Using canned responses

Canned responses are pre-written message templates that agents can insert into conversations with a keyboard shortcut. They save time on frequently asked questions and help keep your team's communication consistent.

What canned responses are for

Any message your team sends repeatedly is a good candidate for a canned response:

• Greetings and sign-offs
• Answers to common questions (pricing, return policy, account reset steps)
• Acknowledgements ("We've received your request and will update you within...")
• Escalation messages ("I'm passing this to our technical team...")

Canned responses are account-wide — once created, all agents can use them.

Creating a canned response

1. Go to Settings > Canned Responses.
2. Click Add Canned Response.
3. Enter a Short Name — this is the keyword agents type to find the response. Keep it short and memorable (e.g., refund-policy, reset-password, greeting-en).
4. Enter the Content — the full text of the message.
5. Click Submit.

The short name must be unique across the account. You can use plain text or basic formatting in the content field.

Using canned responses in a conversation

When composing a reply in any conversation, type / followed by the short name or a keyword from it. A dropdown will appear with matching canned responses. Use the arrow keys to select one and press Enter (or click) to insert it.

For example, typing /refund will surface any canned responses whose short name contains "refund". The full text is inserted into the reply box, where you can edit it before sending.

The / shortcut works in the main reply composer. It does not work in the note field (notes are internal and not sent to customers).

Editing and deleting canned responses

From Settings > Canned Responses, use the edit icon to update the short name or content of any response. Changes are immediately available to all agents.

To delete a response, click the delete icon. There is no archive — deletion is permanent.

Organising a canned response library

As your library grows, short name conventions matter. A flat list of 50+ responses with no naming pattern becomes hard to search. Some approaches that work well:

• Prefix by topic: billing-, tech-, shipping-, account-
• Prefix by language: en-, nl-, fr- if you support multiple languages
• Prefix by channel: chat-greeting vs email-greeting if tone differs

Avoid duplicates — if two responses say almost the same thing, consolidate them. Duplicate responses create inconsistency when different agents pick different versions.

Review your library periodically

Canned responses become outdated when your policies, products, or pricing change. Schedule a quarterly review to go through the full list and update or remove anything that no longer reflects current information. Outdated canned responses sent to customers create confusion and follow-up work.

There is no version history for canned responses — once edited, the previous content is gone. If you want a record of changes, keep a copy of important responses in an external document.