How to Send Help Scout VIP Alerts to Slack with Zapier

zapier.com > Dashboard > Create Zap

Create a new Zap in Zapier

Log into zapier.com and click the orange 'Create Zap' button in the left sidebar. The Zap editor opens in a two-panel view — the left panel shows your step list and the right panel shows configuration options. You'll build this Zap with one trigger, one filter, and one action. Name the Zap something like 'Help Scout VIP → Slack Alert' at the top so it's easy to find later.

1. 1Log into zapier.com
2. 2Click 'Create Zap' in the left sidebar
3. 3Click the Zap name field at the top and type 'Help Scout VIP → Slack Alert'
4. 4Click the 'Trigger' step in the left panel to start configuration

Zap Editor > Trigger > App & Event

Set Help Scout as the trigger app

In the trigger configuration panel, type 'Help Scout' into the app search field. Select 'Help Scout' from the results — the icon is a blue speech bubble. You'll then choose the event that fires the Zap. This workflow uses the 'New Conversation' event, which fires via webhook the moment a ticket is created in Help Scout.

1. 1Click the 'App & Event' tab in the trigger panel
2. 2Type 'Help Scout' in the search field
3. 3Select 'Help Scout' from the dropdown
4. 4Under 'Trigger Event', select 'New Conversation'
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Trigger > Account

Connect your Help Scout account

Zapier will ask you to connect a Help Scout account. Click 'Sign in to Help Scout' and a popup will open asking you to authorize Zapier via OAuth. Log in with the Help Scout credentials that have Inbox access — ideally a dedicated integration account, not a personal one. Once authorized, Zapier pulls your available mailboxes.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Help Scout'
2. 2In the popup, enter your Help Scout email and password
3. 3Click 'Authorize' to grant Zapier read access
4. 4Select the correct mailbox from the 'Mailbox' dropdown (e.g., 'Support')
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Trigger > Test

Test the Help Scout trigger

Click 'Test trigger' to pull in sample conversation data from Help Scout. Zapier fetches the three most recent conversations from your selected mailbox and displays each field — subject, customer email, status, tags, assignee, and conversation URL. Check that the 'Tags' field is present in the returned data. You'll use it in the next step to filter for VIP tickets only.

1. 1Click 'Test trigger'
2. 2Wait 5-10 seconds for Zapier to fetch sample data
3. 3Expand the sample result and scroll to find the 'Tags' field
4. 4Confirm at least one sample conversation has a tag value
5. 5Click 'Continue with selected record'

Zap Editor > + > Filter by Zapier

Add a Filter step to catch only VIP tickets

Click the '+' icon between the trigger and action steps to add a new step. Choose 'Filter' from the built-in tools list. This is Zapier's native conditional logic — no extra app connection needed. Set the filter to check whether the Tags field from Help Scout contains your VIP identifier. If the condition is false, the Zap stops here and no Slack message fires.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger step
2. 2Select 'Filter' from the built-in tools
3. 3In the first dropdown, select 'Tags' from the Help Scout data
4. 4In the condition dropdown, select '(Text) Contains'
5. 5In the value field, type your VIP tag exactly as it appears in Help Scout (e.g., 'enterprise')
6. 6To add a second tag condition, click 'OR' and repeat for 'vip' or 'priority'

Zap Editor > Action > App & Event

Add Slack as the action app

Click the '+' button below the Filter step to add the action. Search for 'Slack' and select it. For the action event, choose 'Send Channel Message' — this posts a formatted message to a specific Slack channel rather than a DM. This is the right choice for team-visible priority alerts.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the Filter step
2. 2Type 'Slack' in the app search and select it
3. 3Under 'Action Event', select 'Send Channel Message'
4. 4Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action > Account

Connect your Slack workspace

Click 'Sign in to Slack' and authorize Zapier via the Slack OAuth popup. Zapier requests permission to post messages on your behalf. Use an account that has access to your #vip-support or equivalent alert channel. After authorization, Zapier lists your available channels in the Channel dropdown.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Slack'
2. 2Select your workspace in the OAuth popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Zapier posting permissions
4. 4Return to the Zap editor and confirm your workspace name appears
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action > Configure

Configure the Slack message fields

Select your alert channel from the Channel dropdown (e.g., #vip-support). Then build the message text using Help Scout data fields from your trigger. Click into the Message Text field and use Zapier's field picker (the blue insert button) to pull in dynamic values. Write a message that gives your team everything they need at a glance — customer name, email, ticket subject, tag, and a clickable link to the conversation.

1. 1Select the target channel from the 'Channel' dropdown (e.g., #vip-support)
2. 2Click into the 'Message Text' field
3. 3Type ':rotating_light: *VIP Ticket Alert*' as the header line
4. 4On new lines, insert dynamic fields: Customer Name, Customer Email, Subject, Tags, and Conversation URL using the blue insert button
5. 5Set 'Send as a bot?' to Yes and enter a bot name like 'Support Alert'
6. 6Leave 'Message Type' as 'In Channel' so the whole team sees it

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zap Editor > Action > Test

Test the Slack action

Click 'Test action' to send a real Slack message using your sample Help Scout data. Switch to Slack and check your alert channel — the message should appear within 10-15 seconds. Confirm all dynamic fields rendered correctly: customer name shows a real name (not a field token), the URL is clickable, and the tags are visible. If a field shows blank, the sample ticket was missing that value — that's a data issue in Help Scout, not a Zap error.

1. 1Click 'Test action'
2. 2Open Slack and navigate to your alert channel
3. 3Confirm the test message arrived with correct field values
4. 4Click the conversation URL in Slack to verify it opens the right Help Scout ticket
5. 5Return to Zapier and click 'Continue' if the test looks correct

Zap Editor > Publish

Turn on the Zap

Click 'Publish' in the top-right corner of the Zap editor. Zapier will show a confirmation screen asking you to review the trigger, filter, and action one more time. Toggle the Zap from Off to On. The Zap is now live and listening for new Help Scout conversations via webhook — no delay, no polling interval.

1. 1Click the 'Publish' button in the top-right corner
2. 2Review the summary screen to confirm trigger, filter, and action are correct
3. 3Click 'Publish & Turn On'
4. 4Confirm the Zap status shows 'On' with a green toggle

Help Scout > New Conversation + Zapier > Task History

Validate with a live VIP ticket

Create a real test conversation in Help Scout from a customer account that carries your VIP tag. You can do this by sending a test email to your support inbox from a tagged customer address, or by manually creating a conversation and adding the VIP tag before saving. Check Slack within 90 seconds — the alert should arrive. If it doesn't appear within 3 minutes, check Zapier's Task History for filter failures or connection errors.

1. 1In Help Scout, click 'New Conversation' and fill in a test customer's details
2. 2Add your VIP tag (e.g., 'enterprise') to the conversation before creating it
3. 3Click 'Create Conversation'
4. 4Switch to Slack and watch your alert channel for 60-90 seconds
5. 5If no message arrives, go to zapier.com > Zap History and check for filter stops or errors

This Code by Zapier step replaces the basic Filter step and adds two things the native filter can't do: case-insensitive tag matching across a list of VIP tiers, and urgency detection based on keywords in the ticket subject. Paste this into a 'Code by Zapier' step (JavaScript mode) inserted between the Help Scout trigger and the Slack action. Map 'urgency_label' and 'age_label' from the code output into your Slack message template.

// Zapier Code by Zapier step (JavaScript)
// Place this BETWEEN the Help Scout trigger and the Slack action
// It replaces the basic Filter step with richer logic:

// Zapier Code by Zapier step (JavaScript)
// Place this BETWEEN the Help Scout trigger and the Slack action
// It replaces the basic Filter step with richer logic:
// - Matches multiple VIP tags case-insensitively
// - Calculates ticket age in minutes for SLA context
// - Sets an urgency label to prepend to the Slack message

const tags = (inputData.tags || '').toLowerCase();
const subject = (inputData.subject || '').toLowerCase();
const createdAt = new Date(inputData.created_at);
const now = new Date();
const ageMinutes = Math.round((now - createdAt) / 60000);

const vipTags = ['enterprise', 'vip', 'priority', 'platinum'];
const isVip = vipTags.some(tag => tags.includes(tag));

if (!isVip) {
  throw new Error('Not a VIP ticket — Zap stopped by code filter');
}

const urgencyKeywords = ['urgent', 'critical', 'down', 'production', 'outage', 'broken'];
const isUrgent = urgencyKeywords.some(kw => subject.includes(kw));

const urgencyLabel = isUrgent ? ':fire: URGENT VIP' : ':rotating_light: VIP';
const ageLabel = ageMinutes < 5 ? 'Just created' : `${ageMinutes} min ago`;

return [{
  is_vip: true,
  urgency_label: urgencyLabel,
  age_label: ageLabel,
  matched_tags: vipTags.filter(tag => tags.includes(tag)).join(', ')
}];