How to Set Up Canned Responses and Quick Replies for Live Chat Agents

When your agents handle dozens of conversations a day, typing the same greetings, follow-ups, and answers over and over wastes time. Quick Replies let you create pre-written responses that agents can insert instantly using slash commands — no copy-pasting needed.

What Are Quick Replies?

Quick Replies (also called canned responses) are reusable message templates stored in your account. Each one has a shortcut that agents type in the conversation input to insert the full response. They support dynamic variables like the visitor's name, the agent's name, and your company name — so every message feels personal.

Creating a Quick Reply

Navigate to Settings → Quick Replies and click Add Quick Reply. You'll see four fields:

Shortcut

The trigger your agents type to insert this reply. Shortcuts are prefixed with / automatically. For example, a shortcut of greeting is triggered by typing /greeting in the conversation.

• Must be lowercase — only letters, numbers, and hyphens are allowed
• Must be unique within your account — no two replies can share the same shortcut
• Keep them short and memorable (e.g., hi, faq-pricing, follow-up)

Title

A descriptive name for this reply (e.g., "Welcome Greeting" or "Pricing FAQ"). This appears in the slash command menu alongside the shortcut, making it easy for agents to find the right response.

Category

An optional label to organize your replies (e.g., "Greetings", "Sales", "Support"). Defaults to "General" if left empty. Replies are sorted by category then by shortcut in the settings table.

Content

The actual message text that gets inserted. This is where you write the full response. You can include dynamic variables that are automatically replaced with real values when the reply is used:

• {{visitor_name}} — replaced with the visitor's name (falls back to "there" if unknown)
• {{agent_name}} — replaced with the agent's name (falls back to "Agent")
• {{company_name}} — replaced with your company name

For example, a content of:

Hi {{visitor_name}}, thanks for reaching out to {{company_name}}! I'm {{agent_name}} — how can I help you today?

Becomes: "Hi Sarah, thanks for reaching out to Acme Inc! I'm Alex — how can I help you today?"

Using Quick Replies in Conversations

When an agent is in a conversation, they simply type / in the message input to open the Quick Replies menu. From there:

• Keep typing to filter — type /gre to narrow down to shortcuts starting with "gre" or titles containing "gre"
• Arrow keys — navigate up and down through the list
• Enter — insert the highlighted reply into the input
• Click — select any reply with the mouse
• Escape — dismiss the menu

The menu shows each reply's shortcut, title, and a preview of the content (first 80 characters). Once selected, the variables are replaced with real values and the full text appears in the input — ready to send or edit before sending.

Managing Quick Replies

On the Settings → Quick Replies page, you can:

• Edit any reply by clicking the pencil icon — update the shortcut, title, category, or content
• Delete a reply by clicking the trash icon — you'll be asked to confirm before it's removed
• View all replies in a sorted table organized by category then shortcut

Who Can Manage Quick Replies?

Creating, editing, and deleting quick replies requires an Admin or Owner role. Regular agents can view and use quick replies in conversations, but cannot modify them. This ensures consistency across your team — admins curate the library, agents use it.

Tips for Effective Quick Replies

• Start with the basics — create replies for your most common interactions: greetings, closing messages, "I'll look into that", "Let me transfer you to a specialist"
• Use categories — group replies by purpose (Greetings, Support, Sales, Follow-up) so agents can find them faster
• Keep shortcuts intuitive — /hi, /thanks, /pricing, /escalate are easier to remember than /resp-001
• Always use variables — {{visitor_name}} makes a canned response feel personal. Avoid hardcoding names or details.
• Review and prune regularly — remove replies that are no longer relevant and update ones with outdated information
• Train your team — make sure agents know about the / shortcut. A quick demo during onboarding saves hours over time.

Example Quick Replies to Get Started