Efficient customer support plays a pivotal role in shaping how your business operates. Customer reviews make a great impact on how others view your business. Imagine your customers describing your business as "exceptional," "fast," and "superior" to competitors. Such positive reviews always enhance the brand image and cast a lasting impression in the minds of new customers.
The canned response feature is one tool that helps achieve this exceptional level of service. Having quick and pre-written responses enables the customer service team to work more efficiently, reducing the time spent drafting responses on the spot. This improves the customers' experience and enables agents to handle many queries.
Moreover, canned response tools can be used across various communication channels. This means that no matter what your customers use to reach out to you, you can always respond promptly and with consistent service quality.
We will be discussing the ins and outs of canned responses in the following guide, where you will learn how to set these responses for your chat and what is the best collection of canned responses that will help you elevate your customer support to a new level.
Canned responses are pre-written messages that customer service teams use to address common customer queries. Customer service canned responses can greatly increase the quality of customer service, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction.
You can save these pre-written responses in live chat or email, and the service agent can quickly send these answers to regularly asked questions without the need to type a new response every time.
The utility of these responses is evident in scenarios where customers face similar or almost similar issues and repeatedly ask the same question. For example, for an e-commerce business, customers constantly ask about the refund policy.
The customer service representatives can have a pre-recorded response to this refund policy and send it every time a customer asks a question. This will enhance customer satisfaction as they will get the answer instantly, and you will also be able to handle a large volume of requests.
These canned responses' importance is undermined but cannot be ignored. These responses can help you build brand loyalty by increasing the customer satisfaction score. Businesses can also meet customers' high expectations by looking for a prompt reply and consistent service. Ultimately, the canned response is a great tool to drive operational efficiency and satisfaction.
Canned responses offer multiple benefits to transform customer support operations and enhance productivity. The following are the benefits that canned responses can offer your business.
One of the primary benefits of a canned response tool is reduced response time. When customer service agents have the responses ready, they can quickly select what to respond to and send the appropriate reply.
The immediate access to the information fulfills the high expectations of customers who expect an immediate reply to their queries. Faster response time contributes significantly to an enhanced customer experience where customers appreciate timely service.
The canned response tool also streamlines the repetitive task by automating the replies to frequently asked queries. Customer service agents can send pre-written responses instead of crafting a new response every time. This automation of responses enhances the efficiency of business operations.
It will also save a lot of time for agents and lift the burden of manually replying to every query. This will also allow agents to focus more on tasks that require human attention. By automating these responses, agents will also be able to handle a higher volume of inquiries without compromising the quality of service.
Maintaining a consistent tone will make your customers believe that you are offering consistent services to customers. Canned responses ensure that customers are receiving informed replies to the same queries. Sending manual replies to every customer can also impact the consistency of tone.
The consistency in pre-written responses will help build trust and loyalty with customers. Customers will also be happy with the canned response, believing that they get the same quality service every time they interact with the business service.
Pre-written responses are drafted with extreme care and detail, which increases the accuracy of responses. Instead of agents drafting messages at the time of reply, they can carefully design what to reply to customers for specific queries.
By using canned response tools, companies can ensure that they are giving clear and accurate answers to the customers, which reduces the likelihood of follow-up queries from them. Reduction in follow-up questions and responses greatly reduces the workload of support agents.
Quick responses, especially when they are also clear and accurate, are key to increased customer satisfaction. When customers receive prompt responses from the customer support team, they feel heard, valued, and appreciated.
When the response clarifies their confusion, they reach higher satisfaction and loyalty. Customers consider excellent customer service to drive their loyalty to the business and create a positive brand image.
Canned response frees up a lot of agent time spent drafting responses. This means that pre-written responses save agents a lot of time they can spend on other important tasks.
The additional time required to handle customer queries is now utilized in other tasks, enhancing efficiency. It also increases the number of queries being handled by an agent, eventually contributing to the team's overall productivity.
Canned response enables better allocation of resources within the customer service team. With the distribution in the level of queries that agents have to deal with, there can be maximized and effective utilization of resources.
The agent allocated to dealing with one specific type of request will only handle requests regarding that category. This allocation will strongly help solve complex and high-priority issues by experts or technical team support, maximizing the effectiveness of business operations.
For new agents, it is extremely important that they learn the company's policies, procedures, and products. Canned responses can also be a valuable tool for agent training as it provides agents with reliable templates to use while dealing with customers.
Using these templates, agents will become more aware of how the business handles customer requests. This way, they can respond to unique customer queries using the same template or tone, ensuring service consistency. This can also shorten the learning curve and help new hires become productive quickly.
Canned responses are versatile and can be used across various communication channels. No matter the medium your customers use to reach out, be it chat, email, or social media platforms, customer support agents can use the same script as canned responses are flexible.
This multichannel compatibility ensures that customers receive consistent and efficient services, regardless of how they interact with the business.
Companies can gain insights into customer issues and preferences by analyzing the effectiveness of canned responses. The reliance on data will lead to accurate results for optimizing business operations.
The data can also be used to refine and redraft the canned responses and identify the areas of improvement based on data-driven insights. Such data-driven decisions will overall improve the standard of customer service.
Effective canned messages are important if your customers often contact you for help. Long canned messages with almost everything in them may confuse the customer and reduce satisfaction. It is immensely important to craft canned messages that are useful for customers. Following are some features of an effective canned response.
An effective canned response should be clear and concise. Customers contact the chat support team because they need quick and clear answers. Long responses can confuse the customers and defeat the purpose of having canned responses.
It is extremely important to be direct and get straight to the point when drafting a response. You must use bullet points in your response, making them go through the response easily. Moreover, keep the response short while keeping all the important information in the form of pointers.
Even though canned responses are pre-written, they might give the impression that there is no room for personalization. However, canned responses should never lack the touch of personalization, as that can make consumers feel valued.
It is important to start the email with the customer's name to make them feel that the response is specifically written for them and in response to their query. Many customer service tools allow the auto insertion of names so it is not the task of the agent to do it.
Make sure to repeat the customer query in the response, for example, saying, "We acknowledge that you are having trouble with (mention the query)." While the core response can be pre-written, it is important to tweak it according to customers to make them feel important.
Ensure that canned responses directly address the customers. If the responses are irrelevant, it can frustrate the customers and impact the satisfaction level. It is important that the response matches the inquiries of customers. That is why avoid sending generic responses that do not fully address the customer's concerns.
Offer clear solutions that clearly highlight the customer's concerns. If the issue requires further action, add more information to the response. Also, try to include relevant resources to help customers resolve their issues.
The tone and language of canned responses should also align with the brand voice and context of inquiry. It is important to empathize with customers using relevant tones. Maintain a professional tone but also add an aspect of warmth and friendliness to it.
You have to ensure customers that you are prioritizing their issue, and this can be done by adding phrases like "I understand how frustrating the situation can be for you." Also try to avoid using negative language, instead use positive and reinforcing tone so they can know that you are here to help.
A good canned response should acknowledge the customer's inquiry and give a solution. Provide actionable solutions that customers can easily follow. If they require assistance in the next steps, you should also provide additional information about that.
You should also give leverage to customers to contact you for any follow-up if required. Your response should be open to giving customers follow-up options. Let them know you will gladly assist them if they require further help.
The following are the best practices for maintaining canned responses.
Canned responses should undergo regular review to ensure they reflect current policies and customer needs. You should constantly review these to upgrade them to avoid confusing customers.
The chat support team can set up a monthly or quarterly meeting to review these responses. During these reviews, you can assess the relevance and accuracy of responses. You can also discard any outdated responses to avoid confusion or misinformation.
Maintain consistency and quality of responses across all canned responses. You should establish clear standards for the tone and language used in the responses.
It is also important to track the performance of these canned responses, including response times, satisfaction scores, and resolution rates, to identify the areas of improvement.
We have covered canned response examples below to give you an idea of what the responses will look like. The following canned response templates will not exactly give you the entire conversation of canned responses but still an idea that will help you enhance your customer experience.
Greeting customers is an important part of the entire customer experience. Whenever a customer enters the store, the staff greets them to initiate the interaction. Greetings are equally important in virtual interactions, too. You can have various greeting templates depending on the segment of customer you are interacting with, but a basic sample or template of greeting is as follows.
“Hi, my name is [name]. How can I help you today?”
“Hello! Welcome to our live chat. How can we assist you?”
"Greetings! This is [name] from our customer service team. How may I assist you today?"
Depending on the business profile, customers might ask common questions about products or business operations in general. To be able to answer these questions, you may need to ask for more details in a time-efficient manner.
"Hi [name], thanks for contacting us. To assist you with [issue], could you please provide your [info needed] for authentication?"
"Certainly! In order to help you with [issue], could you kindly share your [info needed] with me? Thank you!"
Sometimes customers are just reaching out to ask for instructions. If they are confused about how to do something, the chat support must provide a step-by-step procedure to help them with the issue.
"I've prepared a step-by-step guide for you. Just click [link to tutorial] to resolve the issue."
"Here's a detailed guide to help you fix it: [link to tutorial]. Let me know how it goes!"
When customers complain, it is important to acknowledge their feelings.
"I'm here to assist you and resolve any issues you're facing. Could you give me more details about the problem?"
"I understand your frustration. To help resolve this, could you provide more information about the problem?"
When a customer brings an issue to your notice, you can respond in the following way.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
"We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. We're addressing the issue as quickly as possible."
When the issue that the customer is facing is more technical and requires escalation to a higher level, you can communicate this in the following ways.
“We’re going to escalate your issue to our advanced team. They’ll be in touch with you shortly.”
"Thank you for contacting us. This situation is best managed by [another person or team], and they will take care of it for you."
Once you have successfully handled the customer complaint and want to update them with the issue's status, you can communicate this using the following templates.
“Hi [customer name], Thanks for reporting your issue. We’re writing to inform you it’s now fixed. Please let us know if you continue to experience problems.”
"Our team is still addressing your concern. We appreciate your understanding and will provide updates as we make progress."
The next stage in customer communication is to close the customer request once they are fully satisfied with your services. You can use the following canned response examples to close an issue.
"Great news! Everything is set, and your order will be delivered on [date]. Thank you for your patience. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?"
"We're happy to hear that the issue has been resolved. If you have any other questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us."
You have to ensure that your customers are updated with the staus of the issue, you can simply let them know that you are still working on fixing the issue. A canned response example for fixing the issue is as follows.
“Our team is working on fixing the issue right now. We appreciate your patience and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s resolved.”
It is also important to update customers once the issue is fixed and appreciate them reporting it so they can feel that customer support is efficiently working for them.
“Hi [customer name], Thanks for reporting your issue. We’re glad to inform you that the issue is now resolved. Please let us know if you continue to experience problems.”
You can also update customers about a feature they were interested in, or if they are asking for an update, you can respond in the following way.
“We’re glad to hear that you’re interested in [feature]. It’s currently on our roadmap and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available.”
If the feature that the customer is asking about is not in your plan or there is no such feature that can exist in your product, you can respectfully let the customer know about it.
“We understand that [feature] is important to you, but it’s not something we’re currently planning to work on. We appreciate your understanding.”
If customers mistaken you with some other business having the same name or maybe the same type f services, you can clarify the confusion using the following canned responses.
“I think there may have been a mistake. We’re [business name], not [other business].”
“We’re not [other business], but we’re happy to try and help you with your question.”
You should always tell your customers why your services are better than competitors so they can make an informed decision between you and your competitors.
“We’re glad you’re considering us instead of [competitor]. Here’s what sets us apart: [list of reasons].”
If the customer asks if you have an ongoing discount, you can respectfully let them know about the promotion deals that your business is currently offering.
“Welcome to our Live Chat! We appreciate your interest in a discount. While we don’t offer them, we do have a loyalty program that can help you save: [program details].”
If the customer asks for a refund or is unsatisfied with the purchase, you can tell them they will get a refund.
“We’re sorry to hear that you’re not satisfied with your purchase. We’re processing your refund and you can expect to receive it in [Х] business days.”
Whenever you face technical issues, inform your customers about them to prevent dissatisfaction in the overall customer experience.
“We’re currently experiencing technical issues. We apologize for the inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience regarding this. We are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Asking customers if they liked the service is also a great gesture, making them feel valued and heard.
“We hope you enjoyed your experience with us! Please take a moment to let us know how we did.”
“We’re glad you chose us for your [service]. We’d love to hear your feedback and how we can improve.”
You need to ensure your customers do not need assistance with anything else. Always ask if they need any other help to make them feel important.
“Is there anything else we can help you with today? We’re here to assist you.”
“We’re glad we could help with your issue. Is there anything else we can assist you with?”
Whenever you miss a customer's chat, it is crucial that the agent first apologize for missing it and then become available to help the customer solve the issue.
“We apologize for missing your chat. We’ll do our best to respond quickly and happy to help if you need anything else.”
Getting your customer's feedback is also important for the business. You can also have canned responses for customer feedback.
“We appreciate your feedback and would love to hear more about your experience with us.”
“We’re always striving to improve our services and would love to hear your thoughts on how we can do better.”
If you want customers to experience your product functionalities, you can message them regarding the demo request.
“We’d be happy to provide you with a demo of our product. Please let us know a time that works for you.”
"We are excited to show what we have in store for you, reply to this message to book a time for the demo"
Implementing canned responses is a very simple process, we have explained the steps for you to follow to activate the canned responses in Live Chat and Gmail.
To turn on live chat canned responses, click "Settings" and click "Canned responses." Follow the prompts for canned responses to enable this feature in your live chat.
To turn on canned responses in Gmail, click "Setting" and "Templates". Now follow the templates to activate/enable canned responses in your Gmail.
Deleting canned responses in Gmail and Live Chat also follows the same procedure as activating. You just need to click on delete canned responses instead of the enable option.
Canned responses, whether in Gmail or Live Chat, are a powerful tool to enhance customer experience and reduce response times. However, the true effectiveness of canned responses lies in combining them with human interaction and ensuring a personalized experience for them. You can streamline various business activities and support processes by thoughtfully implementing canned responses.
