Introducing Shortcuts: Your key to faster responses

The instructions below are for desktops and laptops only.

If you're new to live chat or looking to optimize your workflow, tawk.to's Shortcuts feature is designed to make your life easier.

This powerful tool allows you to create and use pre-written responses for common inquiries, saving valuable time and ensuring consistent communication with your visitors.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the basics of Shortcuts, key benefits, and how you can use them to transform your support operations.

Shortcuts are pre-saved messages that you can quickly insert into live chat conversations and tickets.

Instead of typing out the same responses repeatedly, you can use a simple command to instantly send a pre-written message. 

Besides helping you respond faster, Shortcuts help maintain a consistent tone and quality in your customer interactions.

• Fast and accurate responses
  Deliver precise answers to customer questions quickly.
  
  

• Consistent messaging
  Ensure all agents, including AI, provide uniform and accurate information, maintaining a professional brand voice.

• Reduced typing errors
  Eliminate typos and grammatical errors, projecting a polished and professional image.
  
  

• Suggested messages
  Add suggested messages to shortcuts, giving customers multiple response options.
  
  

• Instant file sharing
  Attach images and documents in your shortcuts and share them with your customers easily.
  
  

• AI-powered efficiency
  AI Assist learns from your shortcuts, enabling it to automatically provide relevant and accurate responses to customer inquiries.

Click + Add Shortcut to create your shortcuts. You can create shortcuts individually or import them via a CSV file. For detailed steps on creating shortcuts, see this guide: Creating and Managing Shortcuts

You can also have Global Shortcuts for all of your tawk.to properties and Profile Shortcuts for individual profiles.

To learn more about creating Global Shortcuts, see this guide:

Managing and Creating Global Shortcuts

To learn more about creating Profile Shortcuts, see this guide:

Managing and Creating Profile Shortcuts

You’ll use the shortcut name to insert the pre-written message in conversations. It’s visible only to you (and your team), but not to your customers.

Your shortcut name can contain up to 100 letters and numbers. Characters such as $ / . < > ' " * aren’t allowed, and spaces are automatically replaced with “-”.

For example, you could have a shortcut named “/new-order” for “Let’s help you make a new order. Which items are you interested in?”

This is your pre-written message, with a limit of 4,000 characters.

You can use the following Markdown syntax to format your message:

*bold text*

_italic text_

1. numbered list

- bullet list

You can also have hyperlinks:

[linked text](https://mylink.com/index.html)

And code and quote blocks:

> quote block

`code`

Note: The above formatting isn’t reflected in your widget preview, but your message will be formatted when you use the shortcut in customer conversations.

You can add the following elements to your shortcut:

• Ticket Form

• Lead Capture Form

• Suggested Messages

• Files

Ticket Form

Use the Ticket Form to gather your customers’ details and create new support tickets.

Lead Capture Form

The Lead Capture Form collects your leads in the Reporting section of your dashboard.

To learn more about the Lead Capture Form, see this guide:

Capturing leads via the tawk.to Lead Capture Form

Suggested Messages

Add up to 4 suggested responses for your customers to select in live chat to move the conversation forward.

To learn more about suggested messages, see this guide:

An introduction to suggested messages

Files

Attach multiple files to your shortcut message.

You can perform one of the following actions with a shortcut:

• Transfer chat

• Change tags

Transfer chat

You can transfer chats to specific agents or departments.

Change tags

You can add or remove tags related to the customer’s inquiry.

If you’ve enabled AI Assist, these questions will help train your AI agent to use the shortcut when responding to customers. Enter up to 5 potential customer questions related to your shortcut message.

Remember to test your shortcut using the widget preview on the right and refine your message accordingly.

1. Start with "/"

Simply type a forward slash (“/”) in the chat or ticket reply text field. This will immediately display a list of your available shortcuts.

2. Filter with keywords

As you continue typing the shortcut's name (even just the first few letters), the list will automatically filter to show relevant shortcuts.

3. Select the shortcut

Choose the desired shortcut from the list. The message, and any attached files, will be instantly pasted into the reply text field.

For example, if there’s an image attached to your shortcut, it’ll appear in chat like this:

4. Double-check and send

Review the message to ensure you’ve used the correct shortcut before sending it to the customer.

tawk.to's AI Assist uses your Shortcuts as a primary data source, allowing it to understand common queries and generate accurate, helpful responses.

By keeping your shortcuts comprehensive and well-organized, you enhance AI Assist's ability to improve response speed, reduce agent workload, and provide a superior customer experience.

For more detailed information about AI Assist's data sources and how they are prioritized, see these guides:

Understanding AI Assist’s Data Sources

Understanding How AI Assist Prioritizes Your Data Sources

• Make your shortcuts easy to find
  Use clear and descriptive shortcut names to easily find the right shortcut.

• Regularly update shortcuts
  Keep your shortcut messages (and files) up-to-date with the latest information and policies.

• Train your team
  Ensure all your agents are familiar with the available shortcuts and how to use them effectively.

By effectively using tawk.to's Shortcuts, you can significantly improve your live chat support efficiency and provide a better experience for your customers. 

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