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You probably spend much time in customer service answering the same queries. For common questions, your customers likely want answers right away.
Considering these points, there is a seamless solution: canned responses or help desk canned response templates.
Using canned responses for customer service is a valuable trick that enhances customer support. In this blog, I will walk you through some common canned responses examples and explain how to use them for greatest effect.
What is a canned response?
A canned response is a pre-written text or template used by help desks to allow support agents to send quick replies to common customer queries.
These canned responses are also known as:
- Predefined responses
- Canned replies
- Fast replies
- Saved messages
- Canned messages
- Pre-written replies
These canned replies can be sent either automatically or manually by the support team to quickly provide responses to customers without having to create new replies for each support inquiry.
A list of these pre-written responses also ensures clients with similar issues get consistent responses.
Why should you use canned responses?
Using canned responses can enhance productivity and customer satisfaction in any customer service setting. You should incorporate canned responses in your customer service workflow to:
- Provide prompt responses to common questions about your products or services, shipping, and returns.
- Allow employees to focus more on resolving complex issues that require a longer time to resolve.
- Deliver quick, accurate, and efficient communication.
- Assist new support agents to easily learn how to respond to different questions without having to start from scratch every time.
- Maintain a consistent tone and message across customer interactions, ensuring that all customers receive the same information.
- Make it easier to handle a large volume of inquiries without sacrificing the quality of customer service.
- Notify customers that a service is currently unavailable and provide information on when it is expected to return.
- Send thank you messages, satisfaction surveys, or follow-up information after an interaction or transaction has taken place.
- Help manage the workload and uphold service levels during peak times without needing to increase staffing proportionally.
Where should you use canned responses?
Canned responses can be implemented in various customer service scenarios to enhance efficiency and consistency.
How to use:
- Acknowledgment of receipt for inquiries or support requests.
- Out-of-office replies with information on when the sender can expect a response.
- Responses to common inquiries like order status, refund policies, or troubleshooting steps.
Benefits: This reduces response times by providing quick, prewritten answers to frequent questions.
Live chat
How to use:
- Greeting customers, confirming receipt of their message, or providing initial troubleshooting steps.
- Answers to common questions, such as shipping details or return processes.
Benefits: Saves support agents from needing to search for or type out lengthy instructions or other answers during live interactions.
Social media
How to use:
- Quick replies to common inquiries on platforms like Facebook, X, or Instagram.
- Responding to customer comments or messages with common answers, such as operating hours or links to relevant resources.
Benefits: Ensures consistent responses across public platforms and maintains a positive brand image.
Support tickets
How to use:
- Automatically acknowledging ticket receipt, informing customers of ticket status, or providing resolution steps for common issues.
Benefits: Streamlines the ticket management process and keeps customers informed without manual input for each ticket.
How to create effective canned response for customer service
Creating help desk canned response templates helps you avoid typing the same responses over and over during customer conversations. Rather than slamming out a few responses you typed before, here are a few guidelines worth sticking to when writing canned responses.
- Collect frequently asked questions for your pre-written templates – this clarifies the most common issues, and from there you can develop the best canned messages.
- Create templates with accurate responses – collect answers to FAQs and then have a round of review by either your support team or the subject-matter experts. from the reviews create well organized templates
- Provide clear and concise messages in the canned response – keep the messages concise and impactful for quick information distribution.
- Customize your message – even canned responses can sparkle when they are personalized. Personalization accommodates the unique circumstances and needs of each customer.
- Include a call to action (CTA) – this gives clients a course of action to follow, and other topics related to their issue for their benefit.
- Maintain a consistent tone – It is essential to maintain the same tone for every scenario. This will guarantee that you’ll keep the same level of professionalism.
- Acknowledge your shortcomings and empathize – be sure to take responsibility for any issue that arises and write responses that demonstrate understanding and sympathy for the customer’s difficulty.
- Proofread the canned responses before deploying them – always ensure that managers preview the prewritten response templates before agents send them to the customers.
- Test your canned replies – before introducing your canned responses to a larger customer base, test them out with a small group of customers.
- Include links to more information within the canned templates – give clients a solid answer to their issue but conclude with attaching links to a knowledge base and video tutorials with related information.
Best practices for creating canned responses
Here are some best practices for preparing canned response templates:
- Know your audience: Make sure your templates are appropriate for your target audience, taking into account: the tone, language, and context of your message.
- Keep it simple: Use clear, concise language that can be easily understood by the recipient. Avoid using technical jargon or overly complex sentences.
- Customize as needed: While pre-written templates can save time, it’s important to personalize them as much as possible to make them more effective. Consider adding a personalized greeting and tailoring the content to fit the specific context.
- Be polite and professional: Always use a polite and professional tone, even when providing negative information.
- Test and refine: Regularly test your automated responses to ensure they’re working as intended and making the desired impact. Be open to customer feedback and make changes as needed.
- Organize and categorize: Store your canned responses in a way that makes it easy to find the one you need quickly. Consider categorizing them by topic or use case to make them even more accessible.
- Update regularly: Regularly review and update your pre-written text messages to keep the content fresh and relevant.
Dos and don’ts when using canned responses
Canned replies are powerful tools that can be beneficial or harmful to your business. They have the capacity to increase your company’s credibility, but they can also damage your brand’s reputation. Therefore, you need to be very careful when using them.
The following are the dos and don’ts for getting pre-defined responses right:
Don’t use pre-defined responses for all replies
Imagine replying to an enraged client about a problem with your product or service with a prepared response. This would be unfair to the customer because it shows a lack of compassion for their troubles.
It is important to acknowledge the customer’s feelings when helping them solve the issue.
Don’t apply canned responses where human replies are needed
Regardless of how fast using pre-defined responses makes your customer service, they are not applicable in all cases. Therefore, when assessing an issue or a customer update, you need to analyze what’s the best step to take.
For instance, when a customer addresses you directly, you ought to personalize your communication by also addressing them directly.
Edit the response to fit the specific situation
Sometimes situations may be similar but have slight differences. Before you send a pre-written response, make sure to edit it to meet the needs of your customer.
This will save you from receiving clarifying questions from your customers since they will be getting the exact response they need.
| Dos | Don’ts |
|---|---|
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Benefits of using canned response
Nowadays, clients anticipate support that is effective, tailored, and quick.
In fact, approximately 12% of clients expect a reply from a support representative in just 15 minutes.
Thus, help desk canned response templates play a major role in customer service to keep customers engaged. Here are some of the main benefits of canned responses:
Effective time management
Customers may have questions at any time of the day depending on their work hours and time zones. Can you imagine losing a loyal or potential customer because of late replies?
Using canned responses in your support can eliminate late and untimely replies, therefore building a good rapport between your company and your customers.
96% of customers state that quick customer service plays a crucial role in their decision to remain loyal to a brand.
Steer clear of clerical errors
When you manually respond to customers, you may make some errors without noticing. These mistakes can result in unanswered inquiries and a poor customer perception.
Canned replies are advantageous because they are configured to go to the right people automatically. Moreover, canned responses give your customers a good impression of your support team, earning their loyalty and helping to increase team productivity.
Replying to repeated questions becomes tedious when done manually. Use pre-written messages to quickly answer multiple customers with similar questions at once to increase conversion rates and save time.
Improve your brand’s image
As the saying goes, your reputation precedes you. Pre-defined answers ensures you get your customers the help they need immediately. As a result, it makes the quality of your customer service stand out in the market.
You will also quickly earn your customers’ loyalty and trust, thereby promoting the growth and well-being of your company.
Furthermore, it raises your customer satisfaction rate, providing potential customers an idea of what kind of support to expect from your company.
Clients who are unhappy with their current provider may even switch to your brand for better communication.
Higher quality customer service
According to salesforce, 96% of clients state that outstanding customer service fosters trust.
Using a canned response template can go a long way toward resolving your customers’ problems and receiving positive feedback.
Canned responses reply to your customers without any time wastage, maximizing their satisfaction, and a higher satisfaction score boosts your company’s rank in industry customer service surveys.
20 Canned response examples for chats and emails
We’ve collected some of our own frequently received queries from chats and emails and created canned responses for them.
Here, we provide some of them that you can apply in your own scenarios.
1. Send an immediate acknowledgment
The first impression makes the strongest impression on customers. Once we receive a client’s request, we have to acknowledge them to make sure they know we are working on it.
Use the following canned message as an acknowledgment:
| “We have received your support request, and a ticket has been created.
An agent from our Internal Support team will be responding soon.” |
2. Require additional information from the customer
If you need some more information to handle the customer’s issue, ask the customer to provide it. You can rephrase the response text based on your requirements.
Here is one example:
| “I need a little bit of information before we continue so that I can access your account.
Would you please answer a few questions for me?” |
3. Working for a long time on an issue
Some support issues require a longer time to resolve. When the time needed to fix the issue increases, your client’s patience decreases.
So, inform them that you’re making every effort to find a solution and that you’ll keep them updated. After that, fulfil your promise.
This demonstrates how much your company values the customer experience, even after the sale.
For example:
| “Our support team is actively working to resolve your [ISSUE]. Your request is being given top priority, and I’ll see to it that the problem is fixed over the weekend.
I appreciate your patience.” |
4. Split ticket
If a customer submits multiple queries related to various departments in a single ticket, you need to split the ticket so that it can be managed properly.
In this situation, you can use the following message:
| “This ticket includes multiple queries, so we are separating them into a new ticket IDs on your behalf.
Please follow the updates for this query with this ticket ID. In the future, if you have new questions about our product that are unrelated to the open ticket, please open a new ticket instead of posting them in the open ticket.” |
5. Requesting for a sample
Sometimes customers may submit a query that you have already resolved. In this case, you may use the previous solution and ask the customer to check whether their issue is cleared.
If it is not, ask them to send you a sample for further processing.
For example:
| “Could you please try the previous solution and let me know whether the reported issue has been resolved?
If you are still receiving the same problem, please share your working sample or change the attached sample to replicate the reported issue. We will provide a solution as soon as possible.” |
6. Closing ticket after resolving the issue
Customers may sometimes forget to respond about their resolved issue, and you’re stuck needing to close the ticket in your workflow.
In that situation, you can use the following canned message:
| “As we have not heard from you since our last update, we are scheduled to mark this ticket as closed, considering your issue has been resolved. Please open a new ticket if you have any other concerns or reopen this ticket if you want us to follow up with this issue.
We are always happy to assist you.” |
7. Closing ticket without knowing issue status
When you’re waiting for a reply from the customer and you don’t receive it, then you can close the ticket by providing the following message:
| “As we have not heard from you since our last update, we are closing the ticket now.
Please create a new ticket if you have any other concerns or reopen this ticket if you want us to follow up on this issue. As always, we are happy to assist you.” |
8. Closure follow-up
Customers expect a quick resolution when they submit a request. Sending quick responses to customers is essential in increasing customer happiness.
One of the crucial customer follow-up strategies is obtaining feedback after resolving an incident. Help desk ticket response templates make it easier for agents to provide updates following ticket resolutions.
Here is an example canned response:
| “We are pleased to hear that the reported issue is resolved on your end. If you face any other issues, we suggest you open a new ticket.
Please confirm whether we can close this ticket since the reported issue is resolved.” |
9. Responding to customer feedback
Whatever response you may receive, either positive or negative, it helps shape and improve the productivity of the company. Customers share their opinions about your service or products, which are valuable.
You can create help desk ticket response templates to show gratitude to customers for sharing their feedback.
For example:
| “Thank you for your valuable feedback.
This will help us going forward, and we will continue to deliver you an excellent experience.” |
10. Thank-you message
We must treat every customer with respect, and we should thank them for choosing our product or service over the competitors.
Be thankful for the chance to demonstrate the quality of your product or service and for the customer spending their money with you.
You can use the following response to show your gratitude:
| “Thanks for confirming that the provided solution resolved your reported issue at your end.
Please let us know if you need any further assistance on this. As always, we are happy to assist you.” |
11. Responding to negative feedback
Even if you provide the best customer service, you’re still bound to receive negative feedback for some reason. Dealing with angry customers is part of the support process.
To soothe customers, we need to make them feel heard and valued using the right messaging.
A recent study revealed that 83% of customers agree that they feel more loyal to brands that respond to and resolve their complaints.
You can regain customer trust quickly if you have a canned response ready, like the following one:
| “Thank you for providing us with your insightful feedback. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
We pride ourselves on providing top-notch customer service, so we regret falling short in this regard. And sure, we won’t allow this to occur once again.” |
12. Payment process
When customers complete the payment process, they require some guidelines for proper payment. Often, many customers raise similar questions.
Pre-written help desk responses will aid you in responding quickly with something like the following:
| “Please continue your payment process at <payment link>.
Please check the available payment option for your subscription plan before initiating the process.” |
13. Reassigning support requests to another agent
There are many reasons for reassigning a customer request to another agent. In these situations, the customer might wait longer than usual for a solution.
Therefore, before the customer requests an update, inform them that you are purposely reassigning the issue to get them the required solution.
Use the following help desk ticket response template:
| “After reviewing your issue, I’ve found that it will be handled better by our [TEAM NAME] team. So, I’ve forwarded your request to them.
I hope that you get your issue resolved as soon as possible.” |
14. Providing special offers or discounts
Companies provide special offers for their products to customers. Offers bring inquiries along, and by creating canned responses, your agents can save time.
Moreover, agents can respond immediately to frequently asked questions without typing.
The following is an example:
| “We are offering a 20% discount on all subscription plans up to the end of this month.” |
15. While support agents are offline
Some customer service teams don’t operate 24/7. But there’s no off time for customer queries, especially when your clients’ time zones are not the same as yours.
Craft a help desk ticket response template to get around this problem. This reply assures customers that their request was received even when your agents are not available, providing a sense of 24/7 customer support.
Additionally, customers learn more about your company hours. Therefore, they know when to get in touch with you the next time they face issues.
For example:
| “We appreciate your request for assistance. Our company working hours are Monday to Friday, from [hours].
Our customer service representatives are currently not available. We’ll reply to your message as soon as we can.” |
16. Here’s an update on software license issue
Rather than leaving your client in the dark regarding their issue, keep them informed with regular updates on the progress of the resolution.
You could even take this chance to ask for additional information to accelerate the process.
Here’s a template you can use:
| “This is to provide you with an update regarding your software license issue. We have successfully tracked the transaction.
Kindly provide the details of your license key to help us update the date of expiration of the package.” |
17. We value your loyalty—Thank you for choosing us!
Express gratitude to customers who choose your product or service. This will go a long way in creating a positive impression, fostering a relationship, and ultimately turning them into repeat customers.
For instance, you can send this canned message:
| “We are grateful that you chose our product. We take pride in our dedication to giving you the best experience possible.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything else we can do to enhance your experience.” |
18. Update on feedback about a feature request
Customers often inquire about new products, tools, or updates that could potentially serve them better.
Create pre-written replies to acknowledge their requests and inform customers of whether they can be realized and what alternatives are available.
If their suggestions are feasible, keep them updated on the progress and let them know when the product or update can be accessible.
For instance:
| “We have received your request for a [feature name] feature. We are currently working on it, since it has been requested by several customers. The feature will be available as soon as possible. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, as it helps us to provide you with better service.” |
19. Sending notification for a product release
Express gratitude to customers who suggested a feature that is now available. Let them know that their input was valued and that they were part of the product’s development process.
This will help foster loyalty and encourage them to keep providing valuable ideas.
Create compelling canned responses that not only generate excitement for your new product but also trigger your customer’s desire to make a purchase.
Consider the following pre-written message template:
| “We are pleased to inform you that your request for (a particular feature) has been fulfilled!
Our new (product with feature) is designed to provide an even more exciting and engaging experience. Update the app and get ready to be amazed!” |
20. Issue resolved
Customer service agents are frequently bombarded with common questions from new customers. Craft help desk ticket response templates that offer comprehensive guidance to these queries.
Introduce a reference source, for instance, a link to a knowledge base that will prompt customers to research further on their own.
This will not only help customers become more self-sufficient but also reduce the burden for customer service agents in the future.
For example:
| “We are glad to inform you that your ticket (ticket #) has been successfully resolved. We are now closing the ticket.
However, if you encounter issues with (subject) again, please check out our knowledge base (linked) to see if a solution may be in our frequently asked questions.” |
Use canned responses for quick and easy communication
With the canned responses examples listed above, you can efficiently interact with customers by sending them precise and quick responses.
To raise customer satisfaction levels and boost customer retention rates, your support teams should consider using canned responses.
You can only achieve this by using the appropriate ticketing system for IT to deploy canned responses and support across all your platforms. We’re here to assist.
BoldDesk enables you to create customized help desk ticket response templates, ensuring timely and tailored responses for your clients.
Get in touch with us to set up a 30-minute live demo to learn how BoldDesk’s features can be customized to align to your business’s needs. Sign up for a 15-day free trial today.
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