Save Time with Email Canned Responses
Raise your hand if you need more time! *looks around room*
Yeah, I thought so. Email works in a painful, neverending cycle– you’re always doomed. One email goes out, five more come in. Sure, you’ve got those emails you can delete right away. But certain types of emails need responses… and often the same response you swear you’ve sent to hundreds of people before. Email canned responses to the rescue!
Challenge: Set up at least one new canned response of awesomeness.
Why: Canned responses are the peanut butter to your email jelly. The bread to your butter. The… you get it.
A canned response is a saved message that you can use to reply to relevant emails. It doesn’t just have to be a reply- it can even be a commonly used email that you proactively send out, like a pitch to a brand. Having these frequently used emails on tap is a true timesaver.
Canned Response Ideas
Before I share some ways to use canned responses, first let me say something muy importante: A canned response doesn’t mean you insert the response, then click send.
ALWAYS customize it somehow. Add someone’s name, include a sentence geared just to the recipient, whatever. Some emails need more customization than others. But they all need a little something.
Some useful canned responses:
- Advertising inquiries: send out more details, media kit, etc.
- The flat-out “no thank you” replies: to a brand, guest post request, advertiser request, etc.
- The “no thank you, but consider me in the future” replies
- Guest post requirements for a new guest poster
- Ask someone permission to use image in a post or page
- Request for product to review
- Pitch to a brand for a sponsored post or other type of partnership
- Pitch to a site to guest post
- Congratulate a giveaway winner
- Ask someone to be featured in a post or series
How to Do It
Honestly, you can do this by simply saving email drafts, then copy and pasting when you need them. But since so many people have gmail accounts, I’m going to walk you through setting up canned responses with Gmail. (I have some links to other apps below).
Setting Up Canned Responses
(You’ll only have to do steps 1-5 once.)
1. Go to your Gmail account (and make sure you’re logged in).
2. Click the Settings icon.
3. On the Settings page, click the tab Labs.
Yeah, I know that’s not obvious AT ALL. But Labs are experimental features that may one day go poof or stick around and become a main part of the app. Google actually shut down Labs a few years back, but a few experiments, like canned responses, still hang around.
So enough with the history lesson, moving on…
4. Scroll down to find Canned Responses, then select Enable.
5. Scroll back up and click Save Changes.
Now it’s time to actually create your canned response!
6. Start a new message and write what you would use as a canned response.
7. When you’re ready to save, click the down arrow at the bottom of your message and hover over canned responses. Name and save it!
Canned responses don’t save Subject lines, but if you put in your subject, it’ll suggest that as your canned response name.
Ta-da! You’ve just created your first canned response!
Using a Canned Response
1. Start a new email.
2. Click down arrow, select Canned responses, and insert your response.
If you adjust your response and want to update it for the future, just select Save.
Non Gmail Options
If you don’t use gmail’s interface, you have some options. I found a few but you might need to do some googling… or just save responses in your Draft folder as I mentioned.
Your Turn
Which new canned response did you create? Did you already have some set up?
