High-volume inboxes often deal with automated "out of office" replies or spam messages from social channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Manually triaging these messages is a drain on teammate productivity and can skew your response time metrics.
By using Workflows, you can detect these messages the moment they arrive. This allows you to automatically route them to a dedicated folder or close them entirely before they ever reach your primary inbox.
Set up a Workflow to handle spam
If you're looking to automatically close auto-replies or spam messages that you might receive via WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook channels, you can do so by setting up a Workflow.
1. Create your trigger
To start, navigate to Workflows and create a new workflow from scratch.
Select the trigger When customer sends their first message.
Choose the channels you want to protect (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook, or Web).
2. Define spam criteria with Branches
Next, add a Branches step to identify which messages should be treated as spam.
In the if condition, select Message Content and use the contains operator.
Add keywords commonly found in the spam you receive (e.g., "auto-reply", "prize", or specific domains).
Use the OR rule to chain multiple conditions together so the workflow triggers if any of those keywords appear.
3. Automatically assign and close
For the branch you've identified as spam, you should set up a two-step action to ensure your inbox remains organized:
Assign to a Spam folder: Add an action to Assign to a specific team or inbox named "Spam". This keeps your primary inbox clean while still allowing you to review filtered messages if necessary.
Close the conversation: Immediately follow the assignment with a Close conversation action.
Tip: Always ensure the ELSE path of your branch routes to your standard support team or a Reusable workflow for further triage. This ensures that legitimate customers who don't match your spam criteria are not ignored.
Strategic mitigation best practices
Use a "Spam" inbox
Rather than just closing a conversation, assigning it to a dedicated "Spam" team first is a best practice. This allows you to audit the workflow's effectiveness and ensures you can recover a conversation if a real customer is accidentally caught by your filters.
Understand the limitations
While Workflows are a powerful first line of defense, they are not a total panacea for severe attacks.
Changing tactics: Persistent spammers may change their email addresses, IP addresses, or message content to bypass your filters.
Regular updates: You should periodically review the messages in your "Spam" folder and update your Branches keywords to reflect new patterns.
Note: If you are experiencing a severe, targeted harassment campaign that persists despite these Workflow settings, please contact Intercom Support to explore additional security options.
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