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. And if you want your customer service to really shine, eDesk's AI features deliver perfectly crafted AI-powered responses to your customers - fast.
 


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.  
  • eDesk AI is available on our Performance + ticket-based plan. 

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.

    Alternatively, eDesk's powerful AI can automatically select one or more appropriate templates for you. If you're using AI Agent Assist, review the message and send with one click, or if you're using AI HandsFree, you don't need to do a thing as AI selects and sends the template for you. It's as easy as that. We call these AI Templates. Learn about switching to eDesk's AI here.

  • 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

For eDesk AI, there are two types of AI Template.

A Primary Template is the default AI template for an AI Classification. Other AI templates for the same Classification are called Secondary Templates. Learn about eDesk's AI here.

AI HandsFree selects and sends the Primary Template automatically. AI Agent Assist displays the Primary Template by default but will offer you use of additional Secondary Templates in the Reply Box. You can view, create, edit, activate, deactivate, and delete Primary AI templates by going to Settings → Smart Tools → Artificial Intelligence.
AI Settings
To do the same for Secondary Templates, go to Settings → Smart Tools → Templates.

You can view, create, edit, activate, deactivate, and delete Manual Usage, Auto-Reply, Out Of Office, and Rule-only 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 an AI template that will be used in your AI-powered response to a customer.

  • 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 HandsFree and AI Agent Assist in eDesk

eDesk’s AI features make life really easy for your team! 

If AI HandsFree is enabled for an AI classification:

  • eDesk's AI evaluates the customer's message to see if it matches the AI classification. If it does, HandsFree automatically responds with an AI-powered response based on the Primary Template for that AI classification.
If AI Agent Assist is enabled for an AI classification:
 

  • eDesk's AI evaluates the customer's message to see if it matches the AI classification. If it does, eDesk displays a Sparkle icon in the row for that ticket in the Mailbox ticket listing. Simply select the Sparkle to open an AI-powered response based on the Primary Template. Review the AI-powered response and select Send, or click into the ticket to see AI-powered responses based on the Primary and Secondary Templates.

Learn more about eDesk's AI here.

06 Editing and deleting Templates

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

  1. Select Delete template to delete the template permanently.

  2. 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.

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

  2. 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.

Further Readings

 

To find out how to take Templates to the next level with eDesk's automation, click here.

Considering switching to eDesk's AI to deliver perfectly crafted responses to your customer's most frequently asked questions with little to no effort? Learn more here.