How to Create a Gmail Canned Response in 2024 (with Templates)

We love Gmail because it’s simple to use. They make it easy to customize and streamline email processes, no matter what your needs are.

One specific feature helps users speed up the process of responding to recurring questions.

Gmail canned responses, now called templates, make it easy to save and reuse email responses in order to save time. Creating a Gmail canned response simply requires you to enable a few settings.

I’m going to walk you how to do just that. Plus, I’ll share templates you can copy/paste and explain how you can enable shared canned responses for your team.

Read on to learn our simple process for setting up canned responses in Gmail.

(And if you’re just looking for examples of email templates for customer service, click here to jump ahead.)

What is a Gmail canned response?

A Gmail canned response (now called “template”) is an email that you can reuse whenever you need it. You write the message once, save it, and can insert it into any email with just a few clicks.

You might use canned responses to:

• Answer FAQs from customers
• Share standard product and pricing information
• Send welcome messages
• Respond to job applications
• Acknowledge receipt of documents
• Follow up with leads

Not only do they save you from writing the same responses over and over, they also help you stay consistent in your communications.

Can you share customer service canned responses with your team in Gmail?

Unfortunately, there’s no way to automatically share your customer service canned responses with the rest of your team in Gmail. 

You hypothetically could sit down at each team member’s computer and copy over your templates one-by-one.

But what happens when you add a new canned response? Or make changes to an existing template? This isn’t an efficient solution.

Fortunately, there is a way to share customer service response templates with your team.

Let’s go over your options for setting up Gmail canned responses:

1. Basic Gmail templates (for personal use)
2. Collaborative canned responses (for team use)

[PERSONAL USE] How to set up a Gmail canned response using basic Gmail templates

If you don’t need to share canned responses with your team, setup only takes one minute.

Here are the steps to follow in order to enable templates for personal use:

1. After logging into your Gmail account, click the gear icon in the top right corner and choose “Settings.”

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Find the Templates option and enable it.

4. Click “Save Changes.”

5. Open up the Compose window for an email with a response you would like to save.

6. Before you hit send, click the three dots menu to the left.

7. Hover over “Templates”, then “Save draft as a new template”, then “Save as new template.”

8. Choose a name for your template, and don’t forget to save changes.

How to insert a Gmail canned response in a new email

After saving your canned response, click the three dots menu again. 

But this time, after hovering over “Templates”, choose the name of the template you just created. 

Clicking on it will automatically insert it into your email.

You can edit the canned email response as needed once it’s been inserted into your email. 

Once you’re satisfied with your response, click “Send” to reply to the customer support request.

[TEAM USE] How to set up collaborative canned responses with Keeping

If your team collaborates on managing customer requests, you’ll probably want to share these customer service canned responses with them.

While basic Gmail doesn’t allow it, our tool Keeping enables collaborative canned responses. Keeping is a fully featured help desk that works directly within Gmail.

To get set up, simply install the Keeping canned response Chrome extension for Gmail.

This allows you to save time by inserting a prewritten answer into your email response, then automatically share it with your whole team.

Using Keeping’s canned replies extension is easy. 

Here’s what to do:

1. Sign up for Keeping and download the Keeping toolbar from the Google Chrome extension store.
2. Open a customer support email and click on “reply” to send a response.
3. Click on the lightning bolt icon to access all of your saved canned responses. This icon will automatically turn yellow if Keeping detects that there is an appropriate canned response for the customer request you are responding to.
4. Select the canned response that is most applicable to the customer’s inquiry.

How to share customer service response templates with your team

You can use our Shared Templates to create canned responses in Gmail. Our tool will then automatically share it with every member on your customer support team.

You don’t need to enable sharing or take any additional steps. Keeping will do all of the work for you.

This way, everyone on your team will have access to the same canned responses in Gmail. 

They won’t need to create their own templates or ask you to copy and paste your canned responses.

When to use canned responses in Gmail for customer service

When in doubt about whether or not to add a new canned response, go by The Rule of Three:

If you find yourself doing a task a third time, find a way to automate it.  

The third time you find yourself responding to the same email, use that third response as your template for the inevitable fourth time you receive the same email.

For example:

Multiple customers have now emailed to ask about your company’s return policy. The third time this inquiry comes in, add your response as a canned response template.

You can use Keeping’s tag feature to simplify this process.

An agent can simply add a “make template” tag to an incoming ticket that requires a templated response (but doesn’t yet have one).

Later, your team can simply sort by the “make template” tag and add any new templates into the system.

This helps stay organized, plus doubles as a fast and easy process for setting up canned responses to customer inquiries.

The benefits of using canned response email templates

There are many reasons why your team should use canned response email templates to manage customer support requests.

Benefits include:

1. Faster response time: Considering 90% of customers expect a response in 10 minutes or less, canned replies allow you to provide excellent customer service by minimizing response delays and serving customers more quickly.
2. More efficiency: Your team saves time typing out answers to the same frequently asked questions over and over. This allows them to focus their time and energy on other tasks, increasing productivity.
3. Tone consistency: Ensure a consistent tone when responding to customer service requests. Since team members share the same templates, all your team’s customer support responses will be uniform and on-brand.

Tips for using Gmail canned responses like a pro

Follow these tips to use canned responses like a pro:

• Personalize, personalize, personalize: Excellent customer service starts (and ends) with personalization, so ensure your canned responses don’t feel… well, canned. Templates should be used to speed up response times, but still should be customized to each customer’s situation.
• Be consistent: Make decisions up front about what tone your support team should use with clients, then ensure all templates follow these best practices. Are your greetings formal or informal? Is your tone casual, friendly and empathetic? Or professional but personalized?
• Be casual (unless you are denying a request): Most customers tend to prefer a casual tone with some personality. For most requests, an overly formal or stiff response can lack empathy and feel impersonal. But there are two big exceptions: denying a request and delivering bad news. A casual tone when delivering bad news can go overly poorly, so proceed with caution in these cases.
• Use videos or screenshots: For customers experiencing common technical issues, a screenshot or video recording (using Loom, for example) can work wonders. Record the video once and then save your reply as a canned response in Gmail so you can reuse it in the future.
• Provide links: If you reference a specific webpage in your response to a support request, provide a link to save the customer the trouble. They shouldn’t have to hunt for this information on their own.
• Politely end the conversation: Once you resolve your customer’s issue, ask the customer if there’s anything else you can assist them with. This way, you won’t abruptly end a conversation with a customer who has another unresolved question or concern.

8 ready-to-use customer service canned response templates

Are you struggling to come up with the perfect customer service response templates for your team? 

Here are 8 useful canned response examples that can save you time.

(Feel free to customize them for your own needs).

Replying to an upset customer

Hi #first_name,

Thanks for reaching out. I’m so sorry, I definitely understand your concern and I’m escalating your issue right away so that someone can take a closer look at what’s going on.

Please stand by and one of my teammates will get back to you with more details ASAP.

Best,

#agent_first_name

Replying to an upset customer (service)

Hi #first_name,  

Thanks so much for your email – I'm sorry that you’re disappointed with our product. 

Could you let me know what specific features you were running into problems with so that I can try to shed a bit more light on their expected functionality?

I’d love to help where I can pass your suggestions along  to our team, but I need just a bit more information before  doing so. 

I definitely understand how it can be frustrating to sign up for a service and have it not work the way you think it should, so hopefully we can get this sorted out for you ASAP.

Best,  

#agent_first_name

Customer has an issue, but you need more information

Hi #first_name,

Thanks for your note. I’m not sure I follow,  any chance you could provide a little more detail? A screenshot would be super helpful as well so I can diagnose on my end.

I’ll do my best to help.

Thanks!

#agent_first_name

Your product or service is not working

Hi #first_name,

Sorry for the delay in response.

We encountered an issue earlier today that affected some accounts — and unfortunately yours was one of those affected.

We have rectified the underlying problem and you should be up and running again now. No conversations were lost during this time, but please give it a few minutes for them to flow into your inbox.

We understand how critical we are in the role of supporting your customers, and will be implementing a  host of solutions to ensure that a situation like this  does not occur again.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a shout.

Thanks,

#agent_first_name

Refund request

Dear #first_name,

As we discussed, I’ve requested that a refund be issued  to your account in response to [your complaint]. You should see the amount credited to [your original payment source] within [time period].

Again, I’m sorry that [our product or service] didn’t meet your expectations. If we can help in any way in the future, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

#agent_first_name

Feature request

Hello #first_name,

Thanks again for reaching out to [our company] to suggest [the new feature they proposed].

We love the idea, and have added it to our list of development ideas. No promises on when it may be implemented, but our team has it on their radar. 

We appreciate your insight and suggestions. Keep sending them our way!

Sincerely,

#agent_first_name

Happy customer (and review request)

Hi [customer name],

We’re thrilled that you decided to join our family (and are hoping that the feeling is mutual!).

How are you finding everything so far with [product name/description]?

I'd love to hear your feedback.

If you have any questions at all, I’m just an email away.

Thanks,

#agent_first_name

Order didn’t arrive on time

Dear #first_name,

I’m very sorry your order hasn’t arrived. I know how frustrating this must be (and we certainly didn’t intend  to add to your holiday stress).

I’ve tracked the package via [carrier], and it’s currently listed as “[status].” 

If you’d like to check on its progress, here’s the link you can use: [link]

Please contact me directly if your order hasn’t arrived within [time frame]. 

In the meantime, I will do everything I can to locate your package.

Once again, #first_name, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

#agent_first_name

[Email/direct phone]

Save precious time

Stop losing hours typing out the same responses to common questions. By using Gmail canned responses, make this time-sucking habit a thing of the past.

Our team has found this simple practice to be a game-changer for maintaining consistency and saving precious time.

All it takes is one template to get started. Your team can then get in the habit of adding new canned responses as they respond to customer inquiries, then your template library will gradually grow.

The more redundant processes you can eliminate, the more time you have for what matters to your customers – solving problems and providing a great customer experience.