“OMG – Canned Responses are my new best friend. That is all.”

That was the email from a happy client recently, after I recommended Canned Responses to her.

And last week, while in an operations + tech overview for a client’s new assistant, she had a similar reaction to finding out about the tool.

It got me thinking about you, a smart, successful business owner and I thought you’d like to be in on the secret, too.

Consider this your formal introduction to your new TOP business tool – Canned Responses for Gmail.

First, let’s start with what they are – email templates that are saved right in your Gmail inbox and ready for use at a moment’s notice.

Use them for totally new emails or as replies to incoming emails.

I have many email scripts that are sent frequently – emails to new subscribers, welcome emails for new clients, thank you emails for in-person connections, reminder emails for my monthly in-person business group. The list is lengthy.

I’ve also seen clients and their teams use the inbox feature for client application responses, sending monthly session scheduling reminders, coordination of speaking events, sending private coaching session recording links, pitching for guest posts and podcasts. Again, the list is long and possibilities endless.

Each time, minutes are saved in the moment, which ends up totaling hours throughout the week.

It saves time during the email composition, as sometimes all you need to do is add the recipient’s name, email address and hit Send.

Other instances, it’s only a few personalizations and tweaks before you send the message on its way.

Where the big time saving comes in is the prep and organization aspect. You no longer need to hunt for the last time you sent that same email so that you can copy and paste into a new email. Or wonder how you responded last time that situation came up. Or click through Drive or Dropbox just to copy and paste your email content for the new email or reply.

Now, you’re probably wondering where do you get them?

You’ve been using Gmail long enough and have not come across them yet. What gives?

Where have they been hiding? In a little tab named “Labs”, in your Settings area.

To add Canned Responses in your Gmail inbox:

1. Click on the little Settings icon, which looks like a gear wheel, in the upper right-hand corner of your inbox.
2. The third section from the right is named Labs, so you want to click there.
3. The second option down is the one you want – Canned Responses. Click the radio button on Enable.
4. Then, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.
5. That was easy, right?!? Ok, but you’re not quite done yet. Let’s check to make sure the feature enabling worked. Open a new email.
6. In your new email, click on the downward pointing arrowhead. And voilà, just above Labels is none other than a magical new email tool called Canned Responses.

Now, you can create your email templates and save to your heart’s content.

Already using Gmail’s Canned Responses? Have a question about the inbox feature? Tell me below – I’m so looking forward to hearing how you like the tech tool!

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash