of time. These types of auto-responders will be set for a longer duration with the potential forwarding of the conversation to another teammate.
- Holiday Schedules - Any time your office might be closed in observance of a holiday you can set up an auto-responder that lets customers know:
- When your office will be closed.
- When your office will reopen.
- Any phone numbers to reach staff or vendors in the event of an emergency.
- After-Hours Maintenance/Emergencies - A great auto-responder to have on throughout the year if you would like to let customers with maintenance issues know that your team received their request and when they might expect a reply following your set business hours. These auto-responders can also include troubleshooting for common issues (ie. plumbing, electrical, appliances, etc) and emergency maintenance phone numbers.
- Properties That Are No Longer Available - You can let a prospect know that a property isn't available and redirect them to another listing. These types of auto-responders can be set up as an Automation on your Leasing Board and connected to a specific property. Learn more about Automations here.
How to Setup Auto-Responders Using Inbox Rules
Once you’ve identified the reason for an Auto-Responder, you can begin to create a new Inbox Rule.
Open up Inbox Rules by clicking on Inbox Configuration from the bottom of the Inbox Menu panel (Pane 1) > Inbox Rules > Click on the + Add a New Rule option in the header of the inbox rules window.
Create the Inbox Rule
The interactive image below gives details about each field in the Inbox Rule Editor. There are detailed steps below as well.
- Give your inbox rule a title that describes the Auto-Responder (ex: Office Closed - Holiday).
- Choose the inbox where the auto-responder (rule) will be applied. Any email that enters the specified inbox and also meets the conditions of this Inbox Rule will receive an immediate email in return.
- Choose the condition that causes the auto-responder email to send. Some of the common conditions for auto-responders include:
- Any Email - Use this option to send the auto-responder on any emails that come into the selected inbox. An Inbox Rule with this setting will remain active until you pause it.
- Date Range - Use this option to set an auto-responder that will be sent between two dates.
- Time Range - Use this option when you are looking to set up an after-hours style rule that will be sent on designated days of the week and between specified hours of the day. For this type of Inbox Rule, click here to see the setup for an After Hours Auto-Responder.
- Certain Contact Types - Send an auto-reply to only your Owners and Tenants.
Use an OR condition if you want to include several types of incoming emails. For example, if you want to make sure all owners are receiving the auto-responder along with a specific email address, you can include both situations.
- Select the action that will trigger once your condition has been met. For an auto-responder, select Reply to Email. Once per Conversation is the default choice to avoid sending multiple emails every time the same person sends a message in the thread.
- Select who should receive the auto-response. The options include just the sender or everyone that's been included in the conversation.
- Choose the email template that will be used when replying with the auto-responder. This will open a new window where you can select from an existing template or create a new one.
- Send As: Choose how the auto-responder will show as sent from. If using the rule in your personal inbox, select Use the inbox name.
- If you don't want to start the rule immediately, simply toggle on Stop Processing until you are ready to begin processing the rule.
- Click the Save button. Your new rule will appear in the list of inbox rules as activated. A new rule will only be triggered on future incoming conversations.