If your business is growing at such a rate that you're unable to cope with support emails, phone calls, etc, then a good piece of help desk software may be the solution to all your problems.

One thing that the help desk software can do that humans cannot do is to send out canned responses to customers' support email. Here's how it works.

The customer sends out a support email to an email address like support@yourcompany.com and this message is piped into the database of your help desk software. A ticket is created, and now a response is required from either (a) a support staff or (b) an auto response from the help desk software.

The auto response is what we sometimes call "canned responses". These are responses that are pre-entered into the help desk software. They may be sent out automatically, or they can be sent out manually to respond to a ticket. Either way, the canned response is a response that's created before hand. So is a canned response good for the business?

The first advantage that comes to mind is that a canned response will always give an accurate description of the solution to the customers' problems. There's little room for human error, and the customers can depend on the help desk software for quick and reliable responses.

The second major advantage of canned responses is that they allow you to scale your business very quickly. Since canned responses only need to be created once, they can be used again and again to provide support responses very quickly. The act of producing quick, accurate support responses can only lead to a lower attrition rate.

But a word of caution here for all business executives reading this article. As the business grows and evolves, the organization grows as well. As a business unit, it becomes easy to lose touch with the customers as systems start to replace human beings.

We highly recommend placing an experienced support staff in the management of the help desk software, and not completely relying on the software alone. In fact, the more experienced the support staff (preferably someone who's very actively involved in product development), the better it is for the business. Why is that so?

That's because no matter how many canned responses you enter into the help desk software, it can never be as knowledgeable as the product developer himself. Assure the customers and let them know that they have access to the root source of solutions to their problems and gain their trust, confidence, and loyalty.

Besides, losing the human touch completely may alienate the customers. Here's a sample canned response that we received from a CEO of a multi-million dollar business:

Dear [name], Thank you for your email, and I want you to know that we really value your feedback. Note that this is a canned response, and as much as we hate to use it, it's the only viable option as our business continues to grow at an amazing rate. Due to putting these systems in place, we trust that you're able to get the solutions to your problems in a more timely and organized fashion. For instance, I believe this will help you: [insert canned response]. If that doesn't solve your problems, feel free to give us a ring during office hours, or simply reply to this email and our helpful support staff will be happy to render their assistance. (This is where your experienced support staff comes in handy.) Thank you for your business, and rest assured that our Company will continue to work hard to deliver high quality products and services. Best regards, [Insert name] CEO, [Company Name]

When you take a closer look at the template above, you realize that this canned response achieves a few things:

• The human is not taken out of the equation.
• It implies that the Company is doing great.
• It gives the Company a professional image.
• It assures that customer that should the help desk software fails to deliver, there's always a human being standing by, ready to serve the customer.

How do you think that'll make the customer feel?

In addition, canned responses are very effectively in answering FAQs. These are questions that you come across again and again, and the answers are almost always the same. So having some kind of canned responses to these questions will help the support department a great deal.

In closing, be reminded that the business must always remain sensitive to the customers' needs. The keyword here is ALWAYS. As technology evolves, some businesses actually find it harder and harder to differentiate themselves from their competitors. That's largely due to the transparency on the Internet. Information is at the finger tips of the consumers.

So if anyone wants to look for a piece of help desk software, it takes just a few clicks of the buttons to find the features that they want, and also compare prices. At the end of the day, it all comes down to who is more willing to listen to what the customer wants and deliver it quicker.

So be sensitive to the customers' needs, listen carefully to what they want, and maintain your competitive advantage. Never let canned responses replace those critical business functions. When deployed properly, help desk software with canned responses can be a great asset to the business.

You can always try out some canned responses, using the template above as a guide, to enjoy the benefits of a help desk software. There are various help desk software available as a free download, and you can try them out risk free. Since there's nothing to lose, it's now time to take your pick of help desk software.

What type of software are you looking to download? Help desk software CD burning software Audio, video player Office software (e.g. MS Office) Free Internet browser Anti virus software