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How to prepare "closed for vacation" emailings

Imagen How to prepare "closed for vacation" email

Summer vacations have a special place in the planning of email marketing campaigns. Depending on the type of business, it can be a period of intense work or the complete opposite. If we focus on the latter option, the key question is: Should we continue sending emails? Keeping the customer informed is important, so we recommend that you carefully consider your response and strategy.

Beforehand, notify about the closure

Perhaps in your company, you have shifts in the office to continue accepting orders, or you set up an answering machine because everyone is leaving and there will be no one available. There are many possibilities between staying open all summer and closing completely.

Whatever the corporate decision, it is necessary to notify the customer so they know how it affects them, if at all. For example:

Add notices in previous mailings: include a text block or an image that explains dates, hours, and conditions during the summer vacation. If you close in August, you can include an initial notice in June in case someone stops reading the one in July because they are already on vacation.
Schedule a newsletter as a notice: if you have a monthly newsletter, you can schedule one where you explain that the team is on vacation and you wish the customers a happy break (like a Christmas card). This way of maintaining the rhythm of mailings is suitable for service-based companies with physical offices.
Create a campaign specifically to inform about the changes: this option is the most direct and appropriate for online stores or businesses where it is expected that some orders may continue to arrive. B2B companies, on the other hand, are less likely to experience this because they usually know the vacation periods of their industry in advance.

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Review the "out of office" responses from previous summers to find out when your subscribers take their vacations.

"Closed for Vacation" campaigns

In personal accounts, it is common to use automatic responses, and the same information should be included in the corporate message received by those who register, make purchases, or contact the newsletter's mailing address while the company is officially closed for vacation. For example:

Time period: both in the subject line and the body, it should be clear the range of days or weeks affected by the summer break.
Calm down the user: explain that their order or message has been received successfully, that no payments have been lost, but that it will be processed later.
Next steps: generally, the user doesn't need to take any action, but let them know if they can check their account area for information or their order status.
Emergencies: if there is a contact number for special cases, provide it along with reasons in which it should be used to avoid unnecessary overload.
Gratitude: even though you have already notified them, not all subscribers will know that you are closed for vacation. Therefore, express your gratitude for their understanding that the team deserves a break.

Before you go: make sure these automated messages are working!

Afterward, proceed with caution

During the three months of summer, some companies have intensive workdays before closing and returning to regular schedules. Adjust your communications considering that not everyone will return at the same time: even if you do, others may still be disconnected or perhaps waiting to go on vacation.

When is the right time to resume the rhythm? With back-to-school, happening in September. Additionally, each place starts on a different day, so it's best to consider mid-September as the ideal date to send communications similar to those before summer.

In the meantime, you can focus on more informative campaigns rather than promotional ones, just to remind your subscribers that you are open again, attending to summer requests, and ready to receive new inquiries or contacts.

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