Reply from Slack

When a customer messages you through Intercom, their conversation appears in your Slack channel as a thread. Reply in that thread—your response reaches the customer instantly.

What this means for your team:

Your message syncs to Intercom within seconds. The customer sees your response in their Messenger.

One thing to remember: Always reply inside the thread, not in the main channel. Only thread replies reach the customer.

When you reply from Slack, customers see a normal agent response in Intercom—they won't know you're using Slack.

If you're mapped to an Intercom admin account, responses show your name and avatar. If you're not mapped, responses appear under your company name. Both work well; mapping just adds personal attribution.

Slack formatting carries over to Intercom. Use it to make your messages clear:

Formatting helps customers follow instructions and scan your responses quickly.

Drag files into the thread or click the attachment icon. Images, PDFs, and documents sync to the customer in Intercom.

Limits:

Images appear inline for customers. Other files show as downloadable attachments.

Sometimes you need to coordinate with teammates without the customer seeing. Internal notes let you do exactly that.

To add an internal note:

Or simply start your thread message with [note]:

[note] @billing Can you check this customer's invoice?

Notes appear in Slack and Intercom but are hidden from the customer. Use them to loop in specialists, document context, or hand off conversations.

Every conversation has buttons for common actions:

Claim conversations before responding to avoid duplicate replies from teammates.

Anyone in your Slack channel can help customers—even without an Intercom seat.

This is powerful for getting quick input from engineers, product managers, or other specialists. They can reply directly in the thread, and their response reaches the customer under your company name.

Example workflow:

A customer reports a technical issue. You loop in an engineer with an internal note. The engineer investigates and replies in the thread with the solution. The customer gets their answer without knowing multiple people were involved.

When a conversation is closed, reopened, assigned, or snoozed, you'll see a status message in the thread. These updates sync both ways—changes in Intercom appear in Slack, and changes in Slack update Intercom.

If a customer replies to a closed conversation, it automatically reopens and you'll be notified.

Claim before you reply. Click "Assign to Me" first so teammates know you're on it.

Use formatting. Bold headings and bullet points make instructions easier to follow.

Attach screenshots. Show customers what you mean instead of describing it.

Close when done. Mark conversations as resolved to keep your queue clean.

Check the context. The thread header shows customer details—name, email, company, tags. Use this information to personalize your response.

My message didn't reach the customer. You likely replied in the main channel instead of the thread. Open the thread and reply there.

Can I fix a typo after sending? Edited messages don't update in Intercom. Send a follow-up with the correction.

Can multiple people respond? Yes, but assign the conversation first so everyone knows who's handling it.

How fast do messages sync? Typically 1-3 seconds. Customers see your response almost instantly.