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A Guide to Sending Out Canned Responses When You’re Busy as Hell

Canned respones

There are innumerable fundamental forces that govern life, some more prevailing than others. There is one however that has stuck. It’s almost an intoxicating drug to some and a downright necessity to others. 

In nature, both predator and prey rely on it for survival. As humans, we use it, manipulate it, rely on it and so much more. If it isn’t obvious still, the phenomenon in question is speed! Speed is an obsession for most. It dictates so many facets of our lives that we have adjusted to take it for granted.

However, speed is in everything we do. From the moment we get up in the morning we’re all in a race, either to get to school, to work, earn that extra dollar or just simply to save time. Time is another constraint that forces us to go faster and faster. As mortal beings we all have limited time on this earth. 

In the business world for example there is a common saying, “Time is money”.  This is more than a statement, It is in fact a hard wired truth. If you take 5 minutes extra to close a deal that is 5 minutes less you have to close the next one. If you ignore and let this loss of time accumulate then you won’t survive long in the business world.

So it is not much of a surprise that even when we communicate we want to do it at speed. The most ideal form of communication to us is one that is clear but most importantly FAST! In customer service, speed can often be a key component in determining a 5 star rating. You aren’t simply expected to talk and solve queries but also do it quickly. 

This is where canned responses come in. If done properly, they can shave off hours or days in some cases from your response time. They have quickly become standard practice for most if not all businesses that rely on their responsiveness to keep their customers happy and  the revenue flowing. 

What is a canned response?

Canned responses are standard pre-written responses to frequently asked questions. For example, “How do I talk to a customer representative?” or “Where can I find your product list?” 

Whether you work in sales, service or support, agents are asked these questions close to a thousand times a day. Imagine the time wasted if all these queries which effectively have similar answers were to be answered manually each time. It’s simply criminal! 

Canned responses however are not to be confused with automated responses as those are a different type of response. Although canned responses can be automated, automated responses themselves are largely impersonal and abrupt. Canned responses can be highly personalized and have a much warmer tone to them. 

Why are canned responses important for online businesses?

Why are canned responses important?
Importance of canned response

To an online business canned responses are simply a necessity nowadays. There are so many benefits to using canned responses that businesses that don’t use them simply can’t keep up with the ones that do. Let’s talk about some of these benefits.

  • Lower response times: The average typist can bang out close to 40 to 50 words per minute and some professional ones can get up to 70 words. Impressive as it is, it still means an average response time of 1 message per minute for the most ideal scenario. Canned responses can chop it down to under 10 seconds. That is simply unprecedented as this means your agents can respond faster, which in turn will keep customers more than satisfied and therefore happy with your service.  
  • Customer experience and satisfaction: 90% of customers prefer an immediate response when they reach out to customer service. 60% of customers define “immediate” as within 10 minutes or less. So imagine the kind of satisfaction you can instill in your customers if you can respond in under 5 minutes or a minute in some cases. 
  • Increased productivity for your agents: Doing repetitive tasks on a wide scale can dampen any person’s desire and hunger to work. Repetition although can be helpful, over time depreciates into ineffectuality. With canned responses your agents can tackle these wide scale repetitive responses efficiently without having to exert much of their own mental strength. This frees them up to be more productive and helpful when responding to support or service requests that require greater attention. This further drives customer satisfaction and in turn revenue for your business. 
  • Improve quality and eliminate human error: To maintain brand image and quality it is essential that information disseminated by your service team is indistinguishable. With canned responses it is possible to keep information uniform across all agents. This effectively eliminates any human error that can result from doing repetitive tasks. 
  • Personalized approach: 73% of customers will abandon brands after 3 or more negative support experiences. Automated responses can sound robotic and cold. These kinds of responses can put off customers and give them an impression that the company doesn’t really care about them. This results in a tarnished brand experience for the customer. Canned responses on the other hand can be highly personalized and make the customer feel valued and respected. 
  • Scalability: We’ve already discussed that canned responses reduce response time. A direct consequence of this is that it automatically sets your business up for scalability. With canned responses you can reach more customers, in less time and reduce the number of unattended customers and no substantial strategic input is needed on your end. This helps keep costs down as well. 
  • Branding consistency: Canned responses allow you to keep information consistent and personal at the same time. This kind of powerful duality allows you to keep your brand message and tone consistent across all channels. This further builds credibility with your customers and reinforces loyalty. 

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Where and how to use canned responses?

Where and how to use canned responses?

Where?

Canned responses have various use cases. Most sustained use of canned responses can be found in emails, chat, direct messages etc. Some of the most common uses are:

Sales outreach and recruitment emails

You can create templates for cold email outreach and recruitment with personalized name tags such as [First name] or [Last name]. You can even incorporate meeting links, contact details, company demos into your canned response and automate it to reach prospects as soon as they give you the opportunity to get in contact.

For recruitment, canned responses help with scalability. You can reach more people when hiring and also set up appropriate feedback, acceptance or rejection emails.

Social media

Social media is the biggest marketing platform that currently exists. All companies starting from small to mid to enterprise level create channels for their customers to reach out to them. It could be Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter whichever platform your business is on, it is important to create canned responses for when customers reach out to you. 

In the case of social media, canned responses are also necessary because of the amount of trolling you can receive. It is simply not an effective strategy to manually deal with these problems. This is where canned responses come in clutch!

Customer support/service emails

In customer service a chunk of queries are all essentially the same. Product related questions, return, refund, exchange requests and pricing related questions. With a bit of strategy and planning, canned responses can be developed for all these different scenarios.

This reduces customer response time and boosts customer satisfaction levels even higher.  

Live chat

Live chat is a fairly new addition to customer service channels but it has revolutionized customer service. On its own, live chat has already reduced response times and improved support effectiveness but with the aid of canned responses it is possible to ramp up your customer service to never before reached heights. 

Customer interaction over live chat usually follows a set routine that may include a casual greeting followed by addressing their issue. For the most part, customers just need to be directed to a resource that will help with the issue resolution. It  is possible to craft canned responses for these scenarios because most interactions and queries end up being the same. 

How?

Canned responses have certain conventions that need to be followed in order to ensure maximum effectiveness. Here are some of the rules and design norms to keep in mind when crafting your own canned responses. 

Generating FAQs beforehand

Proactiveness is more desirable than reactiveness. It is a bad strategy to wait for questions and then create a response. If you have a product, think of all the questions and queries that can be asked about the product. Consult with your team and brainstorm.

Pull data from past emails, phone logs, chats. Once you have a list of possible FAQs then it usually takes little to no effort in developing canned responses. 

Maintain a repository 

After figuring out future FAQs and sorting through current ones, it is essential to create a directory of canned responses which is efficiently categorized. Establish proper search methods so that when your agents face a mundane query, they can pull a pre-designed canned response from that directory. 

Keep it informative and short

It goes without saying, responses have to be short, concise and as informative as possible. Always strive to be actionable, clear and quick when it comes to crafting responses. Remember, no customer wants to spend hours going back and forth with support agents. 

Mix automation and personalisation

80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase if they receive a personalized response. However, this doesn’t mean the whole message has to be personalized. The body of the message can have a warm, personal tone to it but some aspects of the message such as the customers first and last names can be automated.

This approach will ensure utmost speed when crafting responses while retaining that warm personal touch of a canned response. 

Develop CTAs

Develop as many Call-To-Action (CTA)  you can think of while developing canned responses. They are very handy in cutting through all the unnecessary small talk of a conversation. 

They help define a clear path of action for the customer and lets them quickly communicate their issue to an agent. This results in faster resolution.  

Categorize and order

Organization of your canned responses drastically improves their usability. Categorizing them under specific scenarios such as greetings, feedback, acknowledgement, promotional offers and then assigning specific tags to your responses can help your agent search and invoke them faster. 

Keep them updated and relevant

When it comes to canned responses you need to be constantly vigilant. Your customer base is always growing with new and different questions being raised all the time. You need to stay on top of updating your canned responses to answer all sorts of new queries. 

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#20 Scenarios of canned responses for customer support along with examples

Canned responses for customer support

There are a lot of different scenarios where canned responses are used and there are even more ways to write them. So let’s take a look at some of these different scenarios and examples of what a canned response may look like. 

Customer onboarding

Example 1:

Thank you [First name] for signing up! We are excited to have you on board. We are here to help you get the most out of our services. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any assistance. We look forward to helping you succeed.

Example 2:

Thank you [First name]  for your interest in our product! We are excited to have you onboard.
Please provide us with the following information so we can assist you adequately:

1. Your full name
2. Your email address
3. Your physical address
4. Your phone number

Once we have this information, we can get you set up and provide you with access to our product. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to help.

Enquiry/FAQs

Example 1:

Thank you [First name] for your inquiry. We are happy to help! Please provide us with more information so we can better assist you.

Example 2:

Thank you [First name] for contacting us. We appreciate your interest and will respond to your inquiry shortly.

Example 3:

Thank you [First name] for reaching out. We will review your inquiry and get back to you soon.

Acknowledgement

Example1:

Thank you [First name] for your message. We appreciate you taking the time to reach out.

Example 2:

[First name], we have received your inquiry and will respond as soon as possible.

Example 3:

Thank you [First name] for contacting us. We will be in touch shortly.

Marketing campaigns

Example 1:

We are currently running several marketing campaigns and are always open to new ideas. Please let us know what kind of campaigns you have in mind and we will be happy to discuss them further.

Example 2:

We would love to hear your ideas and see how we can work together to create a successful campaign. Our team is dedicated to creating innovative and effective marketing campaigns that will help us reach our goals.

Offering additional information

Example 1:

Thank you [First name] for bringing this issue to our attention. I’m sorry to hear that you are having trouble with [issue]. Can you please provide me with some additional information(ie; screenshot, video demo, description) so I can better understand the issue and help you find a solution?

Example 2:

I apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything else I can help you with? Alternatively, I can provide you with a few other options that may help resolve the issue.

Transfer of request

Example 1:

Thank you for reporting your issue. We have transferred your request to another expert agent who can better assist you. Please expect a response from them shortly. Thank you for your patience.

Example 2:

Thank you for your request. I am happy to transfer your request to another representative who may be able to provide you with more information. Please allow me a few moments to locate the best expert for your needs. I will be in touch shortly.

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Booking demo or appointment

Example 1:

Thank you for your interest in booking a demo or appointment with us. We are happy to accommodate your request. Please provide us with the following information so that we can arrange a suitable time for your appointment:
 
– Your name and contact information 
– Preferred date and time 
– Any specific questions or topics you would like to discuss 

We look forward to hearing from you and helping you with your needs. Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Example 2:

We are delighted with your interest in our product. Here’s a [link] for a complete demo or do reach out to our Sales team [here] to book an appointment.

Product updates

Example 1:

We’ve just released a new version of our product with some exciting new features! Check it out and let us know what you think!

Example 2:

We’ve just made some major improvements to our product – check it out and let us know what you think!

Example 3:

We’ve just released a new version of our product with some awesome new features! Try it out and let us know what you think!

Follow up emails after purchase

Example 1:

Dear [First Name], 

Thank you for your purchase! We hope you are enjoying [insert product]. 

We wanted to follow up to make sure you are happy with your purchase and to see if there is anything else we can do to help. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We are here to help. 
Thank you again for your business. 

Sincerely, 
[Agent Name]

Example 2:

Dear [First Name], 

Thank you for your recent purchase from [Company Name]. We hope you are enjoying your new [item]. 

We would love to hear your feedback about your experience with us. Please take a few moments to leave a review on our website or on social media. Your feedback helps us to continue to provide the best service possible. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your purchase, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help. 

Thanks again for your business. 

Sincerely, 
[Agent Name] 
[Company Name]

Sharing company updates

Example 1:

Stay up to date with the latest news and updates from our company by following us on social media and subscribing to our email newsletter. We regularly post new information about our products and services, as well as upcoming events and promotions.

Example 2:

We’re always looking for ways to keep our customers informed about our company. Visit our website for the latest news and updates on our products and services, as well as upcoming events and promotions. You can also follow us on social media for the latest updates.

Provide shipping updates

Example 1:

Your order is on its way! You can expect to receive it within 5-7 business days.

Example 2:

Your package has been shipped and is currently in transit. You can track its progress using the tracking number provided in your shipment confirmation email.

Invitation to join loyalty programs

Example 1:

We invite you to join our [Enter company name] community and start earning rewards today! As a member, you’ll enjoy exclusive discounts, early access to sales, and more. Sign up now and start saving!

Example 2:

Welcome to our [Enter company name] community program! As a member, you’ll get access to exclusive offers, discounts, and rewards. Sign up now and start taking advantage of all the benefits!

Responding to product reviews

Example 1:

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We value your opinion and are always looking for ways to improve our products.

Example 2:

We appreciate your review and are glad to hear that you are enjoying our product. Thank you for your support!

Sending anniversary or Birthday wishes

Example 1:

Wishing you a very happy anniversary/birthday! May your day be filled with joy and love.

Example 2:

Sending you lots of love and best wishes on your anniversary/birthday. May you have a wonderful day!

Offering assistance with account setup

Example 1:

Thank you for your interest in our services! We would be more than happy to help you set up your account. Please let us know if you have any questions or need assistance getting started.

Example 2:

We understand setting up an account can be confusing. Our team is here to help you get started. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need assistance with your account setup.

Confirming orders

Example 1:

Thank you for your order! We have received your order and it is being processed. You will receive a confirmation email shortly with your order details.

Example 2:

Your order has been successfully placed! We will begin processing your order and you will receive a confirmation email shortly with your order details.

Denying customers

Example 1:

Dear [First Name],

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, we are unable to fulfill your request at this moment. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely, 
[Agent Name]

Example 2:

Dear [First Name],

Thank you for your interest in our [product/service]. We appreciate your enthusiasm and value your feedback.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your request for a [new feature/discount]. We understand that this may be disappointing, but we have to prioritize certain features and discounts that are in line with our current business objectives.

We hope you understand and continue to be a valued customer.

Sincerely,
[Agent Name]

Collecting feedback

Example 1:

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. We value your opinion and appreciate your input.

Example 2:

We are sorry to hear that you had a negative experience. Could you please tell us more about what happened?

Example 3:

We are glad to hear that you are satisfied with our product/service. Could you please tell us what you liked about it?

Issue resolution 

Example 1:

I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. I have taken the necessary steps to resolve the issue and you should now be able to use the product/service as expected. Please let me know if you have any further issues.

Example 2:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are currently looking into this issue and will provide a resolution as soon as possible.

Example 3:

We apologize for the trouble this issue has caused. We are currently working on a resolution and will be in contact with an update as soon as it is available.

Wrap up

Example 1:

Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. I am glad to have been able to help you resolve the issue. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a great day!

Example 2:

We understand your frustration and we apologize for the inconvenience. We are currently investigating the issue and will provide you with an update as soon as possible. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions or concerns.

Customer appreciation

Example 1:

Dear [First Name],

Thank you for being a valued customer. We appreciate your business and the trust you have placed in us.
We strive to provide the best service possible and are grateful for your loyalty.

If there is ever anything we can do to make your experience better, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,
[Agent Name]

Example 2:

We appreciate your loyalty and are so glad that you are pleased with our products. Thank you for your support!

How to setup & send out an effective canned response?

If you’re a ThriveDesk user it is quite simple to set up canned responses or instant replies. We are going to walk you through a 4 step process after which you will be able to set up responses, write your own and also assign them based on use and department. 

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Step 1: Go to the ThriveDesk dashboard => Your accounts

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Step 2: Go to conversations => Here you will find “Saved replies”

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Step 3: Individual replies/responses are saved here.You can save replies to specific inboxes such as support, sales or new features/integrations. Responses can also be saved globally. This allows these responses to be accessible to all departments (Support, Sales, Feature request etc).

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Step 4: If you hover your mouse pointer over a saved reply you will automatically see all the edit options of that particular message.

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Wrapping Up!

At the end of the day no matter what product or service you’re selling, the goal is to ultimately turn a profit while simultaneously adding value to your customers. In this endeavor, canned responses can be a catalyst. The upshots to using them are enormous and they can improve work efficiency substantially.

So if you’re a business owner who’s still on the edge about implementing them to your operations we implore you to start using them immediately. They are the present and future of customer support. 

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