Canned Response
A canned response is a pre-written template reply that support agents can quickly insert into conversations to answer frequently asked questions consistently and efficiently.
In Depth
Canned responses have been a staple of customer support for decades, allowing agents to respond quickly to common questions without typing the same answers repeatedly. They ensure consistency (every customer gets the same accurate information), save time (agents handle more interactions per hour), and maintain quality (approved language reduces errors and compliance risks). However, canned responses have significant limitations: they sound impersonal, cannot adapt to specific contexts, and frustrate customers who feel they are getting a generic reply.
AI is evolving canned responses into something much more powerful — dynamic, personalized response generation that combines the consistency of templates with the flexibility of natural language generation. AI agents can take a canned response as a starting point and personalize it with the customer's name, order details, account specifics, and contextually appropriate language, delivering the efficiency of templates with the warmth of personal communication.
Related Terms
Macro
A macro in customer support is an automated sequence of actions — such as inserting a reply, changing ticket status, adding tags, and assigning to a team — triggered by a single command.
Saved Reply
A saved reply is a reusable pre-written response template stored in a support platform that agents can search, select, and customize before sending to customers.
Natural Language Generation
Natural Language Generation (NLG) is the process by which AI systems produce coherent, contextually appropriate human language text from structured data or internal representations.
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