You want to be responsive to customer enquiries, but sometimes, typing the same paragraphs of text again and again to answer predictable questions gets a little bit tedious, not to mention time consuming. So how can you avoid this and yet answer your customer’s queries efficiently at the same time?
The answer is to use something called a text expander application. These types of apps allow you to type shorter character sequences in place of the actual phrase. This could be a paragraph or two of text or it could be things like the date/time formatted in a certain way, addresses and phone numbers, email signatures, images etc. For more advanced users, it can be used to run macros. The best of these types of applications will work across various platforms, storing your database of phrases in the cloud so that they synchronise and are available on your phone, tablet, and computer. The character sequences should work in all apps, from Word to Email, to Facebook and Twitter etc. A good text expander could literally save you hours a month.
There are two apps that really stand out in this market. TextExpander and Phrase Express.
TextExpander
This is available for Mac, Windows and iOS. However, not Android. It’s super easy to use. If you have a lot of text to enter then I’d suggest you download the Mac / Windows app too to benefit from using a full-size keyboard to enter your text.
Example:
Let’s say you run a dog training business, you are out and about most of the time with only your phone to hand, and get inundated with queries regarding the next available puppy course. You don’t want to lose business by not responding quickly enough.
You could set up a “canned response” that can then be used in Facebook, Text messages, emails etc:
First set up a new snippet:
Create your text as you would like it to appear. You can include images too if you wish.
Give it a label (such as “Puppy class details”) then assign a key code combination (in this case “xpc”)
Then try it out:
If you are on your PC/ Mac then go to where you want to enter the text and type in the key code you assigned and the text will appear.
Once you’ve used it for a while, you can see just how much time it has saved you.
TextExpander on the iPhone / iPad
It works in a similar way on the iPhone. When Text Expander is installed it installs another keyboard. You switch to this keyboard using the “globe” button to the left of the spacebar (similar to the way you select the emoji keyboard) then select the Text Expander keyboard and either type in the key code or, if you can’t remember the key code, select the snippet from a list.
There is a month’s free trial but no free version of TextExpander. Costs start at $3.33 per month which covers Mac / Windows and iOS. (£48 per year). They also offer a team version if you need to share snippets within a group, at $7.96 per user per month. You need to create a TextExpander account as this enables you to use their Text Expander Cloud to share snippets across your different devices. If you want to see the company’s introductory video on all the features and how they work then click here.
If you use an Android phone and a windows PC then try Phrase Express instead. It works in a very similar way, though in my opinion, it is not quite as user-friendly. This is available across Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. There is a free version for personal use, and a free trial version, but for commercial use, you do need to pay per platform (£4.99 Android and £49.95 for Windows). It uses Google Drive / Dropbox / OneDrive or iCloud to synchronise your snippets.
Similar functionality exists within other apps to store templates or canned responses. However, the big difference using a text expander app instead is that the same snippets are available across all your apps and managed in one place rather than having to recreate for each app.
Summary:
It is up to you to determine if these apps are worth the cost, but used frequently they will most certainly save you time, and the frustration of typing the same phrase over and over again.
Use the free trials available and see what you think. If you need any help, let me know in the comments below.
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