Message Layouts

Every time BackReply posts a conversation to Slack, the message includes information about the customer, the conversation status, and action buttons. Message Layouts let you control which of those elements appear.

You might want a detailed layout for your VIP channel that shows SLA status, tags, and company data – but a minimal layout for a high-volume channel where only the message body and a reply hint matter.

Each workspace can have up to 10 layouts. One is always marked as the default.

A layout controls three categories of content:

These are data fields pulled from Intercom and displayed as a context line above the conversation status. You can show up to 10 properties per layout, drawn from three sources:

The default layout shows Contact email and Company name. You can add, remove, or reorder properties to fit your workflow.

Properties are fetched dynamically from your Intercom workspace, so custom data attributes you've created in Intercom appear automatically.

Toggle indicators that give your team context at a glance:

All are enabled by default except SLA status.

Helpful text for your team:

Both are enabled by default. Turn off the onboarding tip once your team is familiar with BackReply.

Buttons that appear at the bottom of each message:

All are enabled by default.

Every workspace has one default layout that cannot be deleted. It's created automatically the first time you visit the Message Layouts page.

The default layout ships with sensible settings: contact email, company name, all status indicators on (except SLA), all hints on, and all action buttons on. This matches how BackReply messages looked before Message Layouts existed – so nothing changes unless you want it to.

Key rules:

Properties come from your Intercom workspace's data attributes. If you've recently added a custom attribute in Intercom and don't see it, click the refresh button to reload the list.

Check or uncheck any toggle to show or hide that element. Changes appear instantly in the live preview.

The right side of the form shows a real-time preview of how your Slack message will look. As you add properties, enable toggles, or turn off action buttons, the preview updates immediately.

Use this to experiment before saving. The preview shows sample data so you can see exactly what your team will experience.

Changes apply to all notification rules using that layout. The next time a conversation posts or updates, it uses the new configuration.

Each notification rule can use a specific layout. This lets different channels show different information.

If you don't select a layout, the rule uses the default.

Example setup:

Create a layout with:

This keeps messages compact when your team processes dozens of conversations per hour.

Create a layout with:

This gives your VIP team full context without opening Intercom.

Create a layout with:

Engineers don't need every button – just enough to investigate and leave notes.

Once your team knows how BackReply works, edit any layout and uncheck Onboarding tip. The tip disappears from all messages using that layout.

BackReply fetches available properties from the Intercom Data Attributes API. If they don't load:

Start with the default. It works well for most teams out of the box. Only create custom layouts when you have a clear reason.

Match layout to audience. VIP channels benefit from more detail. High-volume channels benefit from less noise.

Use the live preview. It shows exactly what your team will see. Experiment freely before saving.

Turn off the onboarding tip early. Once your team is comfortable, disabling it keeps messages cleaner.

Name layouts clearly. "VIP Detailed" and "Minimal" are better than "Layout 2" and "New Layout."