Using Templates to save time

Create ready-to-go templates to help your teams deliver expert customer support in record time! eDesk can also auto-respond to customer messages with a template, e.g., to tell them the office is closed, or to answer a commonly-asked question.

This help file will guide you through the different types of Templates available within your eDesk account.

Before you start

You’ll need to have access to Templates in your Settings in order to view, create and edit templates. If you don’t have access, you can request it from an Admin user within your business.

01 How can eDesk’s Templates work for you?

eDesk’s prewritten templates are a great way to help you stay on top of customer messages and deliver an excellent customer experience even when you’re offline. Here are some examples of use:

When a customer message is a common query, e.g., “How do I return my order?”, you select a template that explains the return process and send it to the customer. Simple! We call these Manual Usage Templates.
When customer messages arrive outside office hours, eDesk automatically responds with a template that informs them that a Support Agent will respond on the next working day. We call these Autoreply Templates.
When customer messages arrive during a holiday period, eDesk automatically responds with a template that informs them that a Support Agent will respond when the office reopens. We call these Out Of Office Templates.
You can even use automation to get eDesk to automatically respond to common customer queries with a template, without the need for any action from you. We call these Rule-only Templates.

02 Managing templates

You can view, create, edit, activate, deactivate, and delete templates by going to Settings → Smart Tools → Templates to open the Message Templates page.

03 Creating new Templates

You can create email templates in different languages, and include images, hyperlinks, and formatted text.

Click here to learn how to create a Manual Usage template that will be displayed in a list for you to select as the response to a customer.
Click here to learn how to set up Out Of Office templates that are sent automatically when eDesk receives a customer message within a specified date period.
Click here to learn how to set up Autoreply templates that are sent automatically when eDesk receives a customer message within a specified time.
Click here to learn how to set up Rule-only templates, which are sent automatically by eDesk when the incoming customer message matches one or more conditions, e.g., Ticket type = Return and Marketplace = Amazon.

04 Using Manual-Usage Templates in eDesk

Once you have created your templates, it’s easy to use them. Just click the Templates icon in the ticket to show the Template menu, then select a template in the list to populate the Message field, and click Send. All relevant templates are listed in the Template menu in the ticket. When you create a new template, you select a template type, which controls where the template is listed.

Consumer type templates are in a templates menu in the Reply box that you use for contacting customers. Press _ in the reply box to quickly access them.
Internal type templates are in a templates menu in the Note box that you use for leaving internal notes. Press _ in the reply box to quickly access them.
External type templates are in a templates menu in the External box, that you use to reply to another email address while staying within the ticket. Press _ in the reply box to quickly access them.
Chat Consumer type templates are available when using live chat to talk to a customer. Press # then the tab button in the Chatbox to quickly access them. To learn more about eDesk’s Live Chat, click here.

05 Using AI suggestions and one-click responses in eDesk

eDesk’s AI feature makes life really easy for your team! If enabled:

eDesk ‘suggests’ one or more templates that are appropriate responses for the customer’s message. The suggestions are listed in the ticket, and you simply click on the suggestion to send it as a response.
eDesk can display a magic button in the two-pane view that you can click and send the template there and then - you don’t even have to open the ticket.

AI Settings can be applied to any type of template. To find out more, click here.

06 Editing and deleting Templates

Select the ellipsis icon … on the right-hand side in Settings → Smart Tools → Templates.

Select Delete template to delete the template permanently.
Select Edit template to open the template for editing.

You can also copy and deactivate the template from this menu also.

07 Reporting on Template use

If you’re on the eDesk Enterprise pack, you can run reports in eDesk that show which templates have been used for a given channel and date range.

In Insights → Reports → Enterprise Reports, select the Channels, Templates, and a date range.

Click Generate to download a CSV file that details the tickets for which the selected template was used:

Template reports
To find out more about eDesk reporting and Enterprise Reports, click here.

08 Template not showing

The most common reason why a Template won't show in a ticket would because the Usage Conditions selected do not match the ticket in question.

To find out more about this, click here.

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