Every business’s support setup is unique, and your customers will naturally prefer some channels over others when reaching out for help. Deciding which channel to deploy Fin on first should be based on your specific needs and where your customers are most active.

You can deploy Fin AI Agent to all your inbound support channels. Each of these channels has its own nuances to consider when deploying Fin:

In most cases, it’s best to deploy Fin first on the channel where your customers most frequently request support, usually the Messenger or email. Deploying Fin on your highest-traffic channel allows you to quickly realize efficiency gains, deliver immediate value, and useful feedback and metrics for optimization.

You don’t need to roll out Fin on every channel immediately. Start with one, monitor performance, and expand to additional channels as you see results, working towards a 100% involvement rate across all channels over time.

You can set channel-specific guidance to tailor Fin’s tone of voice, behavior, and escalation rules for each channel.

For example, you can create a Fin audience such as “Current channel is Email” and then create guidance like “Avoid suggesting they contact us by phone for further support.”

Targeting guidance at specific channels ensures Fin’s responses are always relevant and appropriate for the channel being used.

For live chat, email, or phone, use the interactive preview in Deploy for the selected channel to test how Fin responds to customer queries.

Previewing does not require Fin to be set live and does not incur charges. For more advanced testing, use the Fin Testing feature to bulk upload questions or generate them from previous conversations.

Live chat channels typically require a friendly, conversational, tone. Fin’s replies should be short and real-time, matching the expectations of customers who are used to instant messaging.

Use the Messenger preview in Deploy to test how Fin’s replies appear before going live, to ensure customers receive the experience you want.

When deploying Fin on a live chat channel like the Messenger, it’s a good idea to set conversations to auto-close after only a few minutes of customer inactivity. This makes sure your involvement and resolution metrics stay accurate.

You can customize the closing message to remind customers they can still reach out if they need further help.

Email support typically requires a more formal and structured tone than chat. Fin should reply with complete sentences and clear formatting, and include all relevant information and follow up questions in a single message.

If you deploy Fin over email using a workflow, you can set a short wait period before Fin responds to emails. A short wait period (around 5 minutes) aligns with customer expectations on this channel.

Before deploying Fin over email, review how Fin’s responses will look by sending a query to the test email address found in the Preview panel.

Set a longer auto-close window than in live chat, as customers may take longer to reply on this channel. This allows for natural delays in email communication while still ensuring conversations are eventually closed if the customer stops responding. The exact interval is yours to decide, but 1-2 days is common.

You can customize the closing message to let customers know they can reply to reopen the conversation at any time.

Fin Voice is Intercom’s AI agent for phone support, designed to deliver natural, brand-aligned conversations—without IVR menus or long wait times.

Fin Voice integrates natively with Intercom Phone, and can also be connected to a wide range of third-party telephony providers.

For this channel, you need to select from a set of available AI voices. You can test each voice using the built-in preview to hear greetings and sample responses before going live. This helps ensure the selected voice, language, and tone match your brand and customer expectations.

You can configure different greetings and escalation behaviors for in-hours and out-of-hours calls, so customers always receive a relevant response.

To avoid long wait times for customers, it’s important to set up clear escalation paths for situations Fin Voice can’t resolve. You can use Fin Attributes to route calls to the right place fast, so customers aren’t left waiting around.

When a call is escalated, Fin Voice includes a transcript and summary so teammates can continue the conversation without asking customers to repeat themselves.

SMS support is ideal for reaching customers outside your app or website. SMS requires extremely concise and clear communication, with replies limited to 1600 characters per message.

You can send and receive text and links, but images and rich media are not supported for outbound SMS messages.

It’s a good idea to set quiet hours to control when messages are sent.

Set a reasonable inactivity window to close conversations where the customer has not replied, similar to your other chat channels. You can use Workflows to set different auto-close rules for different chat channels like SMS.

You deploy Fin over SMS alongside your other live chat channels, under Fin AI Agent > Deploy > Chat.

WhatsApp is a powerful channel for customer support, allowing you to engage with customers where they already spend their time.

On WhatsApp, it’s common to adopt an even friendlier and lighter tone, which may include emojis or attachments.

Be aware of the 24-hour reply window, which requires pre-approved message templates for responses outside this period. Because of this restriction, it’s common to set WhatsApp conversations to close within the 24-hour reply window.

You can use Workflows to set different auto-close rules for different chat channels like WhatsApp.

You deploy Fin over WhatsApp alongside your other live chat channels, under Fin AI Agent > Deploy > Chat.

Social channels call for a relatively casual and responsive tone. Replies should be brief and engaging.

Each platform may have unique etiquette and technical requirements. For example, Facebook Messenger generally calls for a more neutral, support-focused tone with fuller responses, while Instagram works best with a shorter, more casual, and brand-expressive style where faster replies are expected.

It’s best to set a short inactivity window to auto-close inactive conversations after a few minutes.

You deploy Fin over Facebook Messenger or Instagram alongside your other live chat channels, under Fin AI Agent > Deploy > Chat. You can use Workflows to set different auto-close rules for different chat channels.

Deploying Fin in Slack enables seamless support in a community workspace or a private Slack channel.

Slack conversations are informal and quick, so Fin’s replies should be concise, friendly, and responsive, matching the expectations of Slack users.

Go to Settings > Channels > Slack to set triggers that control when Fin gets involved in Slack conversations, focusing support where it’s needed most.

Be mindful of data privacy, especially in public Slack channels. By default, Fin’s data connectors are disabled to prevent sharing sensitive information. Enable them only for trusted or private workspaces as needed.

You deploy Fin over Slack alongside your other live chat channels, under Fin AI Agent > Deploy > Chat.

Whichever channel you deploy Fin on first, you can expand to additional channels over time, tailoring Fin’s tone, behavior, and workflows to match each channel’s unique context and customer expectations.
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With Fin on the frontline across every inbound support channel, your customers get fast, consistent answers that build loyalty, while your team focuses on complex issues.