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Intercom Zapier integrationAutomate Intercom with Zapier.

The Intercom Zapier integration links your inbox, leads, companies and tickets to the rest of your tools. It offers 18 triggers, all instant, 17 actions and 6 searches. Below: what each one does, what it costs and what tends to break.

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Overview

What the Intercom Zapier integration actually does

It is a bridge between Intercom and the other apps you use. Something happens in Intercom (a lead arrives, a conversation closes, a ticket changes), Zapier hears about it and does a job somewhere else. Or the other way round: an event elsewhere writes into Intercom. No code, and every one of the 18 triggers on this app is instant.

Three results people usually build first.

A lead that never sits unread. New Lead or Lead Added Email hands each prospect to your CRM or your sales channel, then Add Tag to Contact marks it in Intercom so the team knows it was routed.

Unhappy ratings turned into work. New Conversation Rating fires when a customer scores a conversation, a filter keeps the bad scores, and Create Ticket opens a follow-up that someone has to close.

A help center fed from elsewhere. Create Article adds a new article to your Help Center from a doc or a form, with a named team member as author.

What Zapier does not do here: none of the 17 actions deletes a contact, a conversation or a ticket. Nothing that happened before the Zap was switched on comes back either. And the API Request (Beta) action only reaches Intercom's own addresses, not any website you like.

Comparing tools? The same app is covered on our Intercom n8n integration and Intercom Make integration pages, written with the same method.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Eight words come back on every line of this page. Here they are in plain English, once.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier sits and waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does once it has started: the step that writes, sends or changes something on your behalf.
Task
What Zapier bills you for: one action your Zap completes successfully. Your plan's allowance is a count of these.
Polling vs instant
Polling: Zapier checks the app on a timer. Instant: the app calls Zapier the moment the event happens. Every Intercom trigger is instant.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when the incoming data meets your condition, and stops it quietly otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists in an app, so later steps can reuse what it found.
Connection
Your Intercom account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step that talks to Intercom.
Cost

What it really costs

Intercom is not a premium app on Zapier, so it works on the free plan. The bill is counted in tasks, and only one thing burns them.

  • Free plan100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps
  • Free plan Zap size2 steps: one trigger, one action
  • Intercom triggers18 instant, so no waiting on any plan
  • Premium appNo, available from the free plan

The trigger never costs a task. Each action that succeeds counts once, on its own, so a Zap with three actions uses three times what a one-action Zap uses. A failed action is not counted. The free plan is capped at two steps: one trigger, one action. Add a filter, a search or a second action and you have a multi-step Zap, which needs a paid plan. Since every Intercom trigger is instant, the interval grid below matters only for the other apps in your Zaps.

Connect

Connect Intercom to Zapier in three steps

  1. 01

    Open your connections

    In Zapier, go to the Apps page of your account and click + Add connection. You need an Intercom account first, plus access to any workspace data you do not own but want the Zap to touch.

  2. 02

    Pick Intercom

    Type Intercom in the search box of the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. A new browser tab opens on Intercom's own sign-in screen, not on Zapier.

  3. 03

    Sign in and allow access

    Log in to Intercom in that tab and grant Zapier access to the workspace. The connection now appears in your list, and every Intercom step of every Zap can reuse it without asking again.

First Zap

Your first Intercom Zap, step by step

GoalTag every new lead that matches your condition, the second it lands in Intercom.

  1. 01

    Create the Zap

    Click to create a new Zap and choose Intercom as the app that starts it. Pick New Lead as the event, then select the connection you added earlier.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the trigger test. Zapier brings back the three most recent leads from your workspace, so you map fields against a real record instead of an empty template.

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    Click the plus icon, choose Filter, then set the field to look at, the rule and the value. Keep the rule type in line with the data: a text rule on text. This step makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.

  4. 04

    Add the action

    Add Intercom again with Add Tag to Contact. Choose how the contact is identified, map the value from the trigger step, and pick the tag to apply.

  5. 05

    Test, then publish

    Test the action once and check the tag in Intercom. If it looks right, click Publish. From then on, each new lead that passes the filter is tagged on arrival.

Triggers

The 18 Intercom triggers

18 events start a Zap when something happens in Intercom, and 18 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

Lead Added Email

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Lead enters an email address.”

A lead finally enters an email address. This trigger catches exactly that moment, which is usually when a follow-up becomes possible. The Zap gets the lead once it is reachable, not before.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
push freshly reachable leads into your mailing tool or CRM so nobody chases a prospect with no address.
Watch out
it reacts to the email being entered, not to the lead being created, so pair it with New Lead only if you need both moments.
2

Lead Converted to User

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a lead converts to a user.”

Someone you only knew as a prospect becomes a known user of your product. That conversion is the event here, and nothing else.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
move a deal forward in your CRM or tell the account owner that a trial lead just crossed the line.
Watch out
users created from scratch do not fire it; for those, use New User.
3

New Lead

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new Lead is created.”

Each new lead created in Intercom starts the Zap. It is the widest net on the lead side.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
log every incoming prospect in a sheet or a CRM, or ping a sales channel the moment one appears.
Watch out
a bulk import creates many leads at once, and a sudden flood like that can be held back by Zapier's protection.
4

Contact Replied

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Contact replies to a Conversation in Intercom.”

A contact answers inside a conversation that is already open, and the Zap starts. Unlike New Conversation, it follows the back-and-forth rather than the opening message, so it is the one to watch when waiting on customers matters.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
alert the assigned teammate in chat when a customer answers after hours, or log reply activity next to the deal.
5

Tag Added to Lead

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Lead is tagged.”

Tags are how most teams sort leads in Intercom. This one wakes up when a tag lands on a lead, so tagging by hand becomes a command for other tools.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
add a lead to a nurture sequence the moment someone on your team tags it as qualified.
Watch out
it covers leads only; tags on users go through Tag Added to User.
6

New Conversation Rating

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a conversation receives a rating.”

When a customer rates a conversation, that score reaches Zapier. It is the quickest signal you have about how support went.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
send poor ratings to a manager, or collect every score in a sheet to review them with the team.
Watch out
every rating fires, good or bad; put a filter after it if only some matter, and remember the filter needs a paid plan.
7

New AI Summary

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when an AI-generated summary is created for a conversation in Intercom.”

Intercom can write an AI summary of a conversation. As soon as one is generated, this trigger hands it to the Zap, ready to be copied elsewhere.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
paste the summary into the CRM record of the customer, so sales see what support discussed without opening Intercom.
8

New Closed Conversation

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when you close a Conversation.”

Closing a conversation in Intercom fires this trigger. It marks the end of a case rather than its start, which makes it the natural hook for anything that should happen once support is done.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
ask for feedback through another tool once a case is done, or log each closed conversation in a sheet.
9

New Company

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new Company is created.”

A company record appears in Intercom and the Zap starts. Useful in B2B, where the account matters more than the person.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
mirror new accounts into your CRM so sales and support share the same list of companies.
Watch out
if your CRM also writes companies back into Intercom, check you are not building a loop.
10

New Conversation

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new Conversation is created by a User in Intercom.”

Starts when a user opens a new conversation in Intercom. It catches the first message, before anyone on your team has replied.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
post incoming questions to a team channel, or open a matching task in your project tool.
Watch out
it covers conversations started by a user; replies inside an existing thread go through Contact Replied.
11

New Ticket

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new Ticket is created in Intercom.”

Every ticket created in Intercom reaches Zapier straight away. Tickets are the structured side of support, with a type and a state, so this is the entry point for escalations to other teams.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
copy a new ticket into your engineering tracker so the product team sees the bug without a login to Intercom.
12

New User

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new User is created.”

A new user record in Intercom starts the Zap. Think signups, product accounts, people who became customers.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
welcome a new customer in another channel, or add them to an onboarding list in your email tool.
Watch out
a lead that converts goes through Lead Converted to User instead, so pick the one that matches your flow.
13

Tag Added to Conversation

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Tag is added to a Conversation in Intercom.”

Tagging a conversation fires this one. Agents already tag to sort topics, so a single click in the inbox can feed a report, a backlog or another team without any extra form to fill in.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
send every conversation tagged as a bug to the product channel, with the link to the thread.
14

Updated Company

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a company is updated.”

Any change on a company record in Intercom starts the Zap. It keeps a downstream copy of the account in step with Intercom.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
sync company changes to your CRM so the account owner works from current data.
Watch out
if the Zap writes the company back with Create or Update Company, it will set itself off again; break the circle with a filter.
15

Updated Contact

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Contact is updated in Intercom.”

Fires whenever a contact changes in Intercom. It is broad: any edit on the record counts.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
keep a CRM or a sheet in sync with what support learns about each person.
Watch out
an action that updates the same contact, such as Create/Update User, triggers it again and drains your tasks fast.
16

Updated Ticket

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a Ticket is updated in Intercom.”

Tracks changes on existing tickets. You choose in the Updates setting which kinds of change should start the Zap, and that setting is required.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
tell the customer's account owner when a ticket moves to a new state.
Watch out
the test step shows the most recently updated tickets, whatever you picked in Updates, so the sample can look off.
17

Tag Added to User

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a User is tagged.”

The user-side twin of Tag Added to Lead. When a user receives a tag, the Zap starts and can act on that label, so a manual sorting habit in Intercom becomes an instruction for your other tools.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
add customers tagged as at risk to a retention list, or alert the account manager in chat.
18

New Unsubscription

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a user unsubscribes from Intercom.io emails.”

Someone unsubscribes from Intercom emails and Zapier hears about it on the spot. Of all the events on this app, it is the one you most want copied everywhere, because consent does not stop at one tool.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
mark the person as opted out in your other email tools so nobody writes to them by mistake.
Actions

The 17 Intercom actions

Intercom gives you 17 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Add Note

Action

In Zapier“Add a note to a user.”

Adds a note to a user, found by email address. The note text is the other required field.

When to use it
context from your CRM or billing tool should sit on the user record in Intercom.
Watch out
the user is found by email, so map an address that matches an existing user.
2

Add Tag to Contact

Action

In Zapier“Add a Tag to a specific Intercom Contact.”

Puts a tag on a contact. You say which property identifies that contact and map the matching value from an earlier step.

When to use it
a qualified lead or a paying customer should carry a label your agents can filter on.
3

Create Article

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new article in your Help Center.”

Adds a new article to your Help Center with a title and a named author from your team.

When to use it
drafts written in a doc tool should reach the Help Center without copy and paste.
Watch out
the author must be a team member of your workspace.
4

Create Conversation

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new conversation from a contact.”

Opens a new conversation in Intercom on behalf of a contact. You state whether that contact is a user or a lead, and write the opening message in plain text.

When to use it
a form on your site should land in the support inbox as a real conversation.
Watch out
the message body does not support HTML, so formatting is lost.
5

Create Data Event

Action

In Zapier“Submit a Data Event to your Intercom account.”

Records an event against a contact, such as a plan change. Intercom recommends a past-tense verb-noun name, and admins see it when building segments.

When to use it
product or billing events should shape the segments and messages your team uses in Intercom.
6

Create or Update Company

Action

In Zapier“Creates or Updates a Company in Intercom.”

Writes a company into Intercom, either as a new record or on top of an existing one.

When to use it
your CRM is the master list of accounts and Intercom should follow it.
Watch out
paired with Updated Company on the same account, this action restarts its own Zap.
7

Create Ticket

Action

In Zapier“Create a Ticket”

Creates a ticket of the type you pick, attached to a contact. The ticket type and the contact are both required.

When to use it
a low rating, a form or an alert from another tool should become tracked support work.
8

Remove Tag From Contact

Action

In Zapier“Remove a Tag from a specific Intercom Contact.”

Takes a tag off a contact, the mirror of Add Tag to Contact. Both the way you identify the contact and the tag to remove are both required.

When to use it
a status ends elsewhere, such as a trial expiring, and the matching tag should go.
9

Reply to Conversation

Action

In Zapier“Adds a reply or note to an existing Conversation.”

Adds a reply or a note to an existing conversation. You pick the conversation and whether the reply comes from a contact or an admin.

When to use it
a status change in another tool should show up in the thread the customer is already reading.
10

Send Incoming Message

Action

In Zapier“Send a Message from a Contact into Intercom to create a new Conversation. Note: you must have a valid plan on Intercom to access this action.”

Drops a message into Intercom as if the contact had written it, which starts a new conversation in the inbox.

When to use it
requests from a form or an email tool should reach your agents like any other incoming chat.
Watch out
you need a valid Intercom plan for this action to work.
11

Send Message to Contact

Action

In Zapier“Sends a message to a contact.”

Sends a message from your team to a contact. You choose the message type, and you can open a conversation in the inbox even if the contact never answers.

When to use it
an event elsewhere (a failed payment, a shipped order) deserves a direct message in Intercom.
12

Add/Remove Tag on Company

Action

In Zapier“Attach or remove a tag from a specific company.”

Adds a tag to a company, or removes it when Untag is set to Yes. A tag name that does not exist yet is created on the fly.

When to use it
account tiers or contract status from your CRM should show on Intercom companies.
Watch out
a typo in the tag name silently creates a new tag.
13

Create/Update Lead

Action

In Zapier“Create or update an Intercom lead. If an ID is provided, the lead will be updated.”

Creates a lead, or updates it when you supply its ID. The email unsubscribe status can be set here too.

When to use it
leads from ads or forms should land in Intercom, and repeat visitors should update rather than duplicate.
14

Update Ticket

Action

In Zapier“Updates an existing ticket in Intercom.”

Changes an existing ticket, including whether it is open or closed. Leave that field blank to keep the current status.

When to use it
a fix shipped in your tracker should close the matching Intercom ticket.
Watch out
the ticket is required, and the field itself suggests adding a search step to find it.
15

Create/Update User

Action

In Zapier“Update a user within Intercom given their e-mail address.”

Finds a user by email, and by User ID if you provide one, then updates the record. When nobody matches, it creates the user instead.

When to use it
one Zap should keep user data current without checking first whether the person exists.
Watch out
with both email and User ID filled in, both must match the same record.
16

Create User

Action

In Zapier“Creates a new user in your Intercom app.”

Creates a user in your Intercom workspace from an email address, which is the only required field.

When to use it
new customers from your billing or signup tool should appear in Intercom right away.
Watch out
if the person may already exist, Create/Update User is the safer pick, since it creates the user only when nobody matches.
17

API Request (Beta)

Action

In Zapier“This is an advanced action which makes a raw HTTP request that includes this integration's authentication.”

An advanced action that calls Intercom directly using the connection you already set up. It covers what the other actions do not.

When to use it
a field or an object you need is missing from the standard actions and someone on the team is comfortable with APIs.
Watch out
it only reaches Intercom's own domains, and Stop on error decides whether a failure halts the Zap.
Searches

The 6 Intercom searches

6 search steps look for data that already exists in Intercom, so a later step can use it.

A search step finds something that already exists in Intercom and hands it to the next steps. In the editor, searches sit at the bottom of the Action event list under SEARCH. Three settings decide what happens when the result is not the one you expected.

1

Find Company

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds an existing company in your Intercom account.”

Looks up a company that already exists in your Intercom workspace. Ticking the create option gives you Find or Create Company, the same search with a fallback, not a separate operation.

When to use it
you need the company before tagging it or updating its record.
2

Find Conversation

Search

In Zapier“Search for conversations using various criteria.”

Searches conversations by the field you choose, with a match type you set. Each field expects its own input format.

When to use it
you have a customer reference from another tool and need the matching thread before replying.
Watch out
searches by ID always use an exact match.
3

Find Lead

SearchFind or create

In Zapier“Finds an existing Lead.”

Finds a lead by ID, email or User ID; by User ID it returns the most recent result. Find or Create Lead is this search with the create box ticked.

When to use it
a form submission should attach to an existing lead rather than create a duplicate.
Watch out
set the search mode to match the value you send.
4

Find Ticket

Search

In Zapier“Search for tickets using various criteria.”

Searches tickets by a field you pick and a match type. Paired with Update Ticket, it is how a Zap finds the ticket to change.

When to use it
an issue closed in your tracker must close the right Intercom ticket.
Watch out
ID searches are always exact.
5

Find User

Search

In Zapier“Finds an existing user.”

Locates an existing user by email, ID or User ID, the last one returning the most recent record when several share it. The search mode has to match the value you send.

When to use it
a later step needs the user's Intercom ID, for a note or a ticket.
6

Retrieve a Conversation

Search

In Zapier“Retrieves a specific conversation by ID, including conversation parts.”

Fetches one conversation by its ID, along with its parts.

When to use it
a ticket or an AI summary points to a conversation and you need its full content further down the Zap.
Watch out
the Conversation ID is required, so an earlier step, such as Find Conversation, has to supply it.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nothing stops the Zap there. Switched on, the Zap carries on without the result.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    Ticking this turns the search into find-or-create: it asks for the fields needed to create the missing item, and the previous setting disappears.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three choices: keep the first match (the default), stop the Zap, or pass every match on at once.
When it breaks

When the Intercom Zap breaks

Most failures on this app come from loops, from setup gaps in Intercom, or from expecting the Zap to know the past.

Zapier keeps a help article called Common Problems with Intercom. The cases below are the ones the catalog and the general rules let us state with certainty. For anything stranger, our Zapier troubleshooting page walks through the usual checks.

  • The Zap ignores older data

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Leads, tickets or conversations that already existed are not picked up; moving them is a separate job.

  • The Zap keeps firing itself

    Updated Contact plus Create/Update User on the same person, or Updated Company plus Create or Update Company: the action sets off the trigger again and burns tasks fast.

  • A bulk import gets held back

    Importing many leads or users at once sends a huge batch to the trigger. Zapier's flood protection can hold that batch back instead of running the Zap for each item.

  • Send Incoming Message refuses to run

    This action needs a valid Intercom plan. On an account without one, the step fails even though the Zap itself is set up correctly.

  • Updated Ticket test looks wrong

    The test sample shows the most recently updated tickets, whatever you chose in Updates. The live Zap still respects your choice.

  • API Request stops on a URL

    API Request (Beta) only accepts addresses on Intercom's own domains. With Stop on error set to Yes, any error from Intercom halts the step.
Need help

Need help automating Intercom with Zapier?

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FAQ

Intercom and Zapier: frequent questions

01Is the Intercom Zapier integration free?
Yes, on Zapier's side. Intercom is not a premium app, so it works on the free plan, which gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The catch is size: a free Zap has two steps, one trigger and one action. As soon as you add a filter, a search or a second action, the Zap becomes multi-step and needs a paid plan. You still need your own Intercom account, and one action, Send Incoming Message, also requires a valid Intercom plan.
02How many tasks does an Intercom Zap use?
One per successful action, every time the Zap runs. The trigger itself costs nothing, and checking for new data is free too. A Zap that tags a lead uses one task per lead. A Zap that creates a ticket and then replies in the conversation uses two. Failed actions are not counted. The real danger is a loop: a Zap that updates the same contact its trigger watches can run again and again, and each run bills its actions.
03Does Intercom work in real time with Zapier?
Yes. All 18 Intercom triggers are instant: Intercom tells Zapier as soon as the event happens, and the Zap starts right away. The plan interval grid, from 15 minutes on Free down to 1 minute on Team and Enterprise, does not apply to them. That makes Intercom a good fit for the free plan when speed matters. In the editor, a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt.
04What does it take to connect Intercom to Zapier?
An Intercom account, and access to whatever data the Zap will touch if you do not own it. In Zapier, open the Apps page, click + Add connection, pick Intercom and sign in on the tab that opens, then grant access. That single connection then serves every Intercom step in every Zap. Before building, check what some actions expect: Create Article needs an author from your team, and Create Ticket needs a ticket type that already exists.
05Why does an Intercom Zap keep running on its own?
Usually because it writes where its trigger listens. Updated Contact fires on any change to a contact; if the action is Create/Update User on that same person, the update fires the trigger again. The same goes for Updated Company with Create or Update Company. Each round costs tasks. The fix is a filter that stops the Zap when the change came from the Zap itself, or a trigger narrower than an update, such as a tag being added.
06What if the Intercom action you need is not in the list?
Try API Request (Beta) first. It reuses your Intercom connection to call Intercom directly, so it reaches things the 17 standard actions do not cover. It is advanced: you set the HTTP method and the URL, and it only accepts Intercom's own domains. Note that no standard action deletes a contact, a conversation or a ticket. If raw requests feel like too much, that is where a specialist or another automation tool can help.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Intercom?
It depends on your criteria, not on a winner. What we can state is the Zapier side: 18 triggers, all instant, 17 actions and 6 searches, Intercom is not a premium app, and a two-step Zap runs on the free plan. A filter, a search or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. Make and n8n each expose their own list of Intercom operations, covered on separate pages. Compare those lists with the Zaps you plan to build, and weigh the tool your team already uses.
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