Learn how to improve user communication and boost IT team productivity by using canned responses.
Canned responses are predefined blocks of text that IT agents frequently use when communicating with customers. These responses can save a significant amount of time and enhance customer satisfaction. Alloy Navigator provides pre-defined, ready-to-use responses for common scenarios such as greetings and follow-ups and allows the creation of unlimited custom responses for any ITSM situation.
The primary advantage of canned responses is their efficiency. Instead of typing the same message repeatedly, an agent can simply select and insert a ready-made text. But beyond efficiency, canned responses help establish and maintain a corporate communication style, shaping your company’s image in the eyes of users. If your company adopts a formal tone, canned responses will help agents communicate formally. If your company prefers a more informal approach, your canned responses will reflect this trend.
Here are the main benefits:
When using Alloy Navigator, a comprehensive ITSM and ITAM software solution, IT engineers can enhance their efficiency thanks to snippets. Agents can quickly send canned responses to customers, improving satisfaction and reducing response time, or log the results of various routine tasks with just a few clicks. Watch our short video to learn how to effectively use snippets in Navigator for canned responses. Connect with our sales team if you want to check if our product is a match for you.
Let’s explore some typical canned responses used in Service Desk, Help Desk, and other ITSM areas. Many of these examples are available by default in Alloy Navigator, while others can be easily created and customized to fit specific needs.
The simplest example is a greeting. When starting a dialogue, you might say something like, “I hope you are doing well!” When discussing technical issues, it’s useful to say something like, “I’m sorry about the issues you’re having.” This makes it convenient to start the conversation, and then you can add something more specific related to the user’s problem.
Where there is a beginning, there must be an end. An example of a closing: “Please let me know if this resolves your issue.”
In the space between the beginning and the end, there’s the dialogue—where sometimes, the user seems to go MIA. Maybe their issue magically fixed itself? We can only hope!
Here are some typical follow-up scenarios that you might find handy (and perhaps a bit charming):
Sometimes, you need to ask users a series of questions that come up repeatedly. These questions help in understanding the issue better. For example:
Every time a user creates a ticket, they receive an automatic response, usually something like: “Thank you for reaching out! We have received your request and will be working on it. If you have anything to add, simply reply to this email.” The text is always the same. So, is this a canned response? No, this is an auto-reply. Auto-replies are sent by a workflow engine upon the creation of a ticket, with no human involvement. Every time an event occurs, the system sends the same response.
In contrast, canned responses are managed by a human—the agent. It is the agent who decides when to send a ready-made response and which one to use. If a unique situation arises, the agent can supplement the canned response with additional information or choose not to use the pre-written text at all.
So, canned responses are not automated replies. They are predefined blocks of text that human agents control.
Communication between agents and users can occur through various channels—email, mobile applications, chats, a self-service portal. Alloy Navigator is designed to handle all these interactions seamlessly, ensuring that communication flows through the Navigator regardless of the channel. For example, when a user sends an email to the support address describing their issue, that email becomes a ticket. When an agent responds to the ticket in Navigator, the user receives the reply via email as a response to their original message. The user’s reply then appears in the ticket as a ticket update. This process is consistent across all communication channels.
Therefore, when an agent uses canned responses in Alloy Navigator, these responses are visible to users and other agents through the same communication channel they are using—whether that’s email, chat, or a mobile app.
In summary, agents use canned responses within Navigator (in the web interface), and these responses are visible across all communication channels.
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Canned responses in Alloy Navigator are pre-prepared replies for common situations and questions. They enable agents to deliver accurate and consistent answers, boosting the efficiency of your IT operations and enhancing customer satisfaction.
You can use canned responses during interactions with customers or teammates. In addition to pre-made shared responses, you can create unlimited custom ones for common queries. This lets you quickly insert ready-made or slightly customized messages, streamlining your processes and improving response times.
You can access canned responses in Alloy Navigator whenever a workflow action requires input. For instance, when adding a comment in the Notify Requester action, click “Snippets” in the upper corner or press F4. This section also lets you create and manage your own custom responses. You can also insert a timestamp—showing the date and time—here.
