Published: June 8, 2015
Canned responses have been widely used in a variety of platforms for a while now, and Facebook is jumping on board, too. According to techcrunch.com, Facebook has released a new tool called “Saved Replies” to a small number of businesses, with plans to release it to all in the future.
Saved Replies will allow Facebook page administrators the ability to respond to users through saved messages that they create. They will have the ability to create, save, and search for a particular message when responding to the user. Below, an image from TechCrunch shows what the admin’s interface looks like.
The question remains, is this a good idea? From one perspective, it could be seen as a huge time saver if many inquires are being received through Facebook. On the other hand, how do you make sure you aren’t losing the personal touch many businesses have been able to accomplish by communicating with their customers via Facebook? It seems they have taken a few measures to try to maintain some personalization, such as auto-populating the first and/or last name of the user.
For some companies, these saved replies may help serve as an educational tool, as a good reminder to personalize their responses and aid their customer service efforts. According to a survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by management consulting firm The Northridge Group, 33 percent of those who contacted brands with a customer service question on social media never got a response.
At Envano, we believe in creating relationships through social media, responding in real time, without automation. Each fan that we engage with is unique; the way we communicate with them should be, too.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave us a comment below.
By Stevie Sleeter, Content & Social Media Manager
