Answer repeat questions without typing them again

The leak

Every answer you type from scratch costs minutes and comes out slightly different each time. A short set of saved answers is faster for you, more consistent for customers, and frees your replies for the questions that actually need you.

Before you start

Count the repeats. Go through your last 30 customer messages and tally how many ask something you've answered before. That count is your baseline.

Steps

1. Find your top ten questions

   Group the repeats from your tally. Pricing, availability, hours, location, how it works, what's included, how long it takes, payment, changes and cancellations cover most businesses.

2. Write one great answer for each

   Short, specific, friendly — and ending with the next step.

   Template · Saved answer

   Question: [The question, in the customer's words]
   
   Answer: [Two or three sentences with the real answer — prices, times, conditions.]
   
   Next step: [What they should do now — e.g. "Reply with your date and I'll confirm availability" or a link.]

3. Use an AI assistant to draft them faster

   Any assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) can turn your notes into clean answers. Check every fact before you save it.

   Prompt · Draft saved answers

   You're helping a small business answer common customer questions.
   Business: [what you sell, where, to whom].
   Facts you may use (don't invent anything else): [prices, hours, policies, process].
   For each question below, write a reply of at most 3 short sentences in a warm, direct tone, ending with one clear next step. If a fact is missing, write [MISSING: ...] instead of guessing.
   Questions:
   1. [question]
   2. [question]

4. Put the answers where the questions happen

   • Email: save each answer as a template (Gmail: templates; Outlook: My Templates).
   • Phone and chat apps: use text shortcuts or saved replies, if your app has them.
   • Website: publish the ten answers on a questions page and link it from your auto-reply.

5. Review once a month

   Tally a month of messages again. New repeat question? Add it. Answer that confused people? Rewrite it.

Check in

After 7 days: tally 30 new messages. How many repeats did you answer with a saved reply instead of typing?

After 30 days: tally again. Fewer repeats arriving at all means your questions page is doing its job.