Support Portal includes a canned response system that allows your organization to define reusable message templates. Agents retrieve these templates during conversations using a shortcode, reducing handling time and ensuring that recurring communications follow a consistent format.
Operational objective
Canned Responses address two operational concerns:
- Response consistency — Standardized templates ensure that agents communicate policy details, procedural instructions, and acknowledgments in the same way, regardless of who handles the conversation.
- Handling efficiency — Agents insert a full response in seconds rather than composing it from scratch. For high-volume operations, this directly affects average handling time and throughput.
Canned Responses are defined at the workspace level. Every agent in the workspace can access and use any canned response, so templates function as a shared knowledge base for front-line communication.
Creating a canned response
Navigate to Settings > Canned Responses and select Add Canned Response.
A dialog appears with the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Short Code | A unique identifier used to retrieve the template during a conversation. Minimum two characters. Choose codes that are descriptive and easy to recall (e.g., sla-ack, billing-info, escalation-notice). |
| Content | The message body that will be inserted into the conversation editor when the shortcode is invoked. |
Select Submit to save the template. The canned response is immediately available to all agents in the workspace.
Recommended shortcode conventions
Choose shortcodes that reflect operational categories and are easy for agents to recall under time pressure. Examples:
| Short Code | Use case |
|---|---|
greeting |
Standard opening message for new conversations |
escalation-ack |
Acknowledgment that a conversation has been escalated to a specialist |
identity-verify |
Request for identity verification before processing a sensitive action |
outage-update |
Standardized status update during a service disruption |
closure-note |
Standard wrap-up message before resolving a conversation |
Consistent naming across your template library reduces onboarding time for new agents and improves retrieval speed during live conversations.
Editing a canned response
Navigate to Settings > Canned Responses, locate the entry, and select the edit icon. Modify the shortcode or message content as needed, then select Submit to save.
Updates take effect immediately. Agents who invoke the shortcode after the edit will receive the updated content.
Deleting a canned response
Navigate to Settings > Canned Responses, locate the entry, and select the delete icon. Confirm the deletion.
Removing a canned response does not affect messages that were previously sent using that template. Only future retrieval is affected.
Using canned responses in conversations
While composing a message, type / in the message editor. This opens a list of all available canned responses. Continue typing to filter by shortcode, or scroll to locate the appropriate template. Select the entry or press Enter to insert its content into the editor.
The inserted content is editable before sending. Agents can adjust the template to fit the specific conversation context — for example, adding a reference number or adjusting the phrasing for a particular situation — without modifying the underlying template.
Canned responses and operational workflows
Canned Responses complement other platform capabilities:
- Automation rules — While automation rules handle system-driven actions (such as assigning conversations or applying labels), canned responses equip agents with pre-approved messaging for the human side of those workflows. For example, an automation rule might assign an escalated conversation to a specialist team, and the specialist uses a canned response to acknowledge the escalation to the customer. See Automation.
- Macros — Macros execute a sequence of actions in a single step. A macro could apply a label and change assignment, while the agent follows up with the appropriate canned response. See Macros.
Together, these tools allow your organization to standardize both the operational handling and the customer-facing communication of routine interactions.