Intercom Automation
Automate Intercom customer messaging, support workflows, user engagement, and product tours
Your support team answers the same 10 questions 50 times a day, your onboarding messages are generic, and you manually tag conversations because the auto-rules never worked right. Intercom has powerful automation — nobody's configured it properly.
Who it's for: customer support leads automating repetitive ticket handling, product teams building in-app onboarding flows, growth teams setting up engagement campaigns, SaaS companies scaling support without hiring, CS managers wanting better conversation routing and tagging
Example
"Set up Intercom automation for our SaaS onboarding flow" → Automated workflows: welcome messages triggered by signup, product tour sequences based on user actions, support ticket routing by topic, and re-engagement campaigns for inactive users — all configured and ready to activate
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
# Intercom Automation
Comprehensive workflow for automating Intercom customer communication and support workflows.
## Core Workflows
### 1. Conversation Flow
```
CUSTOMER CONVERSATION FLOW:
┌─────────────────┐
│ User Message │
│ (Inbound) │
└────────┬────────┘
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Bot Triage │
│ - Intent │
│ - Route │
└────────┬────────┘
│
┌────┴────┐
▼ ▼
┌───────┐ ┌───────┐
│ Bot │ │ Human │
│ Reply │ │ Agent │
└───┬───┘ └───┬───┘
│ │
└────┬────┘
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Resolution │
│ - Close │
│ - Follow-up │
└─────────────────┘
```
### 2. Automation Rules
```yaml
automations:
- name: welcome_new_users
trigger:
event: user.created
conditions:
- signed_up_at: within_last_hour
action:
send_message:
type: chat
delay: 5_minutes
message: |
Hey {{first_name}}! 👋
Welcome to {{company_name}}! I'm here to help you
get started. What brings you here today?
buttons:
- "Explore features"
- "I have a question"
- "Just looking around"
- name: trial_expiring
trigger:
event: user.attribute_changed
attribute: trial_days_remaining
value: 3
action:
send_message:
type: email
template: trial_expiring
- name: feature_announcement
trigger:
segment: power_users
event: feature_released
action:
send_message:
type: in_app
message: "🎉 New Feature: {{feature_name}}"
```
## User Segmentation
### Segment Definitions
```yaml
segments:
- name: trial_users
filter:
subscription_status: trial
- name: power_users
filter:
sessions_count: "> 50"
last_seen: "< 7 days"
features_used: "> 5"
- name: at_risk_users
filter:
subscription_status: active
last_seen: "> 30 days"
- name: enterprise_prospects
filter:
company_size: "> 100"
plan: free
- name: feature_requesters
filter:
tag: feature_request
conversations_count: "> 0"
```
### Dynamic Attributes
```yaml
custom_attributes:
- name: health_score
type: number
compute: |
(sessions_last_30_days * 2) +
(features_used * 3) +
(team_members_active * 5)
- name: lifecycle_stage
type: string
rules:
- condition: signed_up_at < 7_days
value: "onboarding"
- condition: subscription_status == "trial"
value: "trial"
- condition: subscription_status == "active"
value: "customer"
- condition: subscription_status == "cancelled"
value: "churned"
- name: account_tier
type: string
source: company.plan
```
## Messaging Campaigns
### Onboarding Series
```yaml
onboarding_campaign:
name: "New User Onboarding"
audience:
segment: new_signups
messages:
- day: 0
channel: in_app
content: |
Welcome to {{company}}! 🎉
Let me show you around. Click below to take a
quick 2-minute tour.
cta: "Start Tour"
- day: 1
channel: email
subject: "Quick tip: {{feature_1}}"
content: |
Hi {{first_name}},
Did you know you can {{feature_1_benefit}}?
Here's how: {{feature_1_tutorial_link}}
- day: 3
channel: in_app
trigger:
not_completed: "setup_wizard"
content: |
Hey {{first_name}}, I noticed you haven't
finished setting up. Need any help?
- day: 7
channel: email
subject: "How's it going?"
content: |
Hi {{first_name}},
You've been using {{company}} for a week now.
Any questions or feedback? Just reply to this email!
```
### Product Tours
```yaml
product_tours:
- name: "Welcome Tour"
trigger:
event: first_login
steps:
- element: "#dashboard"
title: "Your Dashboard"
body: "This is where you'll see your key metrics"
position: bottom
- element: "#create-button"
title: "Create New"
body: "Click here to create your first project"
position: left
- element: "#help-menu"
title: "Need Help?"
body: "Find docs and contact support here"
position: bottom
- name: "Feature Tour: Reports"
trigger:
event: page_viewed
url: "/reports"
first_time: true
steps:
- element: "#date-picker"
title: "Date Range"
body: "Select your reporting period"
```
## Support Workflows
### Conversation Routing
```yaml
routing_rules:
- name: vip_priority
conditions:
- company.plan: enterprise
actions:
- set_priority: urgent
- assign_team: enterprise_support
- send_notification: slack_vip
- name: billing_issues
conditions:
- message_contains: ["billing", "charge", "invoice", "refund"]
actions:
- add_tag: billing
- assign_team: billing_support
- name: technical_support
conditions:
- message_contains: ["error", "bug", "not working", "broken"]
actions:
- add_tag: technical
- assign_team: tech_support
- create_ticket: jira
```
### Bot Responses
```yaml
bot_responses:
- intent: greeting
patterns: ["hi", "hello", "hey"]
response: |
Hi there! 👋 How can I help you today?
- intent: pricing
patterns: ["pricing", "cost", "how much", "plans"]
response: |
Great question! Here's our pricing:
• **Starter**: $29/mo
• **Growth**: $79/mo
• **Enterprise**: Custom
Would you like me to connect you with sales?
buttons:
- "Yes, talk to sales"
- "See full comparison"
- intent: password_reset
patterns: ["forgot password", "reset password", "can't login"]
response: |
No problem! You can reset your password here:
{{password_reset_link}}
The link will expire in 24 hours.
auto_close: true
```
## Analytics & Reporting
### Conversation Metrics
```
SUPPORT METRICS - THIS WEEK
═══════════════════════════════════════
Conversations:
New: 234 (+12%)
Closed: 256 (+8%)
Open: 45
Response Times:
First Reply: 2.3 min (target: 5 min) ✓
Median: 8 min
Resolution: 2.4 hours
CSAT Score: 4.7/5 ⭐ (+0.2)
BY CHANNEL:
Chat ████████████░░░░ 156
Email ██████░░░░░░░░░░ 58
In-App ████░░░░░░░░░░░░ 20
TOP TOPICS:
┌────────────────────┬───────┐
│ Topic │ Count │
├────────────────────┼───────┤
│ Billing questions │ 45 │
│ Feature requests │ 38 │
│ Bug reports │ 32 │
│ How-to questions │ 28 │
└────────────────────┴───────┘
```
### Engagement Dashboard
```yaml
engagement_metrics:
- name: message_open_rate
formula: opened / sent * 100
target: 40%
- name: click_through_rate
formula: clicked / opened * 100
target: 10%
- name: tour_completion_rate
formula: completed / started * 100
target: 60%
- name: bot_resolution_rate
formula: resolved_by_bot / total * 100
target: 30%
```
## Integration Workflows
### CRM Sync
```yaml
crm_integration:
salesforce:
sync_fields:
- intercom: company.name
salesforce: Account.Name
- intercom: user.email
salesforce: Contact.Email
- intercom: custom.mrr
salesforce: Account.MRR__c
events:
- trigger: conversation_closed
action: log_activity
type: "Support Interaction"
- trigger: user.tag_added
tag: "sales_qualified"
action: create_lead
```
### Slack Integration
```yaml
slack_integration:
notifications:
- trigger: new_conversation
channel: "#support-inbox"
conditions:
- priority: urgent
message: "🚨 Urgent: {{user.name}} needs help"
- trigger: conversation_assigned
notify: assignee_dm
message: "New conversation assigned to you"
commands:
/intercom:
- lookup_user
- send_message
- add_tag
```
## API Examples
### Create or Update User
```javascript
// Create/Update User
const user = await intercom.users.create({
user_id: "12345",
email: "user@example.com",
name: "John Doe",
signed_up_at: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000),
custom_attributes: {
plan: "pro",
team_size: 10,
onboarding_complete: true
}
});
// Send Message
await intercom.messages.create({
message_type: "inapp",
body: "Hey! New feature alert 🎉",
from: {
type: "admin",
id: "admin_id"
},
to: {
type: "user",
user_id: "12345"
}
});
// Search Conversations
const conversations = await intercom.conversations.search({
query: {
field: "state",
operator: "=",
value: "open"
}
});
```
## Best Practices
1. **Personalize Messages**: Use user attributes
2. **Time Appropriately**: Consider user timezone
3. **Don't Over-Message**: Respect frequency limits
4. **Bot + Human**: Know when to escalate
5. **Track Everything**: Measure message effectiveness
6. **Segment Thoughtfully**: Target the right users
7. **A/B Test**: Optimize message content
8. **Quick Resolution**: Minimize response timeWhat This Does
Comprehensive workflow for automating Intercom customer communication and support workflows.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
mkdir -p ~/Documents/IntercomAutomation
Step 2: Download the Template
Click Download above, then:
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/IntercomAutomation/
Step 3: Start Working
cd ~/Documents/IntercomAutomation
claude
Best Practices
- Personalize Messages: Use user attributes
- Time Appropriately: Consider user timezone
- Don't Over-Message: Respect frequency limits
- Bot + Human: Know when to escalate
- Track Everything: Measure message effectiveness
- Segment Thoughtfully: Target the right users
- A/B Test: Optimize message content
- Quick Resolution: Minimize response time