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Canned Responses

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Canned responses are pre-written message shortcuts your agents can insert into any conversation in one click. Instead of typing the same reply over and over, agents store it once and retrieve it with a / in the composer. This keeps response times fast and messaging consistent across your whole team.

Creating a canned response #

  1. Go to Settings → Canned Responses
  2. Click New Canned Response
  3. Enter a Name — a short label used to search for this response (e.g. refund-policy, order-delay, greeting-new). Agents never see this name in the chat; it’s only used for searching.
  4. Write the Content — the full message body. You can use WhatsApp formatting and personalisation tokens (see sections below).
  5. Click Save
Canned responses are shared across your entire team. Anyone in your organisation can use any canned response in any conversation.

Using a canned response in a conversation #

  1. Open any conversation in the Inbox
  2. Click in the message composer and type /
  3. A picker appears showing all canned responses — type part of the name to filter
  4. Click the response to insert it into the composer
  5. Review or edit the inserted text if needed, then press Send
The response is inserted as editable text — it is not sent automatically. You always have a chance to personalise it before sending.

WhatsApp text formatting #

Canned responses support WhatsApp’s native text formatting. Use the following markdown-style syntax in the content editor:

Syntax Renders as Example
*text* Bold *Your order is confirmed*
_text_ Italic _Please allow 2–3 business days_
~text~ Strikethrough ~Old price: ₹999~
```text``` Monospace ```Order #48291```

Line breaks work normally — press Enter in the editor to create a new line, and it will appear as a line break in the WhatsApp message.

Personalisation tokens #

Use tokens to insert contact-specific values automatically when the response is sent. Baat replaces them with the actual contact data at send time.

Token Replaced with
{{contact.name}} The contact’s full name
{{contact.first_name}} First name only
{{contact.phone}} Contact’s phone number
{{contact.email}} Contact’s email address
{{agent.name}} The name of the agent who is sending the message

Example:

Hi {{contact.first_name}}! 👋 I’m {{agent.name}} from Baat Support. I can see your query and I’m on it — give me a moment.

If a token value is missing (e.g. the contact has no email saved), the token is left as-is in the sent message. Always check that your contacts have the relevant fields populated before using tokens.

Organising canned responses — naming conventions #

As your library grows, good naming makes responses easy to find. A consistent prefix system works well:

Prefix Use for Example name
greet- Opening messages greet-new-customer
order- Order-related replies order-delay, order-confirmed
refund- Refund and return queries refund-policy, refund-initiated
ship- Shipping and delivery ship-tracking-link
close- Closing / resolved messages close-resolved, close-feedback
flow- Intro messages before sending a Flow flow-booking-intro

Using canned responses with WhatsApp Flows #

A useful pattern is to send a canned response as a warm-up message before sending a Flow template. The canned response sets context so the customer knows why they’re being asked to fill in a form.

Example sequence:

  1. Agent sends canned response flow-booking-intro:
    “Hi {{contact.first_name}}! To book your appointment, tap the button below — it takes less than 30 seconds. 👇”
  2. Agent immediately sends the booking Flow template
  3. Customer taps the button, fills in the form, and submits

After the Flow is submitted, agents can use another canned response (e.g. close-booking-confirmed) to send a personalised confirmation while the automated Journey follow-up runs in parallel.

Editing a canned response #

  1. Go to Settings → Canned Responses
  2. Find the response you want to change (use the search bar to filter by name)
  3. Click the Edit (pencil) icon
  4. Update the name or content and click Save

Changes apply immediately for all agents — there is no publish or approval step.

Deleting a canned response #

  1. Go to Settings → Canned Responses
  2. Click the Delete (trash) icon next to the response
  3. Confirm the deletion
Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. If you’re unsure, rename the response with a deprecated- prefix instead of deleting it, so you can recover the content later.

Best practices #

  • Keep each response focused — one response, one purpose. Don’t combine an order update and a refund explanation into a single canned response.
  • Use tokens for names — personalised messages (“Hi Priya!”) perform better than generic ones (“Hi there!”). Always use {{contact.first_name}} in greeting responses.
  • Review quarterly — prices, policies, and product names change. Schedule a 15-minute quarterly review to keep all responses current.
  • Limit to what’s truly repeated — if a message is sent fewer than once a week, it probably doesn’t need a canned response.
  • Don’t replace genuine empathy — for complaints and escalations, agents should personalise their messages. Canned responses work best for factual, process-driven replies.
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