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How to configure the Spotlight Messenger

Learn how to customize and manage the Spotlight Messenger for Fin.

Written by Beth-Ann Sher

Fin for Sales uses a new agentic Messenger experience called Spotlight. The Spotlight Messenger is optimized for driving engagement, helping move web visitors from early interest to deeper intent and higher-quality sales conversations.

By creating a more natural, dialogue-driven experience, Spotlight supports prospects as they explore your offering, ask questions, and take the next step, whether that’s sharing their details or booking a demo.


Define your audience

Audience rules determine which visitors see the Spotlight Messenger. To configure audience rules, go to Settings > Channels > Messenger > Spotlight.

Select Specific audience to set audience rules based on:

  • URL rules

  • User role (visitor, lead, user)

  • Custom attributes

  • Other rule-based conditions

When someone lands on a page that matches your defined audience rules, they will see the Spotlight Messenger.

Clear targeting ensures the Spotlight Messenger appears only where you want it, i.e. (for example, pricing pages or high-intent product pages where sales conversations are likely to happen).

Styles

Make sure the correct Messenger brand is selected (if you support multiple brands).


Customize the appearance

The Spotlight Messenger uses a floating entry bar designed to be more visible and inviting for sales conversations. To configure appearance, go to Settings > Channels > Messenger > Spotlight.

Open the Appearance dropdown to select:

  • Composer color – Set the composer color to light or dark. We recommend matching it to your website background so it blends naturally with your page. The pill background and hover bloom intensity adapt to whichever theme you select.

  • Primary color – Set a hex color to match your brand. Used for buttons and accents throughout the Spotlight Messenger.

  • Composer stroke – Add an optional subtle border around the composer to help it stand out. The stroke uses your primary color. With stroke on, the composer gets a ring in your brand color and, on hover, fades in a soft outer halo and a gentle "bloom" beneath the pill. Note that the stroke itself is theme-independent — it always shows in your brand color regardless of whether you've chosen a light or dark composer background. Only the pill background and the bloom intensity vary by theme.

  • Bottom spacing – Adjust the Spotlight Messenger’s vertical position on the page. This is the distance in pixels from the bottom of the page to the composer.

These settings help ensure that Spotlight integrates naturally with your website design while remaining prominent enough to drive engagement. Both controls render a live preview in the embedded demo Messenger so you can see how your chosen settings look before setting them live for customers.

Note:

  • Composer stroke requires a primary color to be set. If no primary color is configured, the composer displays a neutral shadow instead.

  • The hover halo and bloom effects are only visible when the composer is in its default state. They're hidden once a conversation is open, or when the composer is open on mobile.

  • Spotlight doesn't support a "system" theme option in Messenger settings. To follow your visitor's OS color scheme (light or dark), use the JS SDK instead (see Messenger JS SDK below).

  • When the composer is disabled (for example, on a ticket route or a workflow where the composer has been disabled) stroke and shadow styling won't apply.

Messenger JS SDK

The Spotlight Messenger respects the theme mode configured in Messenger settings. If you need more control, developers can also set or update the composer's appearance at runtime using the JS SDK, via Intercom('boot', {...}) or Intercom('update', {...}).

You can control the theme mode using theme_mode, which accepts light, dark, or system. The system option follows the visitor's OS color scheme.

You can also customize the composer stroke and stroke color dynamically at runtime. This is useful if you want to use a different brand color on different pages without creating multiple Messenger styles.

Example:

Intercom('update', { theme_mode: 'system', composer_stroke: true, glow_color: '#5C2D91' });


Spotlight Smart Suggestions

Smart Suggestions are a set of pre-generated questions that appear in the Spotlight composer when a visitor opens it. Visitors can click a suggestion to instantly start a conversation — no typing required.

Enable Smart Suggestions

To turn on Smart Suggestions for the Spotlight Messenger, go to Settings > Channels > Messenger > Spotlight and enable Smart Suggestions. Enter your website URL to generate up to 20 suggestions tailored to your content.

How suggestions are displayed

Three suggestions are shown at a time in the composer. These rotate to give visitors variety across sessions.

Note: Smart Suggestions are currently in beta. The logic that determines which suggestions are shown is actively being refined — expect improvements to how the most relevant suggestions are surfaced over time.

Managing your suggestions

You can delete individual suggestions and regenerate the full set at any time. It's not possible to add custom suggestions or manually edit suggestion text.


How the customer experience works

When someone matches your audience rules:

  1. They see the floating Spotlight Messenger entry bar.

  2. Fin can proactively engage them, if you’ve configured outbound triggers.

  3. Fin qualifies the visitor according to your playbook.

  4. If qualified, Fin can route them to sales or offer a meeting in the conversation.


What’s different about Spotlight Messenger

Unlike the Widget Messenger (recommended for service), the Spotlight Messenger is optimized for sales conversations and to drive engagement.

There are also some spaces not available the Spotlight Messenger, including:

  • Home Screen

  • Tasks

  • News

  • Help Space (articles can still be sent in conversation by Fin or a human agent)

  • Message list screen (replaced with a faster conversation switcher on the top left of the Messenger)

Additional differences include:

  • Special Notice is removed.

  • Expectation settings are removed. Users are informed when a teammate is added and can see online status.

  • Privacy Policy appears below the text bar before a conversation begins.


FAQs

Can I use Spotlight Messenger for Customer Service?

Yes, Spotlight can be used with Fin for Service. Spotlight was designed with Fin for Sales in mind, and we recommend the Widget Messenger as the primary experience for service conversations, but this is a recommendation rather than a requirement. Spotlight can also handle customer service queries and handover's from Fin for Sales.

Can I control who sees the Spotlight Messenger?

Yes. You configure audience rules in Settings > Channels > Messenger > Spotlight. Only those who match your audience rules will see it.

Can I customize how the Spotlight Messenger looks?

Yes. You can configure the composer background (light or dark), composer stroke, primary color, and vertical padding in settings.

Can you book meetings directly in the Spotlight Messenger?

Yes! When enabled, prospects can book meetings directly in the Messenger using the native booking experience for Calendly. Other booking platforms are coming soon.


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