Publication date: March 14, 2024
Reading time: 6 minutes
In the ever-growing Etsy marketplace, effective and timely communication with customers is key to building trust, fostering positive relationships, and driving sales. As an Etsy seller, managing customer inquiries and messages can be time-consuming, especially during peak shopping periods. However, with the help of Etsy’s saved replies feature—previously known as snippets, you can streamline your communication process and ensure consistent, professional responses to your customers.
What Are Saved Replies?
Saved replies are pre-written messages or templates that you can create and save within your Etsy Shop Inbox. These messages are designed to help you respond quickly and efficiently to common customer inquiries, questions, or feedback. Rather than typing out individual responses to each message, you can simply select the appropriate saved reply, customize it as needed, and send it off to the customer. Etsy allows you—as of the time of this article—to create up to 250 saved replies as well as create up to 50 categories to organize them.
How Do Saved Replies Work?
The saved replies feature in Etsy allows you to create, edit, categorize, and manage your saved messages. You can create snippets for a variety of scenarios such as inquiries about shipping times, product availability, customization options, shipping updates, or order-related issues. Once you’ve created your saved replies, you can easily access them when composing a message to a customer.
Here are some ways you can leverage saved replies to streamline your customer communication on Etsy:
Create snippet for normal transactions
As eRank’s Annual Survey of Etsy shoppers has demonstrated, customers enjoy the personal touch of the Etsy marketplace. Thus, it is a good idea to create a saved reply to send upon receiving an order that lets the customer know that you have received their order, communicates the estimated processing time, and says “thank you.” This email is also a great time to share your email list with customers, if they have not already subscribed.
Then also create a saved reply that updates the customer as to when their order has shipped, as well as create one to check in with the customer to ensure their order arrived without issue when you see that it has been delivered. These types of messages show a customer that you care about and appreciate their business with saved replies making the process easier and quicker for you as an Etsy seller.
Create templates for common inquiries
Most Etsy shop owners experience receiving the same questions multiple times. While you may address these common questions in your shop’s FAQ section, it is also a great time to use established pre-written responses. Start by identifying the most common questions or inquiries that you receive from customers. Examples may include inquiries about shipping, product details, or returns. Then create a saved reply for each inquiry, providing clear and concise answers that address the customer’s concerns. It saves time and also ensures that you communicate the same response each time to customers.
Create standardized responses to issues
Saved replies can also be utilized to address specific issues or concerns that may arise such as order discrepancies, shipping delays, or product defects. Similar to using saved replies for common inquiries, creating templates for these scenarios ensures that your responses are thorough, empathetic, and consistent across all customer interactions.
Personalize Messages as Needed
While saved replies save you time by providing pre-written templates, it is important to personalize your messages to each customer whenever possible. Use the customer’s name, reference specific details from their inquiry or order, and tailor your response to address their individual needs or concerns. These personal touches show customers that you value their business and care about their satisfaction.
When creating your saved reply, use an indicator such as [Customer’s Name] to note where you need to add the personal touch. It will make the message more personal to that specific customer but still be a time-saver for you. These indicators also make it easy to spot where these personal touches need to be updated on the message.
Save Time and Increase Efficiency
By using Etsy’s saved replies, you can significantly reduce the time spent on customer communication, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. Instead of typing out responses to each message from scratch, you can simply select the appropriate saved reply, customize it as needed, and send it off with just a few clicks.
NOTE: At this time, there is not a way to access saved replies until you have received a message or an order.
To set up, access, and manage your saved replies, open any message in your Etsy inbox and then follow these steps:
- Choose ALL SAVED REPLIES below the message textbox. If you currently have saved replies, you will see them listed.
- On the Saved Replies page, choose ADD NEW and SAVED REPLY.
- Type a title for the reply into the TITLE textbox.
- Type the reply into the MESSAGE textbox.
- Choose a CATEGORY from the dropdown menu or CREATE a new category.
- Choose SAVE.
Saved responses are a valuable tool that can help Etsy sellers streamline their customer communication process, save time, and ensure consistency in their messaging. By creating templates for normal transactions, common inquiries, standardizing responses to issues, and personalizing messages as needed, you can enhance the customer experience and build strong relationships with your buyers. With the strategic use of saved responses, you can improve efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, encourage repeat customers, and ultimately drive sales in your Etsy shop.
