Canned responses in the SMS inbox

Canned responses are reusable message templates that can save program staff time when messaging participants about FAQs or common occurrences.

Setting up canned responses for your program

Project managers can implement canned responses by navigating to the manage study > messaging page and selecting the Canned Responses tab as shown below. Canned responses are given a name like Appointment_scheduling (note: no spaces allowed) and a message body.

Select the +New Canned Response button to create a new canned response. Canned response messages support variable replacement, as shown in the examples below, where variables will populate with the participant’s name, unique web link, location-specific name and phone number, and more, once sent.

Note: canned responses are shared by all program personnel. Staff cannot make individual/private canned responses at this time.

Using canned responses to message a participant

Canned responses can be accessed in two ways: the canned responses button or via dot phrase. The canned responses button allows staff to view all options available to them and select one to send. Dot phrases allow staff to access familiar or known canned responses more directly – the approach is more efficient for super users.

Option 1: canned responses button

Select the canned responses button in the participant SMS inbox to view all the canned responses configured for your program.

Search by name or scroll through the list of canned responses to confirm your selection. Then, select Insert canned response for the desired canned response. The message will populate the participant SMS inbox, where you can send the message or edit & send the message to the participant.

Option 2: dot phrases

Start by typing “.” in the participant SMS inbox followed by a character, like a letter. The canned responses modal will populate with that letter inserted as the first search criteria. Continue typing to filter down the list or select a canned response from the list. Then, select Insert canned response for the desired canned response. The message will populate the participant SMS inbox, where you can send the message or edit & send the message to the participant.

Typing “.A” into the participant SMS inbox populates the canned responses modal already filtered for responses that start with “A”. The filtered list shows the Appointment_scheduling response but not the Upcoming_Study_Visit because the former starts with “A” and the latter does not.

The canned responses modal supports keyboard shortcuts, like using and arrows to pan through the list of responses and selecting enter on the keyboard to insert a response.