Fin Tips and Best Practices

On the surface, it can seem that Copilot is a simple yet powerful tool that helps your team answer customers questions. But, it’s so much more than that!We've been using Intercom’s Copilot across our team and it's been a game-changer for us. If you're not using it to its full potential yet, here’s a quick breakdown of some ways to use Copilot you may not have thought of that help streamline work and boost efficiency:Faster Onboarding for New AgentsNew joiners no longer need to ping senior teammates every five minutes. Copilot acts like a super-smart buddy, guiding them with internal resources and examples from previous chats. It’s drastically shortened our onboarding ramp time.Internal Process GuidanceWhenever someone has a “how do we do this again?” moment, Copilot jumps in with answers sourced from our internal articles and documentation. It’s perfect for navigating complex or frequently changing internal workflows.Ma

Since it was in early beta we have been using the AI Summaries feature in our Intercom workspace and it’s proven to be a massive time-saver for our support team. Before this, whenever a teammate picked up a conversation after Fin handled it, they had to scroll through everything to understand what had already been covered. Now, Intercom generates a quick, clean summary at the point of handoff from Fin in an internal note.It’s a small change with big impact—no more duplicated steps, no more “Let me check what’s already been said,” and a much smoother handoff between Fin and our human teammates.🛠 How to enable it in your workspace: Go to your Workflows page Go to one of your existing triage workflows or create a new workflow In the path (or before) you are assigning to an inbox, add the “Add summary note” action Done! The summaries will automatically app

Here’s something that’s easy to overlook: Fin isn’t reading between the lines. It’s taking your guidance literally, so the simpler and more specific your language, the better the results.We’ve all written something like:"Be friendly and professional."It sounds good, but it’s open to interpretation.A clearer version might be:"Use a professional yet warm tone. Keep responses short and avoid jargon. When a customer is frustrated, acknowledge the issue and say something like, ‘I understand how that can be frustrating. Here's what we can do.’"This type of Guidance gives Fin a clear tone to follow and reduces guesswork. It also helps keep responses consistent across your support experience.Think of it like coaching a new team member. If you wouldn’t rely on vague tone tips when onboarding a new agent, don’t use them with Fin either.

We noticed a recurring issue in some of our Fin-involved conversations. Fin was surfacing Help Center content that included phrases such as "please contact support" or "reach out to us through the Messenger."While this wording makes sense when someone is reading an article independently, it can cause confusion during a live support interaction. When Fin presents this type of content mid-conversation, it can give the impression that the customer is not already receiving support. This creates friction and can lead to drop-off.To improve the experience, we provided more specific guidance for Fin to follow. We instructed it not to include phrasing that directs customers to contact support, since they are already in a support conversation. Instead, Fin should treat the interaction as part of the support experience by either providing the information the customer needs or asking for clarification to help resolve the issue.This change reduced unnecessary loops and made

A lot of us naturally default to vague guidance like,"Make sure Fin understands our product types."But Fin thrives on clarity. A stronger version might be:"If a customer asks about the 'search' feature, first ask which product they’re using. Then give product-specific instructions."See the difference? That second version gives Fin clear steps and a condition under which to act. It's specific, it's actionable, and it’s something Fin can consistently follow.When you're writing guidance, ask yourself: what should Fin say first? What should happen next? That simple shift in thinking can make your guidance 10x more effective.How do you typically plan out what Fin should do in different scenarios?

Tip: One of my new weekly rituals is using the AI-powered Suggestions feature to improve our knowledge base - and it's incredibly satisfying.Before this feature, most content improvements happened when a teammate noticed a problem, took the time to submit a Back-office ticket, and someone else followed up to make changes. That worked... when it happened. But it often didn’t.Now, Suggestions does the heavy lifting. It automatically looks at where Fin may have stumbled in a real conversation and recommends a fix (like editing an article or adding a snippet). I review them once a week while waking up with a coffee, and approve about 70% with just a few clicks.After you’ve deployed Fin, head to Fin AI Agent > Train > Suggestions. You’ll see AI-generated recommendation

Currently when you add the “Notify Slack Channel” action to a Workflow step, it doesn’t allow you to customize the notification which isn’t to great when you want to send a specific message or include data pertinent to the user. Well... with the use a Data Connector, you can create your own custom Slack notification!  1. Set Up a Webhook in SlackFirst, create an incoming webhook in Slack:Go to your Slack workspace and click on your workspace name Select "Settings & administration" → "Manage apps" Search for "Incoming WebHooks" and click "Add to Slack" Select the channel where you want messages to appear Click "Add Incoming WebHooks integration" Copy the Webhook URL (you'll need this later) Optionally customize the name and icon for your webhook2. Create the Data Connector in IntercomNow set up the connector in Intercom:In

Tip: Product releases can significantly affect what Fin needs to know to respond accurately to customers. Here’s a simple process to keep your content aligned and Fin informed: Create a tag: Start by creating a tag like "[Feature name] content updates". Search & review: Search the Knowledge Hub for content related to the release. Open top results and assess if they need updates. Apply the tag to anything that does. Filter & collaborate: Filter by your tag to create a list of all impacted content. Share this view with teammates to divide and conquer updates. Prepare drafts: For public articles, save updates as drafts ahead of the release. Publish in one go: When it’s time to ship, filter by your tag + status “Published with pending draft”, then bulk publish to go live in one click

Tip: Use simple, specific language that mirrors the words your customers actually use. Avoid technical jargon or internal terms—Fin works best when articles match how users naturally phrase their questions. For example, say “log in” instead of “authenticate” to improve understanding and AI searchability.You can red more about it here.

Tip: Enhance the clarity of your help articles by restating user questions within the answers. Instead of a simple “Yes” or “No,” provide full-sentence responses that mirror the user’s query. This approach not only aids AI comprehension but also ensures users receive precise and context-rich information. For instance, if a user asks, “Do I need to use the original shipping box to return an item?” Rather than replying with just “No,” elaborate with, “You can use your own packaging when sending an item back for a return or exchange; there’s no need to save the original shipping box.”  By adopting this method, you make your support content more accessible and effective for both AI agents and human readers. You can read more about it here.

Cross-post from other group, but…...Loads of new features, some AI capabilities complimenting/replacing legacy features and many terminology updates. The Intercom glossary is being updated daily, but after some recent Intercom partner training, felt it worthwhile to post some of our notes on the Intercom Lexicon for those that are new to the platform or about to explore Fin. Check it out here: https://www.journeymapper.net/blog/intercom-glossary-101